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West Germany was the informal name for the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1990, during which years the Federal Republic did not yet include
East Germany. Since the
German reunification of 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany is informally called simply
Germany.
West Germany was proclaimed
May 23, 1949, with
Bonn as capital, and included the post-
World War II UK, US, and
French occupation zones. West Germany was declared "fully
sovereign"
May 5, 1955, although with the former occupying troops remaining on the ground, just as the
Soviet Army remained in East Germany.
West Germany joined
NATO on
May 9, 1955, thus becoming a focus of the
Cold War with its juxtaposition to East Germany, a member of the subsequently founded
Warsaw Pact. The former German capital,
Berlin, was also divided into
East Berlin and
West Berlin but West Berlin was completely surrounded by East Germany.
After the fall of the
Berlin Wall on
November 9, 1989, the
unification of the two Germanies was quickly arranged: formally, West Germany grew by annexing the territory of East Germany, and is now known simply as
Germany. This took place on
October 3, 1990, and the four occupying powers officially withdrew on
March 15, 1991. US forces, however, maintained
military bases, such as
Ramstein Air Base,
Baumholder, and Grafenwöhr.
Related articles
Occupying powers
See Also
Category:West Germany
Germany, West
ca:República Federal d'Alemanya
da:Vesttyskland
de:Westdeutschland
eo:Okcidenta Germanio
et:Lääne-Saksamaa
gl:Alemaña do Oeste
id:Jerman Barat
it:Germania Ovest
he:גרמניה המערבית
sl:Zahodna Nemčija
sv:Västtyskland
pt:Alemanha Ocidental
sr:Западна Немачка
zh:西德
nl:West-Duitsland