Since the formation of the first state, people around the world have been trying to understand which country is the most influential and powerful in the world, the country that make decisions on some of the most important issues related to our lives and future?  

For a long time, the answer to this question revolves around three countries: the United States, the State of Israel, and the United Kingdom. However, the country considered to be the true ruler of the world is the Federal Republic of Germany, not the US, not the UK, and certainly not Israel.

Many will question this, saying that Germany cannot rule the world, that Germany is just the fourth largest economy in the world behind the United States, Japan and China; that Germany lost both World Wars, among many other things. Therefore how can Germany rule the world?

Historical Rise

The rise of Germany, Europe’s long-lasting ruler started with the Franks, a West Germanic tribal confederation first attested in the 3rd century. The Franks inhabited and ruled the territory called Francia also known as Frankish Empire, Kingdom of the Franks or Frankland from the 3rd to 10th century.

Under the Merovingian dynasty, the Franks founded one of the Germanic monarchies which replaced the Western Roman Empire from the 5th century. The Frankish state consolidated its hold over large parts of Western Europe by the end of the eighth century, developing into the Carolingian Empire and its successor states.

The first sign of Germany’s desire to dominate others was seen with Clovis I, the first King of Franks. Clovis I united all the Frankish tribes under one king and brought them Catholic Christianity (he opposed to the Arian Christianity common among the Germanic peoples at the time). It was in fact Clovis I, or better to say today's Germans who expended Catholic Christianity and protected the papacy. The year 496, is considered one of the most important years in the Catholic Church, a year when Clovis I converted to Catholic Christianity. Clovis I was the first to establish Frankish hegemony and was the one who expanded the Franks dominion over almost all of the old Roman province of Gaul (roughly modern France). He is considered to be the founder of the Merovingian dynasty which ruled the Franks for the next two centuries.

The period of Carolingian Empire (Carolingian Empire is the term used to describe the Frankish Empire under Carolingian dynasty from 751 till 843), was one of the most important periods in European and world history. Since the fall of Rome, the Carolingian Empire was the largest western territory.

Carolingian dynasty is considered to be a founding father of France and Germany, and early sign of Holy Roman Empire. Charlemagne who founded the Carolingian Empire was King of the Franks, King of the Lombards, and Emperor of the Romans. Charlemagne is regarded not only as the founding father of both French and German monarchies, but also as the father of Europe.

Charles Martel, grandfather of Charlemagne was a giant figure of the Middle Ages. He is best remembered for winning the Battle of Tours in 732, which has traditionally been characterized as an event that halted Islamic expansionism in Europe that had conquered Iberia. Charles's victory has often been regarded as crucial for world history, since it preserved Western Europe from Muslim conquest and Islamization.

During their ruling, Charlemagne and Louis the Pious initiated the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of intellectual and cultural revival occurring in the late 8th and 9th centuries. The period of the Carolingian Renaissance provided a common language and writing style that allowed communication across most of Europe.

After Louis the Pious death, his sons (Charlemagne's grandsons) Lothair I, Charles the Bald and Louis the German divided Frankish lands. Lothair I received the central portion of the empire and what later became the Low Countries, Lorraine, Alsace, Burgundy, Provence, and the Kingdom of Italy. Charles the Bald was given the western lands, West Francia, which later became France. Louis the German received the eastern lands, which would become Germany.

The period of East Francia later known as Kingdom of Germany was a period of the rise of Holy the Roman Empire.

The Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe, the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor from 962 till 1806. The first Holy Roman Emperor was Otto I the Great in 962. The Holy Roman Empire was ruled by the Germans since time immemorial. The number of the Holy Roman territories was amazingly large, rising to approximately 300.

The Empire's territorial level varied over its history, but at its peak encompassed the Kingdom of Germany, the Kingdom of Italy, and the Kingdom of Burgundy; territories embracing present-day Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, as well as significant parts of modern France, Italy, and present-day Poland.

The Napoleonic Wars resulted in the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, the most powerful and most influential Empire which lasted for more than 800 years. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, a new German union, the German Confederation was established in 1815. It lasted until 1866 when Prussia founded the North German Confederation, which in 1871 became a part of the German Empire.

German Reich (Deutsches Reich) - German Empire was the official name for Germany from 1871 to 1945. During the German Reich, Germany was the most powerful industrial and military force in the world.

The history of Germany during the time of the German Reich is conventionally broken into three distinct periods:

1. the monarchy under Hohenzollern rule, known in English as the German Empire (1871-1918).

2. the democratic republic, known retrospectively as the Weimar Republic (1919-1933).

3. the totalitarian dictatorship commonly known as the Third Reich or Nazi Germany (1933-1945).

The German Empire, under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia and Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck (1st Chancellor of the German Empire), emerged as a nation and a world super power. The foundations of economic strength at the turn of the century were steel and coal. By the year 1914, Germany had become the most powerful industrial nation.

Some key elements of the German Empire's authoritarian political structure were also the basis for conservative modernization in Imperial Japan under Meiji, and the preservation of an authoritarian political structure under the Tsars in the Russian Empire.

World War I brought nothing but problems to the German Empire. The German Empire was a member of Central Powers that won many battles but eventually lost the war in 1918. German economy was in bad condition because of the war, as Germany was not prepared for the war which would last more than a few months. However, German territory itself remained relatively safe from widespread invasion for most of the war. Result of the war did not change Germany much, as Germany was not pacified, conciliated nor permanently weakened.

In 1919, the German Empire was replaced with the Weimer Republic, the democratic republic, named after the city of Weimar.  The Weimer Republic was often seen only as a transformation period between the reign of the Emperor and Hitler's dictatorship. Its constitution was one of the most modern in the world and it represented a period of cultural innovation in Germany. Throughout its time, Weimar Republic faced many problems, but prosperities as well. 

The main problems of the new Weimar Republic were inflation, polarization, political extremism, and poor international position. The Treaty of Versailles made Germany to accept sole responsibility for causing World War I, making substantial territorial concessions and paid reparations (132 billion gold marks in 1921), to certain countries that had formed the Entente powers. Nevertheless, the new Republic overcame many discriminatory regulations of the Treaty of Versailles, reformed the currency (the Rentenmark), unified tax politics and the railway system, and brought increased foreign investments and loans to the German market.

 Ivan Simic lives in Belgrade, Serbia. Address: Paloticeva 12, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia, Tel: +381 63  7508500.