dé yì zhì lián bāng gòng hé guó，
jiǎn chēng xī dé huò lián bāng dé guó（
dé yǔ： BundesrepublikDeutschland，
suō xiě BRD）
jiàn lì yú 1949
nián 5
yuè 23
rì，
qí chū qī fàn wéi bāo kuò '
èr zhàn hòu yóu yīng guó、
měi guó hé fǎ guó suǒ zhàn lǐng de dé guó lǐng tǔ。
zài 1990
nián liǎng dé tǒng yī hái dū zhì bólín zhī qián，
xī dé de shǒu dū shì shè zhì yú bō '
ēn。
ér chú liǎo dé guó xī bù de lǐng tǔ wài，
dōng dé jìng nèi、
dé guó yuán běn de shǒu dū bólín shì qū xī bàn bù zài dāng shí yě shǔ yú xī dé lǐng tǔ。
xī bǎi lín yīn wéi yóu dōng dé lǐng tǔ bāo wéi，
shì yī gè fēi dì。
zài liǎng dé tǒng yī zhī hòu，
dé yì zhì mín zhù gòng hé guó（
dōng dé）
xiāo shī，
yóu dé yì zhì lián bāng gòng hé guó zuò wéi tǒng yī hòu de cún xù dān wèi。
lì shǐ
dì '
èr cì shì jiè dà zhàn nà cuì dé guó zhàn bài，
gēn jù zhàn shí bō cí tǎn huì yì zhōng yīng、
měi、
fǎ、
sū sì guó de mì yuē，
jué dìng zài dé guó zhàn bài hòu jiāng qí yī fēn wéi sì fēn bié yóu sì gè zhàn shèng guó zhàn lǐng，
bìng qiě hé zǔ yī gè zuì gāo guǎn lǐ dān wèi tóng méng guǎn lǐ yì huì（ AlliedControlCouncil， ACC）
lái zhì lǐ dé guó shì wù。
dàn yóu yú lǐ niàn shàng de chā yì，
zài zhàn hòu yǐ měi guó wéi zhù de xī fāng zhèn yíng yǔ yǐ sū lián wéi zhù de gòng chǎn zhèn yíng zhú jiàn shū yuǎn， 1948
nián 3
yuè shí，
měi、
yīng、
fǎ sān guó zài lún dūn jǔ xíng huì yì，
chū bù jué yì yào jiāng sān guó suǒ fēn bié guǎn lǐ de dé guó lǐng tǔ hé bìng，
zǔ chéng yī gè dé guó xī bù de zhèng quán，
zhēn duì zhè diǎn sū lián fāng miàn zuò chū fǎn zhì，
shǒu xiān shì tuì chū ACC，
bìng jìn '
ér xuān bù zhuóshǒu shè lì yī gè dōng dé zhèng quán de jìhuà。
dàn zhí jiē dǎo zhì dōng xī dé fēn lí de dǎo huǒ xiàn，
zé shì fā shēng zài 1948
nián 6
yuè 20
rì，
xī fāng zhàn lǐng qū jìng nèi de huò bì zhòng zhěng jìhuà。
dāng shí xī fāng sān guó zhàn lǐng qū nèi yuán běn fēn bié fā xíng de huò bì zhěng hé wéi yī，
dàn què pái chú sū lián zhàn lǐng qū，
fā xíng liǎo suǒ wèi de xī dé mǎ kè，
ér sū lián zhàn lǐng qū yě zài duǎn duǎn sān rì hòu fā xíng liǎo dōng dé mǎ kè，
yǎn rán xiàng zhēng dōng xī dé zhèng shì fēn lí。
dōng xī dé fēn lí hòu，
dōng dé fāng miàn céng zài 1948
nián zhōng kāi shǐ，
duì shǐ yòng xī dé mǎ kè de xī bǎi lín dì qū jìn xíng fēng suǒ，
wéi qī 11
gè yuè，
xī wàng tòu guò cǐ jǔ dá dào wán quán kòng zhì zhěng gè bólín dì qū de mùdì，
dàn què zài xī fāng guó jiā chí xù yǐ kōng yùn fāng shì suǒ jìn xíng de bólín kōng yùn zhī zhī yuán xià méi yòu shí xiàn。
zài bólín fēng suǒ jiě chú（ 1949
nián 5
yuè 12
rì）
hòu méi duō jiǔ de 5
yuè 23
rì，
xī dé（
dé yì zhì lián bāng gòng hé guó）
xuān bù zhèng shì chéng lì。
ér dōng dé fāng miàn yě zài tóng nián de 10
yuè 7
rì xuān bù zhèng shì chéng lì yǐ dé yì zhì shè huì zhù yì tǒng yī dǎng（
suō xiě： SED）
yī dǎng zhuān zhèng de shè huì zhù yì gòng hé zhèng tǐ。
xī dé yú 1955
nián 5
yuè 8
rì jiā rù běi yuē，
xiāng duì de，
yóu sū lián fú zhí、
gòng dǎng zhù zhèng de dōng dé（
dé yì zhì mín zhù gòng hé guó）
zé jiā rù liǎo huá shā tiáo yuē zǔ zhì，
shǐ dé dōng xī dé jiān de jiāo jiè chéng wéi liǎng dà duì lěi zhèn yíng de zuì qián xiàn，
lěng zhàn de jiāo diǎn。
zài 1989
nián 11
yuè 9
rì bólín qiáng dǎo tā hòu，
dōng dé lǐng tǔ yú 1990
nián 10
yuè 3
rì zhèng shì bìng rù xī dé，
dé yì zhì lián bāng gòng hé guó cóng cǐ fù gài dé guó quán jìng，
dé guó tǒng yī chéng yī gè guó jiā。 1991
nián 3
yuè 15
rì，
sì gè zhàn lǐng guó zhèng shì fàng qì duì qí de zhàn lǐng quán。
yīn cǐ chú liǎo shì wéi shì yī gè fēn liè zhuàng tài xià de dú lì guó jiā zhī wài，
xī dé yě kě bèi shì wéi shì dāng dài dé guó（
dé yì zhì lián bāng gòng hé guó）
de yī duàn lì shǐ shí qī。
West Germany (German: Westdeutschland) is a common English name for the period of the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, BRD) between the adoption of the new constitution in May 1949 to German reunification in October 1990, when the (East) German Democratic Republic was dissolved and the five states on its territory joined the Federal Republic of Germany, ending the more than 40-year division of Germany and Berlin. From the 1990 reunification onwards, the enlarged Federal Republic of Germany with sixteen states has been exclusively known as Germany in common usage.
The Federal Republic of Germany was organized from the initially 12 states formed in the three Western Zones or Allied Zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. Bonn was selected as its provisional capital city, rather than the enclave of West Berlin which had a special status, but practically was part of the Federal Republic. The fourth Allied occupation zone or East Zone (Ostzone) was held by the Soviet Union. The parts east of the Oder-Neisse were de facto annexed by the Soviet Union and Communist Poland, the remaining central part around Berlin became the communist German Democratic Republic, GDR (in German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR) with its de facto capital East Berlin. As a result, the remaining Western Germany had a territory about half the size of its previous democratic-capitalist antecessor, the interwar Weimar Republic.
At the onset of the Cold War, Europe and Germany were divided among the Western and Eastern blocs. Germany was de facto divided into two countries, plus two special territories, the Saarland and divided Berlin. The Federal Republic of Germany claimed an exclusive mandate for all of Germany, considering itself to be the democratically re-organized German Reich on the grounds that the GDR government was not democratically elected, but was installed by a foreign occupying power and thus not legitimate. The number of federal states changed in the 1950s, when three south western states merged to form a single Baden-Württemberg in 1952, and when the Saarland joined the Federal Republic of Germany in 1957. In addition to the official ten states, West Berlin was considered an unofficial de facto eleventh state. While legally not part of the Federal Republic of Germany, as it was under four-power occupation, West Berlin was represented directly or indirectly in federal institutions.
Relations with the Soviet bloc improved during the era of Ostpolitik in the 1970s, and the two German states recognized the existence of each other. De jure West Germany formally maintained the exclusive mandate: it recognized the GDR as a de facto government still within a single German nation that in turn is represented de jure by the West German state only, while East Germany recognized the existence of two German countries de jure, and the West as both de facto and de jure foreign country.
The foundation for the influential position held by Germany today was laid during the Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle) of the 1950s, when West Germany rose from the massive destruction wrought by World War II to become the world's third largest economy. The first chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who remained in office until 1963, had worked for a full alignment with the West rather than neutrality. He not only secured a membership in NATO, but he was also a proponent of agreements that developed into the present-day European Union. When the G6/G8 was established in 1975, there was no question whether the Federal Republic of Germany would be a member as well.
When the system of state socialism collapsed in East Germany and the wider Central and Eastern Europe in 1989–1990, symbolized by the opening of the Berlin Wall, there was a rapid move towards German reunification. East Germany voted to dissolve itself and accede to the Federal Republic in 1990. Its postwar five states (Länder) were reconstituted, and along with reunited Berlin, which ended its special status and formed an additional Land, they formally joined the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990, raising the number of states from 10 to 16. The expanded Federal Republic of Germany, now exclusively known as simply Germany in the English language, retained its political culture, and it continues the memberships in international organizations, as well as its Western foreign policy alignment and affiliation to Western alliances like the European Union and NATO. The enlarged Federal Republic of Germany is the continuation of, and not a successor to, the (West German) Federal Republic of Germany with fewer states until 1990.
Western Germany (Westdeutschland or westliches Deutschland), where it is not a synonym for "West Germany", is mainly used as a geographic term referring vaguely to the Rhineland, a usage which dates back to before the Cold War. Citizens of the Federal Republic called their country Federal Republic, FR Germany or simply Germany. In the early years, the GDR termed the Federal Republic Westdeutschland, later the FRG (BRD). This abbreviation was strongly disliked by the West Germans as GDR jargon.