ABSTRACT
In this century political transformations and border changes brought about as a result of war have twice redefined the country we call Germany. The revolutionary change from an Empire to a Republic following World War I led to the establishment of the conflicted Weimar Republic, whose weaknesses gave way to the Nazi regime of the Third Reich. In the aftermath of a world war instigated by that regime, the Allies divided what remained of Germany and as part of the Cold War scheme these parts evolved into two separate states, the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany. Finally, the end of the Cold War marked by the Fall of the Berlin Wall, led to the reunification of these two German states in 1989 to form the fifth successor state to the unified nation-state formed in 1871. This last version of "Germany" is defined by perhaps more permanent borders, but much as its predecessors, it still seeks its identity as a nation.
