germany

• country in central europe
the federal republic of germany is a country in central europe. the various german states were united into one country in 1871. at the end of the second world war, germany was divided into zones occupied by the united states, the united kingdom, france, and the soviet union. berlin was similarly divided. in 1948, the soviet union blocked rail and road access to berlin, and west berlin was supplied by an airlift until 1949. in 1949 the western zones were joined to form the federal republic of germany (frg), also called west germany, a democratic country with its capital at bonn. the soviet zone became the german democratic republic (gdr), also called east germany. in 1961 the berlin wall was built to prevent east germans escaping into west germany. erich honecker was general secretary of the socialist unity party of germany (sed), the communist party of east germany, from 1971 until his resignation in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989. the berlin wall was dismantled in 1989 and germany was reunified in 1990. dr helmut kohl (cdu) became chancellor in 1982. in 1994 roman herzog, candidate of the cdu, was elected president by the legislature. germany is a member of the council of europe, the european union, and nato. at the time of reunification, west germany was one of the world's leading industrial countries with an extremely strong economy, while east germany was in serious industrial and economic decline. germany produces machinery and other manufactured goods, chemicals, and agricultural products.