Germany officially the (Federal Republic of Germany)

Is a federal parliamentary republic in western-central Europe. It includes 16 constituent states and covers an area of 357,021 square kilometers (137,847 sq mi) with a largely temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and largest city is Berlin. With 81 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state in the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular migration destination in the world.
Various Germanic tribes have occupied northern Germany since classical antiquity.
Germany(Flag)
A region named Germania was documented before 100 CE. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation.
The rise of Pan-Germanys inside the German Confederation resulted in the states in 1871 into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic. The establishment of the Third Reich in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After 1945, Germany split into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990, the country was reunified.
In the 21st century, Germany is a great power and has the world's fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP, as well as the fifth-largest by PPP. As a global leader in several industrial and technological sectors, it is both the world's third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a developed country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled and productive society. It upholds a social security and universal health care system, environmental protection and a tuition free university education.
Germany was a founding member of the European Union in 1993. It is part of the Scheme Area, and became a co-founder of the Euro zone in 1999. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world. Known for its rich cultural history, Germany has been continuously the home of influential artists, philosophers, musicians, sportsmen, entrepreneurs, scientists and inventors.
Germanic tribes and Frankish Empire

The Germanic tribes are thought to date from the Nordic Bronze Age or the Pre-Roman Iron Age. From southern Scandinavia and north Germany, they expanded south, east and west from the 1st century BCE, coming into contact with the Celtic tribes of Gaul as well as Iranian, Baltic, and Slavic tribes in Central and Eastern Europe.
In the 3rd century a number of large West Germanic tribes emerged: Aleman, Franks, Chatti, Saxons, Frisii, Sicambri, andThuringii. Around 260, the Germanic peoples broke into Roman-controlled lands. After the invasion of the Huns in 375, and with the decline of Rome from 395, Germanic tribes moved further south-west. Simultaneously several large tribes formed in what is now Germany and displaced the smaller Germanic tribes. Large areas (known since the Merovingian period as Austrasia) were occupied by the Franks, and Northern Germany was ruled by the Saxons and Slavs.

Holy Roman Empire:

For 900 years, the history of Germany was intertwined with the history of the Holy Roman Empire. In 800, the Frankish king Charlemagne was crowned emperor and founded the Carolingian Empire, which was divided in 843 among his heirs.[23] The Holy Roman Empire included the eastern portion of Charlemagne's original kingdom and emerged as the strongest. Its territory stretched from the Eider River in the north to the Mediterranean coast in the south.
In the 12th century, under the Hohenstaufen emperors (1138–1254), German princes increased their influence further south and east into territories inhabited by Slavs; they encouraged German settlement in these areas, called the eastern settlement movement.
Population declined in the first half of the 14th century, starting with the Great Famine in 1315, followed by the Black Death of 1348–50. Despite the decline, however, German artists, engineers, and scientists developed a wide array of techniques similar to those used by the Italian artists and designers of the time who flourished in such merchant city-states as Venice, Florence and Genoa. Artistic and cultural centers throughout the German states produced such artists as the Augsburg painters Hans Holbein and his son, and Albrecht Dürer. Johannes Gutenberg introduced moveable-type printing to Europe, a development that played a key role in the Renaissance, Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment, and the Scientific revolution, and laid the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses.
( Martin Luther (1483–1546) initiated the Protestant.)
German Confederation and Empire:
Following the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna (convened in 1814) founded the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund), a loose league of 39 sovereign states. The appointment of the Austrian king as the permanent president of the Confederation reflected the Congress's failure to accept Prussia's influence among the German states, and acerbated the long-standing competition between the Hohenzollern and Habsburg interests. Disagreement within restoration politics partly led to the rise of liberal movements, followed by new measures of repression by Austrian statesman Metternich. The Zollverein, a tariff union, furthered economic unity in the German states. National and liberal ideals of the French Revolution gained increasing support among many, especially young, Germans. TheHambach Festival in May 1832 was a main event in support of German unity, freedom and democracy. In the light of a series of revolutionary movements in Europe, which established a republic in France, intellectuals and commoners started the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states. King Frederick William IV of Prussia was offered the title of Emperor, but with a loss of power; he rejected the crown and the proposed constitution, leading to a temporary setback for the movement.

King William I appointed Otto von Bismarck as the new Minister President of Prussia in 1862. Bismarck successfully concluded war on Denmark in 1864, which promoted German over Danish interests in the Jutland peninsula. The subsequent (and decisive) Prussian victory in
(Foundation of the German Empire in Versailles, 1871. Bismarck is at the center in a white uniform.) the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 enabled him to create the North German Confederation (Nord detacher Bund) which excluded Austria from the federation's affairs. After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the German princes proclaimed the founding of the German Empire in 1871 at Versailles, uniting all scattered parts of Germany except Austria. Prussia was the dominant constituent state of the new empire; the Hohenzollern King of Prussia ruled as its concurrent Emperor, and Berlin became its capital.

Weimar Republic and Third Reich

In 1919, army veteran Adolf Hitler, frustrated by Germany’s defeat in World War, which had left the nation economically depressed and politically unstable, joined a fledgling political organization called the German Workers’ Party. Founded earlier that same year by a small group of men including locksmith Anton Drexler (1884-1942) and journalist Karl Harrier (1890-1926), the party promoted German nationalism and anti-Semitism, and felt that the Treaty of Versailles, the peace settlement that ended the war, was extremely unjust to Germany by burdening it with reparations it could never pay. Hitler soon emerged as a charismatic public speaker and began attracting new members with speeches blaming Jews and Marxists for Germany’s problems and espousing extreme nationalism and the concept of an Aryan “master race.” In July 1921, he assumed leadership of the organization, which by then had been renamed the Nationalist Socialist German Workers’ (Nazi) Party.
Germany was declared a republic at the beginning of the German Revolution in November 1918. On 11 August 1919 President Friedrich Ebert signed the democratic Weimar Constitution.[42] In the subsequent struggle for power, the radical-left Communists seized power in Bavaria, but conservative elements in other parts of Germany attempted to overthrow the Republic in the Knapp Putsch. It was supported by parts of the Richswehr (military) and other conservative, nationalistic and monarchist factions. After a tumultuous period of bloody street fighting in the major industrial centers, the occupation of the Ruhr by Belgian and French troops and the rise of inflation culminating in the hyperinflation of 1922–23, a debt restructuring plan and the creation of a new currency in 1924 ushered in the Golden Twenties, an era of increasing artistic innovation, liberal cultural life.

The Nazi Party won the special federal election of 1932. After a series of unsuccessful cabinets, Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany in 1933.[46] After the Reichstag Fire, a decree abrogated basic civil rights and within weeks the first Nazi concentration camp at Dachau opened .The Enabling Act of 1933 gave Hitler unrestricted legislative power; subsequently, his government established a centralized totalitarian state, withdrew from the League of Nations following a national referendum, and began military rearmament.
In the Spring of 1940, Germany conquered Denmark and Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France forcing the French government to sign an armistice after German troops occupied most of the country. The British repelled German air attacks in the same year. In 1941, German troops invaded Yugoslavia ,Greece and the Soviet Union. By 1942 Germany and other Axis powers controlled most of continental Europe and North Africa but following the Soviet Union's victory at the Battle of Stalingrad, the allies' recon quest of North Africa and invasion of Italy in 1943, German forces suffered repeated military defeats. In June 1944 the Western allies invaded France and the Soviets re conquered much of Eastern Europe. By late 1944 the Western allies had entered Germany despite one final German counter offensive in the Ardennes Forest. Following Hitler's suicide during the Battle of Berlin, German armed forces surrendered on 8 May 1945, ending World War II in Europe.

East and West Germany:

Main article: History of Germany (1945–90)
After Germany surrendered, the Allies partitioned Berlin and Germany's remaining territory into four military occupation zones. The western sectors, controlled by France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, were merged on 23 May 1949 to form the Federal Republic of Germany (Benders republic Deutschland); on 7 October 1949, the Soviet Zone became the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Democratic Republic). They were informally known as "West Germany" and "East Germany". East Germany selected East Berlin as its capital, while West Germany chose Bonn as a provisional capital, to emphasize its stance that the two-state solution was an artificial and temporary status quo.
West Germany was established as a federal parliamentary republic with a "social market economy". Starting in 1948 West Germany became a major recipient of reconstruction aid under the Marshall Plan and used this to rebuild its industry Conrad Adenauer was elected the first Federal Chancellor (Bundes kanzler) of Germany in 1949 and remained in office until 1963. Under his and Ludwig Erhard's leadership, the country enjoyed prolonged economic growth beginning in the early 1950s, that became known as an "economic miracle" (Wirtschaftswunder).West Germany joined NATO in 1955 and was a founding member of the European Economic Community in 1957.
National Democratic Party of Germany: National Democratic Party of Germany
National demokratische Parties Deutschland’s | | President | Frank Franz | Founded | November 28, 1964 | Preceded by | German Empire Party | Headquarters | Berlin | Newspaper | Deutsche Stimme
(German Voice) | Youth wing | Junge Nationaldemokraten | Membership (2013) | 5,048 | Ideology | National Socialism
German nationalism
Pan-Germanism
Anti-Semitism
Anti-immigration
Anti-globalismEuroscepticism[ | Political position | Far-right | International affiliation | None | European affiliation | European National Front | European Parliament group | Non-Incrusts | Colors | Black, white ,red |

Micro Economics of Germany: German GDP:
Germany proved itself to be one of the strongest developed economies (and certainly within the EU). Overall the German economy grew 2.2% compared to the previous quarter (the fastest growth rate since East and West Germany reunified). The surge in growth was driven by strong exports, up 8.2% in Q2; boosted by trade with China and the US... which should immediately raise some concerns given the slowing of those two economies. However equipment investment (up 4.4%) also grew relatively strongly; and consumer spending returned to growth (0.6%). So there are growing signs of fundamental strength in the German economy, as well as from the rebound in international trade.

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Germany - Exchange Rate:
Economic growth was robust in the first half of the year and is expected to have remained on a solid track in the second half, even though recent indicators have sent mixed signals. Positive signs came in October’s rise in the composite PMI and still-high business confidence, which showed that the Volkswagen scandal did not hurt sentiment in the automotive industry. Industrial production and exports contracted significantly in August, though this was mainly due to weakening demand from China and other emerging markets. The strong influx of migrants is largely seen as supportive for the economy as it will boost consumption in the short term and offers the chance to address the looming economic challenges of an aging society in the longer term. While Economy Minister Sigma Gabriel said in October that increased public spending for refugees will act as a stimulus package, the Finance Ministry expects that increased spending will lead to a fiscal deficit next year.

Germany GDP Annual Growth Rate 1992-2015:

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Germany expanded 1.80 percent in the third quarter of 2015 over the same quarter of the previous year. GDP Annual Growth Rate in Germany averaged 1.32 percent from 1992 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 6 percent in the first quarter of 2011 and a record low of -7.90 percent in the second quarter of 2009. GDP Annual Growth Rate in Germany is reported by the Federal Statistical Office.

Germany GDP From Agriculture 1991-2015 |
GDP From Agriculture in Germany increased to 3.88 EUR Billion in the second quarter of 2015 from 3.71 EUR Billion in the first quarter of 2015. GDP From Agriculture in Germany averaged 4.59 EUR Billion from 1991 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 6.42 EUR Billion in the first quarter of 2008 and a record low of 3.20 EUR Billion in the first quarter of 2010. GDP From Agriculture in Germany is reported by the Federal Statistical Office.

Germany GDP From Construction 1991-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar
GDP From Construction in Germany increased to 31.58 EUR Billion in the second quarter of 2015 from 25.50 EUR Billion in the first quarter of 2015. GDP From Construction in Germany averaged 24.90 EUR Billion from 1991 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 33.57 EUR Billion in the fourth quarter of 2014 and a record low of 14.47 EUR Billion in the first quarter of 2006. GDP From Construction in Germany is reported by the Federal Statistical Office.

Germany GDP From Industrial Production 1991-2015 | Data | Chart
GDP From Manufacturing in Germany increased to 154.99 EUR Billion in the second quarter of 2015 from 149.52 EUR Billion in the first quarter of 2015. GDP From Manufacturing in Germany averaged 115.86 EUR Billion from 1991 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 154.99 EUR Billion in the second quarter of 2015 and a record low of 90.56 EUR Billion in the first quarter of 1993. GDP From Manufacturing in Germany is reported by the Federal Statistical Office.

Germany GDP From Public Administration 1991-2015 | Data | Chart
GDP From Public Administration in Germany decreased to 119.54 EUR Billion in the second quarter of 2015 from 123.23 EUR Billion in the first quarter of 2015. GDP From Public Administration in Germany averaged 88.02 EUR Billion from 1991 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 125.72 EUR Billion in the fourth quarter of 2014 and a record low of 50.63 EUR Billion in the first quarter of 1991. GDP From Public Administration in Germany is reported by the Federal Statistical Office.

Germany GDP From Services 1991-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast
GDP From Services in Germany increased to 107.06 EUR Billion in the second quarter of 2015 from 99.05 EUR Billion in the first quarter of 2015. GDP From Services in Germany averaged 81.59 EUR Billion from 1991 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 107.06 EUR Billion in the second quarter of 2015 and a record low of 53.73 EUR Billion in the first quarter of 1991.GDP From Services in Germany is reported by the Federal Statistical Office.

Germany GDP Growth Rate 1991-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast
The German economy advanced a seasonally-adjusted 0.3 percent in the third quarter of 2015, slowing from a 0.4 percent growth in the previous quarter and in line with market expectations. Positive contributions came mainly from household and government spending while investment and foreign trade dragged growth down, preliminary estimates showed. GDP Growth Rate in Germany averaged 0.31 percent from 1991 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 2 percent in the second quarter of 2010 and a record low of -4.50 percent in the first quarter of 2009. GDP Growth Rate in Germany is reported by the Federal Statistical Office

Germany Gross National Income 1991-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar
Gross National Product in Germany increased to 766.84 EUR Billion in the second quarter of 2015 from 762.48 EUR Billion in the first quarter of 2015. Gross National Product in Germany averaged 568.24 EUR Billion from 1991 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 766.84 EUR Billion in the second quarter of 2015 and a record low of 389.37 EUR Billion in the first quarter of 1991. Gross National Product in Germany is reported by the Deutsche Bunders bank.

Germany Real Wage Growth YoY 2007-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar
Wages in Germany increased by 2.7 percent in the second quarter of 2015 over the same period in the previous year. Wage Growth in Germany averaged 0.65 percent from 2007 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 2.70 percent in the second quarter of 2015 and a record low of -1.40 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007. Wage Growth in Germany is reported by the Statistics Bundesamt.

Germany Population 1960-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast | News
The total population in Germany was last recorded at 81.2 million people in 2014 from 72.5 million in 1960, changing 12 percent during the last 50 years. Population in Germany averaged 79.22 Million from 1960 until 2014, reaching an all time high of 82.54 Million in 2003 and a record low of 72.54 Million in 1960. Population in Germany is reported by the Euro stat.

Germany Unemployment Rate 1950-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast
German seasonally adjusted harmonized unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.5 percent in September, at its lowest level since 1981. Unemployment fell slightly while employment edged up. Unemployment Rate in Germany averaged 5.95 percent from 1950 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 14.20 percent in February of 1950 and a record low of 0.40 percent in June of 1962. Unemployment Rate in Germany is reported by the Federal Statistics Office.

Germany Labor Costs 1991-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast
Labor Costs in Germany increased to 109.14 Index Points in the second quarter of 2015 from 108.64 Index Points in the first quarter of 2015. Labor Costs in Germany averaged 100.08 Index Points from 1991 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 109.89 Index Points in the fourth quarter of 2013 and a record low of 82.87 Index Points in the first quarter of 1991. Labor Costs in Germany is reported by the Deutsche Bundesbank.

Germany Inflation Rate 1950-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast
Consumer prices in Germany rose 0.3 percent in October of 2015, after remaining unchanged in the preceding month and matching preliminary estimates. Cost of food and services increased at a faster pace while prices of energy dropped less than a month earlier. Inflation Rate in Germany averaged 2.44 percent from 1950 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 11.54 percent in October of 1951 and a record low of -7.62 percent in June of 1950. Inflation Rate in Germany is reported by the Federal Statistics Office.

Germany Food Inflation 1992-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast
Cost of food in Germany increased 1.30 percent in October of 2015 over the same month in the previous year. Food Inflation in Germany averaged 1.46 percent from 1992 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 8.22 percent in March of 2008 and a record low of -3.09 percent in October of 2009. Food Inflation in Germany is reported by the Federal Statistics Office.

Germany Central Bank Balance Sheet 2007-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar
Central Bank Balance Sheet in Germany increased to 956.30 EUR Billion in October from 936.90 EUR Billion in September of 2015. Central Bank Balance Sheet in Germany averaged 698.75 EUR Billion from 2007 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 1135.40 EUR Billion in August of 2012 and a record low of 365.50 EUR Billion in February of 2007. Central Bank Balance Sheet in Germany is reported by the Deutsche Bundesbank.

Germany Foreign Exchange Reserves 1998-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar
Foreign Exchange Reserves in Germany decreased to 161922.08 EUR Million in September from 162917.24 EUR Million in August of 2015. Foreign Exchange Reserves in Germany averaged 116067.41 EUR Million from 1998 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 203337 EUR Million in September of 2012 and a record low of 71335 EUR Million in December of 2004. Foreign Exchange Reserves in Germany is reported by the Deutsche Bundesbank.

Germany Balance of Trade 1950-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast
Germany posted a €22.9 billion trade surplus in September of 2015, slightly up from €21.6 billion a year earlier and above market expectations, as exports grew by 4.4 percent and imports rose 3.9 percent. Balance of Trade in Germany averaged 4481.28 EUR Million from 1950 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 25000 EUR Million in July of 2015 and a record low of -535.91 EUR Million in April of 1991. Balance of Trade in Germany is reported by the Federal Statistical Office.

Germany Remittances 1980-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast | News
Remittances in Germany remained unchanged at -881 EUR Million in the third quarter of 2015 from -881 EUR Million in the second quarter of 2015. Remittances in Germany averaged -852.17 EUR Million from 1980 until 2015, reaching an all time high of -601 EUR Million in the first quarter of 1991 and a record low of -1228 EUR Million in the third quarter of 1984. Remittances in Germany is reported by the Deutsche Bundesbank.

Germany Fiscal Expenditure 1991-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast
Fiscal Expenditure in Germany decreased to 315.80 EUR Billion in the first quarter of 2015 from 332.85 EUR Billion in the fourth quarter of 2014. Fiscal Expenditure in Germany averaged 248.36 EUR Billion from 1991 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 332.85 EUR Billion in the fourth quarter of 2014 and a record low of 156.27 EUR Billion in the first quarter of 1991. Fiscal Expenditure in Germany is reported by the Deutsche Bundes bank.

Germany Industrial Production 1979-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar
Industrial Production in Germany increased 0.20 percent in September of 2015 over the same month in the previous year. Industrial Production in Germany averaged 1.54 percent from 1979 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 14.80 percent in December of 2010 and a record low of -22 percent in April of 2009. Industrial Production in Germany is reported by the Deutsche Bundesbank

Germany Manufacturing Production 1992-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar
Manufacturing Production in Germany decreased 0.30 percent in September of 2015 over the same month in the previous year. Manufacturing Production in Germany averaged 1.48 percent from 1992 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 15.50 percent in February of 2011 and a record low of -24 percent in April of 2009. Manufacturing Production in Germany is reported by the Dictates.

Germany Households Debt To Income 2000-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar
Households Debt To Income in Germany decreased to 82.78 percent in 2014 from 83.66 percent in 2013. Households Debt To Income in Germany averaged 93.71 percent from 2000 until 2014, reaching an all time high of 106.63 percent in 2000 and a record low of 82.78 percent in 2014. Households Debt To Income in Germany is reported by the Euro stat.

Germany Private Sector Credit 1950-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar
Private Sector Credit in Germany increased 2646790 percent in September of 2015 over the previous month. Private Sector Credit in Germany averaged 1039788.91 EUR Million from 1950 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 2671886 EUR Million in November of 2011 and a record low of 6461 EUR Million in January of 1950. Private Sector Credit in Germany is reported by the Deutsche Bundesbank.

Germany Corporate Tax Rate 1995-2015 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast
The Corporate Tax Rate in Germany stands at 29.65 percent. Corporate Tax Rate in Germany averaged 39.78 percent from 1995 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 56.80 percent in 1995 and a record low of 29.40 percent in 2009. Corporate Tax Rate in Germany is reported by the Federal Central Tax Office (BZST).

Germany Sales Tax Rate | VAT 2000-2015:
The Sales Tax Rate in Germany stands at 19 percent. Sales Tax Rate in Germany averaged 17.69 percent from 2000 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 19 percent in 2007 and a record low of 16 percent in 2001. Sales Tax Rate in Germany is reported by the Federal Central Tax Office (BZST).

Transports in Germany:
As a densely populated country in a central location in Europe and with a developed economy, Germany has a dense and modern transport infrastructure.
The first highway system to have been built, the extensive German Autobahn network famously has no general speed limit for light vehicles (although posted speed limits are in force in most sections today, and there is a blanket 80 km/h limit for trucks). The country's most important waterway is the river Rhine. The largest port is that of Hamburg. Frankfurt Airport is a major international airport and European transportation hub. Air travel is used for greater distances within Germany but faces competition from the state-owned Ban’s rail network. High-speed trains called ICE connect cities for passenger travel with speeds up to 300 km/h. Many German cities have rapid transit systems and public transport is available in most areas.
Since German reunification substantial efforts have been necessary to improve and expand the transportation infrastructure in what had previously been East Germany

Road and automotive transport:

The volume of traffic in Germany, especially goods transportation, is at a very high level due to its central location in Europe. In the past few decades, much of the freight traffic shifted from rail to road, which led the Federal Government to introduce a motor toll for trucks in 2005. Individual road usage increased resulting in a relatively high traffic density to other nations. A further increase of traffic is expected in the future.

Roads
Germany has approximately 650,000 km of roads, of which 231,000 km are non-local roads. The road network is extensively used with nearly 2 trillion kilometers travelled by car in 2005, in comparison to just 70 billion km travelled by rail and 35 billion km travelled by plane.
The autobahns are considered the safest category of German roads: for example, in 2012, while carrying 31% of all motorized road traffic, they only accounted for 11% of Germany's traffic fatalities.

Railways: * total: 40,826 km, including * at least 14,253 km electrified and * 14,768 km double- or multiple-tracked (1998)
Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) is the major German railway infrastructure and service operator. Though Deutsche Bahn is a private company, the government still holds all shares and therefore Deutsche Bahn can still be called a state-owned company. Since its reformation under private law in 1994, Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG) no longer publishes details of the tracks it owns; in addition to the DBAG system there are about 280 privately or locally owned railway companies which own an approximate 3,000 km to 4,000 km of the total tracks and use DB tracks in open access.

International freight trains:
While Germany and most of contiguous Europe use 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge, differences in signaling, rules and regulations, electrification voltages, etc. create obstacles for freight operations across borders. These obstacles are slowly being overcome, with international (in- and outgoing) and transit (through) traffic being responsible for a large part of the recent uptake in rail freight volume.

S-Barn:
Some urban areas of Germany have suburban rail systems called S-Bahnen (Schnellbahnen). These usually connect larger agglomerations to their suburbs, although the Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn connects several large cities. A S-Bahn doesn't skip stations and runs more frequently then other trains. In Berlin and Hamburg the S-Bahn has an U-Bahn-like service.

Metros:

Train on the Munich U-Bahn
Relatively few cities have a full-fledged underground U-Bahn system, and S-Bahn (suburban commuter railway) systems are far more common. In some cities the distinction between U-Bahn and S-Bahn systems is blurred, for instance some S-Bahn systems run underground, have frequencies similar to U-Bahn, and form part of the same integrated transport network. A larger number of cities has upgraded their tramways to light rail standards. These systems are called Stadtbahn (not to be confused with S-Bahn), on main line rails.
Airports:

Frankfurt Airport is Germany's largest airport and a major transportation hub in Europe which ranks among the world's top ten airports. It is one of the airports with the largest number of international destinations served worldwide. Depending on whether total passengers, flights or cargo traffic are used as a measure, it ranks first, second or third in Europe alongside London Heathrow Airport and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. Germany's second biggest international airport is Munich Airport followed by Düsseldorf Airport.
Airlines:

Lufthansa and Air Berlin aircraft
Germany's largest airline is former flag carrier Lufthansa that was privatized in the 1990s. The group also includes the regional subsidiaries of Lufthansa Regional as well as the independently operating low-cost subsidiaries Eurowings and German wings. Lufthansa operates a dense network of domestic, European and intercontinental routes.
Germany's second largest airline is Air Berlin, which also operates a network of domestic and European destinations with focus on leisure routes as well as some long-haul services.
Charter and leisure carriers include Condor, TUI fly, Sun Express Deutschland and Germania. Major German cargo operators are Lufthansa Cargo, European Air Transport Leipzig (which is a subsidiary of DHL) and Aerologic.

Water transport:
Waterways: 7,500 km (1999); major rivers include the Rhine and Elbe; Kiel Canal is an important connection between the Baltic and North Sea, the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal links Rotterdam on the North Sea with the Black Sea.
Pipelines: crude oil 2,500 km (1998)
Ports and harbours: Berlin, Bonn, Brake, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Cologne, Dortmund, Dresden, Duisburg, Emden,Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Lübeck, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Oldenburg, Rostock, Stuttgart, Wilhelmshaven
The port of Hamburg is the largest sea-harbor in Germany and ranks #2 in Europe, #7 worldwide (2004), in total container traffic.
Merchant marine: total: 4759 ships (with a volume of 1,000 gross register tons (GRT) or over) totaling 6,395,990 GRT/8,014,132 tones deadweight (DWT)
Ships by type: bulk carrier 2, cargo ship 181, chemical tanker 12, container ship 239, Liquefied 2, multi-functional large load carrier 5, passenger ship2, petroleum tanker 8, rail car carrier 2, refrigerated cargo 2, roll-on/roll-off ship 13, short-sea passenger 7 (1999 est.) Culture of Germany:
German culture as a nation-state and spanned the entire German-speaking world. From its roots, culture in Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular. Historically Germany has been called Das Land der Dichter und Denker (the country of poets and thinkers).[1]
There are a number of public holidays in Germany. The country is particularly associated with its traditional Oktoberfest celebrations, its carnival culture and globally influential Christmas customs known as Weihnachten.[2][3] 3 October has been the national day of Germany since 1990, celebrated as the German Unity Day (Tag der Deutschen Einheit). The UNESCO inscribed 38 properties in Germany on the World Heritage List.

German language and Languages of Germany:
German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany.[9] It is one of 23 official languages in the European Union, and one of the three working languages of the European Commission, along with English and French. Recognised native minority languages in Germany are Danish, Sorbian, and Frisian. They are officially protected by the ECRML. The most used immigrant languages are Turkish, Kurdish, Polish, the Balkan languages, and Russian.
Around the world, German has approximately 100 million native speakers and also about 80 million non-native speakers.[11] German is the main language of about 90 million people (18%) in the EU. 67% of German citizens claim to be able to communicate in at least one foreign language, 27% in at least two languages other than their first.

German literature:
German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages, with the most notable authors of the period being Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. The Nibelungenlied, whose author remains unknown, is also an important work of the epoch, as is the Thidrekssaga. The fairy tales collections collected and published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 19th century became famous throughout the world. Johann Wolfgang v. Goethe
(1749–1832) | Friedrich Schiller
(1759–1805) | Brothers Grimm
(1785–1863) | Thomas Mann
(1875–1955) | Hermann Hesse
(1877–1962) | | | | | |

German philosophy:
The rise of the modern natural sciences and the related decline of religion raised a series of questions, which recur throughout German philosophy, concerning the relationships between knowledge and faith, reason and emotion, and scientific, ethical, and artistic ways of seeing the world.
German philosophers have helped shape western philosophy from as early as the Middle Ages (Albertus Magnus). Later, Leibniz(17th century) and most importantly Kant played central roles in the history of philosophy. Kantianism inspired the work ofSchopenhauer and Nietzsche as well as German idealism defended by Fichte and Hegel. Marx and Engels developed communist theory in the second half of the 19th century while Heidegger and Gadamer pursued the tradition of German philosophy in the 20th century. A number of German intellectuals were also influential in sociology, most notably Adorno, Elias, Habermas, Horkheimer,Luhmann, Marcuse, Simmel, Tönnies, and Weber. The University of Berlin founded in 1810 by linguist and philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt served as an influential model for a number of modern western universities.

Music of Germany:

In the field of music, Germany claims some of the most renowned classical composers of the world including Bach and Beethoven, who marked the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music.

Rammstein at Madison Square Garden, NYC Other composers of the Austro-German tradition who achieved international fame include Brahms, Wagner, Haydn, Schubert, Händel, Schumann, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Johann Strauss II, Bruckner, Mahler, Telemann, Richard Strauss, Schoenberg, Orff, and most recently, Henze,Lachenmann, and Stockhausen.

Cinema of Germany:

German cinema dates back to the very early years of the medium with the work of Max Skladanowsky. It was particularly influential during the years of the Weimar Republic with German expressionists such as Robert Wiene and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. Austrian-based director Fritz Lang, who became a German citizen in 1926 and whose career flourished in the pre-war German film industry, is said to have been a major influence on Hollywood cinema. His silent movie Metropolis (1927) is referred to as the birth of modern Science Fiction movies. Founded in 1912, the Babelsberg Film Studio is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world.
The Berlinale Palast during theBerlin Film Festival in February 2007.In 1930 Josef von Sternberg directed The Blue Angel, which was the first major German sound film and it brought world fame to actress Marlene Dietrich.[16] Impressionist documentary Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, directed by Walter Ruttmann, is a prominent example of the city symphony genre. The Nazi era produced mostly propaganda films although the work of Leni Riefenstahl still introduced new aesthetics to film. German architecture:
Architectural contributions from Germany include the Carolingian and Ottonian styles, important precursors of Romanesque. The region then produced significant works in styles such as the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque.
The nation was particularly important in the early modern movement through the Deutscher Werkbund and the Bauhausmovement identified with Walter Gropius. The Nazis closed these movements and favoured a type of neo-classicism. Since World War II, further important modern and post-modern structures have been built, particularly since the reunification of Berlin.
Religion in Germany:

Picture of Benedict XVI.
64.1% of the German population belongs to Christian denominations: 31.4% are Roman Catholic, and 32.7% are affiliated withProtestantism [27] (the figures are known accurately because Germany imposes a church tax on those who disclose a religious affiliation).

Portrait of Martin Luther
The North and East are predominantly Protestant, the South and West predominantly Catholic. Nowadays there is a non-religious majority in Hamburg and the former East German states. Germany formed a substantial part of the Roman Catholic Holy Roman Empire, but was also the source of Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther.
Historically, Germany had a substantial Jewish population. Only a few thousand people of Jewish origin remained in Germany after the Holocaust, but the German Jewish community now has about 100,000 members, many from the former Soviet Union. Germany also has a substantial Muslimminority, most of whom are from Turkey.
German theologians include Luther, Melanchthon, Schleiermacher, Feuerbach, and Rudolf Otto. Also Germany was the origin of many mystics including Meister Eckhart, Rudolf Steiner, and Jakob Boehme; and of Pope Benedict XVI.

Sport in Germany:
Michael Schumacherhas won seven Formula One championships
Sport forms an integral part of German life. Twenty-seven million Germans are members of a sports club and an additional twelve million pursue such an activity individually.[48] Association football is the most popular sport. With more than 6.3 million official members, theGerman Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund) is the largest sports organisation of its kind worldwide.[48] The Bundesligaattracts the second highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world. The German national football team won the FIFA World Cup in 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014 and the UEFA European Football Championship in 1972, 1980 and 1996. Germany has hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1974 and 2006 and the UEFA European Football Championship in 1988. Among the most successful and renowned footballers are Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller, Jürgen Klinsmann, Lothar Matthäus, and Oliver Kahn. Other popular spectator sports include handball, volleyball, basketball, ice hockey, and tennis.

German sportsmen have been some of the most successful contenders in the Olympic Games, ranking third in an all-time Olympic Games medal count, combining East and West German medals. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, Germany finished fifth in the medal count,[50] while in the 2006 Winter Olympics they finished first.[51] Germany has hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice, in Berlin in 1936 and in Munich in 1972. The Winter Olympic Games took place in Germany once in 1936 when they were staged in the Bavarian twin towns ofGarmisch and Partenkirchen.
National dish:

A national dish is a culinary dish that is strongly associated with a particular country.[2] A dish can be considered a national dish for a variety of reasons: * It is a staple food, made from a selection of locally available foodstuffs that can be prepared in a distinctive way, such asFruits de mer, served along the west coast of France.[2] * It contains a particular 'exotic' ingredient that is produced locally, such as the South American paprika grown in the European Pyrenees.[2] * It is served as a festive culinary tradition that forms part of a cultural heritage—for example, barbecues at summer campor fondue at dinner parties—or as part of a religious practice, such as Korban Pesach or Iftar celebrations.[2]
National dishes are part of a nation's identity and self-image.[3] During the age of European empire-building, nations would develop a national cuisine to distinguish themselves from their rivals.[4]
According to Zilkia Janer, a lecturer on Latin American culture at Hofstra University, it is impossible to choose a single national dish, even unofficially, for countries such as Mexico or India because of their diverse ethnic populations and cultures.[3] The cuisine of such countries simply cannot be represented by any single national dish. Furthermore, because national dishes are so interwoven into a nation's sense of identity, strong emotions and conflicts can arise when trying to choose a country's national dish.
A Sunday roast—in this example, consisting of roast beef, mashed potatoes, vegetables and miniYorkshire puddings—is a national dish of England.

Pilaf (O'sh), a national dish in thecuisines of Central Asia

Hainanese chicken rice, a national dish of Singapore.

Tumpeng, a national dish of Indonesia.