West Germany
Overview
 
West Germany is the common English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...

 on 3 October 1990.

This period, during which Germany and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 were divided, ended when communist East Germany was dissolved and its five states joined the ten states of the Federal Republic of Germany along with the reunified city-state of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

.
Timeline

1948    Start of the Berlin Blockade: the Soviet Union makes overland travel between West Germany and West Berlin impossible.

1949    The western occupying powers approve the Basic Law for the new German state: the Federal Republic of Germany.

1949    The Federal Republic of Germany is established and the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is proclaimed.

1951    Ilse Koch, "The Bitch of Buchenwald", wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in West Germany.

1954    Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany.

1955    West Germany gains full sovereignty.

1955    Cold War: West Germany joins NATO.

1957    The European Economic Community is established (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg).

1962    A storm kills more than 300 people in Hamburg, West Germany.

1965    West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations.

 
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