After World War II, the victorious Allied powers divided Germany into two separate nation states, East Germany and West Germany. East Germany was under the Soviet sphere of influence. The USSR, which had suffered greatly from Germany's attack on it in World War II, was determined to keep it weak. It also created what Winston Churchill called an "iron curtain" separating Soviet bloc satellite states from the West.
By the late 1980s, however, the Soviet Union was greatly weakened. Memories of World War II were fading and Eastern bloc countries were clamoring for more social and economic freedom. In 1988, then Soviet Premier Gorbachev announced a policy of glasnot or "openness" that would allow Eastern bloc countries far more latitude in controlling their own affairs.
While the Soviets had for decades severely blocked immigration from one Eastern European country to the next, when these countries were given more freedom, they...
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began to test opening their borders. An important test came during what was called the Pan-European picnic in August, 1989, in which citizens of Eastern bloc nations were encouraged to cross the Hungarian border into the West. Following this, the Berlin Wall came down without interference from the Soviets. This particular act had great symbolic importance and paved the way for German unification. Once the disintegrating Soviet Union no longer blocked unification, the Germans, with the support of the West, were able to make this move.
Throughout history, Germany has been divided, reunited, divided, and reunited again under numerous names. Sometimes these names are not so accurate. From about the 800s until the 1800s, the countries or states populated by German-esque people were bound together under something called the Holy Roman Empire.
You might wonder what Rome has to do with Germany. In 800, it was Pope Leo III who appointed the Frankish king Charlemagne emperor.
When Napoleon became emperor of France, he started wars with many of the European countries, including the German ones. He unified the German states into something called the Confederation of the Rhine. As Napoleon's conquests did not last long, the Confederation of the Rhine did not last long.
In 1815, the states were unified again under something called the German Confederation. England was a big supporter of the German Confederation. They felt that a strong union of German states was a great way to prevent aggression from their main rivals: France and Russia.
The unity was not so harmonious. Prussia and Austria—two of the biggest states—developed a rivalry. Thus began the idea of a smaller unified Germany and a bigger unified Germany. The smaller unified Germany left Austria out of it. The bigger unified Germany made Austria a member of the union.
The German statesmen Otto Von Bismark was a supporter of the smaller Germany option. In 1867, Bismark helped bring about the North German Confederation, which included some but not all of Austria's territory and allies. In 1871, after defeating France in a war, Bismark solidified his German unification. Bismark's ability to bring the German states together served as inspiration for many Germans, including the Austrian Adolf Hitler.