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Germany is a country in central-western Europe with the region's second-largest population. It was divided into two sections, East Germany and West Germany, until 1990, when the two states reunited to form a larger West Germany. The German people have remained stoic throughout the last century's major changes, adjusting to the country's changing social environment as needed. Most of Germany's recent success can be attributed to its mastery of organisation and critical thought. These characteristics may have aided civilization in reconciling the effects of the World Wars and the Cold War. Germans have a reputation for being especially realistic and frank. When one considers the country's deep geographical divisions and the diverse interactions people have had in the East versus the West, generalisations of the stereotypical German character have their limits. People's socio-cultural perceptions are generally influenced by their regional cultures. Most Germans, on the other hand, have a high moral awareness dependent on previous lessons that have helped them to consider and value distinctions.

• Germany

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As one acknowledges the country's deep geographical variations and the diverse interactions people have had in the East versus the West, however, generalisations of the traditional German character have their limitations. People's socio-cultural perceptions are often influenced by regional identities. Most Germans, on the other hand, have a high moral awareness dependent on previous lessons that have helped them to appreciate and value distinctions.

German identity is constructed around the German language, standardized by Martin Luther

Thomas Mann, a German writer and Nobel Laureate, went into exile after World War II. He wouldn't return to his home country for another ten years. When he returned in the summer of 1949, however, he told journalists that he had never stopped feeling like a German poet. Mann's tongue, which he'd never stopped writing in, was a truer home to him than his homeland. The German language is, in reality, central to German identity. As previously said, modern-day Germany is a comparatively recent development. Prussia, Bavaria, Austria, and Saxony were Germanic kingdoms within the Holy Roman Empire for hundreds of years. For hundreds of years, the Holy Roman Empire's Germanic kingdoms – Prussia, Bavaria, Austria, and Saxony – were only connected by language. That isn't to suggest the relation wasn't strong and important.

When Napoleon invaded Prussia in 1806, Bavarian King Ludwig I built a huge hall to reinforce German identity and rally his people against the French invasion. The Walhalla, as it was known, housed sculptures of prominent German speakers, including Erasmus of Rotterdam, Albrecht Dürer, and Ludwig van Beethoven, among many others. King Ludwig I memorialised a language-based identity that is still strong today.

Though there are many regional dialects, all Germans are unified by a standardised written language – the legacy of a sixteenth-century Augustinian monk called Martin Luther – the language-based unity that King Ludwig I memorialised is still strong today. Luther, a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, was a zealous reformer who began questioning the Catholic church's dogmas and prohibitions in 1517. He felt that laypeople should be able to communicate directly with God without the intervention of clerics, so he translated the Bible into German, which had previously only been available in Latin. The printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the previous century enabled the Luther Bible to be widely circulated, and it rapidly became a regular reference book for written German, selling over 500,000 copies before Luther's death in 1546. Its unifying effect can still be felt today.

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