360Germany is reunified
On 3 October 1990, East and West Germany were reunited as one country, less than a year after the Berlin Wall fell. Germany had been divided since the end of the Second World War. Crowds celebrated in front of the Reichstag in Berlin. Germans now mark 3 October every year as the Day of German Unity.
After the Second World War, Germany was divided. In 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in the west and the German Democratic Republic in the east. Berlin was split, and from 1961 a wall divided the city.
In 1989, as change swept central and eastern Europe, East Germans protested peacefully and fled west through neighbouring countries. On 9 November 1989, the Berlin Wall was opened.
In March 1990, East Germany held its first free elections. The two German states agreed a currency union, and in September 1990 they signed a treaty with the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France settling Germany's future.
Reunification took effect on 3 October 1990. Berlin later became the capital again, and the federal parliament moved into the rebuilt Reichstag building in 1999.
- 1949
- Germany is divided into two states
- 13 August 1961
- The Berlin Wall is built
- 9 November 1989
- The Berlin Wall opens
- 3 October 1990
- Germany is reunified
Sources: Federal Government of Germany · Britannica.