Federal Republic of Germany (may 23, 1949 – oct 2, 1990)
Description:
West Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany[a] (FRG; German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ), retrospectively designated as the Bonn Republic, is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 October 1990. During this Cold War period, the western portion of Germany was part of the Western Bloc. West Germany was formed as a political entity during the Allied occupation of Germany after World War II, established from eleven states formed in the three Allied zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Its provisional capital was the city of Bonn.At the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided between the Western and Eastern blocs. Germany was de facto divided into two countries and two special territories, the Saarland and a divided Berlin. Initially, West Germany claimed an exclusive mandate for all of Germany, identifying as the sole democratically reorganised continuation of the 1871–1945 German Reich. It took the line that the German Democratic Republic (GDR), commonly referred to as East Germany, was an illegally constituted puppet state controlled by the Soviet Union.
Three southwestern states of West Germany merged to form Baden-Württemberg in 1952, and the Saarland joined West Germany in 1957. In addition to the resulting ten states, West Berlin was considered an unofficial de facto eleventh state. While legally not part of West Germany, as Berlin was under the control of the Allied Control Council, West Berlin politically aligned with West Germany and was directly or indirectly represented in its federal institutions.
Added to timeline:
Date:
may 23, 1949
oct 2, 1990
~ 41 years
