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GERMANY Back to Germany's Yellow-net Two Germanies Tourists in Germany! Europe's largest economy and most populous nation, Germany remains a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed the country in two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century and left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945. With the advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR). The democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security organizations, the EC, which became the EU, and NATO, while the communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the end of the Cold War allowed for German unification in 1990. Since then Germany has expended considerable funds to bring eastern productivity and wages up to western standards. In January 2002, Germany and 11 other EU countries introduced a common European currency, the euro. Germany EARLY HISTORY Ancient Period The Germanic tribes, which probably originated from a mixture of races in the coastal region of the Baltic Sea, inhabited the greater northern part of the European continent by about 500 B.C. By 100 B.C. they had advanced into the central and southern area of present-day Germany. At this time, there were three major groups: the eastern Germanic peoples living along the Oder and Vistula rivers; the northern Germanic peoples inhabiting the southern part of present-day Scandinavia; and the western Germanic peoples inhabiting the extreme south of Jutland and the area between the North Sea and the Elbe, Rhine, and Main rivers. The Rhine was the temporary boundary line between Germanic and Roman territory after the defeat of the Suevian tribe by Julius Caesar about 70 B.C. The threatening presence of the warlike tribes caused the Romans to pursue a campaign of expansion into Germanic territory. However, the defeat of the provincial governor Varus by Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (A.D. 9) halted Roman colonial policy; Arminius had learned the enemy's strategies during his military training in the Roman armies. This battle brought about the liberation of the greater part of Germany from Roman domination.The Rhine River was once again the boundary line, until the Romans reoccupied territory on its eastern bank and built the limes, a 300-mile fortification, in the first century A.D. The migration of Germanic peoples (Völkerwanderung) from the second through the sixth century A.D. was a violent period of change and destruction in which eastern and western tribes left their native lands and settled in newly acquired territories. This period of Germanic history, which later supplied material for heroic epics, contributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire and resulted in a considerable expansion of habitable area for the Germanic peoples. However, with the exception of those established by the Franks and the AngloSaxons , the Germanic kingdoms founded during these centuries of migration were of relatively short duration because of their assimilation by the native Roman populations. The final conquest of Roman Gaul by the Frankish tribes in the sixth century became a milestone of European history; it was the Franks who were to become the founders of a civilized German state. FLIGHTS TO Germany and a lot more... Visit our NEW Germany Section, with MORE information about FLIGHTS TO Germany ! On-line Flyers On-line Toronto Grocery Store Flyers - ZELLERS - NO - FRILLS - LOBLAWS - PRICE CHOPPER and more flyers On-line flyers - Online store weekly flyers Cosmetic Dentistry - All about Cosmetic Dentistry Dubai - Info About Dubai - Dubai Hotels & more ZOOM TOOTH WHITENING TORONTO COSMETIC DENTISTS GreekTown on the Danforth Greektown Toronto Chicago Travel Agencies Toronto Unlimited Toronto Flower Delivery Dr Phil Mississauga Flowers & Florists Yorkville Restaurants Yorkville Restaurants Hair Transplant Toronto Toronto Escort Services Toronto Dentists Toronto Roofing Companies SPONSOR Fountains, Garden Fountains, Zen Fountains Metaxa Brandy Toronto Landscape ContractorsVisit Yorkville Toronto!