Neuschwanstein Castle, built by Bavaria's "Mad King Ludwig," is among the region's biggest tourist attractions and major landmarks. The lands that make up modern Germany weren't united until the late 19th century. Today, keeping them together requires a federal system that grants the country's diverse states a measure of autonomy with the intention of preventing some -- such as the wealthy Bavaria, which has flirted with the idea of independence before -- from trying to strike out on their own.
Kaiser Wilhelm II (L), the emperor of Germany and king of Prussia, sits in a field during military maneuvers with Gen. Helmuth von Moltke, circa 1914. In 1907, Russia, France and the United Kingdom formed an alliance that collectively could have destroyed Germany. Berlin had little choice but to launch a war of its own in hopes of picking off one member as it kept the others at bay.
A Russian soldier argues with a German woman in Berlin over a bicycle he wanted to buy from her. World War II left the defeated Germany occupied and divided, creating a dilemma for the United States and its allies as they realized that they would need to rearm West Germany in order to contain the Soviet Union.
West Berliners crowd in front of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 11, 1989, as they watch East German border guards demolish a section of it. Reunited, Germany threatened to unseat France as Europe's leading power, thanks to the size of its population and economy as well as to the quality of its educational system and infrastructure.
The symbol of the euro, the currency of the eurozone, stands illuminated in Frankfurt on Jan. 21, 2015. The free trade zone at the foundation of the European Union underpins Germany's export-based economy as well.
The Elbe River flows past Dresden's illuminated city center, much of which was obliterated by Allied bombing raids on Feb. 13, 1945. Though stronger regional powers blocked the military and political reach of the Electorate of Brandenburg, which later became the Kingdom of Prussia, its position astride the Oder and Elbe rivers -- and the proximity of its capital, Berlin, to these waterways and their tributaries -- extended its economic reach from Hamburg to Prague.
New Volkswagen Passat and Golf 7 cars stand stored in a tower at the Volkswagen Autostadt complex in Wolfsburg, Germany. Hypercompetitive German industries have gradually weakened the economies of other eurozone members.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel waits for delegates at a conference on Aug. 28, 2014, in Berlin. Should the chancellor fail to form a coalition with the country's smaller parties after the Sept. 24 elections, the CDU may have no choice but to try to revisit the possibility of striking a grand bargain with the center-left Social Democratic Party. And though the two parties have managed to work together in the past, neither is eager to find itself in the same coalition after the elections have ended.
German voters cast their ballots for federal elections at a cultural center in Halle on Sept. 22, 2013. Though the 2017 campaign season has been fairly uneventful, its outcome could have a considerable impact at home and abroad.
In Berlin, a Muslim woman pushes a pram past campaign billboards that show German Social Democrat candidate Martin Schulz (L), Christian Democratic Union (CDU) candidate and current Chancellor Angela Merkel (C), and Greens Party co-lead candidate Katrin Goering-Eckardt on Sept. 8, 2017. According to recent opinion polls, the conservative CDU party will likely take first place in the elections, but it will still need allies to form a ruling coalition.
