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class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>History</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-History-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle History subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-History-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Formation_of_the_German_Empire" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Formation_of_the_German_Empire"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.1</span> <span>Formation of the German Empire</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Formation_of_the_German_Empire-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Prussia" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Prussia"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.1.1</span> <span>Prussia</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Prussia-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-North_German_Confederation" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#North_German_Confederation"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.1.2</span> <span>North German Confederation</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-North_German_Confederation-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Heligoland" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Heligoland"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.1.3</span> <span>Heligoland</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Heligoland-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-World_War_I" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#World_War_I"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.2</span> <span>World War I</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-World_War_I-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Brest-Litovsk" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Brest-Litovsk"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.2.1</span> <span>Brest-Litovsk</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Brest-Litovsk-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Territorial_changes_after_World_War_I" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Territorial_changes_after_World_War_I"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.3</span> <span>Territorial changes after World War I</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Territorial_changes_after_World_War_I-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Treaty_of_Versailles" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Treaty_of_Versailles"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.3.1</span> <span>Treaty of Versailles</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Treaty_of_Versailles-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Sudetenland" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Sudetenland"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.3.2</span> <span>Sudetenland</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Sudetenland-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Silesian_uprisings" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Silesian_uprisings"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.3.3</span> <span>Silesian uprisings</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Silesian_uprisings-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Interbellum" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Interbellum"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.4</span> <span>Interbellum</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Interbellum-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Territorial_claims_of_German_nationalists" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Territorial_claims_of_German_nationalists"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.4.1</span> <span>Territorial claims of German nationalists</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Territorial_claims_of_German_nationalists-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Rhineland" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Rhineland"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.4.2</span> <span>Rhineland</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Rhineland-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Saar_region" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Saar_region"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.4.3</span> <span>Saar region</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Saar_region-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Anschluss" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Anschluss"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.4.4</span> <span>Anschluss</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Anschluss-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Czechoslovakia" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Czechoslovakia"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.4.5</span> <span>Czechoslovakia</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Czechoslovakia-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Sudetenland_2" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-4"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Sudetenland_2"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.4.5.1</span> <span>Sudetenland</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Sudetenland_2-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Invasion_of_the_rest_of_Czechoslovakia" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-4"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Invasion_of_the_rest_of_Czechoslovakia"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.4.5.2</span> <span>Invasion of the rest of Czechoslovakia</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Invasion_of_the_rest_of_Czechoslovakia-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Memel_Territory" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Memel_Territory"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.4.6</span> <span>Memel Territory</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Memel_Territory-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-World_War_II" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#World_War_II"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.5</span> <span>World War II</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-World_War_II-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Poland" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Poland"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.5.1</span> <span>Poland</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Poland-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Alsace-Lorraine" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Alsace-Lorraine"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.5.2</span> <span>Alsace-Lorraine</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Alsace-Lorraine-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Eupen_and_Malmedy" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Eupen_and_Malmedy"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.5.3</span> <span>Eupen and Malmedy</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Eupen_and_Malmedy-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Luxembourg" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Luxembourg"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.5.4</span> <span>Luxembourg</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Luxembourg-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Parts_of_Yugoslavia" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Parts_of_Yugoslavia"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.5.5</span> <span>Parts of Yugoslavia</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Parts_of_Yugoslavia-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-South_Tyrol" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#South_Tyrol"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.5.6</span> <span>South Tyrol</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-South_Tyrol-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Recognition" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Recognition"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.5.7</span> <span>Recognition</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Recognition-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Territorial_changes_after_the_German_defeat_in_World_War_II" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Territorial_changes_after_the_German_defeat_in_World_War_II"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.6</span> <span>Territorial changes after the German defeat in World War II</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Territorial_changes_after_the_German_defeat_in_World_War_II-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-The_Yalta_Conference" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_Yalta_Conference"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.6.1</span> <span>The Yalta Conference</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_Yalta_Conference-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-The_Potsdam_Conference" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_Potsdam_Conference"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.6.2</span> <span>The Potsdam Conference</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_Potsdam_Conference-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Finalization_of_the_Polish-German_border" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-4"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Finalization_of_the_Polish-German_border"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.6.2.1</span> <span>Finalization of the Polish-German border</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Finalization_of_the_Polish-German_border-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Luxembourg_2" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Luxembourg_2"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.6.3</span> <span>Luxembourg</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Luxembourg_2-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Belgium" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Belgium"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.6.4</span> <span>Belgium</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Belgium-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Netherlands" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Netherlands"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.6.5</span> <span>Netherlands</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Netherlands-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-France" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#France"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.6.6</span> <span>France</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-France-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Poland_2" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Poland_2"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.6.7</span> <span>Poland</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Poland_2-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 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0.8em;font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-collapse .sidebar-above,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-collapse .sidebar-below{border-top:1px solid #aaa;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-navbar{text-align:right;font-size:115%;padding:0 0.4em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-list-title{padding:0 0.4em;text-align:left;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6em;font-size:105%}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-list-title-c{padding:0 0.4em;text-align:center;margin:0 3.3em}@media(max-width:640px){body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .sidebar{width:100%!important;clear:both;float:none!important;margin-left:0!important;margin-right:0!important}}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .sidebar a>img{max-width:none!important}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:none!important}}</style><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-title" style="font-size:115%;"><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Territorial evolution of Germany</a><br />in the 20th century</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)">Pre-World War II</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content plainlist" style="text-align:left;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Act_of_5th_November" title="Act of 5th November">Act of 5th November</a> proclaiming <a href="/wiki/Kingdom_of_Poland_(1917%E2%80%931918)" title="Kingdom of Poland (1917–1918)">Kingdom of Poland</a> (1916)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Treaty_of_Brest-Litovsk_(Ukraine%E2%80%93Central_Powers)" title="Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Ukraine–Central Powers)">Treaty of Brest-Litovsk</a> with Ukraine (1918)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Treaty_of_Brest-Litovsk" title="Treaty of Brest-Litovsk">Treaty of Brest-Litovsk</a> with Soviet Russia (1918)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles" title="Treaty of Versailles">Treaty of Versailles</a> (1919)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/German%E2%80%93Polish_Convention_regarding_Upper_Silesia" title="German–Polish Convention regarding Upper Silesia">German–Polish Convention regarding Upper Silesia</a> (1922)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/1935_Saar_status_referendum" title="1935 Saar status referendum">Return of the Saar Basin</a> (1935)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Remilitarization_of_the_Rhineland" class="mw-redirect" title="Remilitarization of the Rhineland">Remilitarization of the Rhineland</a> (1936)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Anschluss" title="Anschluss"><i>Anschluss</i> with Austria</a> (1938)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Munich_Agreement" title="Munich Agreement">Munich Agreement</a> (1938)</li> <li><a class="mw-selflink-fragment" href="#Invasion_of_the_rest_of_Czechoslovakia">Seizure of Czechoslovakia</a> (1939)</li> <li><a class="mw-selflink-fragment" href="#Memel_Territory">Treaty of the Cession of the <br />Memel Territory to Germany</a> (1939)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact" title="Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact">Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact</a> (1939)</li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/World_War_II" title="World War II">World War II</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content plainlist" style="text-align:left;"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Gro%C3%9Fdeutschland" class="mw-redirect" title="Großdeutschland">Großdeutschland</a></i> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Protectorate_of_Bohemia_and_Moravia" title="Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia">Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Polish_areas_annexed_by_Nazi_Germany" title="Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany">Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/General_Government" title="General Government">General Government</a></li> <li><span title="French-language text"><i lang="fr"><a href="/wiki/Zone_interdite" title="Zone interdite">Zone interdite</a></i></span></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/German%E2%80%93Soviet_Border_and_Commercial_Agreement" title="German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement">German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement</a> (1941)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tehran_Conference" title="Tehran Conference">Tehran Conference</a> (1943)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Moscow_Conference_(1943)" title="Moscow Conference (1943)">Moscow Conference and Declaration on Austria</a> (1943)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Yalta_Conference" title="Yalta Conference">Yalta Conference</a> (1945)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Potsdam_Conference" title="Potsdam Conference">Potsdam Conference</a> (1945)</li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)">Post-World War II</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content plainlist" style="text-align:left;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Berlin_Declaration_(1945)" title="Berlin Declaration (1945)">Berlin Declaration</a> (1945)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Potsdam_Agreement" title="Potsdam Agreement">Potsdam Agreement</a> (1945)</li> <li>Luxembourg's annexations (1946 and 1949)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Saar_Protectorate" title="Saar Protectorate">Saar Protectorate</a> (1947)</li> <li>Paris Protocol (1949)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dutch_annexation_of_German_territory_after_the_Second_World_War#Overview_of_areas_annexed_in_1949_(from_north_to_south)" title="Dutch annexation of German territory after the Second World War">Dutch annexation</a> of <a href="/wiki/Elten" title="Elten">Elten</a> and <a href="/wiki/Selfkant" title="Selfkant">Selfkant</a> (1949)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Belgian_annexation_plans_after_the_Second_World_War" title="Belgian annexation plans after the Second World War">Belgian annexations</a> (1949)</li> <li>Esrablishment of <a href="/wiki/East_Germany" title="East Germany">East</a> and <a href="/wiki/West_Germany" title="West Germany">West Germany</a> (1949)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Treaty_of_Zgorzelec" title="Treaty of Zgorzelec">Treaty of Zgorzelec</a> (1950)</li> <li>Minor territorial exchanges between East Germany and Poland (1949 and 1951)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bonn%E2%80%93Paris_conventions" title="Bonn–Paris conventions">Bonn–Paris conventions</a> and <i>de facto</i> return of <a href="/wiki/Heligoland" title="Heligoland">Heligoland</a> from the UK (1952)</li> <li>Return of <a href="/wiki/Kehl" title="Kehl">Kehl</a> from France (1953)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/London_and_Paris_Conferences" title="London and Paris Conferences">London and Paris Conferences</a> (1954)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Austrian_State_Treaty" title="Austrian State Treaty">Austrian State Treaty</a> (1955)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Saar_Treaty" title="Saar Treaty">Saar Treaty</a> (1956)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Saar_Protectorate#Referendum_and_the_Little_Reunification_with_Germany" title="Saar Protectorate">"Little Reunification" with Saarland</a> (1957)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Belgium%E2%80%93Germany_border" title="Belgium–Germany border">Belgium–Germany border</a> treaty and return of the majority of annexations (1958)</li> <li>Return of <a href="/w/index.php?title=Kammerwald&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Kammerwald (page does not exist)">Kammerwald</a> from Luxembourg (1959)</li> <li><span title="German-language text"><i lang="de">Ausgleichsvertrag</i></span> (1960)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Selfkant#German_municipality" title="Selfkant">Return of Selfkant</a> (1963)</li> <li>Polish–East German Baltic Continental Shelf Delimitation Treaty (1968)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Treaty_of_Moscow_(1970)" title="Treaty of Moscow (1970)">Treaty of Moscow</a> (1970)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Treaty_of_Warsaw_(1970)" title="Treaty of Warsaw (1970)">Treaty of Warsaw</a> (1970)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Four_Power_Agreement_on_Berlin" title="Four Power Agreement on Berlin">Four Power Agreement on Berlin</a> (1971)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Basic_Treaty,_1972" title="Basic Treaty, 1972">Basic Treaty</a> (1972)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Treaty_of_Prague_(1973)" title="Treaty of Prague (1973)">Treaty of Prague</a> (1973)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_335" title="United Nations Security Council Resolution 335">United Nations Security Council Resolution 335</a> (1973)</li> <li>Polish–East German Maritime Boundary in Pomeranian Bay Delimitation Treaty (1989)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/German%E2%80%93Polish_Border_Treaty" title="German–Polish Border Treaty">German–Polish Border Treaty</a> (1990)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Treaty_on_the_Final_Settlement_with_Respect_to_Germany" title="Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany">Two Plus Four Treaty</a> (1991)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Treaty_of_Good_Neighbourship" title="Treaty of Good Neighbourship">Treaty of Good Neighbourship</a> (1991)</li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)">Areas and issues</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content plainlist" style="text-align:left;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Alsace%E2%80%93Lorraine" title="Alsace–Lorraine">Alsace–Lorraine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Former_eastern_territories_of_Germany" title="Former eastern territories of Germany">Former eastern territories of Germany</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/German_question" title="German question">German question</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hallstein_Doctrine" title="Hallstein Doctrine">Hallstein Doctrine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Drang_nach_Osten" title="Drang nach Osten">Drang nach Osten</a></li> <li><span title="German-language text"><i lang="de"><a href="/wiki/Lebensraum" title="Lebensraum">Lebensraum</a></i></span></li> <li><span title="German-language text"><i lang="de"><a href="/wiki/Ostpolitik" title="Ostpolitik">Ostpolitik</a></i></span></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)">Adjacent countries</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content plainlist" style="text-align:left;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_France" title="Territorial evolution of France">Territorial evolution of France</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Poland" title="Territorial evolution of Poland">Territorial evolution of Poland</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Switzerland" title="Territorial evolution of Switzerland">Territorial evolution of Switzerland</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Territorial_evolution_of_Germany" title="Template:Territorial evolution of Germany"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Territorial_evolution_of_Germany" title="Template talk:Territorial evolution of Germany"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Territorial_evolution_of_Germany" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Territorial evolution of Germany"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>The <b>territorial evolution of Germany</b> in this article include all changes in the modern territory of <a href="/wiki/Germany" title="Germany">Germany</a> from its unification making it a country on 1 January 1871 to the present although the history of "Germany" as a territorial polity concept and the history of the <a href="/wiki/Ethnic_Germans" class="mw-redirect" title="Ethnic Germans">ethnic Germans</a> are much longer and much more complex. Modern Germany was formed when the <a href="/wiki/Kingdom_of_Prussia" title="Kingdom of Prussia">Kingdom of Prussia</a> <a href="/wiki/Unification_of_Germany" title="Unification of Germany">unified most of the German states</a>, with the exception of multi-ethnic <a href="/wiki/Cisleithania" title="Cisleithania">Austria</a> (which was ruled by the <a href="/wiki/German_language" title="German language">German</a>-speaking royal family of <a href="/wiki/Habsburg" class="mw-redirect" title="Habsburg">Habsburg</a> and had significant German-speaking land), into the <a href="/wiki/German_Empire" title="German Empire">German Empire</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-BBC_Timeline_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-BBC_Timeline-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> After the <a href="/wiki/First_World_War" class="mw-redirect" title="First World War">First World War</a>, on 10 January 1920, Germany lost about 13% of its territory to its neighbours (not including its <a href="/wiki/German_colonial_empire" title="German colonial empire">colonies</a> Germany also lost at the same time<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>), and the <a href="/wiki/Weimar_Republic" title="Weimar Republic">Weimar Republic</a> was formed two days before this war was over. This republic included territories to the east of <a href="/wiki/Oder%E2%80%93Neisse_line" title="Oder–Neisse line">today's German borders</a>. </p><p>The period of <a href="/wiki/Nazi_Party" title="Nazi Party">Nazi</a> rule from the early 1930s through the end of the <a href="/wiki/Second_World_War" class="mw-redirect" title="Second World War">Second World War</a> brought significant territorial losses for the country. <a href="/wiki/Nazi_Germany" title="Nazi Germany">Nazi Germany</a> initially expanded the country's territory dramatically and <a href="/wiki/German-occupied_Europe" title="German-occupied Europe">conquered most of Europe</a>, though not all areas were added to Germany <a href="/wiki/Reichskommissariat" title="Reichskommissariat">officially</a>. However, the Nazi plan for the near future was the establishment of a <a href="/wiki/Greater_Germanic_Reich" title="Greater Germanic Reich">Greater Germanic Reich</a><sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> including most of Europe. The Nazi regime eventually collapsed, and the four <a href="/wiki/Allies_of_World_War_II" title="Allies of World War II">Allies</a> occupied Germany. </p><p>Nazi annexations from the time of its annexation of Austria on 13 March 1938 were annulled while the <a href="/wiki/Former_eastern_territories_of_Germany" title="Former eastern territories of Germany">former eastern territories of Germany</a> before Nazi annexation of Austria were ceded to <a href="/wiki/Polish_People%27s_Republic" title="Polish People's Republic">Poland</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Oder%E2%80%93Neisse_line" title="Oder–Neisse line">Oder and Neisse Rivers</a> became Germany's new eastern boundary. This territory became Poland's so-called "<a href="/wiki/Recovered_Territories" title="Recovered Territories">Recovered Territories</a>", while approximately one-third of <a href="/wiki/East_Prussia" title="East Prussia">East Prussia</a> became the <a href="/wiki/Russian_Federation" class="mw-redirect" title="Russian Federation">Russian Federation</a>'s <a href="/wiki/Kaliningrad_Oblast" title="Kaliningrad Oblast">Kaliningrad Oblast</a>. In the west, the <a href="/wiki/Saar_area" class="mw-redirect" title="Saar area">Saar area</a> (Saarland) formed one French-controlled protectorate with its own high autonomy. </p><p>The western part of Germany was unified as the <a href="/wiki/Trizone" class="mw-redirect" title="Trizone">Trizone</a>, becoming the <a href="/wiki/West_Germany" title="West Germany">Federal Republic of Germany</a> on 23 May 1949 ("West Germany"). Western-occupied <a href="/wiki/West_Berlin" title="West Berlin">West Berlin</a> declared its accession to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 but was denied by the occupying powers. The Soviet zone of Germany in the east, including the <a href="/wiki/Soviet_sector_of_Berlin" class="mw-redirect" title="Soviet sector of Berlin">Soviet sector of Berlin</a>, became the <a href="/wiki/Communist" class="mw-redirect" title="Communist">communist</a> <a href="/wiki/German_Democratic_Republic" class="mw-redirect" title="German Democratic Republic">German Democratic Republic</a> ("East Germany") on 7 October of the same year.<sup id="cite_ref-BBC_Timeline_1-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-BBC_Timeline-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> on 1 January 1957, the Saar Protectorate (which was separated from Germany on 17 December 1947) became a part the Federal Republic of Germany,<sup id="cite_ref-CS_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-CS-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> as provided by its <a href="/wiki/Grundgesetz" class="mw-redirect" title="Grundgesetz">Grundgesetz</a> (constitution) article no. 23 ("<a href="/wiki/Saar_Protectorate#Referendum_and_the_little_reunification_with_Germany" title="Saar Protectorate">Little reunification</a>"). East Germany, including East Berlin, became parts the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990 – an event referred to as <a href="/wiki/German_reunification" title="German reunification">German reunification</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-BBC_Timeline_1-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-BBC_Timeline-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Background">Background</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Background"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="German_settlement_in_Central_and_Eastern_Europe">German settlement in Central and Eastern Europe</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: German settlement in Central and Eastern Europe"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Image-Prussia_ethnicity.JPG" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Image-Prussia_ethnicity.JPG/320px-Image-Prussia_ethnicity.JPG" decoding="async" width="320" height="278" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Image-Prussia_ethnicity.JPG 1.5x" data-file-width="395" data-file-height="343" /></a><figcaption>Following the conquest of <a href="/wiki/Prussia_(region)" title="Prussia (region)">Prussia</a> by the <a href="/wiki/Teutonic_knights" class="mw-redirect" title="Teutonic knights">Teutonic knights</a> in the <a href="/wiki/Prussian_Crusade" title="Prussian Crusade">Prussian Crusade</a>, German settlers were brought in, displacing the indigenous <a href="/wiki/Old_Prussians" title="Old Prussians">Old Prussians</a>.</figcaption></figure> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main articles: <a href="/wiki/History_of_German_settlement_in_Central_and_Eastern_Europe" title="History of German settlement in Central and Eastern Europe">History of German settlement in Central and Eastern Europe</a> and <a href="/wiki/Ostsiedlung" title="Ostsiedlung">Ostsiedlung</a></div> <p>Part of the motivation behind the territorial changes is based on historical events in the Eastern and Central Europe. Migrations to the East that took place over more than a millennium led to pockets of Germans living throughout Central and Eastern Europe as far east as Russia. The existence of these enclaves was sometimes used by German nationalists, such as the Nazis, to justify territorial claims. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_rise_of_European_nationalism">The rise of European nationalism</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: The rise of European nationalism"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Nationalism" title="Nationalism">Nationalism</a></div> <p>The territorial changes of Germany after World War II can be interpreted in the context of the evolution of global nationalism and European nationalism. </p><p>The latter half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century saw the rise of <a href="/wiki/Nationalism" title="Nationalism">nationalism</a> in Europe. Previously, a country consisted largely of whatever peoples lived on the land that was under the dominion of a particular ruler. As principalities and kingdoms grew through conquest and marriage, a ruler could wind up with many different ethnicities under his dominion. </p><p>The concept of nationalism was based on the idea of a "people" who shared a common bond through race, religion, language and culture. Furthermore, nationalism asserted that each "people" had a right to its own state. Thus, much of European history in the latter half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century can be understood as efforts to realign national boundaries with this concept of "one people, one state". Many interior conflicts were a result of more or less pressurising citizens of alternative ethnicities and/or other native languages to assimilate to the ethnicity dominant in the state. Switzerland was the exception, lacking a common native language. </p><p>Much conflict would arise when one nation asserted territorial rights to land outside its borders on the basis of an ethnic bond with the people living on the land. Another source of conflict arose when a group of people who constituted a minority in one nation would seek to secede from the nation either to form an independent nation or join another nation with whom they felt stronger ties. Yet another source of conflict was the desire of some nations to expel people from territory within its borders because people did not share a common bond with the majority of people of that nation. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History">History</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: History"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Formation_of_the_German_Empire">Formation of the German Empire</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Formation of the German Empire"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Unification_of_Germany" title="Unification of Germany">Unification of Germany</a></div> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Acprussiamap2.gif" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/Acprussiamap2.gif/320px-Acprussiamap2.gif" decoding="async" width="320" height="224" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/Acprussiamap2.gif/480px-Acprussiamap2.gif 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Acprussiamap2.gif 2x" data-file-width="510" data-file-height="357" /></a><figcaption>Growth of <a href="/wiki/Brandenburg-Prussia" class="mw-redirect" title="Brandenburg-Prussia">Brandenburg-Prussia</a>. During the <a href="/wiki/Partitions_of_Poland" title="Partitions of Poland">Partitions of Poland</a> between 1772 and 1795, Prussia annexed large swaths of the <a href="/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_Commonwealth" title="Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth">Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth</a>.</figcaption></figure> <figure class="mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Deutsches_Reich_(1871-1918)-en.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Deutsches_Reich_%281871-1918%29-en.png/320px-Deutsches_Reich_%281871-1918%29-en.png" decoding="async" width="320" height="320" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Deutsches_Reich_%281871-1918%29-en.png/480px-Deutsches_Reich_%281871-1918%29-en.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Deutsches_Reich_%281871-1918%29-en.png/640px-Deutsches_Reich_%281871-1918%29-en.png 2x" data-file-width="2362" data-file-height="2362" /></a><figcaption>States of the German Empire 1871–1918 (<a href="/wiki/Kingdom_of_Prussia" title="Kingdom of Prussia">Prussia</a> shown in blue)</figcaption></figure> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Prussia">Prussia</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Prussia"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In 1701, the <a href="/wiki/Kingdom_of_Prussia" title="Kingdom of Prussia">Kingdom of Prussia</a> was established, which then expanded at the expense of the weakening neighboring <a href="/wiki/List_of_modern_great_powers" title="List of modern great powers">powers</a>. During the <a href="/wiki/Great_Northern_War" title="Great Northern War">Great Northern War</a>, in 1720, Prussia took a part of <a href="/wiki/Swedish_Pomerania" title="Swedish Pomerania">Swedish Pomerania</a> with the city of <a href="/wiki/Szczecin" title="Szczecin">Szczecin</a> from <a href="/wiki/Swedish_Empire" title="Swedish Empire">Sweden</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> During the <a href="/wiki/Silesian_Wars" title="Silesian Wars">Silesian Wars</a>, Prussia annexed the bulk of <a href="/wiki/Silesia" title="Silesia">Silesia</a> from the <a href="/wiki/Habsburg_monarchy" title="Habsburg monarchy">Habsburg monarchy</a> in 1742. During the <a href="/wiki/Partitions_of_Poland" title="Partitions of Poland">Partitions of Poland</a> between 1772 and 1795, Prussia seized 141,400 km2 (54,600 sq mi) of the <a href="/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_Commonwealth" title="Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth">Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth</a>'s western territory, including the regions of <a href="/wiki/Greater_Poland" title="Greater Poland">Greater Poland</a>, <a href="/wiki/Gda%C5%84sk_Pomerania" title="Gdańsk Pomerania">Gdańsk Pomerania</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kuyavia" title="Kuyavia">Kuyavia</a>, <a href="/wiki/Warmia" title="Warmia">Warmia</a>, northern and western <a href="/wiki/Mazovia" title="Mazovia">Mazovia</a>, and the <a href="/wiki/Duchy_of_Siewierz" title="Duchy of Siewierz">Duchy of Siewierz</a>, including the Polish capital of <a href="/wiki/Warsaw" title="Warsaw">Warsaw</a>. Subsequently, renaming them as South Prussia, West Prussia, New East Prussia and New Silesia. After the annexation of the Polish territories, <a href="/wiki/Frederick_the_Great" title="Frederick the Great">Frederick the Great</a> immediately sent 57,475 German families to the newly conquered lands in order to solidify his new acquisitions,<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and abolished the use of the Polish language.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> During the <a href="/wiki/Napoleonic_Wars" title="Napoleonic Wars">Napoleonic Wars</a>, Prussia lost control of parts of the annexed Polish territories, which became the short-lived Polish <a href="/wiki/Duchy_of_Warsaw" title="Duchy of Warsaw">Duchy of Warsaw</a> in 1807. </p><p>Following the Napoleonic Wars, Prussia annexed several territories per the <a href="/wiki/Congress_of_Vienna" title="Congress of Vienna">Congress of Vienna</a>, that is <a href="/wiki/Rhineland" title="Rhineland">Rhineland</a> and <a href="/wiki/Saarlouis" title="Saarlouis">Saarlouis</a> from France, the western part of the just dissolved Duchy of Warsaw with the <a href="/wiki/Che%C5%82mno_Land" title="Chełmno Land">Chełmno Land</a> and most of Greater Poland and Kuyavia, <a href="/wiki/Lower_Lusatia" title="Lower Lusatia">Lower Lusatia</a> from <a href="/wiki/Kingdom_of_Saxony" title="Kingdom of Saxony">Saxony</a>, and the remainder of Swedish Pomerania with <a href="/wiki/Stralsund" title="Stralsund">Stralsund</a> from Sweden. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="North_German_Confederation">North German Confederation</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: North German Confederation"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The Prussian-led <a href="/wiki/North_German_Confederation" title="North German Confederation">North German Confederation</a>, founded in 1866, was combined with the southern states of <a href="/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Baden" title="Grand Duchy of Baden">Baden</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kingdom_of_W%C3%BCrttemberg" title="Kingdom of Württemberg">Württemberg</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kingdom_of_Bavaria" title="Kingdom of Bavaria">Bavaria</a> and <a href="/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Hesse" title="Grand Duchy of Hesse">Hesse</a> and the formerly French newly merged <a href="/wiki/Alsace-Lorraine" class="mw-redirect" title="Alsace-Lorraine">Alsace-Lorraine</a> to form the states and imperial territory of <a href="/wiki/German_Empire" title="German Empire">German Empire</a> in 1871. In some areas of Prussia's eastern <a href="/wiki/Provinces_of_Prussia" title="Provinces of Prussia">provinces</a>, such as the <a href="/wiki/Province_of_Posen" title="Province of Posen">Province of Posen</a>, the majority of the population was Polish. Many Lorrainians were by native language French. Many Alsatians and Lorrainians of German language clung to France (see <a href="/w/index.php?title=D%C3%A9put%C3%A9_protestataire&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Député protestataire (page does not exist)">Député protestataire</a><span class="noprint" style="font-size:85%; font-style: normal;"> [<a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9put%C3%A9_protestataire" class="extiw" title="fr:Député protestataire">fr</a>]</span>), despite their native languages. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Heligoland">Heligoland</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Heligoland"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/British_Empire" title="British Empire">Britain</a> ceded <a href="/wiki/Heligoland" title="Heligoland">Heligoland</a> to Germany in 1890 in accordance with the terms of the <a href="/wiki/Heligoland%E2%80%93Zanzibar_Treaty" title="Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty">Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty</a>. The Heligolanders, then still prevailingly fluent in their <a href="/wiki/Heligolandic" class="mw-redirect" title="Heligolandic">Heligolandic</a> dialect of <a href="/wiki/North_Frisian_language" title="North Frisian language">North Frisian</a>, adopted German citizenship, like many other <a href="/wiki/Frisians" title="Frisians">Frisians</a> of Germany along the North Sea coast. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="World_War_I">World War I</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: World War I"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Germany_future_1917.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Germany_future_1917.jpg/320px-Germany_future_1917.jpg" decoding="async" width="320" height="232" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Germany_future_1917.jpg/480px-Germany_future_1917.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Germany_future_1917.jpg/640px-Germany_future_1917.jpg 2x" data-file-width="1826" data-file-height="1325" /></a><figcaption>World War I Allied propaganda poster showing German expansionist ambitions</figcaption></figure><p>The only territory that Germany annexed during the <a href="/wiki/First_World_War" class="mw-redirect" title="First World War">First World War</a> was the German-Belgian-Dutch <a href="/wiki/Condominium_(international_law)" title="Condominium (international law)">condominium</a> <a href="/wiki/Neutral_Moresnet" title="Neutral Moresnet">Neutral Moresnet</a>. Since 1914, Germany occupied the territory, and on June 27, 1915, it was annexed as part of Prussia. The annexation never received international recognition (is not known whether the other Central Powers recognized the annexation). </p><div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Brest-Litovsk">Brest-Litovsk</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Brest-Litovsk"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>As part of the <a href="/wiki/Treaty_of_Brest-Litovsk" title="Treaty of Brest-Litovsk">Treaty of Brest-Litovsk</a>, Russia's new <a href="/wiki/Bolshevik" class="mw-redirect" title="Bolshevik">Bolshevik</a> (<a href="/wiki/Communist" class="mw-redirect" title="Communist">communist</a>) government renounced all claims to Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, <a href="/wiki/Belarus" title="Belarus">Belarus</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Ukraine" title="Ukraine">Ukraine</a>. </p><p>Most of these territories were in effect ceded to the German Empire, intended to become economically dependent on and politically closely tied to that empire under different German <a href="/wiki/Monarch" title="Monarch">kings</a> and <a href="/wiki/Duke" title="Duke">dukes</a>. </p><p>Regarding the ceded territories, the treaty stated that "Germany and Austria-Hungary intend to determine the future fate of these territories in agreement with their population" with few other effects than the appointment of German rulers to the new thrones of Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and <a href="/wiki/Kingdom_of_Poland_(1916%E2%80%931918)" class="mw-redirect" title="Kingdom of Poland (1916–1918)">Poland</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Territorial_changes_after_World_War_I">Territorial changes after World War I</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Territorial changes after World War I"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Treaty_of_Versailles">Treaty of Versailles</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Treaty of Versailles"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles" title="Treaty of Versailles">Treaty of Versailles</a></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Further information: <a href="/wiki/Schleswig_Plebiscite" class="mw-redirect" title="Schleswig Plebiscite">Schleswig Plebiscite</a>; <a href="/wiki/East_Prussian_plebiscite" class="mw-redirect" title="East Prussian plebiscite">East Prussian plebiscite</a>; <a href="/wiki/Upper_Silesia_plebiscite" class="mw-redirect" title="Upper Silesia plebiscite">Upper Silesia plebiscite</a>; and <a href="/wiki/Saar_status_referendum,_1935" class="mw-redirect" title="Saar status referendum, 1935">Saar status referendum, 1935</a></div> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:German_losses_after_WWI.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/German_losses_after_WWI.svg/320px-German_losses_after_WWI.svg.png" decoding="async" width="320" height="271" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/German_losses_after_WWI.svg/480px-German_losses_after_WWI.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/German_losses_after_WWI.svg/640px-German_losses_after_WWI.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1000" data-file-height="848" /></a><figcaption>Germany after Versailles <hr /> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r981673959">.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}</style><div class="legend"><span class="legend-color mw-no-invert" style="background-color:#d2eac6; color:black;"> </span> Administered by the <a href="/wiki/League_of_Nations" title="League of Nations">League of Nations</a></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r981673959"><div class="legend"><span class="legend-color mw-no-invert" style="background-color:#ffffcf; color:black;"> </span> Annexed or transferred to neighbouring countries by the treaty, or later via plebiscite and League of Nations action</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r981673959"><div class="legend"><span class="legend-color mw-no-invert" style="background-color:#f6d3a9; color:black;"> </span> <a href="/wiki/Weimar_Germany" class="mw-redirect" title="Weimar Germany">Weimar Germany</a></div></figcaption></figure> <p>The provisions of the <a href="/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles" title="Treaty of Versailles">Treaty of Versailles</a> at the end of World War I obliged Germany to cede some territory to other countries. Besides the loss of the <a href="/wiki/German_colonial_empire" title="German colonial empire">German colonial empire</a>, the territories Germany lost were: </p> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Alsace-Lorraine" class="mw-redirect" title="Alsace-Lorraine">Alsace-Lorraine</a>, which became a part of the German Empire following the <a href="/wiki/Treaty_of_Frankfurt_(1871)" title="Treaty of Frankfurt (1871)">Treaty of Frankfurt</a> on 10 May 1871, returned to French sovereignty without a <a href="/wiki/Plebiscite" class="mw-redirect" title="Plebiscite">plebiscite</a> as a precondition to armistice (i.e. and therefore not as a clause of the Treaty of Versailles) with effect from the date of the armistice (11 November 1918), (14,522 km<sup>2</sup> or 5,607 sq mi, 1,815,000 inhabitants (1905)).</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Northern_Schleswig" class="mw-redirect" title="Northern Schleswig">Northern Schleswig</a> (including the German-dominated towns of <a href="/wiki/Tondern" class="mw-redirect" title="Tondern">Tondern</a>, <a href="/wiki/Apenrade" class="mw-redirect" title="Apenrade">Apenrade</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Sonderburg" class="mw-redirect" title="Sonderburg">Sonderburg</a>) was given to <a href="/wiki/Denmark" title="Denmark">Denmark</a> after the <a href="/wiki/Schleswig_Plebiscite" class="mw-redirect" title="Schleswig Plebiscite">Schleswig Plebiscite</a> (3,984 km<sup>2</sup> or 1,538 sq mi, 163,600 inhabitants (1920)).</li> <li>Most of the <a href="/wiki/Provinces_of_Prussia" title="Provinces of Prussia">Prussian provinces</a> of Posen and <a href="/wiki/West_Prussia" title="West Prussia">West Prussia</a>, which <a href="/wiki/Kingdom_of_Prussia" title="Kingdom of Prussia">Prussia</a> had annexed during the <a href="/wiki/Partitions_of_Poland" title="Partitions of Poland">Partitions of Poland</a> (1772–1795), were restored to the reborn country of <a href="/wiki/Second_Republic_of_Poland" class="mw-redirect" title="Second Republic of Poland">Poland</a>. Most of this territory had already been liberated by the local Polish population during the <a href="/wiki/Greater_Poland_Uprising_(1918%E2%80%931919)" class="mw-redirect" title="Greater Poland Uprising (1918–1919)">Greater Poland Uprising</a> of 1918–1919 (53,800 km<sup>2</sup> or 20,800 sq mi, 4,224,000 inhabitants (1931), including 510 km<sup>2</sup> or 200 sq mi and 26,000 inhabitants from Upper Silesia). The remaining areas of both provinces were combined to become the new Prussian province of <a href="/wiki/Grenzmark_Posen-West_Prussia" class="mw-redirect" title="Grenzmark Posen-West Prussia">Grenzmark Posen-West Prussia</a>. A sizeable German population still remained in the areas ceded to Poland, however.</li> <li>The <a href="/wiki/Hlu%C4%8D%C3%ADn_Region" title="Hlučín Region">Hlučín Region</a> of <a href="/wiki/Upper_Silesia" title="Upper Silesia">Upper Silesia</a> to <a href="/wiki/First_Czechoslovak_Republic" title="First Czechoslovak Republic">Czechoslovakia</a> (316 or 333 km², 49,000 inhabitants).</li> <li><a href="/wiki/East_Upper_Silesia" title="East Upper Silesia">East Upper Silesia</a> to Poland (3,214 km<sup>2</sup> or 1,241 sq mi out of 10,950 km<sup>2</sup> or 4,230 sq mi – around 30% with 965,000 inhabitants), after the <a href="/wiki/Upper_Silesia_plebiscite" class="mw-redirect" title="Upper Silesia plebiscite">Upper Silesia plebiscite</a> in which 60% had voted in favor of remaining German and 40% wanted all of Upper Silesia to become Polish. The vote was designed to provide guidance on how to divide the area, and most of the areas voting for Poland were separated from Germany.</li> <li>The area of <a href="/wiki/Eupen-Malmedy" title="Eupen-Malmedy">Eupen-Malmedy</a> to <a href="/wiki/Belgium" title="Belgium">Belgium</a>, along with the <a href="/wiki/Vennbahn" title="Vennbahn">Vennbahn</a> railway line (which created six German enclaves within Belgian territory).</li> <li>The northern part of East Prussia as <i><a href="/wiki/Memelland" class="mw-redirect" title="Memelland">Memelland</a></i> under the control of <a href="/wiki/French_Third_Republic" title="French Third Republic">France</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kingdom_of_Italy_(1861%E2%80%931946)" class="mw-redirect" title="Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)">Italy</a>, <a href="/wiki/Japan" title="Japan">Japan</a>, and the <a href="/wiki/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland" title="United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland">United Kingdom</a>, later transferred to <a href="/wiki/Lithuania" title="Lithuania">Lithuania</a> without a vote.</li> <li>The area of <a href="/wiki/Dzia%C5%82dowo" title="Działdowo">Działdowo</a> (a railway station on the <a href="/wiki/Warsaw" title="Warsaw">Warsaw</a>-<a href="/wiki/Danzig" class="mw-redirect" title="Danzig">Danzig</a> route) in <a href="/wiki/East_Prussia" title="East Prussia">East Prussia</a> to Poland (492 km<sup>2</sup> or 190 sq mi).</li> <li>An area from the eastern part of West Prussia and the southern part of East Prussia <a href="/wiki/Warmia" title="Warmia">Warmia</a> and <a href="/wiki/Masuria" title="Masuria">Masuria</a>, to Poland (see <a href="/wiki/East_Prussian_plebiscite" class="mw-redirect" title="East Prussian plebiscite">East Prussian plebiscite</a>); the majority of the Slavic <a href="/wiki/Masurians" title="Masurians">Masurians</a> voted to remain part of Germany.</li> <li>The <a href="/wiki/Saar_(League_of_Nations)" class="mw-redirect" title="Saar (League of Nations)">Saar area</a> was to be under the control of the League of Nations for 15 years, after which a vote between France and Germany would be held to decide which country it would belong to. During this time, the region's coal was given to France.</li> <li>The port of <a href="/wiki/Danzig" class="mw-redirect" title="Danzig">Danzig</a> (now <a href="/wiki/Gda%C5%84sk" title="Gdańsk">Gdańsk</a>, Poland) along the delta of the <a href="/wiki/Vistula" title="Vistula">Vistula</a> became the <i><a href="/wiki/Free_City_of_Danzig" title="Free City of Danzig">Free City of Danzig</a></i> under the League of Nations. (1,893 km<sup>2</sup> or 731 sq mi, 408,000 inhabitants (1929)), 90% Germans.</li></ul> <p>In Article 80 ot the Treaty of Versailles, Germany acknowledged and promised to respect the independence of <a href="/wiki/First_Austrian_Republic" title="First Austrian Republic">Austria</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Sudetenland">Sudetenland</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Sudetenland"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The Sudeten Germans had attempted to prevent the German language border areas of former <a href="/wiki/Austria-Hungary" title="Austria-Hungary">Austria-Hungary</a> from becoming part of Czechoslovakia in 1918. Once part of <a href="/wiki/Bohemia" title="Bohemia">Bohemia</a>, they had proclaimed the German-Austrian province of Sudetenland in October 1918, voting instead to join the newly declared Republic of <a href="/wiki/German_Austria" class="mw-redirect" title="German Austria">German Austria</a> in November 1918. However, this had been forbidden by the victorious allied powers of the First World War (the <a href="/wiki/Treaty_of_Saint-Germain" class="mw-redirect" title="Treaty of Saint-Germain">Treaty of Saint-Germain</a>) and by the Czechoslovak government, partly with force of arms in 1919. Many Sudeten Germans rejected an affiliation to Czechoslovakia, since they had been refused the right to <a href="/wiki/Self-determination" title="Self-determination">self-determination</a> promised by US president <a href="/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson" title="Woodrow Wilson">Woodrow Wilson</a> in his <a href="/wiki/Fourteen_Points" title="Fourteen Points">Fourteen Points</a> of January 1918. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Silesian_uprisings">Silesian uprisings</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Silesian uprisings"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Silesian_uprisings" class="mw-redirect" title="Silesian uprisings">Silesian uprisings</a></div> <p>The <a href="/wiki/Silesian_Uprisings" title="Silesian Uprisings">Silesian Uprisings</a> (<a href="/wiki/Polish_language" title="Polish language">Polish</a>: <i lang="pl">Powstania śląskie</i>) were a series of three armed <a href="/wiki/Uprisings" class="mw-redirect" title="Uprisings">uprisings</a> (1919–1921) of <a href="/wiki/Polish_people" title="Polish people">Poles</a> in the <a href="/wiki/Upper_Silesia" title="Upper Silesia">Upper Silesia</a> region against <a href="/wiki/Weimar_Republic" title="Weimar Republic">Weimar Republic</a> in order to separate the region (where in some parts Poles constituted a majority) from Germany and join it with the <a href="/wiki/Second_Polish_Republic" title="Second Polish Republic">Second Polish Republic</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Interbellum">Interbellum</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Interbellum"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Territorial_claims_of_German_nationalists">Territorial claims of German nationalists</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Territorial claims of German nationalists"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>By World War I, there were isolated groups of Germans or so-called <a href="/wiki/Schwaben" class="mw-redirect" title="Schwaben">Schwaben</a> as far southeast as the <a href="/wiki/Bosphorus" class="mw-redirect" title="Bosphorus">Bosphorus</a> (<a href="/wiki/Turkey" title="Turkey">Turkey</a>), <a href="/wiki/Georgia_(country)" title="Georgia (country)">Georgia</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Azerbaijan" title="Azerbaijan">Azerbaijan</a>. After the war, Germany's and Austria-Hungary's loss of territory and the rise of communism in the Soviet Union meant that more Germans than ever constituted sizable minorities in various countries.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="margin-left:0.1em; white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify" title="Wikipedia:Please clarify"><span title="The text near this tag may need clarification or removal of jargon. (July 2011)">clarification needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>German nationalists used the existence of large German minorities in other countries as a basis for territorial claims. Many of the <a href="/wiki/Propaganda" title="Propaganda">propaganda</a> themes of the Nazi regime against Czechoslovakia and Poland claimed that the ethnic Germans (<i><a href="/wiki/Volksdeutsche" title="Volksdeutsche">Volksdeutsche</a></i>) in those territories were persecuted. </p><p>The Nazis negotiated a number of population transfers with Joseph Stalin and others with Benito Mussolini so that both Germany and the other country would increase their ethnic homogeneity. However, these population transfers were not sufficient to appease the demands of the Nazis. The <i><a href="/wiki/Heim_ins_Reich" title="Heim ins Reich">Heim ins Reich</a></i> rhetoric of the Nazis over the continued disjoint status of enclaves such as Danzig and East Prussia was an agitating factor in the politics leading up to World War II, and is considered by many to be among the major causes of Nazi aggressiveness and thus the war. <a href="/wiki/Adolf_Hitler" title="Adolf Hitler">Adolf Hitler</a> used these issues as a pretext for waging wars of aggression against Czechoslovakia and Poland. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Rhineland">Rhineland</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: Rhineland"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Remilitarization_of_the_Rhineland" class="mw-redirect" title="Remilitarization of the Rhineland">Remilitarization of the Rhineland</a></div> <p>On 7 March 1936, Hitler sent a small expeditionary force into the demilitarized Rhineland. This was a clear violation of the Treaty of Versailles (1919, official end of World War I), and as such, France and Britain were within their rights, via the Treaty, to oust the German forces. British public opinion blocked any use of military force, thus preventing French action, as they were internally divided and would not act without British support. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Saar_region">Saar region</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: Saar region"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Saar_(League_of_Nations)" class="mw-redirect" title="Saar (League of Nations)">Saar (League of Nations)</a></div> <p>In 1933, a considerable number of anti-<a href="/wiki/Nazi" class="mw-redirect" title="Nazi">Nazi</a> <a href="/wiki/Germans" title="Germans">Germans</a> fled to the Saar, as it was the only part of Germany left outside the <a href="/wiki/Third_Reich" class="mw-redirect" title="Third Reich">Third Reich</a>'s control. As a result, anti-Nazi groups campaigned heavily for the Saarland to remain under control of <a href="/wiki/League_of_Nations" title="League of Nations">League of Nations</a> as long as Adolf Hitler ruled Germany. However, long-held sentiments against France remained entrenched, with very few sympathizing openly with France. When the 15-year-term was over, a <a href="/wiki/Plebiscite" class="mw-redirect" title="Plebiscite">plebiscite</a> was held in the territory on 13 January 1935: 90.3% of those voting wished to join <a href="/wiki/Nazi_Germany" title="Nazi Germany">Germany</a>. </p><p>On 17 January 1935, the territory's re-union with Germany was approved by the <a href="/wiki/League_Council" class="mw-redirect" title="League Council">League Council</a>. On 1 March, Nazi Germany took over the region and appointed <a href="/wiki/Josef_B%C3%BCrckel" title="Josef Bürckel">Josef Bürckel</a> as <i><a href="/wiki/Reichskommissar" title="Reichskommissar">Reichskommissar</a> für die Rückgliederung des Saarlandes</i>, "Realm Commissioner for the re-union of <a href="/wiki/Saar_(League_of_Nations)" class="mw-redirect" title="Saar (League of Nations)">Saarland</a>". </p><p>As the new <a href="/wiki/Gau_(German)" class="mw-redirect" title="Gau (German)">Gau</a> was extended to the <a href="/wiki/Rhine" title="Rhine">Rhine</a>, including the historic <a href="/wiki/Palatinate_(region)" title="Palatinate (region)">Palatinate</a>, the region's name was changed again on 8 April 1940 to <a href="/wiki/Gau_Saarpfalz" class="mw-redirect" title="Gau Saarpfalz">Gau Saarpfalz</a> (Saar-Palatinate). After the <a href="/wiki/Battle_of_France" title="Battle of France">Battle of France</a>, the French <a href="/wiki/D%C3%A9partement" class="mw-redirect" title="Département">département</a> of <a href="/wiki/Moselle" title="Moselle">Moselle</a> was incorporated in the <a href="/wiki/Reichsgau" title="Reichsgau">Reichsgau</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Anschluss">Anschluss</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: Anschluss"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Anschluss" title="Anschluss">Anschluss</a></div> <p>The <a href="/wiki/Allies_of_World_War_I" title="Allies of World War I">Allies</a> were, on paper, committed to upholding the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which specifically prohibited the union of Germany and post-war Austria (a German-speaking country). This notwithstanding, the Anschluss was among the first major steps in the Austrian-born Adolf Hitler's long-desired creation of an empire including German-speaking lands and territories Germany had lost after World War I. </p><p>The events of 12 March 1938, marked the culmination of historical cross-national pressures to unify the German populations of Austria and Germany under one nation. However, the 1938 Anschluss, regardless of its popularity, was enacted by Germany. Earlier, Hitler's Germany had provided support for the <a href="/wiki/Austrian_National_Socialist_Party" class="mw-redirect" title="Austrian National Socialist Party">Austrian National Socialist Party</a> (Austrian Nazi Party) in its bid to seize power from Austria's <a href="/wiki/Austrofascist" class="mw-redirect" title="Austrofascist">Austrofascist</a> leadership. Fully devoted to remaining independent but amidst growing pressures, the chancellor of Austria, <a href="/wiki/Kurt_Schuschnigg" title="Kurt Schuschnigg">Kurt Schuschnigg</a>, tried to hold a <a href="/wiki/Plebiscite" class="mw-redirect" title="Plebiscite">plebiscite</a>. </p><p>Although Schuschnigg expected Austria to vote in favour of maintaining autonomy, a well-planned <a href="/wiki/Coup_d%27%C3%A9tat" title="Coup d'état">coup d'état</a> by the Austrian Nazi Party of Austria's state institutions in <a href="/wiki/Vienna" title="Vienna">Vienna</a> took place on 11 March, prior to the vote. With power quickly transferred over to Germany, the <a href="/wiki/Wehrmacht" title="Wehrmacht">Wehrmacht</a> troops entered Austria to enforce the Anschluss. The Nazis held a <a href="/wiki/Plebiscite" class="mw-redirect" title="Plebiscite">plebiscite</a> within the following month, where they received 99.73% of the vote. No fighting ever took place and the strongest voices against the annexation, particularly <a href="/wiki/Kingdom_of_Italy_(1861%E2%80%931946)" class="mw-redirect" title="Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)">Fascist Italy</a>, <a href="/wiki/Third_French_Republic" class="mw-redirect" title="Third French Republic">France</a> and the United Kingdom (parties to the <a href="/wiki/Stresa_Front" title="Stresa Front">Stresa Front</a>), were powerless or, in the case of Italy, appeased. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Czechoslovakia">Czechoslovakia</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: Czechoslovakia"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Czechoslovakia_1939.SVG" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/Czechoslovakia_1939.SVG/300px-Czechoslovakia_1939.SVG.png" decoding="async" width="300" height="121" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/Czechoslovakia_1939.SVG/450px-Czechoslovakia_1939.SVG.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/Czechoslovakia_1939.SVG/600px-Czechoslovakia_1939.SVG.png 2x" data-file-width="1059" data-file-height="426" /></a><figcaption>The partition of <a href="/wiki/Czechoslovakia" title="Czechoslovakia">Czechoslovakia</a> from 1938 through 1939. German gains in purple (dark: <a href="/wiki/Sudetenland" title="Sudetenland">Sudetenland</a>, light: <a href="/wiki/Protectorate_of_Bohemia_and_Moravia" title="Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia">Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia</a>)</figcaption></figure> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/German_occupation_of_Czechoslovakia" class="mw-redirect" title="German occupation of Czechoslovakia">German occupation of Czechoslovakia</a></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading5"><h5 id="Sudetenland_2">Sudetenland</h5><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=21" title="Edit section: Sudetenland"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Munich_Agreement" title="Munich Agreement">Munich Agreement</a></div> <p>On 29 September 1938, Adolf Hitler, <a href="/wiki/Neville_Chamberlain" title="Neville Chamberlain">Neville Chamberlain</a>, <a href="/wiki/Benito_Mussolini" title="Benito Mussolini">Benito Mussolini</a> and <a href="/wiki/%C3%89douard_Daladier" title="Édouard Daladier">Édouard Daladier</a> signed the <a href="/wiki/Munich_Agreement" title="Munich Agreement">Munich Agreement</a>. The Czechoslovak government capitulated on September 30 and reluctantly agreed to abide by the agreement. The settlement gave Germany the <a href="/wiki/Sudetenland" title="Sudetenland">Sudetenland</a> starting October 10, and de facto control over the <a href="/wiki/Second_Czechoslovak_Republic" title="Second Czechoslovak Republic">rest of Czechoslovakia</a> as long as Hitler promised to go no further. </p><p>Hitler and Chamberlain signed an additional resolution determining to resolve all future disputes between Germany and the United Kingdom through peaceful means. This is often confused with the Four-Power Munich Agreement itself, not least because most photographs of Chamberlain's return show him waving the paper containing the resolution, not the Munich Agreement itself. </p><p>Without <a href="/wiki/Czechoslovak_border_fortifications" title="Czechoslovak border fortifications">fortification</a> which was built in Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia was now defenseless. On 5 October, <a href="/wiki/Edvard_Bene%C5%A1" title="Edvard Beneš">Edvard Beneš</a> resigned as <a href="/wiki/President_of_Czechoslovakia" class="mw-redirect" title="President of Czechoslovakia">President of Czechoslovakia</a>, realising that the fall of Czechoslovakia was <i><a href="/wiki/Fait_accompli" class="mw-redirect" title="Fait accompli">fait accompli</a></i>. Following the outbreak of <a href="/wiki/World_War_II" title="World War II">World War II</a>, he would form a <a href="/wiki/Czechoslovak_government-in-exile" title="Czechoslovak government-in-exile">Czechoslovak government-in-exile</a> in <a href="/wiki/London" title="London">London</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading5"><h5 id="Invasion_of_the_rest_of_Czechoslovakia">Invasion of the rest of Czechoslovakia</h5><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=22" title="Edit section: Invasion of the rest of Czechoslovakia"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main articles: <a href="/wiki/Protectorate_of_Bohemia_and_Moravia" title="Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia">Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia</a> and <a href="/wiki/Slovak_Republic_(1939%E2%80%931945)" title="Slovak Republic (1939–1945)">Slovak Republic (1939–1945)</a></div> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Deutschesreich1939.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/Deutschesreich1939.png/220px-Deutschesreich1939.png" decoding="async" width="220" height="173" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/Deutschesreich1939.png/330px-Deutschesreich1939.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/Deutschesreich1939.png/440px-Deutschesreich1939.png 2x" data-file-width="1032" data-file-height="810" /></a><figcaption>Germany in 1939 before the start of World War II</figcaption></figure> <p>On 13 March 1939, Nazi armies entered <a href="/wiki/Prague" title="Prague">Prague</a> and <a href="/wiki/German_occupation_of_Czechoslovakia" class="mw-redirect" title="German occupation of Czechoslovakia">proceeded to occupy</a> the remainder of <a href="/wiki/Bohemia" title="Bohemia">Bohemia</a> and <a href="/wiki/Moravia" title="Moravia">Moravia</a>, which was transformed into a <a href="/wiki/Protectorate_of_Bohemia_and_Moravia" title="Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia">protectorate of the Reich</a>. The eastern half of the country, <a href="/wiki/Slovakia" title="Slovakia">Slovakia</a>, became a separate pro-Nazi state, the <a href="/wiki/Slovak_Republic_(1939%E2%80%931945)" title="Slovak Republic (1939–1945)">Slovak Republic</a>. </p><p>Prime Minister Chamberlain felt betrayed by the Nazi seizure of Czechoslovakia, realising his policy of <a href="/wiki/Appeasement" title="Appeasement">appeasement</a> towards Hitler had failed, and immediately began to mobilize the British Empire's armed forces on a war footing. France did the same. Though no immediate action followed, Hitler's <a href="/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland_(1939)" class="mw-redirect" title="Invasion of Poland (1939)">move on Poland</a> in September started World War II in Europe. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Memel_Territory">Memel Territory</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=23" title="Edit section: Memel Territory"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Klaip%C4%97da_Region" title="Klaipėda Region">Klaipėda Region</a></div> <p>By late 1938, Lithuania had lost control over the situation in the <a href="/wiki/Klaip%C4%97da_Region" title="Klaipėda Region">Klaipėda Region</a>. In the early hours of 23 March 1939, after a political ultimatum had made a Lithuanian delegation travel to <a href="/wiki/Berlin" title="Berlin">Berlin</a>, the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs <a href="/wiki/Juozas_Urb%C5%A1ys" title="Juozas Urbšys">Juozas Urbšys</a> and his German counterpart <a href="/wiki/Joachim_von_Ribbentrop" title="Joachim von Ribbentrop">Joachim von Ribbentrop</a> signed the <i>Treaty of the Cession of the Memel Territory to Germany</i> in exchange for a Lithuanian Free Zone in the port of Memel, using the facilities erected in previous years. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="World_War_II">World War II</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=24" title="Edit section: World War II"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:World_War_II_in_Europe,_1942.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/World_War_II_in_Europe%2C_1942.svg/300px-World_War_II_in_Europe%2C_1942.svg.png" decoding="async" width="300" height="282" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/World_War_II_in_Europe%2C_1942.svg/450px-World_War_II_in_Europe%2C_1942.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/World_War_II_in_Europe%2C_1942.svg/600px-World_War_II_in_Europe%2C_1942.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="519" data-file-height="488" /></a><figcaption>The Third Reich at its greatest extent (dark blue), 1942</figcaption></figure> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Das_Grossdeutsche_Reich.jpeg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Das_Grossdeutsche_Reich.jpeg/300px-Das_Grossdeutsche_Reich.jpeg" decoding="async" width="300" height="317" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Das_Grossdeutsche_Reich.jpeg/450px-Das_Grossdeutsche_Reich.jpeg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Das_Grossdeutsche_Reich.jpeg/600px-Das_Grossdeutsche_Reich.jpeg 2x" data-file-width="1500" data-file-height="1584" /></a><figcaption>Territorial expansion of Germany proper from 1933 to 1941 as explained to Wehrmacht soldiers, a Nazi era map in German</figcaption></figure> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Nazi_Germany" title="Nazi Germany">Nazi Germany</a></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Areas_annexed_by_Nazi_Germany" title="Areas annexed by Nazi Germany">Areas annexed by Nazi Germany</a></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Poland">Poland</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=25" title="Edit section: Poland"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Polish_areas_annexed_by_Nazi_Germany" title="Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany">Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany</a></div> <p>After <a href="/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland_(1939)" class="mw-redirect" title="Invasion of Poland (1939)">invading Poland</a> in 1939, Germany annexed the lands it was forced to give to a reformed <a href="/wiki/Second_Polish_Republic" title="Second Polish Republic">Poland</a> in 1919–1922 by the Treaty of Versailles, including the so-called "<a href="/wiki/Polish_Corridor" title="Polish Corridor">Polish Corridor</a>", the former <a href="/wiki/Province_of_Posen" title="Province of Posen">Province of Posen</a>, and <a href="/wiki/East_Upper_Silesia" title="East Upper Silesia">East Upper Silesia</a>. The <a href="/wiki/Volkstag" title="Volkstag">Volkstag</a> of the <a href="/wiki/Free_City_of_Danzig" title="Free City of Danzig">Free City of Danzig</a> voted to become a part of Germany again, although <a href="/wiki/Polish_people" title="Polish people">Poles</a> and <a href="/wiki/Jews" title="Jews">Jews</a> were deprived of their voting rights and all non-<a href="/wiki/National_Socialist_German_Workers_Party" class="mw-redirect" title="National Socialist German Workers Party">Nazi</a> political parties were banned. Parts of Poland that had not been part of <a href="/wiki/German_Empire" title="German Empire">Wilhelmine Germany</a> were also incorporated into the <a href="/wiki/Deutsches_Reich" class="mw-redirect" title="Deutsches Reich">Reich</a>. </p> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Greater_German_Reich_NS_Administration_1944_Variant.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Greater_German_Reich_NS_Administration_1944_Variant.png/300px-Greater_German_Reich_NS_Administration_1944_Variant.png" decoding="async" width="300" height="233" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Greater_German_Reich_NS_Administration_1944_Variant.png/450px-Greater_German_Reich_NS_Administration_1944_Variant.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Greater_German_Reich_NS_Administration_1944_Variant.png/600px-Greater_German_Reich_NS_Administration_1944_Variant.png 2x" data-file-width="2616" data-file-height="2031" /></a><figcaption>Map of NS administrative division in 1944</figcaption></figure> <p>Two decrees by Adolf Hitler (8 October and 12 October 1939) provided for the division of the annexed areas of Poland into the following administrative units: </p> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Reichsgau_Wartheland" title="Reichsgau Wartheland">Reichsgau Wartheland</a> (initially <a href="/wiki/Reichsgau" title="Reichsgau">Reichsgau</a> Posen), which included the entire <a href="/wiki/Pozna%C5%84_Voivodeship_(1921%E2%80%931939)" class="mw-redirect" title="Poznań Voivodeship (1921–1939)">Poznań Voivodeship</a>, most of the <a href="/wiki/%C5%81%C3%B3d%C5%BA_Voivodeship_(1919%E2%80%931939)" title="Łódź Voivodeship (1919–1939)">Łódź Voivodeship</a>, five counties of the <a href="/wiki/Pomeranian_Voivodeship_(1919%E2%80%931939)" title="Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)">Pomeranian Voivodeship</a>, and the <a href="/wiki/Dzia%C5%82dowo_County" title="Działdowo County">Działdowo County</a> of the <a href="/wiki/Warsaw_Voivodeship_(1919%E2%80%931939)" title="Warsaw Voivodeship (1919–1939)">Warsaw Voivodeship</a>;</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reichsgau_Danzig-West_Prussia" title="Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia">Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia</a> (initially Reichsgau West Prussia), which consisted of the remaining area of the Pomeranian Voivodeship and the Free City of Danzig;</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ciechan%C3%B3w" title="Ciechanów">Ciechanów</a> District (<a href="/wiki/Regierungsbezirk" title="Regierungsbezirk">Regierungsbezirk</a> Zichenau), consisting of the five northern counties of Warsaw Voivodeship (<a href="/wiki/P%C5%82ock" title="Płock">Płock</a>, <a href="/wiki/P%C5%82o%C5%84sk" title="Płońsk">Płońsk</a>, <a href="/wiki/Sierpc" title="Sierpc">Sierpc</a>, <a href="/wiki/Ciechan%C3%B3w" title="Ciechanów">Ciechanów</a>, and <a href="/wiki/M%C5%82awa" title="Mława">Mława</a>), which became a part of <a href="/wiki/East_Prussia" title="East Prussia">East Prussia</a>;</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Katowice" title="Katowice">Katowice</a> District (Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz), or unofficially <a href="/wiki/East_Upper_Silesia" title="East Upper Silesia">East Upper Silesia</a> (Ost-Oberschlesien), which included <a href="/wiki/Sosnowiec" title="Sosnowiec">Sosnowiec</a>, <a href="/wiki/B%C4%99dzin" title="Będzin">Będzin</a>, <a href="/wiki/Chrzan%C3%B3w" title="Chrzanów">Chrzanów</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Zawiercie" title="Zawiercie">Zawiercie</a> Counties, and parts of <a href="/wiki/Olkusz" title="Olkusz">Olkusz</a> and <a href="/wiki/%C5%BBywiec" title="Żywiec">Żywiec</a> Counties.</li></ul> <p>These territories had an area of 94,000 km<sup>2</sup> (36,000 sq mi) and a population of 10,000,000 people. The remainder of the Polish territory was annexed by the <a href="/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a> (c. 52%; see <a href="/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact" title="Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact">Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact</a>) or made into the German-controlled <a href="/wiki/General_Government" title="General Government">General Government</a> occupation zone. </p><p>After the <a href="/wiki/German_attack_on_the_Soviet_Union" class="mw-redirect" title="German attack on the Soviet Union">German attack on the Soviet Union</a> in June 1941, the <a href="/wiki/Bia%C5%82ystok_Voivodeship_(1919%E2%80%931939)" title="Białystok Voivodeship (1919–1939)">Białystok Voivodeship</a>, which included the <a href="/wiki/Bia%C5%82ystok" title="Białystok">Białystok</a>, <a href="/wiki/Bielsk_Podlaski" title="Bielsk Podlaski">Bielsk Podlaski</a>, <a href="/wiki/Grajewo" title="Grajewo">Grajewo</a>, <a href="/wiki/%C5%81om%C5%BCa" title="Łomża">Łomża</a>, <a href="/wiki/Sok%C3%B3%C5%82ka" title="Sokółka">Sokółka</a>, <a href="/wiki/Volkovysk" class="mw-redirect" title="Volkovysk">Volkovysk</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Grodno" title="Grodno">Grodno</a> Counties, was "attached to" (not incorporated into) <a href="/wiki/East_Prussia" title="East Prussia">East Prussia</a>, while <a href="/wiki/East_Galicia" class="mw-redirect" title="East Galicia">East Galicia</a> was added to the <a href="/wiki/General_Government" title="General Government">General Government</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Alsace-Lorraine">Alsace-Lorraine</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=26" title="Edit section: Alsace-Lorraine"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>After the invasion of France in 1940, Germany annexed the <a href="/wiki/Departments_of_France" title="Departments of France">départements</a> of <a href="/wiki/Bas-Rhin" title="Bas-Rhin">Bas-Rhin</a>, <a href="/wiki/Haut-Rhin" title="Haut-Rhin">Haut-Rhin</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Moselle_(department)" title="Moselle (department)">Moselle</a> (<a href="/wiki/Alsace" title="Alsace">Alsace</a>-<a href="/wiki/Lorraine" title="Lorraine">Lorraine</a>). The German government never negotiated or declared a formal annexation, however, in order to preserve the possibility of an agreement with the West.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (July 2008)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Eupen_and_Malmedy">Eupen and Malmedy</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=27" title="Edit section: Eupen and Malmedy"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>See <a href="/wiki/Eupen-Malmedy" title="Eupen-Malmedy">Eupen-Malmedy</a> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Luxembourg">Luxembourg</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=28" title="Edit section: Luxembourg"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Luxembourg" title="Luxembourg">Luxembourg</a> was invaded and occupied by German Forces on May 10, 1940. It was formally annexed to Germany in August 1942. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Parts_of_Yugoslavia">Parts of Yugoslavia</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=29" title="Edit section: Parts of Yugoslavia"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>From: <a href="/wiki/History_of_Slovenia" title="History of Slovenia">History of Slovenia</a> "After <a href="/wiki/Kingdom_of_Yugoslavia" title="Kingdom of Yugoslavia">Yugoslavia</a> fell, Germany, Italy, and Hungary each annexed parts of Slovenia, the largest part being <a href="/wiki/Lower_Styria" class="mw-redirect" title="Lower Styria">Lower Styria</a> which was annexed to the "Ostmark" (Nazi German Austria)." </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="South_Tyrol">South Tyrol</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=30" title="Edit section: South Tyrol"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/South_Tyrol" title="South Tyrol">South Tyrol</a> was <a href="/wiki/History_of_South_Tyrol#Annexation_by_Nazi_Germany" title="History of South Tyrol"><i>de facto</i> annexed</a> by Nazi Germany, it was part of the <a href="/wiki/Italian_Social_Republic" title="Italian Social Republic">Italian Social Republic</a> a German <a href="/wiki/Puppet_state" title="Puppet state">puppet state</a> at the time. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Recognition">Recognition</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=31" title="Edit section: Recognition"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The fact there were the areas that had been incorporated into <a href="/wiki/Nazi_Germany" title="Nazi Germany">Nazi Germany</a> since the <a href="/wiki/Anschluss" title="Anschluss">Anschluss</a> were repudiated in the Berlin Declaration of 5 June 1945 by the four victorious Allies who also officially abolished Nazi Germany and started to represent post-war Germany with the Declaration, new Nazi areas since the Anschluss were already considered the "annexations" by the Allies before in the war and were therefore non-issues in the post-war Germany. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Territorial_changes_after_the_German_defeat_in_World_War_II">Territorial changes after the German defeat in World War II</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=32" title="Edit section: Territorial changes after the German defeat in World War II"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>With the Allied Berlin Declaration of 6 June 1945 and Potsdam Agreement of 2 August 1945, German annexations which began with the German annexation of Austria were annulled and Germany also lost the traditionally ethnic German eastern region<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> prior to the German annexation of Austria. Saarland separated from Allied occupied Germany to become a country under French protection on 17 December 1947, in 1949 the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and later the German Democratic Republic (GDR) were born, leading to Germany being split into two countries; present-day German territories were formed when the Saarland became part of the FRG on 1 January 1957 and the territories of the GDR became part of the FRG on 3 October 1990 (German borders also had other changes but tiny). </p> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Map-Germany-1945.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Map-Germany-1945.svg/250px-Map-Germany-1945.svg.png" decoding="async" width="250" height="212" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Map-Germany-1945.svg/375px-Map-Germany-1945.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Map-Germany-1945.svg/500px-Map-Germany-1945.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="3492" data-file-height="2966" /></a><figcaption><a href="/wiki/Allies_of_World_War_II" title="Allies of World War II">Allied</a> occupation zones in Germany, 17 December 1947</figcaption></figure> <p>As it became evident that the Allies were going to defeat Nazi Germany decisively, the question arose as to how to redraw the borders of Central and Eastern European countries after the war. In the context of those decisions, the problem arose of what to do about ethnic minorities within the redrawn borders. The territorial changes at the end of World War II were part of negotiated agreements between the victorious Allies to redraw national borders and arrange for deportation of all Germans that were east of the Oder–Neisse line. The Allies occupied Germany, but the Western allies and Soviet Union formed separate governments covering specific parts of Germany (<a href="/wiki/West_Germany" title="West Germany">West Germany</a> and <a href="/wiki/East_Germany" title="East Germany">East Germany</a>). The two Germanies reunified in 1990. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="The_Yalta_Conference">The Yalta Conference</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=33" title="Edit section: The Yalta Conference"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Yalta_Conference" title="Yalta Conference">Yalta Conference</a></div> <p>The final decision to move Poland's boundary westward was made by the <a href="/wiki/US" class="mw-redirect" title="US">US</a>, Britain and the Soviets at the <a href="/wiki/Yalta_Conference" title="Yalta Conference">Yalta Conference</a>, shortly before the end of the war. The precise location of the border was left open; the western Allies also accepted in general the principle of the Oder River as the future western border of Poland and of population transfer as the way to prevent future border disputes. The open question was whether the border should follow the eastern or western Neisse rivers, and whether <a href="/wiki/Stettin" class="mw-redirect" title="Stettin">Stettin</a>, the traditional seaport of Berlin, should remain German or be included in Poland. </p><p>Originally, Germany was to retain Stettin while the Poles were to annex <a href="/wiki/East_Prussia" title="East Prussia">East Prussia</a> with <a href="/wiki/K%C3%B6nigsberg" title="Königsberg">Königsberg</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-ipn_10-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ipn-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Eventually, however, Stalin decided that he wanted Königsberg as a year-round <a href="/wiki/Warm_water_port" class="mw-redirect" title="Warm water port">warm water port</a> for the Soviet Navy and argued that the Poles should receive Stettin instead. The wartime <a href="/wiki/Polish_government-in-exile" title="Polish government-in-exile">Polish government-in-exile</a> had little to say in these decisions.<sup id="cite_ref-ipn_10-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ipn-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Key points of the meeting that are relevant to the territorial changes of Germany are as follows: </p> <ul><li>There was an agreement that the priority would be the <a href="/wiki/Unconditional_surrender" title="Unconditional surrender">unconditional surrender</a> of Nazi Germany. After the war, Germany would be split into four occupied zones, with a quadripartite occupation of Berlin as well, prior to unification of Germany.</li> <li>Stalin agreed to let France have the fourth occupation zone in Germany and Austria, carved out from the British and American zones. France would also be granted a seat in the <a href="/wiki/Allied_Control_Council" title="Allied Control Council">Allied Control Council</a>.</li> <li>Germany would undergo <a href="/wiki/Demilitarization" class="mw-redirect" title="Demilitarization">demilitarization</a> and <a href="/wiki/Denazification" title="Denazification">denazification</a>.</li> <li>The status of Poland was discussed, but was complicated by the fact that Poland was at this time under the control of the <a href="/wiki/Red_Army" title="Red Army">Red Army</a>. It was agreed to reorganize the <a href="/wiki/Provisionary_Polish_Government" class="mw-redirect" title="Provisionary Polish Government">Provisionary Polish Government</a> that had been set up by the Red Army through the inclusion of other groups such as the <a href="/wiki/Polish_Provisional_Government_of_National_Unity" class="mw-redirect" title="Polish Provisional Government of National Unity">Polish Provisional Government of National Unity</a> and to have democratic elections. This effectively excluded the <a href="/wiki/Polish_government-in-exile" title="Polish government-in-exile">Polish government-in-exile</a> that had evacuated in 1939.</li> <li>The Polish eastern border would follow the <a href="/wiki/Curzon_Line" title="Curzon Line">Curzon Line</a>, and Poland would receive substantial territorial compensation in the west from Germany, although the exact border was to be determined at a later time.</li> <li>A "Committee on Dismemberment of Germany" was to be set up. The purpose was to decide whether Germany was to be divided into several nations, and if so, what borders and inter-relationships the new German states were to have.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="The_Potsdam_Conference">The Potsdam Conference</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=34" title="Edit section: The Potsdam Conference"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Potsdam_Agreement" title="Potsdam Agreement">Potsdam Agreement</a></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Further information: <a href="/wiki/Oder%E2%80%93Neisse_line" title="Oder–Neisse line">Oder–Neisse line</a>, <a href="/wiki/Former_eastern_territories_of_Germany" title="Former eastern territories of Germany">Former eastern territories of Germany</a>, and <a href="/wiki/1944%E2%80%9350_flight_and_expulsion_of_Germans" class="mw-redirect" title="1944–50 flight and expulsion of Germans">1944–50 flight and expulsion of Germans</a></div> <p>At the <a href="/wiki/Potsdam_Conference" title="Potsdam Conference">Potsdam Conference</a> the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union placed the German territories within the 1937 Nazi Germany borders east of the <a href="/wiki/Oder%E2%80%93Neisse_line" title="Oder–Neisse line">Oder–Neisse line</a> (before <a href="/wiki/Anschluss" title="Anschluss">Austria became part of Nazi Germany</a> ie an "<a href="/wiki/Annexation" title="Annexation">annexation</a>" on 13 March 1938) like in the <a href="/wiki/Berlin_Declaration_(1945)" title="Berlin Declaration (1945)">Berlin Declaration</a> of 5 June 1945 officially abolishing Nazi Germany before, and with the exception of parts of East Prussia, as formally under Polish administrative control. These were referred to by the Polish communist government as the "Western Territories" or "<a href="/wiki/Regained_Territories" class="mw-redirect" title="Regained Territories">Regained Territories</a>", as all these territories were under Polish rule in the past. It was anticipated that a final <a href="/wiki/Peace_treaty" title="Peace treaty">peace treaty</a> would follow shortly and either confirm this border or determine whatever alterations might be agreed upon. Northern East Prussia and Memelland were placed under Soviet administrative control. The 1919 Versailles Treaty created Free City of Danzig was also placed under Polish administration. The <a href="/wiki/Flight_and_expulsion_of_Germans_from_Poland_during_and_after_World_War_II" title="Flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland during and after World War II">German population east of the Oder–Neisse line disappeared from their traditional territories when they fled due to war then they were forcibly expelled</a>. </p><p>At the end of the conference, the Three Heads of Government agreed on the following actions: </p> <figure class="mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Oder-neisse.gif" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Oder-neisse.gif/300px-Oder-neisse.gif" decoding="async" width="300" height="194" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Oder-neisse.gif/450px-Oder-neisse.gif 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Oder-neisse.gif/600px-Oder-neisse.gif 2x" data-file-width="827" data-file-height="535" /></a><figcaption>The <a href="/wiki/Oder%E2%80%93Neisse_line" title="Oder–Neisse line">Oder–Neisse line</a></figcaption></figure> <ul><li>Issuance of a statement of aims of the occupation of Germany by the Allies: <a href="/wiki/Demilitarization" class="mw-redirect" title="Demilitarization">demilitarization</a>, <a href="/wiki/Denazification" title="Denazification">denazification</a>, <a href="/wiki/Democratization" title="Democratization">democratization</a> and <a href="/wiki/Decartelization" title="Decartelization">decartelization</a>. (<i>see also: <a href="/wiki/The_industrial_plans_for_Germany" class="mw-redirect" title="The industrial plans for Germany">The industrial plans for Germany</a></i>)</li> <li>Division of Germany and Austria respectively into four occupation zones (earlier agreed in principle at <a href="/wiki/Yalta_Conference" title="Yalta Conference">Yalta</a>), and the similar division of each's capital, Berlin and Vienna, into four and five sectors (one quadripartite sector), respectively.</li> <li>Reversion of all German annexations in Europe after 1937, among these were <a href="/wiki/Sudetenland" title="Sudetenland">Sudetenland</a>, Alsace-Lorraine, Austria, <a href="/wiki/Polish_areas_annexed_by_Nazi_Germany" title="Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany">the westmost parts of Poland</a>, and others.</li> <li>Germany's eastern border was to be shifted westwards to the <a href="/wiki/Oder%E2%80%93Neisse_line" title="Oder–Neisse line">Oder–Neisse line</a>, effectively reducing Germany in size by approximately 25% compared to its 1937 borders. The territories east of the new border comprised <a href="/wiki/East_Prussia" title="East Prussia">East Prussia</a>, all of <a href="/wiki/Silesia" title="Silesia">Silesia</a> (except for its westernmost part around the city of <a href="/wiki/G%C3%B6rlitz" title="Görlitz">Görlitz</a>), the <a href="/wiki/East_Brandenburg" class="mw-redirect" title="East Brandenburg">eastern part of Brandenburg</a>, and most of <a href="/wiki/Pomerania" title="Pomerania">Pomerania</a> (including former Grenzmark Posen-West Prussia). These areas included large urban centres such as <a href="/wiki/Stettin" class="mw-redirect" title="Stettin">Stettin</a> (Szczecin), <a href="/wiki/Breslau" class="mw-redirect" title="Breslau">Breslau</a> (Wrocław), <a href="/wiki/Landsberg_an_der_Warthe" class="mw-redirect" title="Landsberg an der Warthe">Landsberg an der Warthe</a> (Gorzów Wielkopolski) and so on.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/1944%E2%80%9350_flight_and_expulsion_of_Germans" class="mw-redirect" title="1944–50 flight and expulsion of Germans">Expulsion of the German populations</a> remaining beyond the new eastern borders of Germany, and ethnically German denaturalised citizens of other states such <a href="/wiki/Third_Republic_of_Czechoslovakia" class="mw-redirect" title="Third Republic of Czechoslovakia">Czechoslovakia</a>, <a href="/wiki/Republic_of_Hungary_(1946%E2%80%931949)" class="mw-redirect" title="Republic of Hungary (1946–1949)">Hungary</a>, Poland, <a href="/wiki/Kingdom_of_Romania" title="Kingdom of Romania">Romania</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Yugoslavia" title="Yugoslavia">Yugoslavia</a>. France, which had not participated in the Potsdam conference, took its liberties to dismiss this point and therefore refused to absorb any expellees in its zone of occupation.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading5"><h5 id="Finalization_of_the_Polish-German_border">Finalization of the Polish-German border</h5><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=35" title="Edit section: Finalization of the Polish-German border"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Deutschland_Bundeslaender_1949.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Deutschland_Bundeslaender_1949.png/200px-Deutschland_Bundeslaender_1949.png" decoding="async" width="200" height="258" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Deutschland_Bundeslaender_1949.png/300px-Deutschland_Bundeslaender_1949.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Deutschland_Bundeslaender_1949.png/400px-Deutschland_Bundeslaender_1949.png 2x" data-file-width="464" data-file-height="599" /></a><figcaption>Federal Republic of Germany (blue and yellow), German Democratic Republic (red), and the Saarland (purple), 7 October 1949</figcaption></figure> <p>The problem with the status of these territories was that the <a href="/wiki/Potsdam_Agreement" title="Potsdam Agreement">concluding document</a> of the <a href="/wiki/Potsdam_Conference" title="Potsdam Conference">Potsdam Conference</a> in 1945 was not a legally binding <a href="/wiki/Treaty" title="Treaty">treaty</a>, but a <a href="/wiki/Memorandum" title="Memorandum">memorandum</a> between the USSR, the US and the UK. It regulated the issue of the eastern German border, which was to be the Oder–Neisse line, but the final article of the memorandum said that the final decisions concerning Germany were to be subject to a separate peace treaty. </p><p>Based upon this interpretation of the Potsdam Agreement, the <a href="/wiki/Christian_Democratic_Union_(Germany)" class="mw-redirect" title="Christian Democratic Union (Germany)">CDU</a> controlled German government maintained that the <a href="/wiki/Oder%E2%80%93Neisse_line" title="Oder–Neisse line">Oder–Neisse line</a> was completely unacceptable and subject to negotiation. Also the Social Democrats of the <a href="/wiki/SPD" class="mw-redirect" title="SPD">SPD</a> initially refused to accept the Oder–Neisse line. Thus, the <a href="/wiki/Oder%E2%80%93Neisse_line#German_recognition_of_the_border" title="Oder–Neisse line">official German government position</a> on the status of areas vacated by settled German communities east of the Oder–Neisse rivers was that the areas were "temporarily under Polish (or [Soviet]) administration." </p><p>Between 1970 and 1990, the West German political establishment gradually recognised the "<a href="/wiki/Facts_on_the_ground" title="Facts on the ground">facts on the ground</a>" and accepted clauses in the <a href="/wiki/Treaty_on_the_Final_Settlement" class="mw-redirect" title="Treaty on the Final Settlement">Treaty on the Final Settlement</a>, whereby Germany renounced all claims to territory east of the Oder–Neisse line. In the <a href="/wiki/Treaty_of_Warsaw_(1970)" title="Treaty of Warsaw (1970)">Treaty of Warsaw</a> (1970; ratified in 1972) <a href="/wiki/West_Germany" title="West Germany">West Germany</a> recognized the Oder–Neisse line as Poland's western border and renounced any present and future territorial claims; this was reaffirmed by both German states in the 1990 <a href="/wiki/Treaty_on_the_Final_Settlement_with_Respect_to_Germany" title="Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany">Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany</a> as a pre-condition for re-union. The treaty was ratified in 1991 by the united Germany. United Germany and Poland then finally settled the issue of the Oder–Neisse border by the <a href="/wiki/German%E2%80%93Polish_Border_Treaty" title="German–Polish Border Treaty">German–Polish Border Treaty</a> in November 1990. This ended the legal limbo which meant that for 45 years, people on both sides of the border could not be sure whether the status quo reached in 1945 might be changed at some future date. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Luxembourg_2">Luxembourg</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=36" title="Edit section: Luxembourg"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Luxembourg_annexation_plans_after_the_Second_World_War" title="Luxembourg annexation plans after the Second World War">Luxembourg annexation plans after the Second World War</a></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Belgium">Belgium</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=37" title="Edit section: Belgium"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Belgian_annexation_plans_after_the_Second_World_War" title="Belgian annexation plans after the Second World War">Belgian annexation plans after the Second World War</a></div> <p>The "Working Party on Provisional Adjustments to the Western Frontiers of Germany" approved in 1949 the provisional transfer of 20 km<sup>2</sup> (7.7 sq mi) containing 500 inhabitants to Belgium:<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <ol><li><a href="/w/index.php?title=Bildchen&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bildchen (page does not exist)">Bildchen</a> (returned in 1956)</li> <li><a href="/w/index.php?title=Lichtenbusch&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Lichtenbusch (page does not exist)">Lichtenbusch</a> (returned in 1956)</li> <li><a href="/w/index.php?title=Fringshaus&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Fringshaus (page does not exist)">Fringshaus</a> — roads between <a href="/wiki/Roetgen" title="Roetgen">Roetgen</a> and Fringshaus, Fringshaus and <a href="/w/index.php?title=Lammersdorf&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Lammersdorf (page does not exist)">Lammersdorf</a>, Fringshaus and <a href="/wiki/Konzen" title="Konzen">Konzen</a> (first two returned in 1956)</li> <li><a href="/w/index.php?title=Leykoul&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Leykoul (page does not exist)">Leykoul</a> (eastern part returned in 1956)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Elsenborn" class="mw-redirect" title="Elsenborn">Elsenborn</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Losheim" class="mw-redirect" title="Losheim">Losheim</a> (only the village returned in 1956)</li> <li><a href="/w/index.php?title=Hemmeres&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Hemmeres (page does not exist)">Hemmeres</a> (returned in 1956)</li></ol> <p>As part of the 1956 treaty, in exchange for the territory ceded by Germany, Belgium ceded to Germany its territory north of the Fringshaus roads and bounded by the <a href="/wiki/Vennbahn" title="Vennbahn">Vennbahn</a>. The detached territory, in 1956 containing 704 inhabitants including refugees, was, prior to its 1956 dissolution and partition between West Germany and Belgium, ruled as an independent territory by Belgian Army Major General <a href="/w/index.php?title=Paul_Bolle&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Paul Bolle (page does not exist)">Paul Bolle</a>, who enjoyed dictatorial powers.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Netherlands">Netherlands</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=38" title="Edit section: Netherlands"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Dutch_annexation_of_German_territory_after_the_Second_World_War" title="Dutch annexation of German territory after the Second World War">Dutch annexation of German territory after the Second World War</a></div> <p>Despite the more extensive annexation proposals of the <a href="/wiki/Bakker-Schut_Plan" class="mw-redirect" title="Bakker-Schut Plan">Bakker-Schut Plan</a>, only a few border modifications were implemented. On 23 April 1949, Dutch troops occupied an area of 69 km<sup>2</sup> (27 sq mi), the largest parts of which were <a href="/wiki/Elten" title="Elten">Elten</a> (near <a href="/wiki/Emmerich_am_Rhein" title="Emmerich am Rhein">Emmerich am Rhein</a>) and <a href="/wiki/Selfkant" title="Selfkant">Selfkant</a>. Many other small border changes were executed, mostly in the vicinity of <a href="/wiki/Arnhem" title="Arnhem">Arnhem</a> and <a href="/wiki/Dinxperlo" title="Dinxperlo">Dinxperlo</a>. At that time, these areas were inhabited by a total of almost 10,000 people. </p><p>Starting in March 1957, West Germany negotiated with the Netherlands for the return of these areas. The negotiations led to an agreement (<a href="/wiki/German_language" title="German language">German</a>: <i lang="de">Vertrag vom 8. April 1960 zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und dem Königreich der Niederlande zur Regelung von Grenzfragen und anderen zwischen beiden Ländern bestehenden Problemen</i>; short: Ausgleichsvertrag, i.e. treaty of settlement<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>) made in The Hague on 8 April 1960, in which Germany agreed to pay <a href="/wiki/DEM" class="mw-redirect" title="DEM">DEM</a> 280 million for the return of Elten, Selfkant, and Suderwick, as <i><a href="/wiki/Wiedergutmachung" title="Wiedergutmachung">Wiedergutmachung</a></i>. </p><p>The territory was returned to Germany on 1 August 1963, except for one small hill (about 3 km<sup>2</sup>, 1.2 sq mi) near <a href="/wiki/Wyler,_North_Rhine-Westphalia" title="Wyler, North Rhine-Westphalia">Wyler</a> village, called <a href="/wiki/Duivelsberg/Wylerberg" class="mw-redirect" title="Duivelsberg/Wylerberg">Duivelsberg/Wylerberg</a> which was annexed by the Netherlands. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="France">France</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=39" title="Edit section: France"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Monnet_Plan" title="Monnet Plan">Monnet Plan</a></div> <p>Starting on 16 February 1946 France <i>de facto</i> disentangled the Saar area and the separate <a href="/wiki/Saar_Protectorate" title="Saar Protectorate">Saar Protectorate</a> of France was established when its constitution came into force on 17 December 1947, further attaching parts of the Prussian <a href="/wiki/Rhine_Province" title="Rhine Province">Rhine Province</a> and the Bavarian <a href="/wiki/Palatinate_(region)" title="Palatinate (region)">Palatinate</a> (<a href="/wiki/Saarpfalz" class="mw-redirect" title="Saarpfalz">Saarpfalz</a>). Like the <a href="/wiki/Former_eastern_territories_of_Germany" title="Former eastern territories of Germany">former eastern territories of Germany</a> the Saar area was out of the jurisdiction of the <a href="/wiki/Allied_Control_Council" title="Allied Control Council">Allied Control Council for Germany</a> and thus not part of <a href="/wiki/Allied-occupied_Germany" title="Allied-occupied Germany">Allied-occupied Germany</a>. However, unlike the eastern territories, the domestic Saar population was not expelled by the controlling French. With the effect of 1 January 1957, the Saar Protectorate declared its accession to the Federal Republic of Germany, as provided by its <a href="/wiki/Grundgesetz" class="mw-redirect" title="Grundgesetz">Grundgesetz</a> (constitution) art. 23 (Little Reunification), thus becoming the new federal state of <a href="/wiki/Saarland" title="Saarland">Saarland</a>. <a href="/wiki/Kehl" title="Kehl">Kehl</a> was directly annexed to France in 1945 and returned to Germany in 1953. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Poland_2">Poland</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=40" title="Edit section: Poland"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In 1949, there was modest exchange of territory between the Polish People's Republic and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). What is now the1 <span class="avoidwrap" style="display:inline-block;">B 104/</span>B 113 road junction at Linken, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to the immediate west of the Polish town of Lubieszyn was transferred from Poland to the GDR in return for a narrow strip of land lying directly on the west side of the road that connected the settlements of Linki and <a href="/wiki/Buk,_Police_County" title="Buk, Police County">Buk</a>. This move necessitated the creation of a new road linking Lubieszyn to Linki and Buk that mirrored the new shape of the border.<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In 1951, a small area of land on Usedom Island (Polish: Uznam) was ceded from the German Democratic Republic (Eastern Germany) to Poland. The water pumping station for <a href="/wiki/%C5%9Awinouj%C5%9Bcie" title="Świnoujście">Świnoujście</a> lies on that land and was therefore handed over to Poland. In return, a similarly-sized area north of Mescherin, including the village of Staffelde (Polish: Staw), was transferred from Poland to the German Democratic Republic.<sup id="cite_ref-Museum_of_Polish_Border_Formation_16-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Museum_of_Polish_Border_Formation-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In 1968, East Germany and Poland signed a treaty for the Baltic continental shelf delimitation. On May 22, 1989, East Germany and Poland completed the delimitation of their territorial waters in the Gulf of Szczecin. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=41" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Administrative_divisions_of_Nazi_Germany" title="Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany">Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Areas_annexed_by_Nazi_Germany" title="Areas annexed by Nazi Germany">Areas annexed by Nazi Germany</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=42" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist reflist-columns references-column-width" style="column-width: 30em;"> <ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-BBC_Timeline-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-BBC_Timeline_1-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-BBC_Timeline_1-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-BBC_Timeline_1-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1053880.stm">Timeline: Germany – BBC News</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFAuthaler2019" 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Globale Neuordnung und transnationale Debatten in den 1920er Jahren und ihre Nachwirkungen"</a>. <i>Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte</i>. <b>69</b> (40–42): 5 f. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220404092916/https://www.google.com/search?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bpb.de+%E2%80%BA+files+%E2%80%BA+dokument_pdf+%E2%80%BA+APuZ_2019-40-42_online_0">Archived</a> from the original on 4 April 2022<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">4 April</span> 2022</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Aus+Politik+und+Zeitgeschichte&rft.atitle=Das+v%C3%B6lkerrechtliche+Ende+des+deutschen+Kolonialreichs.+Globale+Neuordnung+und+transnationale+Debatten+in+den+1920er+Jahren+und+ihre+Nachwirkungen&rft.volume=69&rft.issue=40%E2%80%9342&rft.pages=5+f&rft.date=2019&rft.aulast=Authaler&rft.aufirst=Caroline&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.bpb.de%2B%25E2%2580%25BA%2Bfiles%2B%25E2%2580%25BA%2Bdokument_pdf%2B%25E2%2580%25BA%2BAPuZ_2019-40-42_online_0&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATerritorial+evolution+of+Germany" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Cowie, Stuart (ndg) <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.academia.edu/11122135/To_what_extent_was_the_outbreak_of_World_War_Two_a_consequence_of_failures_in_British_Foreign_Policy">"To what extent was the outbreak of World War Two, a consequence of failures in British Foreign Policy?"</a> <i>Academia.edu</i></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Barry, Max (ndg) <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=907170">"Großgermanisches Reich der Deutschen Nation"</a> <i>NationStates</i></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-CS-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-CS_5-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://countrystudies.us/germany/51.htm">Rearmament and the European Defense Community</a> <a href="/wiki/Library_of_Congress_Country_Studies" title="Library of Congress Country Studies">Library of Congress Country Studies</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Second-Northern-War">"Second Northern War"</a>. <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">4 June</span> 2024</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Encyclop%C3%A6dia+Britannica&rft.atitle=Second+Northern+War&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britannica.com%2Fevent%2FSecond-Northern-War&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATerritorial+evolution+of+Germany" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Ritter, Gerhard (1974). Frederick the Great: A Historical Profile. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 179–180. <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-520-02775-2" title="Special:BookSources/0-520-02775-2">0-520-02775-2</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Andrzej Chwalba, Historia Polski 1795–1918, Wydawnictwo Literackie 2000, Kraków, pages 175–184, and 307–312. <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/830804140X" title="Special:BookSources/830804140X">830804140X</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">see for example <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://de.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761596072/Deutsche_Ostgebiete.html">msn encarta</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110526145850/http://de.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761596072/Deutsche_Ostgebiete.html">Archived</a> 26 May 2011 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>: "diejenigen Gebiete des Deutschen Reiches innerhalb der deutschen Grenzen von 1937", <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://lexikon.meyers.de/wissen/deutsche+Ostgebiete">Meyers Lexikon online</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090126092752/http://lexikon.meyers.de/wissen/deutsche+Ostgebiete">Archived</a> 26 January 2009 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>: "die Teile des ehemaligen deutschen Reichsgebietes zwischen der Oder-Neiße-Linie im Westen und der Reichsgrenze von 1937 im Osten".</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-ipn-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-ipn_10-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-ipn_10-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060325032902/http://www.ipn.gov.pl/biuletyn9-10_56-57.pdf">https://web.archive.org/web/20060325032902/http://www.ipn.gov.pl/biuletyn9-10_56-57.pdf</a> <sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Bare_URLs" title="Wikipedia:Bare URLs"><span title="A full citation of this PDF document is required to prevent link rot. (August 2024)">bare URL PDF</span></a></i>]</sup></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Cf. the report <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.landeshauptarchiv.de/index.php?id=485&printView=1">"Vor 50 Jahren: Der 15. April 1950. Vertriebene finden eine neue Heimat in Rheinland-Pfalz"</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130731081922/http://www.landeshauptarchiv.de/index.php?id=485&printView=1">Archived</a> 31 July 2013 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> of the Central Archive of the State of <a href="/wiki/Rhineland-Palatinate" title="Rhineland-Palatinate">Rhineland-Palatinate</a> on the first expellees arriving in that state in 1950 to be resettled from other German states.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20030923215512/http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/limitsinseas/IBS007.pdf">International Boundary Study Office of the Geographer Bureau of Intelligence and Research</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090227173731/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,824416-1,00.html">Autocrat's Adieu</a> <a href="/wiki/Time_Magazine" class="mw-redirect" title="Time Magazine">Time Magazine</a>, 8 October 1956.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Cf. Bundesgesetzblatt (Federal Law Gazette), part III, no. 181-1.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Encyclopedia of Szczecin . T. Supplement 1. Szczecin: University of Szczecin , 2003, pp. 141–144–145. <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/83-7241-272-3" title="Special:BookSources/83-7241-272-3">83-7241-272-3</a> (in Polish).</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Museum_of_Polish_Border_Formation-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Museum_of_Polish_Border_Formation_16-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://muzeumsg.strazgraniczna.pl/muz/sluzba/infrastruktura-graniczn/1945-1990/oznakowanie-granic/9883,Oznakowanie-granic-1945-1990.html">"Marking of borders/Oznakowanie granic"</a>. Museum of Polish Border Formation/Muzeum Polskich Formacji Granicznych. 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">21 April</span> 2020</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Marking+of+borders%2FOznakowanie+granic&rft.pub=Museum+of+Polish+Border+Formation%2FMuzeum+Polskich+Formacji+Granicznych&rft.date=2020&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fmuzeumsg.strazgraniczna.pl%2Fmuz%2Fsluzba%2Finfrastruktura-graniczn%2F1945-1990%2Foznakowanie-granic%2F9883%2COznakowanie-granic-1945-1990.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATerritorial+evolution+of+Germany" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Territorial_evolution_of_Germany&action=edit&section=43" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><span class="noviewer" 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.navbox{display:none!important}}</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Territorial_evolution_of_the_world" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231"><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Territorial_evolution_of_the_world" title="Template:Territorial evolution of the world"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Territorial_evolution_of_the_world" title="Template talk:Territorial evolution of the world"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Territorial_evolution_of_the_world" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Territorial evolution of the world"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Territorial_evolution_of_the_world" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Timeline_of_geopolitical_changes" title="Timeline of geopolitical changes">Territorial evolution of the world</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">By country</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Australia" title="Territorial evolution of Australia">Australia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Canada" title="Territorial evolution of Canada">Canada</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_changes_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China" title="Territorial changes of the People's Republic of China">China</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Ethiopia" title="Territorial evolution of Ethiopia">Ethiopia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_France" title="Territorial evolution of France">France</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Germany</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Greece" title="Territorial evolution of Greece">Greece</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Political_integration_of_India" title="Political integration of India">India</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Mexico" title="Territorial evolution of Mexico">Mexico</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Morocco" title="Territorial evolution of Morocco">Morocco</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Norway" class="mw-redirect" title="Territorial evolution of Norway">Norway</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Poland" title="Territorial evolution of Poland">Poland</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Romania" title="Territorial evolution of Romania">Romania</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Russia" title="Territorial evolution of Russia">Russia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Switzerland" title="Territorial evolution of Switzerland">Switzerland</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Formation_of_the_United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Northern_Ireland" class="mw-redirect" title="Formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland">United Kingdom</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_the_United_States" title="Territorial evolution of the United States">United States</a> (<a href="/wiki/United_States_territorial_acquisitions_table" title="United States territorial acquisitions table">acquisitions</a>)</li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">By former country</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_the_British_Empire" title="Territorial evolution of the British Empire">British Empire</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_the_Confederate_States" title="Territorial evolution of the Confederate States">Confederate States</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mongol_invasions_and_conquests" title="Mongol invasions and conquests">Mongol Empire</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_the_Ottoman_Empire" title="Territorial evolution of the Ottoman Empire">Ottoman Empire</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">By subdivision</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li>United States (<a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Arizona" title="Territorial evolution of Arizona">Arizona</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_California" title="Territorial evolution of California">California</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_territorial_claims_and_designations_in_Colorado" title="List of territorial claims and designations in Colorado">Colorado</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Idaho" title="Territorial evolution of Idaho">Idaho</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Montana" title="Territorial evolution of Montana">Montana</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Nevada" title="Territorial evolution of Nevada">Nevada</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_New_Mexico" title="Territorial evolution of New Mexico">New Mexico</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Outline_of_North_Dakota_territorial_evolution" title="Outline of North Dakota territorial evolution">North Dakota</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Outline_of_Oregon_territorial_evolution" title="Outline of Oregon territorial evolution">Oregon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_South_Dakota" title="Territorial evolution of South Dakota">South Dakota</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Utah" title="Territorial evolution of Utah">Utah</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Outline_of_Washington_territorial_evolution" title="Outline of Washington territorial evolution">Washington</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Outline_of_Wyoming_territorial_evolution" title="Outline of Wyoming territorial evolution">Wyoming</a>)</li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">By region</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_changes_of_the_Baltic_states" title="Territorial changes of the Baltic states">Baltic states</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_the_Caribbean" title="Territorial evolution of the Caribbean">Caribbean</a></li> <li>North America (<a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_North_America_prior_to_1763" title="Territorial evolution of North America prior to 1763">Prior to 1763</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_North_America_since_1763" title="Territorial evolution of North America since 1763">Since 1763</a>)</li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">By country, people, region or period</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Burgundian_inheritance_in_the_Low_Countries" title="Burgundian inheritance in the Low Countries">Burgundian and Habsburg in the Low Countries</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/History_of_German_settlement_in_Central_and_Eastern_Europe" title="History of German settlement in Central and Eastern Europe">German in Central and Eastern Europe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Expansion_of_Russia_(1500%E2%80%931800)" title="Expansion of Russia 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