I.

Introduction

West Germany, common name for a former republic (1949-1990) of central Europe, which was bordered on the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; on the east by the former East Germany and Czechoslovakia; on the south by Austria and Switzerland; and on the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

West Germany had an area of 248,577 sq km (95,976 sq mi). It was established officially as the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; German, Bundesrepublik Deutschland) on May 23, 1949, as one of two successor states—East Germany (officially the German Democratic Republic, or GDR) being the other—to the nation of Germany after its defeat in World War II. West Germany ceased to exist in 1990 when it merged with East Germany into a single nation known as Germany (officially the Federal Republic of Germany).