The Germans in ancient times were a huge ethnic concept - just as the concept of Slavs included different ethnic groups today such as Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles and other different ethnic groups: the concept of Germans included Franks, Otgoths, Vision Goths, Vandals

Germany was both defeated in both World Wars . These two defeats cost Germany about one-third of its territory. But today, there is no territorial dispute between Germany and its neighbors. Germany's history as a unified country began with the birth of the Second German Empire on January 18, 1871. Before this, German was just a geographical and cultural concept, and never referred to a unified nation-state. The German nation was formed by a long-term fusion of some tribes in the ancient Germanic people. The Germanic people were the first general term for all ethnic groups living in the Rhine and the Elbe River.

Ancient Germans were a huge ethnic concept - just as the concept of Slavs includes today's Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles and other different ethnic groups: under the concept of Germans, Franks , Ongoths , Visigoths, Vandals , Burgundy, Anglo , Saxon ... After the 3rd century AD, various German tribes poured into Roman Empire and established a series of countries. The most powerful of these Germanic countries is Frankish Kingdom .

August 843 The three grandsons of Charlemagne signed a treaty in Verdun and officially divided the territory of the Charlemagne . According to the boundaries divided by the treaty, three countries are formed: , West Frank Kingdom , , Middle Frank Kingdom and East Frank Kingdom. In the future, Germany evolved from the East Frank Kingdom : During the development process, the East Frank Kingdom further differentiated and formed many principalities. In 919 AD, Duke Henry I of the Principality of Saxony was elected as the "King of Germany" by the Principality of Saxony. The son of Henry I Otto I was crowned "Emperor of Germany" in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome on February 2, 962.

The empire pioneered by Otto I is called the Holy Roman Empire of Germany, and sometimes also known as the First German Empire. The territory of the German First Empire at its peak included the current Austrian , Switzerland, and eastern France Alsace and Lorraine , northern Italy, Czech , Slovakia and other places. Although the First German Empire was called the Empire, it was actually a loose alliance of separatist rule by the princes. The concept of "Germany" is just a general term for ethnic groups with similar cultures in this region, but this region called Germany has never been able to form a unified state regime.

Once there were 390 principalities, marquis, noble territories and knight territories in Germany. In the second half of the 19th century, Prussia and Austria stood out from many German states and became the two countries with the most promising unification of Germany. From 1864 to 1870 Prussia won wars with Denmark, Austria and France. On January 18, 1871, King of Prussia William I was crowned the second German Empire in the Hall of Mirror at the Palace of Versailles in Paris, France. This was the result of a unified German state with Prussia as its core.

After the unification of the Second German Empire, the territory of the second German Empire was about 540,857.54 square kilometers (excluding colonies), and the population was about 65 million. At that time, Germany was second only to the fourth largest European territory after , Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and France, and the second largest European population after Russia. As a rising imperialist country, Germany provoked the First World War in order to compete with old imperialist countries such as Britain and France for colonies and international markets. However, Germany's failure in World War caused it to lose 10% of its population, nearly 1/7 of its land and all overseas colonies.

21 years after the end of World War I, Germany provoked a world war again. WWII Later in the Allies made a resolution at the two meetings of Yalta and Potsdam : All Oder -the east of the Nice River will no longer be owned by Germany.This has resulted in the 100,000 square kilometers of territory in eastern Germany being classified into Polish . At the same time, the Soviet Union obtained 194,100 square kilometers of territory from Western Belarus and Western Ukraine through the Polish-Soviet Border Treaty in legal form, thus moving the territory of the Soviet Union, Poland and Germany into a whole westward move.

In the process of determining the Soviet-Polish border, the Soviet Union obtained from Poland, and came to the north Konisburg and renamed it to Kalingrad to commemorate the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet Presidium of the Soviet Union Mikhail Ivanovic Kalinining. Konisburg was once the dragon-growing place in Prussia and was once one of the German cultural centers: this place was once the capital of East Prussia for a long time. Celebrities such as Kant , Hoffman and other in German history have lived here. After this territorial adjustment in 1945, Prussia, as the birthplace of modern German unified country, almost no longer belongs to Germany.

territorial changes caused by the two world wars have reduced Germany today by about 34% compared to before World War I. After World War II, Germany, as a defeated country, was occupied by the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France in subdistricts. In May 1949, the occupied areas of the United States, Britain and France were merged into the Federal Republic of Germany (hereinafter referred to as Federal German or West German ). In October of the same year, the Soviet-occupied areas announced the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Germany (hereinafter referred to as Democratic Germany or East Germany). Since then, West Germany and East Germany have embarked on the capitalist path and the socialist path respectively. In the past half a century, Germany split in the Cold War years has become the frontier of the confrontation between the two major camps led by the United States and the Soviet Union.

During this period, Germany's biggest goal was to achieve national unity. The unification of the two Germanys On the surface, it should be decided by the people on both sides themselves, but the emergence of the two Germanys itself was formed under the leadership of the four victorious countries of the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France. The reunification of the two Germanys is bound to change the geopolitical pattern in Europe. This will directly affect the interests of the four major powers of the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France, so the reunification of the two Germanys is not simply determined by the people on both sides. It was not until 1989 that Germany ushered in the historical opportunity of national reunification against the backdrop of drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

2020202020 NATO and Warsaw Pact 23 Foreign Ministers Meeting held in Ottawa in February 1990, West German Foreign Minister Genshek proposed a "2+4" plan aimed at promoting the process of German reunification. The so-called "2+4" plan refers to a meeting composed of the foreign ministers of the four victorious countries of East Germany, West Germany, and the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France to conduct consultations on the reunification of the two Germanys. During the consultation process, the United Kingdom proposed that Germany should no longer make demands on its previous territories after its unification. Germany ceded a large amount of territory to Poland, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, France, Denmark and other countries during the two world wars.

This seems to have nothing to do with the UK on the surface, but the UK’s long-term foreign policy is to maintain the balance of power on the European continent. Germany's unification will inevitably change Europe's existing geopolitical landscape, and the UK does not want a strong competitor to appear on the European continent. In fact, the United States, the Soviet Union and France were also worried that a powerful Germany would undermine the geopolitical balance in Europe, not to mention that part of the land that Germany ceded was given to the Soviet Union and France. Poland, Denmark, Belgium, and other countries that have been ceded to Germany are also worried that Germany will demand its former territory.

If Germany insists on seeking the former territory, it will inevitably intensify the conflict with the four victorious countries and Poland, Denmark, Belgium and other countries. In order to prevent unification from being intervened by these countries, Germany clearly promised not to restore pre-WWII territory. Now the German Constitution clearly states: "Every inch of Germany's territory is already in the German territory." This shows that Germany no longer strives to restore its pre-WWII territory in terms of subjective will. Germany's reflection on World War II is in sharp contrast with another defeated country, Japan: the Prime Minister even expressed Germany's confession to World War II crimes to the world in a way that he knelt down.

The painful lessons of the failure of the two world wars made Germany embark on a completely different path after the war: Germany, which was once militant, began to use peaceful political, economic and cultural means to devote itself to European integration . Today, Germany has become an important dominant country within EU . The ideal of unifying Europe that Hitler could not be achieved by force is now being realized by the Germans in the new era by another means, and the reason why European countries re-accept Germany is due to Germany's profound confession to war crimes. Germany's abandonment of demanding pre-war territory was actually atonement for its own war acts.

If Germany wants to forcefully restore the territory before the two world wars, it will directly impact the European geopolitical pattern formed since World War II. This will not only arouse opposition from neighboring countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic, and Denmark, but will also inevitably arouse the vigilance of the United States, Russia, Britain, France and other countries. If Germany had not promised to give up restoring its pre-war territory at that time, then Germany's unification process would have been interfered by major powers, and the unified Germany would have been the target of alert for European countries. If Germany had not given up asking for pre-war territory, then Germany today would not have become the dominant leader of the EU.

Germany has made itself re-accepted by European countries through profound reflection on historical issues, but Japan is incompatible with its Asian neighbors due to historical reasons. After the war, Germany and Japan were subject to certain restrictions in the political and military fields. In order to make up for the shortcomings of its own political influence, Germany often participates in international political affairs under the collective framework of the EU, so Germany's international influence can often be greatly improved based on the EU platform. If Germany after the war also acted like Japan, it would be impossible to be recognized by European countries.