Contact Admin. It borders Denmark to the north and the Czech Republic to the east and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to the west. Germany includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of , square kilometres, has a temperate seasonal climate. With 83 million inhabitants, it is the second most populous state of Europe after Russia , the most populous state lying in Europe, as well as the most populous member state of the European Union.
Germany is a decentralized country, its capital and largest metropolis is Berlin , while Frankfurt serves as its financial capital and has the country's busiest airport. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before AD. 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.
After the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, the German Confederation was formed in ; the German revolutions of —49 resulted in the Frankfurt Parliament establishing major democratic rights. In , Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire.
After World War I and the revolution of —19 , the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic ; the Nazi seizure of power in led to the establishment of a dictatorship, the annexation of Austria , World War II , the Holocaust. After the end of World War II in Europe and a period of Allied occupation, Austria was re-established as an independent country and two new German states were founded: West Germany , formed from the American and French occupation zones, East Germany , formed from the Soviet occupation zone.
