Germany

The Federal Republic of Germany is a liberal capitalist state located in Western Europe, bordered by the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Poland, Austria, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Czechia.

Positives and Negatives

This only covers Germany from 1990, so no talking about that, or that, or that.

Positives

• Renewable energy use rose from 6.3% in 2000 to 34% in 2016

Negatives

• Germany has a number of severe issues with pollution. Emissions from coal-burning utilities and industries contribute to air pollution and acid rain. There are issues of deforestation (see Hambach Forest Occupation), raw sewage being dumped into the Baltic Sea and rivers across the country, as well as hazardous waste not being disposed of properly.

History

Nazi Germany (1933 - 1945)

Main Article: Nazi Germany

In 1933, Hitler legally took power in Germany and began to restructure it into the world's only Nazi dictatorship. He also formed alliances with Italy, Japan, Finland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, annexed Austria and invaded Czechoslovakia, Poland, Danzig, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Yugoslavia, Greece and the USSR. Although extensive plans were made for domination of Europe, the Nazis began to fail in 1941 after fighting the USSR and USA and the Nazi government collapsed in 1945 with most high officials fleeing to other countries, being arrested (and sometimes executed) or committing suicide.

Cold War (1945 - 1989)

Germany was placed under the joint administration of the USA, UK, France and the USSR and was soon famously split between a liberal capitalist West Germany (and West Berlin) and an authoritarian socialist East Germany during the Cold War (some have even regarded the West as a US puppet state and the East as a USSR puppet state). West Germany became far more prosperous than East Germany, and East Germany became a brutal police state (most famously with the Stasi and Berlin Wall). However, during the 1960s through to the 1980s, West Germany saw massive amounts of unrest and terrorism led by groups like the Autonomen, Squatters, Students, RAF, Revolutionary Cells, Rote Zora and the Tupamaros.