20th and 21th Century: Rulers, governments, politics

German government and politics in the early 20^th century centered on expansion into to every European nation. Wilhelm II government adopted both domestic and foreign policies, which contributed to increasing tensions in Europe. German nationalism, imperialism, and   militarism alongside Wilhelm II diplomatic and personal belligerence all contributed to the outbreak of WWI (Tipton 249). In particular, Wilhelm administration was working on The Schrieffer Plan (Tipton 255). It represented a total shift from the Bismarck policies, which centered on peaceful co-existence. The politics marked a new aggressive move to become a leading power. Whereas other heads of states exercised, caution Wilhelm was quick to assert German intentions and interests. In the aftermath of the disastrous World War I, German remained in turmoil providing an ideal setting for the rise of war driven political leader and extremist ideologies. The end of World War I saw German become a Weimar Republic featuring a quasi-democratic regime with Friedrich Ebert and succeeded by Paul Hindenburg (Tipton 373).

However, with continued turmoil and the threat from Communist control, Adolf Hitler offered solutions. He maintained that German problems attributed to democracy and the Jews. The Nazi party used this clever tactics seeing Hitler ascend to power in 1933 (Tipton 459). Immediately Hitler began laying the foundation for the Nazi state. With the Nazi ideology, anti-Semitism arose resulting in the persecution of Jews. Hitler directed the Germany foreign policy towards contravening the Treaty of Versatile to restore Germany position on the world stage leading to WWII. In the after match of WWII, German divided into two blocks. On one, side the East Communist Germany and West Germany, which government by a democratic government (Fulbrook 123). With the collapse of the Soviet Union, German reunified to one Federal Republic. Helmmut Kohl from Christian Democratic Union became Chancellor for a reunified Germany from 1991 to1998. Gerhad Schroder of the Social Democratic Party served as German Chancellor from 1988 to 2005 succeeded him. Today Angel Markel heads German, as the first female Chancellor affiliated to the Christian Democratic Party (Fulbrook 224).

Works Cited

Fulbrook Mary. A History of Germany 1981-2008: The Divided Nation. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2011, Print.

Tipton Frank. A history of Germany Since 1815, London: A&C Black, 2003 Print