The word "Germany" comes from the word "diot" in old German, which means "people". The earliest history can be traced back to the 8th century. It refers to the dialect spoken by Germanic tribes living in the eastern part of the Frankish kingdom. In 800 AD, the Frankish Kingdom reached its peak during Charlemagne's reign and became the Frankish Empire. There are many German-speaking Germanic tribes in the Great Kingdom. The dialect spoken by these Germanic tribes is called "Germany". When Charlemagne died in 8 14 AD, the Frankish Empire immediately fell apart, and in the process of dividing up various heritages, two kingdoms, East and West, were formed. The political boundary between the two kingdoms is roughly equivalent to the language boundary between German and French. The French-speaking West Frankish Kingdom later evolved into today's France, and the residents of the German-speaking East Frankish Kingdom gradually developed a feeling of "belonging to the same country" in their long life. At this time, the word "Germany" also developed from a synonym of a language to a representative of people who speak this language. When these German-speaking tribes later established their own kingdoms, they not only used "Germany" to call their language and people, but also used it to name their country.
Before World War II, Germany experienced three empires with a republic in the history of 1000 years. The first empire in German history refers to the holy Roman Empire in 962- 1806. People used to regard 9 1 1 as the beginning of the transformation from the Eastern Frankish Empire to the German Empire. This year, Frank Duke Conrad I was elected king, and he was regarded as the first German king. In 962 AD, King Otto I of Germany was crowned emperor by the Pope in Rome, known as the "Roman Emperor", and the Kingdom of Germany was known as the "Holy Roman Empire of the German nation", that is, the ancient German Empire, or the First Empire. 1806, the empire was overthrown by Napoleon I.
The Second Reich refers to the German Empire of1871-1918, which was unified by Prussia through three dynastic wars. 1870 In the Franco-Prussian War, Prussia defeated France, and in June 65438 +087 1 654381October 18, King William I of Prussia was crowned as the German emperor at the Palace of Versailles in France.
The life span of the Second Reich is very short, only 47 years. 19 14 World War I ended with the defeat of Germany and the disintegration of the Second Empire. This war also made Germany establish a federal republic for the first time. Because the Constitution of the Republic of China was adopted at the National Assembly held in Weimar City, it is generally called Weimar Constitution, so this Republic of China is also called Weimar Republic. 193365438+1October 30th, the German National Socialist Workers' Party (Nazi Party) headed by Hitler came to power, established a fascist dictatorship, and declared the end of the Weimar Republic.
The Third Reich refers to 1933- 1945 fascist Germany, and Hitler called himself the Third Reich. September 1939, World War II started. 1on may 8, 945, Germany signed the surrender, and the third Reich came to an end. Germany was occupied by the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union.
1949 in may, the western occupied area merged by the United States, Britain and France passed the basic law, announcing the establishment of the federal Republic of Germany (that is, west Germany) and establishing the government in September. In June of the same year 1O, the German Democratic Republic (that is, East Germany) was established in the Soviet-occupied area. By the middle and late 1980s, in the atmosphere of gradually easing the relationship between East and West, East and West Germany were increasingly unified, with monetary unification 1990 in July and political unification 1990 in June.