The table provides a chronological list of the leaders of Germany from 1871.
Leaders of Germany Kaisers of the German Empire *Upon Hindenburg's death in 1934, the powers of the presidency were merged with those of the chancellor. **Chancellor from 1933 and Führer ("Leader") from 1934. ***East Germany was governed by interim administrations from December 1989 until the two Germanys were reunited in October 1990. William I (of Prussia) 1871–88 Frederick III 1888 William II 1888–1918 Presidents of the Weimar Republic Friedrich Ebert 1919–25 Paul von Hindenburg 1925–33 Leaders of the Third Reich (National Socialist regime) Paul von Hindenburg* 1934 Adolf Hitler** 1933–45 Chancellors of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) Konrad Adenauer 1949–63 Ludwig Erhard 1963–66 Kurt Georg Kiesinger 1966–69 Willy Brandt 1969–74 Helmut Schmidt 1974–82 Helmut Kohl 1982–90 First (or General) Secretaries of the Socialist Unity Party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) Walter Ulbricht 1950–71 Erich Honecker 1971–89 Egon Krenz*** 1989 Chancellors of the Federal Republic of Germany (reunited Germany) Helmut Kohl 1990–98 Gerhard Schröder 1998–2005 Angela Merkel 2005–
Citation Information
Article Title: Germany
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 07 August 2019
URL: https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany
Access Date: August 13, 2019
Additional Reading General works
Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR, Information GDR: The Comprehensive and Authoritative Reference Source of the German Democratic Republic, 2 vol. (1989), is a comprehensive work on former East Germany. Eric Solsten (ed.), Germany: A Country Study, 3rd ed. (1996), provides an excellent overview of all aspects of life in Germany. Land
A simple but useful portrayal of Germany in maps is Bernhard Schäfers et al., The State of Germany Atlas (1998; originally published in German, 1997). W. Tietze et al. (eds.), Geographie Deutschlands: Bundesrepublik Deutschland (1990), is a massive, comprehensive, and authoritative geographic survey. Excellent broad overviews are provided by Herbert Liedtke and Joachim Marcinek (eds.), Physische Geographie Deutschlands, 3rd ed. (2002); and Karl Eckart (ed.), Deutschland (2001). People
Publications that provide an overview of population issues in Germany and Europe include Rainer Münz and Myron Weiner (eds.), Migrants, Refugees, and Foreign Policy: U.S. and German Policies Toward Countries of Origin (1997); and Heinz Fassmann and Rainer Münz (eds.), European Migration in the Late Twentieth Century: Historical Patterns, Actual Trends, and Social Implications (1994). Economy
Eric Owen Smith, The German Economy (1994), provides an overview of West and East Germany’s economies as well as that of reunited Germany. Sources of recent information on Germany include the periodicals Country Profile: Germany (annual), Country Report: Germany (quarterly), and OECD Economic Surveys: Germany (annual). Leslie Lipschitz and Donogh McDonald (eds.), German Unification: Economic Issues (1990), deals with the economic ramifications of political reunification. Government and society
German politics in the post-World War II period is the subject of David P. Conradt, The German Polity, 7th ed. (2001); and Manfred G. Schmidt, Political Institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany (2003). Konrad H. Jarausch, The Rush to German Unity (1994), recounts political reunification in 1990. Peter J. Katzenstein (ed.), Tamed Power: Germany in Europe (1997), explains why and how Germany’s political and economic power are now expressed by way of multilateral relationships within the European Union. Mike Dennis, The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic 1945–1990 (2000), provides a political history of the former East Germany. The health care system is discussed in Michael Arnold, Health Care in the Federal Republic of Germany, trans. from the German by Kevin Sullivan (1991); and Richard A. Knox, Germany: One Nation with Health Care for All (1993). The German educational system is the subject of Hansgert Peisert and Gerhild Framhein, Higher Education in the Federal Republic of Germany, trans. from the German by R. Feemster and G. Framhein (1990); and Val D. Rust and Diane Rust, The Unification of German Education (1995). Cultural life
Intellectual life, arts, and culture in former West Germany are treated in Gordon A. Craig, The Germans (1982, reprinted 1991). Postwar literature is the subject of Lowell A. Bangerter, German Writing Since 1945: A Critical Survey (1988). Celia Applegate, A Nation of Provincials: The German Idea of Heimat (1990), views the pervading attachment to local place as a constant in German history. Other useful studies include Terence Prittie, My Germans, 1933–1983 (1983), which explores social life and customs and national characteristics; and Harry G. Shaffer, Women in the Two Germanies: A Comparative Study of a Socialist and a Non-Socialist Society (1981). The interrelationships between the media and literature are explored in Arthur Williams, Stuart Parkes, and Julian Preece (eds.), Literature, Markets, and Media in Germany and Austria Today (2000). A historical overview of film is provided in Sabine Hake, German National Cinema (2002). George Hall Kirby Thomas Henry Elkins William H. Berentsen History Ancient Germany