title: Better Call Saul

text: With the final season featuring thirteen episodes instead of the usual ten, the title sequences would take a new format. During "Nippy", the title sequence features Saul Goodman's "World's Greatest Lawyer" mug falling off his desk and shattering on the floor, as was typical during a season's tenth episode. However, the title image and music prematurely stops and is replaced by a blue screen, recreating the effects of a home video recording on a VCR, and then displayed the show's title and creator credits. This is also the first episode to take place entirely after the events of "Breaking Bad". The remaining three title sequences retain the blue background, but briefly flash to an image previously unseen in the intro, with a distorted version of the theme song playing underneath. They then revert to the blue background again and display the title and creator credits. Before the show resumes, they again briefly flash to another new image that will be seen later on in the episodes.


title: Better Call Saul

text: The first teaser trailer debuted on AMC on August 10, 2014, and confirmed its premiere date of February 2015. On November 20, 2014, AMC announced the series would have a two-night premiere; the first episode aired on Sunday, February 8, 2015, at 10:00 pm (ET), and then moved into its regular time slot the following night, airing Mondays at 10:00 pm. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD in region 1 on November 10, 2015; bonus features include audio commentaries for every episode, uncensored episodes, deleted scenes, gag reel, and several behind-the-scenes featurettes. A limited edition Blu-ray set was also released with 3D packaging and a postcard vinyl of the "Better Call Saul" theme song by Junior Brown.


title: Better Call Saul

text: The first season introduces the two timelines where the show occurs. The timeline where the story primarily takes place begins in 2002, years before "Breaking Bad", where Saul Goodman goes by his original name of Jimmy McGill. He schemes to represent Craig Kettleman, who is accused of embezzlement, leading to dangerous encounters with psychotic drug lord Tuco Salamanca and his lieutenant Nacho. Jimmy also cares for his brother Chuck, who is housebound with electromagnetic hypersensitivity. While pursuing elder law cases, Jimmy discovers several seniors being defrauded by the Sandpiper retirement community. As the subsequent class action lawsuit against Sandpiper grows, Chuck suggests giving it to his law firm, Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill. Jimmy receives a small of counsel fee and a share of any future settlement, but is blocked from participation. Jimmy learns Chuck had sabotaged his legal career out of resentment. HHM brings in another firm, Davis & Main, to assist with the case. After the death of an old friend, Jimmy finds success when D&M offers to hire him because of his knowledge of the Sandpiper case.


title: Better Call Saul

text: The secondary timeline takes place in 2010, following events of "Breaking Bad", where Saul has fled Albuquerque and hides in Nebraska under the name Gene Takavic. He now manages a Cinnabon and reminisces about his time in Albuquerque. This period would only be shown in the cold open of the first five season premieres, but would be fully explored in the final season's last four episodes.


title: Better Call Saul

text: Prior to the series' launch, on June 19, 2014, AMC renewed the series for a second season of 13 episodes to premiere in early 2016, which was later reduced to 10 episodes. It premiered on February 15, 2016, and released on Blu-ray and DVD in region 1 on November 15, 2016; bonus features include audio commentaries for every episode and several behind-the-scenes featurettes.


title: Better Call Saul

text: In 2002, Jimmy works as an associate at D&M, but quits after his ostentatious legal style doesn't mesh with the firm's corporate demeanor. Kim is demoted by Chuck's partner, Howard Hamlin, because of Jimmy's actions. She secures banking firm Mesa Verde as an HHM client, and Howard is happy to have the business but denies her credit. Kim quits HHM and opens a shared private practice with Jimmy. Jimmy sabotages Chuck's work for Mesa Verde, which drops HHM and hires Kim, but Chuck discovers this and tricks Jimmy into confessing. Nacho hires Mike Ehrmantraut to remove Tuco, but Mike instead arranges his imprisonment. Cartel elder and uncle of Tuco, Hector Salamanca, confronts Mike. Mike attempts to assassinate Hector, but is mysteriously interrupted.


title: Better Call Saul

text: In 2010, Gene accidentally locks himself in the dumpster room when closing out the Omaha Cinnabon for the night. Instead of alerting the police by using the emergency exit, he spends the night waiting for a janitor to open the door.


title: Better Call Saul

text: AMC announced on March 15, 2016 that "Better Call Saul" was renewed for a 10-episode third season, which premiered April 10, 2017. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD in region 1 on January 16, 2018; bonus features include audio commentaries for every episode and several behind-the-scenes featurettes.


title: Better Call Saul

text: In 2003, Jimmy's law license is suspended and Chuck's hypersensitivity condition is revealed to be psychosomatic during the disciplinary hearing. After Jimmy covertly sabotages Chuck's insurance, Howard urges him to retire, but Chuck sues HHM in spite. Howard buys him out of the firm, leading Chuck to commit suicide. Gus prevents Hector's assassination, and Mike attacks Hector's trucks to steal $250,000 on Gus's orders. To help launder the money, Gus arranges for Mike's hire as a contracted security consultant at Madrigal. Hector plans to take over the business of Nacho's father, so his son attempts to kill Hector by sabotaging his angina medication. With the cartel's preference in Gus's drug distribution over Hector's, he suffers a stroke during a confrontation, rendering him comatose.


title: Better Call Saul

text: In 2010, Gene points mall security guards towards a shoplifter during his lunch break. After returning to work, a stressed Gene suddenly collapses.


title: Better Call Saul

text: Following the third season's end on June 27, 2017, AMC renewed the series for a 10-episode fourth season, which premiered on August 6, 2018. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD in region 1 on May 7, 2019; bonus features include audio commentary for every episode and several behind-the-scenes featurettes.


title: Better Call Saul

text: In 2003, Jimmy regains his outgoing demeanor after Howard shoulders the blame for Chuck's death. Jimmy manages a cell phone store during the suspension of his law license but makes more reselling prepaid phones to low-level criminals. A year later, his law license reinstatement is denied over lack of remorse for Chuck. After faking mourning, he successfully appeals and practices as the "Saul Goodman" trade name. Gus learns Nacho attempted to kill Hector and blackmails him into undermining the Salamancas. Mike escorts engineers who evaluate Gus's industrial laundry site as a potential underground meth lab. Gus hires Werner Ziegler to oversee construction, but Mike is ordered to kill Werner when he tries to escape. Hector recovers from his stroke, but is mute and can only move his right index finger. His nephew, Lalo Salamanca, arrives to run Hector's business, learning of the construction project.


title: Better Call Saul

text: In 2010, Gene is raced to the hospital after his collapse; he is later discharged after doctors confirm he did not suffer a heart attack. Gene becomes uneasy when a taxi driver with an Albuquerque Isotopes air freshener seems to recognize him.


title: Better Call Saul

text: The series was renewed for a fifth season on July 28, 2018, just prior to the airing of the fourth season. The fifth season was not expected to air until 2020; according to AMC's Sarah Barnett, the delay was "driven by talent needs". The 10-episode fifth season would start airing with a special Sunday broadcast on February 23, 2020, with following episodes to air on Mondays. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD in region 1 on November 24, 2020; bonus features include cast and crew audio commentaries on every episode, deleted scenes, and various behind-the-scenes featurettes.


title: Better Call Saul

text: In 2004, Jimmy's law practice as Saul Goodman draws him into Albuquerque's drug trade and he is conflicted when Howard offers him a position at HHM. Kim balances her Mesa Verde and "pro bono" work with her own feelings for Jimmy, and finds herself employing similar conman-style tactics. Jimmy and Kim later devise a plan to ruin Howard to settle the Sandpiper case. Lalo's presence in Albuquerque forces Gus to suspend construction of his meth lab. Nacho and Mike become pawns in the ongoing feud between the Salamancas and Gus. After Lalo is arrested for murder, he hires Jimmy to represent him and arrange bail, which almost kills Jimmy. After an unsuccessful attempt on Lalo's life by Gus's hired assassins after his release, Lalo deduces that Nacho has betrayed him.


title: Better Call Saul

text: In 2010, during another lunch break, Gene is approached by the taxi driver, Jeff, and his friend Buddy. Jeff reveals he recognized Gene as Saul Goodman from when he previously lived in Albuquerque. Gene admits he is living with a secret identity.


title: Better Call Saul

text: AMC renewed the series for a sixth season on January 16, 2020, with a scheduled premiere in 2021. Showrunner Peter Gould confirmed it would be the show's final season and consist of 13 episodes rather than the usual 10. Production experienced long delays due to COVID-19 and star Bob Odenkirk needing several weeks to fully recover from a heart attack he experienced on set. The sixth and final season was split into two halves; the first half premiered on April 18, 2022, while the last half premiered on July 11, 2022. The complete season was released on Blu-ray and DVD in region 1 on December 6, 2022; bonus features include cast and crew audio commentaries on every episode, deleted scenes, outtakes, and various behind-the-scenes featurettes.


title: Better Call Saul

text: In 2004, Nacho attempts to flee from the Salamancas after the attempt on Lalo's life, but after Gus falsely implicates him, Nacho sacrifices himself in exchange for his father's safety. Jimmy and Kim smear Howard's reputation, thereby forcing a settlement of the Sandpiper case. Howard confronts them, but is murdered by Lalo. After forcing Kim to act as a diversion, Lalo ambushes Gus to access the meth lab under construction. Gus kills Lalo with a hidden gun. Mike makes Howard's death appear as a suicide, and oversees the burial of Howard and Lalo beneath the lab. A traumatized Kim quits the law and divorces Jimmy. Several years later, Jimmy has fully transformed into Saul Goodman.


title: Better Call Saul

text: In 2010, Gene approaches Jeff and Buddy with an offer to rob a department store. After reaching out to Kim, who now lives in Florida, Gene devises a scheme to obtain financial identification of several rich single men at bars he can sell for profit. When the scheme goes wrong, Buddy quits the operation, Jeff is arrested, and Gene is eventually caught. He is extradited to Albuquerque for the trial and feigns testimony implicating Kim so she can be summoned to court. He confesses to Kim and those at the trial about his crimes during the events of "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul", getting an 86-year sentence. Jimmy is recognized as Saul in prison and gains popularity with the inmates. Kim visits him and they share a cigarette before parting again.


title: Better Call Saul

text: "Better Call Saul" airs on cable network AMC. The series premiere drew in 4.4 million and 4 million in the 18–49 and 25–54 demographics, respectively, and received an overall viewership of 6.9 million. This was the record for the highest-rated scripted series premiere in basic cable history, until it was surpassed later the same year by another AMC series, "Fear the Walking Dead".


title: Better Call Saul

text: In December 2013, Netflix announced that the entire first season would be available for streaming in the U.S. after the airing of the first-season finale, and in Latin America and Europe each episode would be available a few days after the episode airs in the U.S. However, the first season was not released on Netflix in the U.S. until February 1, 2016. Internationally, episodes of the second season became available the day after they aired in the U.S.


title: Better Call Saul

text: Netflix is the exclusive video-on-demand provider for the series and makes the content available in all its territories, except for Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, "Better Call Saul" premiered on the streaming service Stan on February 9, 2015, acting as the service's flagship program. In New Zealand, the show was exclusive to the video-on-demand service Lightbox before moving to Neon in 2020 when both services were merged. The episodes were available for viewing within three days of broadcast in the U.S.


title: Better Call Saul

text: In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the series was acquired by Netflix on December 16, 2013, and the first episode premiered on February 9, 2015, with the second episode released the following day. Every subsequent episode was released each week thereafter. In Ireland, the series began airing on Irish TV network TG4 on October 18, 2022. In India, the series was broadcast on Colors Infinity within 24 hours of the U.S. broadcast.


title: Better Call Saul

text: During the final season's run in 2022, each episode would be available to stream the day they premiered on AMC+, AMC's streaming service which first launched in June 2020. The season premiere resulted in the biggest day of new subscriber sign-ups for AMC+, and by the mid-season finale episodic viewership on the streaming service rose by 61%. During the release of the series finale on AMC+, the app experienced an outage, causing many users to be logged out. AMC later reported that first-day viewing numbers for the finale on AMC+ was four times as big as the season premiere, and called the series' final season the highest acquisition driver in the history of the streaming service.


title: Better Call Saul

text: "Better Call Saul" has received critical acclaim and is considered to be an outstanding example of how to successfully produce a prequel and spinoff work that defies expectations. Many critics have called "Better Call Saul" a worthy successor to "Breaking Bad" and some have even deemed it superior to its predecessor. In September 2019, "The Guardian" ranked the show at No. 48 on its list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century, describing it as "A supremely measured character piece that has steadily improved as its central tragedy has materialised." In 2021, "Empire" ranked "Better Call Saul" at No. 27 on their list of The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. Also in 2021, it was voted the 23rd-best TV series of the 21st century by the BBC, as picked by 206 TV experts from around the world. In September of 2022, "Rolling Stone" listed "Better Call Saul" as the 32nd greatest TV show of all time, in its updated list from 2016.


title: Better Call Saul

text: The first season has a 97% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 8.1/10 based on 291 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Better Call Saul" is a quirky, dark character study that manages to stand on its own without being overshadowed by the series that spawned it." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a "generally favorable" score of 78 based on 43 reviews.


title: Better Call Saul

text: The second season has a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 8.7/10 based on 182 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Better Call Saul" continues to tighten its hold on viewers with a batch of episodes that inject a surge of dramatic energy while showcasing the charms of its talented lead." On Metacritic, it has a score of 85 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Better Call Saul

text: The third season has a 98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 8.75/10 based on 175 reviews. The website's critical consensus is, ""Better Call Saul" shows no signs of slipping in season 3, as the introduction of more familiar faces causes the inevitable transformation of its lead to pick up exciting speed." On Metacritic, it has a score of 87 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Better Call Saul

text: The fourth season has a 99% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 8.9/10 based on 185 reviews. The website's critical consensus states, "Well-crafted and compelling as ever, "Better Call Saul" deftly balances the show it was and the one it will inevitably become." On Metacritic, it has a score of 87 out of 100, based on 16 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Better Call Saul

text: The fifth season has a 99% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 8.9/10 based on 184 reviews. The website's critical consensus is, "Grounded by Bob Odenkirk's endlessly nuanced, lived-in performance, "Better Call Saul"s fifth season is a darkly funny, vividly realized master class in tragedy." On Metacritic, it has a score of 92 out of 100 based on 16 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Better Call Saul

text: The sixth season has a 99% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 9.4/10 based on 174 reviews. The website's critical consensus is, ""Better Call Saul" remains as masterfully in control as Jimmy McGill keeps insisting he is in this final season, where years of simmering storytelling come to a scintillating boil." On Metacritic, it has a score of 94 out of 100 based on 20 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Better Call Saul

text: After the airing of the series finale, Stuart Jeffries of "The Guardian" said that the series had surprisingly surpassed its predecessor in quality, saying: "Over six series, "Better Call Saul" evolved into a more profound and beautiful drama about human corruption than its predecessor. It mutated into something visually more sumptuous than "Breaking Bad", while never, for a moment, losing its verbal dexterity and moral compass". Craig Elvy of "Screen Rant" also opined that the series was better than its predecessor, saying: "Jimmy McGill's spinoff leaves a very familiar legacy - sustained and enthusiastic praise from audiences and critics, capped by an ending that satisfies across the board." He went on to say: "When "Better Call Saul" began, many would've hoped the spinoff could either escape "Breaking Bad"s shadow, or somehow enhance Walt and Jesse's story with illuminating new details. Few dared dream "Better Call Saul" would achieve both, and the sheer ambition to create a spinoff that wholly embraces its predecessor whilst also existing in a totally different realm exemplifies why "Better Call Saul" has an ever-so-slight edge over "Breaking Bad"." Jeremy Urquhart of "Collider" made a comparison between the quality of both series’, saying: ""Breaking Bad" succeeds as a crime-thriller tragedy with a fast-paced plot, and "Better Call Saul" works as a slower-paced, character-focused drama (with some dark comedy)". He said the list "doesn't aim to argue that one is better than the other. It's a matter of personal preference, but it's hard to deny that there are certain things "Better Call Saul" does better, but also some areas where it isn't quite as great as its parent show."


title: Better Call Saul

text: "Better Call Saul" has received 46 Emmy Award nominations. It has received six nominations for Outstanding Drama Series. Bob Odenkirk has received five nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Jonathan Banks and Giancarlo Esposito have each been nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series; four times for Banks and twice for Esposito. Rhea Seehorn has received a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. The series has also received six nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and one nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series.


title: Better Call Saul

text: "Better Call Saul" has its own set of official multimedia spin-offs and related media within the "Breaking Bad" franchise. This includes a talk show, several web series and digital shorts, comic books, and an insider podcast.


title: Germany

text: Germany (, ), officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south; it covers an area of , with a population of almost 84 million within its 16 constituent states. Germany borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr.


title: Germany

text: Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before AD 100. In 962, the Kingdom of Germany formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. Following the Napoleonic Wars and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the German Confederation was formed in 1815.


title: Germany

text: Formal unification of Germany into the modern nation-state was commenced on 18 August 1866 with the North German Confederation Treaty establishing the Prussia-led North German Confederation later transformed in 1871 into the German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was in turn transformed into the semi-presidential Weimar Republic. The Nazi seizure of power in 1933 led to the establishment of a totalitarian dictatorship, World War II, and the Holocaust. After the end of World War II in Europe and a period of Allied occupation, Germany as a whole was organized into two separate polities with limited sovereignity: the Federal Republic of Germany, generally known as West Germany, and the German Democratic Republic, East Germany, while Berlin continued its Four Power status. The Federal Republic of Germany was a founding member of the European Economic Community and the European Union, while the German Democratic Republic was a communist Eastern Bloc state and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the fall of communism, German reunification saw the former East German states join the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990—becoming a federal parliamentary republic.


title: Germany

text: Germany is a great power with a strong economy; it has the largest economy in Europe, the world's fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP and the fifth-largest by PPP. As a global power in industrial, scientific and technological sectors, it is both the world's third-largest exporter and importer. As a highly developed country, which ranks ninth on the Human Development Index, it offers social security and a universal health care system, environmental protections, a tuition-free university education, and it is ranked as sixteenth-most peaceful country in the world. Germany is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe, the G7, the G20 and the OECD. It has the third-greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.


title: Germany

text: The English word "Germany" derives from the Latin , which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. The German term , originally ('the German lands') is derived from (cf. "Dutch"), descended from Old High German 'of the people' (from or 'people'), originally used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and its Romance descendants. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic 'of the people' (see also the Latinised form ), derived from , descended from Proto-Indo-European *"" 'people', from which the word "Teutons" also originates.


title: Germany

text: Pre-human ancestors, the Danuvius guggenmosi, who were present in Germany over 11 million years ago, are theorized to be among the earliest ones to walk on two legs. Ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The first non-modern human fossil (the Neanderthal) was discovered in the Neander Valley. Similarly dated evidence of modern humans has been found in the Swabian Jura, including 42,000-year-old flutes which are the oldest musical instruments ever found, the 40,000-year-old Lion Man, and the 35,000-year-old Venus of Hohle Fels. The Nebra sky disk, created during the European Bronze Age, has been attributed to a German site.


title: Germany

text: The Germanic peoples are thought to date from the Nordic Bronze Age, early Iron Age, or the Jastorf culture. From southern Scandinavia and northern Germany, they expanded south, east, and west, coming into contact with the Celtic, Iranian, Baltic, and Slavic tribes.


title: Germany

text: Under Augustus, the Roman Empire began to invade lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes, creating a short-lived Roman province of Germania between the Rhine and Elbe rivers. In 9 AD, three Roman legions were defeated by Arminius. By 100 AD, when Tacitus wrote "Germania", Germanic tribes had settled along the Rhine and the Danube (the Limes Germanicus), occupying most of modern Germany. However, Baden-Württemberg, southern Bavaria, southern Hesse and the western Rhineland had been incorporated into Roman provinces. Around 260, Germanic peoples broke into Roman-controlled lands. After the invasion of the Huns in 375, and with the decline of Rome from 395, Germanic tribes moved farther southwest: the Franks established the Frankish Kingdom and pushed east to subjugate Saxony and Bavaria, and areas of what is today eastern Germany were inhabited by Western Slavic tribes.


title: Germany

text: Charlemagne founded the Carolingian Empire in 800; it was divided in 843. The eastern successor kingdom of East Francia stretched from the Rhine in the west to the Elbe river in the east and from the North Sea to the Alps. Subsequently, the Holy Roman Empire emerged from it. The Ottonian rulers (919–1024) consolidated several major duchies. In 996, Gregory V became the first German Pope, appointed by his cousin Otto III, whom he shortly after crowned Holy Roman Emperor. The Holy Roman Empire absorbed northern Italy and Burgundy under the Salian emperors (1024–1125), although the emperors lost power through the Investiture Controversy.


title: Germany

text: Under the Hohenstaufen emperors (1138–1254), German princes encouraged German settlement to the south and east (). Members of the Hanseatic League, mostly north German towns, prospered in the expansion of trade. The population declined starting with the Great Famine in 1315, followed by the Black Death of 1348–50. The Golden Bull issued in 1356 provided the constitutional structure of the Empire and codified the election of the emperor by seven prince-electors.


title: Germany

text: Johannes Gutenberg introduced moveable-type printing to Europe, laying the basis for the democratization of knowledge. In 1517, Martin Luther incited the Protestant Reformation and his translation of the Bible began the standardization of the language; the 1555 Peace of Augsburg tolerated the "Evangelical" faith (Lutheranism), but also decreed that the faith of the prince was to be the faith of his subjects (). From the Cologne War through the Thirty Years' Wars (1618–1648), religious conflict devastated German lands and significantly reduced the population.


title: Germany

text: The Peace of Westphalia ended religious warfare among the Imperial Estates; their mostly German-speaking rulers were able to choose Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, or the Reformed faith as their official religion. The legal system initiated by a series of Imperial Reforms (approximately 1495–1555) provided for considerable local autonomy and a stronger Imperial Diet. The House of Habsburg held the imperial crown from 1438 until the death of Charles VI in 1740. Following the War of the Austrian Succession and the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, Charles VI's daughter Maria Theresa ruled as empress consort when her husband, Francis I, became emperor.


title: Germany

text: From 1740, dualism between the Austrian Habsburg monarchy and the Kingdom of Prussia dominated German history. In 1772, 1793, and 1795, Prussia and Austria, along with the Russian Empire, agreed to the Partitions of Poland. During the period of the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic era and the subsequent final meeting of the Imperial Diet, most of the Free Imperial Cities were annexed by dynastic territories; the ecclesiastical territories were secularised and annexed. In 1806 the was dissolved; France, Russia, Prussia and the Habsburgs (Austria) competed for hegemony in the German states during the Napoleonic Wars.


title: Germany

text: Following the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna founded the German Confederation, a loose league of 39 sovereign states. The appointment of the emperor of Austria as the permanent president reflected the Congress's rejection of Prussia's rising influence. Disagreement within restoration politics partly led to the rise of liberal movements, followed by new measures of repression by Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich. The , a tariff union, furthered economic unity. In light of revolutionary movements in Europe, intellectuals and commoners started the revolutions of 1848 in the German states, raising the German question. King Frederick William IV of Prussia was offered the title of emperor, but with a loss of power; he rejected the crown and the proposed constitution, a temporary setback for the movement.


title: Germany

text: King William I appointed Otto von Bismarck as the minister president of Prussia in 1862. Bismarck successfully concluded the war with Denmark in 1864; the subsequent decisive Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 enabled him to create the North German Confederation which excluded Austria. After the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War, the German princes proclaimed the founding of the German Empire in 1871. Prussia was the dominant constituent state of the new empire; the King of Prussia ruled as its Kaiser, and Berlin became its capital.


title: Germany

text: In the period following the unification of Germany, Bismarck's foreign policy as chancellor of Germany secured Germany's position as a great nation by forging alliances and avoiding war. However, under Wilhelm II, Germany took an imperialistic course, leading to friction with neighbouring countries. A dual alliance was created with the multinational realm of Austria-Hungary; the Triple Alliance of 1882 included Italy. Britain, France and Russia also concluded alliances to protect against Habsburg interference with Russian interests in the Balkans or German interference against France. At the Berlin Conference in 1884, Germany claimed several colonies including German East Africa, German South West Africa, Togoland, and Kamerun. Later, Germany further expanded its colonial empire to include holdings in the Pacific and China. The colonial government in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), from 1904 to 1907, carried out the annihilation of the local Herero and Namaqua peoples as punishment for an uprising; this was the 20th century's first genocide.


title: Germany

text: The assassination of Austria's crown prince on 28 June 1914 provided the pretext for Austria-Hungary to attack Serbia and trigger World War I. After four years of warfare, in which approximately two million German soldiers were killed, a general armistice ended the fighting. In the German Revolution (November 1918), Emperor Wilhelm II and the ruling princes abdicated their positions, and Germany was declared a federal republic. Germany's new leadership signed the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, accepting defeat by the Allies. Germans perceived the treaty as humiliating, which was seen by historians as influential in the rise of Adolf Hitler. Germany lost around 13% of its European territory and ceded all of its colonial possessions in Africa and the South Sea.


title: Germany

text: On 11 August 1919, President Friedrich Ebert signed the democratic Weimar Constitution. In the subsequent struggle for power, communists seized power in Bavaria, but conservative elements elsewhere attempted to overthrow the Republic in the . Street fighting in the major industrial centres, the occupation of the Ruhr by Belgian and French troops, and a period of hyperinflation followed. A debt restructuring plan and the creation of a new currency in 1924 ushered in the Golden Twenties, an era of artistic innovation and liberal cultural life.


title: Germany

text: The worldwide Great Depression hit Germany in 1929. Chancellor Heinrich Brüning's government pursued a policy of fiscal austerity and deflation which caused unemployment of nearly 30% by 1932. The Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler became the largest party in the Reichstag after a special election in 1932 and Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933. After the Reichstag fire, a decree abrogated basic civil rights and the first Nazi concentration camp opened. On 23 March 1933, the Enabling Act gave Hitler unrestricted legislative power, overriding the constitution, and marked the beginning of Nazi Germany. His government established a centralised totalitarian state, withdrew from the League of Nations, and dramatically increased the country's rearmament. A government-sponsored programme for economic renewal focused on public works, the most famous of which was the .


title: Germany

text: In 1935, the regime withdrew from the Treaty of Versailles and introduced the Nuremberg Laws which targeted Jews and other minorities. Germany also reacquired control of the Saarland in 1935, remilitarised the Rhineland in 1936, annexed Austria in 1938, annexed the Sudetenland in 1938 with the Munich Agreement, and in violation of the agreement occupied Czechoslovakia in March 1939. (Night of Broken Glass) saw the burning of synagogues, the destruction of Jewish businesses, and mass arrests of Jewish people.


title: Germany

text: In August 1939, Hitler's government negotiated the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact that divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, beginning World War II in Europe; Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September. In the spring of 1940, Germany conquered Denmark and Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France, forcing the French government to sign an armistice. The British repelled German air attacks in the Battle of Britain in the same year. In 1941, German troops invaded Yugoslavia, Greece and the Soviet Union. By 1942, Germany and its allies controlled most of continental Europe and North Africa, but following the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad, the Allied reconquest of North Africa and invasion of Italy in 1943, German forces suffered repeated military defeats. In 1944, the Soviets pushed into Eastern Europe; the Western allies landed in France and entered Germany despite a final German counteroffensive. Following Hitler's suicide during the Battle of Berlin, Germany signed the surrender document on 8 May 1945, ending World War II in Europe and Nazi Germany. Following the end of the war, surviving Nazi officials were tried for war crimes at the Nuremberg trials.


title: Germany

text: In what later became known as the Holocaust, the German government persecuted minorities, including interning them in concentration and death camps across Europe. In total 17 million people were systematically murdered, including 6 million Jews, at least 130,000 Romani, 275,000 disabled people, thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses, thousands of homosexuals, and hundreds of thousands of political and religious opponents. Nazi policies in German-occupied countries resulted in the deaths of an estimated 2.7 million Poles, 1.3 million Ukrainians, 1 million Belarusians and 3.5 million Soviet prisoners of war. German military casualties have been estimated at 5.3 million, and around 900,000 German civilians died. Around 12 million ethnic Germans were expelled from across Eastern Europe, and Germany lost roughly one-quarter of its pre-war territory.


title: Germany

text: After Nazi Germany surrendered, the Allies partitioned Berlin and Germany's remaining territory into four occupation zones. The western sectors, controlled by France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, were merged on 23 May 1949 to form the Federal Republic of Germany (); on 7 October 1949, the Soviet Zone became the German Democratic Republic (GDR) (; DDR). They were informally known as West Germany and East Germany. East Germany selected East Berlin as its capital, while West Germany chose Bonn as a provisional capital, to emphasise its stance that the two-state solution was temporary.


title: Germany

text: West Germany was established as a federal parliamentary republic with a "social market economy". Starting in 1948 West Germany became a major recipient of reconstruction aid under the United States' Marshall Plan. Konrad Adenauer was elected the first federal chancellor of Germany in 1949. The country enjoyed prolonged economic growth () beginning in the early 1950s. West Germany joined NATO in 1955 and was a founding member of the European Economic Community.


title: Germany

text: East Germany was an Eastern Bloc state under political and military control by the USSR via occupation forces and the Warsaw Pact. Although East Germany claimed to be a democracy, political power was exercised solely by leading members () of the communist-controlled Socialist Unity Party of Germany, supported by the , an immense secret service. While East German propaganda was based on the benefits of the GDR's social programmes and the alleged threat of a West German invasion, many of its citizens looked to the West for freedom and prosperity. The Berlin Wall, built in 1961, prevented East German citizens from escaping to West Germany, becoming a symbol of the Cold War.


title: Germany

text: Tensions between East and West Germany were reduced in the late 1960s by Chancellor Willy Brandt's . In 1989, Hungary decided to dismantle the Iron Curtain and open its border with Austria, causing the emigration of thousands of East Germans to West Germany via Hungary and Austria. This had devastating effects on the GDR, where regular mass demonstrations received increasing support. In an effort to help retain East Germany as a state, the East German authorities eased border restrictions, but this actually led to an acceleration of the reform process culminating in the "Two Plus Four Treaty" under which Germany regained full sovereignty. This permitted German reunification on 3 October 1990, with the accession of the five re-established states of the former GDR. The fall of the Wall in 1989 became a symbol of the Fall of Communism, the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, German reunification and .


title: Germany

text: United Germany was considered the enlarged continuation of West Germany so it retained its memberships in international organisations. Based on the Berlin/Bonn Act (1994), Berlin again became the capital of Germany, while Bonn obtained the unique status of a (federal city) retaining some federal ministries. The relocation of the government was completed in 1999, and modernisation of the east German economy was scheduled to last until 2019.


title: Germany

text: Since reunification, Germany has taken a more active role in the European Union, signing the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and the Lisbon Treaty in 2007, and co-founding the Eurozone. Germany sent a peacekeeping force to secure stability in the Balkans and sent German troops to Afghanistan as part of a NATO effort to provide security in that country after the ousting of the Taliban.


title: Germany

text: In the 2005 elections, Angela Merkel became the first female chancellor. In 2009 the German government approved a €50 billion stimulus plan. Among the major German political projects of the early 21st century are the advancement of European integration, the energy transition () for a sustainable energy supply, the debt brake for balanced budgets, measures to increase the fertility rate (pronatalism), and high-tech strategies for the transition of the German economy, summarised as Industry 4.0. During the 2015 European migrant crisis, the country took in over a million refugees and migrants.


title: Germany

text: Germany is the seventh-largest country in Europe; bordering Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria to the southeast, and Switzerland to the south-southwest. France, Luxembourg and Belgium are situated to the west, with the Netherlands to the northwest. Germany is also bordered by the North Sea and, at the north-northeast, by the Baltic Sea. German territory covers , consisting of of land and of water.


title: Germany

text: Elevation ranges from the mountains of the Alps (highest point: the Zugspitze at ) in the south to the shores of the North Sea () in the northwest and the Baltic Sea () in the northeast. The forested uplands of central Germany and the lowlands of northern Germany (lowest point: in the municipality Neuendorf-Sachsenbande, Wilstermarsch at below sea level) are traversed by such major rivers as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe. Significant natural resources include iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, and nickel.


title: Germany

text: Most of Germany has a temperate climate, ranging from oceanic in the north to continental in the east and southeast. Winters range from the cold in the Southern Alps to cool and are generally overcast with limited precipitation, while summers can vary from hot and dry to cool and rainy. The northern regions have prevailing westerly winds that bring in moist air from the North Sea, moderating the temperature and increasing precipitation. Conversely, the southeast regions have more extreme temperatures.


title: Germany

text: From February 2019–2020, average monthly temperatures in Germany ranged from a low of in January 2020 to a high of in June 2019. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 30 litres per square metre in February and April 2019 to 125 litres per square metre in February 2020. Average monthly hours of sunshine ranged from 45 in November 2019 to 300 in June 2019.


title: Germany

text: The territory of Germany can be divided into five terrestrial ecoregions: Atlantic mixed forests, Baltic mixed forests, Central European mixed forests, Western European broadleaf forests, and Alps conifer and mixed forests. 51% of Germany's land area is devoted to agriculture, while 30% is forested and 14% is covered by settlements or infrastructure.


title: Germany

text: Plants and animals include those generally common to Central Europe. According to the National Forest Inventory, beeches, oaks, and other deciduous trees constitute just over 40% of the forests; roughly 60% are conifers, particularly spruce and pine. There are many species of ferns, flowers, fungi, and mosses. Wild animals include roe deer, wild boar, mouflon (a subspecies of wild sheep), fox, badger, hare, and small numbers of the Eurasian beaver. The blue cornflower was once a German national symbol.


title: Germany

text: The 16 national parks in Germany include the Jasmund National Park, the Vorpommern Lagoon Area National Park, the Müritz National Park, the Wadden Sea National Parks, the Harz National Park, the Hainich National Park, the Black Forest National Park, the Saxon Switzerland National Park, the Bavarian Forest National Park and the Berchtesgaden National Park. In addition, there are 17 Biosphere Reserves, and 105 nature parks. More than 400 zoos and animal parks operate in Germany. The Berlin Zoo, which opened in 1844, is the oldest in Germany, and claims the most comprehensive collection of species in the world.


title: Germany

text: Germany is a federal, parliamentary, representative democratic republic. Federal legislative power is vested in the parliament consisting of the (Federal Diet) and (Federal Council), which together form the legislative body. The is elected through direct elections using the mixed-member proportional representation system. The members of the represent and are appointed by the governments of the sixteen federated states. The German political system operates under a framework laid out in the 1949 constitution known as the (Basic Law). Amendments generally require a two-thirds majority of both the and the ; the fundamental principles of the constitution, as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the federal structure, and the rule of law, are valid in perpetuity.


title: Germany

text: The president, currently Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is the head of state and invested primarily with representative responsibilities and powers. He is elected by the (federal convention), an institution consisting of the members of the and an equal number of state delegates. The second-highest official in the German order of precedence is the (President of the Bundestag), who is elected by the and responsible for overseeing the daily sessions of the body. The third-highest official and the head of government is the chancellor, who is appointed by the after being elected by the party or coalition with the most seats in the . The chancellor, currently Olaf Scholz, is the head of government and exercises executive power through his Cabinet.


title: Germany

text: Since 1949, the party system has been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party of Germany. So far every chancellor has been a member of one of these parties. However, the smaller liberal Free Democratic Party and the Alliance '90/The Greens have also been junior partners in coalition governments. Since 2007, the democratic socialist party The Left has been a staple in the German , though they have never been part of the federal government. In the 2017 German federal election, the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany gained enough votes to attain representation in the parliament for the first time.


title: Germany

text: Germany is a federation and comprises sixteen constituent states which are collectively referred to as . Each state () has its own constitution, and is largely autonomous in regard to its internal organisation. Germany is divided into 401 districts () at a municipal level; these consist of 294 rural districts and 107 urban districts.


title: Germany

text: Germany has a civil law system based on Roman law with some references to Germanic law. The (Federal Constitutional Court) is the German Supreme Court responsible for constitutional matters, with power of judicial review. Germany's supreme court system is specialised: for civil and criminal cases, the highest court of appeal is the inquisitorial Federal Court of Justice, and for other affairs the courts are the Federal Labour Court, the Federal Social Court, the Federal Finance Court and the Federal Administrative Court.


title: Germany

text: Criminal and private laws are codified on the national level in the and the respectively. The German penal system seeks the rehabilitation of the criminal and the protection of the public. Except for petty crimes, which are tried before a single professional judge, and serious political crimes, all charges are tried before mixed tribunals on which lay judges () sit side by side with professional judges.


title: Germany

text: Germany has a low murder rate with 1.18 murders per 100,000 . In 2018, the overall crime rate fell to its lowest since 1992.


title: Germany

text: Germany has a network of 227 diplomatic missions abroad and maintains relations with more than 190 countries. Germany is a member of NATO, the OECD, the G7, the G20, the World Bank and the IMF. It has played an influential role in the European Union since its inception and has maintained a strong alliance with France and all neighbouring countries since 1990. Germany promotes the creation of a more unified European political, economic and security apparatus. The governments of Germany and the United States are close political allies. Cultural ties and economic interests have crafted a bond between the two countries resulting in Atlanticism. After 1990, Germany and Russia worked together to establish a "strategic partnership" in which energy development became one of the most important factors. As a result of the cooperation, Germany imported most of its natural gas and crude oil from Russia.


title: Germany

text: The development policy of Germany is an independent area of foreign policy. It is formulated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and carried out by the implementing organisations. The German government sees development policy as a joint responsibility of the international community. It was the world's second-biggest aid donor in 2019 after the United States.


title: Germany

text: Germany's military, the , is organised into the (Army and special forces ), (Navy), (Air Force), (Joint Medical Service), (Joint Support Service) and (Cyber and Information Domain Service) branches. In absolute terms, German military expenditure is the eighth-highest in the world. In 2018, military spending was at $49.5 billion, about 1.2% of the country's GDP, well below the NATO target of 2%. However, in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that German military expenditure would be increased past the NATO target of 2%, along with a one-time 2022 infusion of 100 billion euros, representing almost double the 53 billion euro military budget for 2021.


title: Germany

text: , the has a strength of 184,001 active soldiers and 80,947 civilians. Reservists are available to the armed forces and participate in defence exercises and deployments abroad. Until 2011, military service was compulsory for men at age 18, but this has been officially suspended and replaced with a voluntary service. Since 2001 women may serve in all functions of service without restriction. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany was the fourth-largest exporter of major arms in the world from 2014 to 2018.


title: Germany

text: In peacetime, the is commanded by the Minister of Defence. In state of defence, the Chancellor would become commander-in-chief of the . The role of the is described in the Constitution of Germany as defensive only. But after a ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court in 1994, the term "defence" has been defined to not only include protection of the borders of Germany, but also crisis reaction and conflict prevention, or more broadly as guarding the security of Germany anywhere in the world. the German military has about 3,600 troops stationed in foreign countries as part of international peacekeeping forces, including about 1,200 supporting operations against Daesh, 980 in the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, and 800 in Kosovo.


title: Germany

text: Germany has a social market economy with a highly skilled labour force, a low level of corruption, and a high level of innovation. It is the world's third-largest exporter and third-largest importer, and has the largest economy in Europe, which is also the world's fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP, and the fifth-largest by PPP. Its GDP per capita measured in purchasing power standards amounts to 121% of the EU27 average (100%). The service sector contributes approximately 69% of the total GDP, industry 31%, and agriculture 1% . The unemployment rate published by Eurostat amounts to 3.2% , which is the fourth-lowest in the EU.


title: Germany

text: Germany is part of the European single market which represents more than 450 million consumers. In 2017, the country accounted for 28% of the Eurozone economy according to the International Monetary Fund. Germany introduced the common European currency, the Euro, in 2002. Its monetary policy is set by the European Central Bank, which is headquartered in Frankfurt.


title: Germany

text: Being home to the modern car, the automotive industry in Germany is regarded as one of the most competitive and innovative in the world, and is the sixth-largest by production as of 2021. The top ten exports of Germany are vehicles, machinery, chemical goods, electronic products, electrical equipments, pharmaceuticals, transport equipments, basic metals, food products, and rubber and plastics.


title: Germany

text: Of the world's 500 largest stock-market-listed companies measured by revenue in 2019, the Fortune Global 500, 29 are headquartered in Germany. 30 major Germany-based companies are included in the DAX, the German stock market index which is operated by Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Well-known international brands include Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Siemens, Allianz, Adidas, Porsche, Bosch and Deutsche Telekom. Berlin is a hub for startup companies and has become the leading location for venture capital funded firms in the European Union. Germany is recognised for its large portion of specialised small and medium enterprises, known as the model. These companies represent 48% global market leaders in their segments, labelled hidden champions.


title: Germany

text: Research and development efforts form an integral part of the German economy. In 2018 Germany ranked fourth globally in terms of number of science and engineering research papers published. Research institutions in Germany include the Max Planck Society, the Helmholtz Association, and the Fraunhofer Society and the Leibniz Association. Germany is the largest contributor to the European Space Agency.


title: Germany

text: With its central position in Europe, Germany is a transport hub for the continent. Its road network is among the densest in Europe. The motorway (Autobahn) is widely known for having no general federally mandated speed limit for some classes of vehicles. The Intercity Express or "ICE" train network serves major German cities as well as destinations in neighbouring countries with speeds up to . The largest German airports are Frankfurt Airport and Munich Airport. The Port of Hamburg is one of the top twenty largest container ports in the world.


title: Germany

text: , Germany was the world's seventh-largest consumer of energy. The government and the nuclear power industry agreed to phase out all nuclear power plants by 2021. It meets the country's power demands using 40% renewable sources, and it has been called an "early leader" in solar and offshore wind. Germany is committed to the Paris Agreement and several other treaties promoting biodiversity, low emission standards, and water management. The country's household recycling rate is among the highest in the world—at around 65%. The country's greenhouse gas emissions per capita were the ninth-highest in the EU , but these numbers have been trending downward. The German energy transition () is the recognised move to a sustainable economy by means of energy efficiency and renewable energy.


title: Germany

text: Germany is the ninth most visited country in the world , with 37.4 million visits. Domestic and international travel and tourism combined directly contribute over €105.3 billion to German GDP. Including indirect and induced impacts, the industry supports 4.2 million jobs.


title: Germany

text: Germany's most visited and popular landmarks include Cologne Cathedral, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Dresden Frauenkirche, Neuschwanstein Castle, Heidelberg Castle, the Wartburg, and Sanssouci Palace. The Europa-Park near Freiburg is Europe's second most popular theme park resort.


title: Germany

text: With a population of 80.2 million according to the 2011 German Census, rising to 83.7 million , Germany is the most populous country in the European Union, the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the nineteenth most populous country in the world. Its population density stands at 227 inhabitants per square kilometre (588 per square mile). The fertility rate of 1.57 children born per woman (2022 estimates) is below the replacement rate of 2.1 and is one of the lowest fertility rates in the world. Since the 1970s, Germany's death rate has exceeded its birth rate. However, Germany is witnessing increased birth rates and migration rates since the beginning of the 2010s. Germany has the third oldest population in the world, with an average age of 47.4 years.


title: Germany

text: Four sizeable groups of people are referred to as "national minorities" because their ancestors have lived in their respective regions for centuries: There is a Danish minority in the northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein; the Sorbs, a Slavic population, are in the Lusatia region of Saxony and Brandenburg; the Roma and Sinti live throughout the country; and the Frisians are concentrated in Schleswig-Holstein's western coast and in the north-western part of Lower Saxony.


title: Germany

text: After the United States, Germany is the second most popular immigration destination in the world. The majority of migrants live in western Germany, in particular in urban areas. Of the country's residents, 18.6 million people (22.5%) were of immigrant or partially immigrant descent in 2016 (including persons descending or partially descending from ethnic German repatriates). In 2015, the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs listed Germany as host to the second-highest number of international migrants worldwide, about 5% or 12 million of all 244 million migrants. , Germany ranks seventh amongst EU countries in terms of the percentage of migrants in the country's population, at 13.1%.


title: Germany

text: Germany has a number of large cities. There are 11 officially recognised metropolitan regions. The country's largest city is Berlin, while its largest urban area is the Ruhr.


title: Germany

text: According to the 2011 census, Christianity was the largest religion in Germany, with 66.8% of respondents identifying as Christian, of which 3.8% were not church members. 31.7% declared themselves as Protestants, including members of the Evangelical Church in Germany (which encompasses Lutheran, Reformed, and administrative or confessional unions of both traditions) and the free churches (); 31.2% declared themselves as Roman Catholics, and Orthodox believers constituted 1.3%. According to data from 2016, the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church claimed 28.5% and 27.5%, respectively, of the population. Islam is the second-largest religion in the country.


title: Germany

text: In the 2011 census, 1.9% of respondents (1.52 million people) gave their religion as Islam, but this figure is deemed unreliable because a disproportionate number of adherents of this faith (and other religions, such as Judaism) are likely to have made use of their right not to answer the question. Most of the Muslims are Sunnis and Alevites from Turkey, but there are a small number of Shi'ites, Ahmadiyyas and other denominations. Other religions comprise less than one percent of Germany's population.


title: Germany

text: A study in 2018 estimated that 38% of the population are not members of any religious organization or denomination, though up to a third may still consider themselves religious. Irreligion in Germany is strongest in the former East Germany, which used to be predominantly Protestant before the enforcement of state atheism, and in major metropolitan areas.


title: Germany

text: German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany. It is one of 24 official and working languages of the European Union, and one of the three procedural languages of the European Commission. German is the most widely spoken first language in the European Union, with around 100 million native speakers.


title: Germany

text: Recognised native minority languages in Germany are Danish, Low German, Low Rhenish, Sorbian, Romany, North Frisian and Saterland Frisian; they are officially protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The most used immigrant languages are Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish, Polish, Greek, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian and other Balkan languages, as well as Russian. Germans are typically multilingual: 67% of German citizens claim to be able to communicate in at least one foreign language and 27% in at least two.


title: Germany

text: Responsibility for educational supervision in Germany is primarily organised within the individual states. Optional kindergarten education is provided for all children between three and six years old, after which school attendance is compulsory for at least nine years depending on the state. Primary education usually lasts for four to six years. Secondary schooling is divided into tracks based on whether students pursue academic or vocational education. A system of apprenticeship called leads to a skilled qualification which is almost comparable to an academic degree. It allows students in vocational training to learn in a company as well as in a state-run trade school. This model is well regarded and reproduced all around the world.


title: Germany

text: Most of the German universities are public institutions, and students traditionally study without fee payment. The general requirement for attending university is the . According to an OECD report in 2014, Germany is the world's third leading destination for international study. The established universities in Germany include some of the oldest in the world, with Heidelberg University (established in 1386) being the oldest. The Humboldt University of Berlin, founded in 1810 by the liberal educational reformer Wilhelm von Humboldt, became the academic model for many Western universities. In the contemporary era Germany has developed eleven Universities of Excellence.


title: Germany

text: Germany's system of hospitals, called , dates from medieval times, and today, Germany has the world's oldest universal health care system, dating from Bismarck's social legislation of the 1880s. Since the 1880s, reforms and provisions have ensured a balanced health care system. The population is covered by a health insurance plan provided by statute, with criteria allowing some groups to opt for a private health insurance contract. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Germany's health care system was 77% government-funded and 23% privately funded . In 2014, Germany spent 11.3% of its GDP on health care.


title: Germany

text: Germany ranked 21st in the world in 2019 in life expectancy with 78.7 years for men and 84.8 years for women according to the WHO, and it had a very low infant mortality rate (4 per 1,000 live births). , the principal cause of death was cardiovascular disease, at 37%. Obesity in Germany has been increasingly cited as a major health issue. A 2014 study showed that 52 percent of the adult German population was overweight or obese.


title: Germany

text: Culture in German states has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular. Historically, Germany has been called ('the land of poets and thinkers'), because of the major role its scientists, writers and philosophers have played in the development of Western thought. A global opinion poll for the BBC revealed that Germany is recognised for having the most positive influence in the world in 2013 and 2014.


title: Germany

text: Germany is well known for such folk festival traditions as the Oktoberfest and Christmas customs, which include Advent wreaths, Christmas pageants, Christmas trees, Stollen cakes, and other practices. UNESCO inscribed 41 properties in Germany on the World Heritage List. There are a number of public holidays in Germany determined by each state; 3 October has been a national day of Germany since 1990, celebrated as the (German Unity Day).


title: Germany

text: German classical music includes works by some of the world's most well-known composers. Dieterich Buxtehude, Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Händel were influential composers of the Baroque period. Ludwig van Beethoven was a crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras. Carl Maria von Weber, Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms were significant Romantic composers. Richard Wagner was known for his operas. Richard Strauss was a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. Karlheinz Stockhausen and Wolfgang Rihm are important composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries.


title: Germany

text: As of 2013, Germany was the second-largest music market in Europe, and fourth-largest in the world. German popular music of the 20th and 21st centuries includes the movements of Neue Deutsche Welle, pop, Ostrock, heavy metal/rock, punk, pop rock, indie, Volksmusik (folk music), schlager pop and German hip hop. German electronic music gained global influence, with Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream pioneering in this genre. DJs and artists of the techno and house music scenes of Germany have become well known (e.g. Paul van Dyk, Felix Jaehn, Paul Kalkbrenner, Robin Schulz and Scooter).


title: Germany

text: German painters have influenced Western art. Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein the Younger, Matthias Grünewald and Lucas Cranach the Elder were important German artists of the Renaissance, Johann Baptist Zimmermann of the Baroque, Caspar David Friedrich and Carl Spitzweg of Romanticism, Max Liebermann of Impressionism and Max Ernst of Surrealism. Several German art groups formed in the 20th century; (The Bridge) and (The Blue Rider) influenced the development of expressionism in Munich and Berlin. The New Objectivity arose in response to expressionism during the Weimar Republic. After World War II, broad trends in German art include neo-expressionism and the New Leipzig School.


title: Germany

text: Architectural contributions from Germany include the Carolingian and Ottonian styles, which were precursors of Romanesque. Brick Gothic is a distinctive medieval style that evolved in Germany. Also in Renaissance and Baroque art, regional and typically German elements evolved (e.g. Weser Renaissance). Vernacular architecture in Germany is often identified by its timber framing () traditions and varies across regions, and among carpentry styles. When industrialisation spread across Europe, classicism and a distinctive style of historicism developed in Germany, sometimes referred to as "style". Expressionist architecture developed in the 1910s in Germany and influenced Art Deco and other modern styles. Germany was particularly important in the early modernist movement: it is the home of Werkbund initiated by Hermann Muthesius (New Objectivity), and of the Bauhaus movement founded by Walter Gropius. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe became one of the world's most renowned architects in the second half of the 20th century; he conceived of the glass façade skyscraper. Renowned contemporary architects and offices include Pritzker Prize winners Gottfried Böhm and Frei Otto.


title: Germany

text: German designers became early leaders of modern product design. The Berlin Fashion Week and the fashion trade fair Bread & Butter are held twice a year.


title: Germany

text: German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages and the works of writers such as Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. Well-known German authors include Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Theodor Fontane. The collections of folk tales published by the Brothers Grimm popularised German folklore on an international level. The Grimms also gathered and codified regional variants of the German language, grounding their work in historical principles; their , or German Dictionary, sometimes called the Grimm dictionary, was begun in 1838 and the first volumes published in 1854.


title: Germany

text: Influential authors of the 20th century include Gerhart Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Böll and Günter Grass. The German book market is the third-largest in the world, after the United States and China. The Frankfurt Book Fair is the most important in the world for international deals and trading, with a tradition spanning over 500 years. The Leipzig Book Fair also retains a major position in Europe.


title: Germany

text: German philosophy is historically significant: Gottfried Leibniz's contributions to rationalism; the enlightenment philosophy by Immanuel Kant; the establishment of classical German idealism by Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling; Arthur Schopenhauer's composition of metaphysical pessimism; the formulation of communist theory by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; Friedrich Nietzsche's development of perspectivism; Gottlob Frege's contributions to the dawn of analytic philosophy; Martin Heidegger's works on Being; Oswald Spengler's historical philosophy; the development of the Frankfurt School has been particularly influential.


title: Germany

text: The largest internationally operating media companies in Germany are the Bertelsmann enterprise, Axel Springer SE and ProSiebenSat.1 Media. Germany's television market is the largest in Europe, with some 38 million TV households. Around 90% of German households have cable or satellite TV, with a variety of free-to-view public and commercial channels. There are more than 300 public and private radio stations in Germany; Germany's national radio network is the Deutschlandradio and the public Deutsche Welle is the main German radio and television broadcaster in foreign languages. Germany's print market of newspapers and magazines is the largest in Europe. The papers with the highest circulation are , , and . The largest magazines include and . Germany has a large video gaming market, with over 34 million players nationwide.


title: Germany

text: German cinema has made major technical and artistic contributions to film. The first works of the Skladanowsky Brothers were shown to an audience in 1895. The renowned Babelsberg Studio in Potsdam was established in 1912, thus being the first large-scale film studio in the world. Early German cinema was particularly influential with German expressionists such as Robert Wiene and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. Director Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" (1927) is referred to as the first major science-fiction film. After 1945, many of the films of the immediate post-war period can be characterised as (rubble film). East German film was dominated by state-owned film studio DEFA, while the dominant genre in West Germany was the ("homeland film"). During the 1970s and 1980s, New German Cinema directors such as Volker Schlöndorff, Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder brought West German auteur cinema to critical acclaim.


title: Germany

text: The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film ("Oscar") went to the German production "The Tin Drum" () in 1979, to "Nowhere in Africa" () in 2002, and to "The Lives of Others" () in 2007. Various Germans won an Oscar for their performances in other films. The annual European Film Awards ceremony is held every other year in Berlin, home of the European Film Academy. The Berlin International Film Festival, known as "Berlinale", awarding the "Golden Bear" and held annually since 1951, is one of the world's leading film festivals. The "Lolas" are annually awarded in Berlin, at the German Film Awards.


title: Germany

text: German cuisine varies from region to region and often neighbouring regions share some culinary similarities (e.g. the southern regions of Bavaria and Swabia share some traditions with Switzerland and Austria). International varieties such as pizza, sushi, Chinese food, Greek food, Indian cuisine and doner kebab are also popular.


title: Germany

text: Bread is a significant part of German cuisine and German bakeries produce about 600 main types of bread and 1,200 types of pastries and rolls (). German cheeses account for about 22% of all cheese produced in Europe. In 2012 over 99% of all meat produced in Germany was either pork, chicken or beef. Germans produce their ubiquitous sausages in almost 1,500 varieties, including Bratwursts and Weisswursts. The national alcoholic drink is beer. German beer consumption per person stands at in 2013 and remains among the highest in the world. German beer purity regulations date back to the 16th century. Wine has become popular in many parts of the country, especially close to German wine regions. In 2019, Germany was the ninth-largest wine producer in the world.


title: Germany

text: The 2018 Michelin Guide awarded eleven restaurants in Germany three stars, giving the country a cumulative total of 300 stars.


title: Germany

text: Football is the most popular sport in Germany. With more than 7 million official members, the German Football Association ("Deutscher Fußball-Bund") is the largest single-sport organisation worldwide, and the German top league, the Bundesliga, attracts the second-highest average attendance of all professional sports leagues in the world. The German men's national football team won the FIFA World Cup in 1954, 1974, 1990, and 2014, the UEFA European Championship in 1972, 1980 and 1996, and the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2017.


title: Germany

text: Germany is one of the leading motor sports countries in the world. Constructors like BMW and Mercedes are prominent manufacturers in motor sport. Porsche has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race 19 times, and Audi 13 times (). The driver Michael Schumacher has set many motor sport records during his career, having won seven Formula One World Drivers' Championships. Sebastian Vettel is also among the most successful Formula One drivers of all time.


title: Germany

text: Historically, German athletes have been successful contenders in the Olympic Games, ranking third in an all-time Olympic Games medal count (when combining East and West German medals). Germany was the last country to host both the summer and winter games in the same year, in 1936: the Berlin Summer Games and the Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Munich hosted the Summer Games of 1972.


title: Taylor Swift

text: Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her narrative songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and media coverage. Born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville at age 14 to become a country artist. She signed a songwriting deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 2004 and a recording contract with Big Machine Records in 2005. Her 2006 self-titled debut album made her the first female country singer to write or co-write a U.S. platinum-certified album entirely.


title: Taylor Swift

text: Swift's next albums, "Fearless" (2008) and "Speak Now" (2010), explored country pop. The former's "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" were the first country songs to top the U.S. pop and all-genre airplay charts, respectively. She experimented with rock and electronic styles on "Red" (2012), which featured her first "Billboard" Hot 100 number-one song, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", and eschewed her country image in her synth-pop album, "1989" (2014), supported by chart-topping songs "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood". Media scrutiny inspired the urban-flavored "Reputation" (2017) and its number-one single "Look What You Made Me Do".


title: Taylor Swift

text: Exiting Big Machine, Swift signed with Republic Records in 2018 and released her seventh studio album, "Lover" (2019), followed by the autobiographical documentary "Miss Americana" (2020). She ventured into indie folk and alternative rock in her 2020 albums "Folklore" and "Evermore", whose singles "Cardigan" and "Willow" topped the Hot 100. Swift began re-recording her first six albums after a dispute over their masters, re-releasing two in 2021—"Fearless (Taylor's Version)" and "Red (Taylor's Version)". The latter's "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" became the longest song to top the Hot 100. Her tenth album "Midnights" (2022) and its lead single "Anti-Hero" broke numerous streaming records. Swift has self-directed music videos and films, such as "" (2021), and had supportive acting roles in others.


title: Taylor Swift

text: Having sold over 200 million records globally, Swift is one of the best-selling musicians of all time. She is the only act to have five albums open with over one million copies sold in the US. Among her accolades are 11 Grammy Awards, including three Album of the Year wins; an Emmy Award; 40 American Music Awards; 29 "Billboard" Music Awards; and 84 "Guinness World Records". Swift has been featured in rankings such as "Rolling Stone"'s 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, "Billboard"'s Greatest of All Time Artists, the "Time" 100 and "Forbes" Celebrity 100. Honored with titles such as Artist of the Decade and Woman of the Decade, Swift is an advocate for artists' rights and women's empowerment. Her music is credited with influencing a generation of singer-songwriters.


title: Taylor Swift

text: Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, at the Reading Hospital in West Reading, Pennsylvania. Swift's father, Scott Kingsley Swift, is a former stockbroker for Merrill Lynch and her mother, Andrea Gardner Swift (née Finlay), is a former homemaker who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. Her younger brother, Austin, is an actor. She was named after singer-songwriter James Taylor, and has Scottish and German heritage. Her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, was an opera singer. Swift spent her early years on a Christmas tree farm that her father had purchased from one of his clients. Swift identifies as a Christian. She attended preschool and kindergarten at the Alvernia Montessori School, run by the Bernadine Franciscan sisters, before transferring to The Wyndcroft School. The family moved to a rented house in the suburban town of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, where Swift attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School. She spent her summers at the beach in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, and performed in a local coffee shop.


title: Taylor Swift

text: At age nine, Swift became interested in musical theater and performed in four Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions. She also traveled regularly to New York City for vocal and acting lessons. Swift later shifted her focus toward country music, inspired by Shania Twain's songs, which made her "want to just run around the block four times and daydream about everything." She spent weekends performing at local festivals and events. After watching a documentary about Faith Hill, Swift felt sure she needed to move to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music. She traveled with her mother at age eleven to visit Nashville record labels and submitted demo tapes of Dolly Parton and The Chicks karaoke covers. She was rejected, however, because "everyone in that town wanted to do what I wanted to do. So, I kept thinking to myself, I need to figure out a way to be different."


title: Taylor Swift

text: When Swift was around 12 years old, computer repairman and local musician Ronnie Cremer taught her to play guitar. "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer was the first song Swift learned to play on the guitar. Cremer helped with her first efforts as a songwriter, leading her to write "Lucky You". In 2003, Swift and her parents started working with New York-based talent manager Dan Dymtrow. With his help, Swift modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch as part of their "Rising Stars" campaign, had an original song included on a Maybelline compilation CD, and attended meetings with major record labels. After performing original songs at an RCA Records showcase, Swift, then 13 years old, was given an artist development deal and began making frequent trips to Nashville with her mother. To help Swift enter into the country music scene, her father transferred to Merrill Lynch's Nashville office when she was 14 years old, and the family relocated to Hendersonville, Tennessee. Swift initially attended Hendersonville High School before transferring to the Aaron Academy after two years, which better suited her touring schedule through homeschooling. She graduated one year early.


title: Taylor Swift

text: In Nashville, Swift worked with experienced Music Row songwriters such as Troy Verges, Brett Beavers, Brett James, Mac McAnally, and the Warren Brothers and formed a lasting working relationship with Liz Rose. They began meeting for two-hour writing sessions every Tuesday afternoon after school. Rose thought the sessions were "some of the easiest I've ever done. Basically, I was just her editor. She'd write about what happened in school that day. She had such a clear vision of what she was trying to say. And she'd come in with the most incredible hooks." Swift became the youngest artist signed by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house, but left the Sony-owned RCA Records at the age of 14 due to the label's lack of care and them "cut[ting] other people's stuff". She was also concerned that development deals may shelve artists, and recalled: "I genuinely felt that I was running out of time. I wanted to capture these years of my life on an album while they still represented what I was going through."


title: Taylor Swift

text: At an industry showcase at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe in 2005, Swift caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, a DreamWorks Records executive who was preparing to form an independent record label, Big Machine Records. She had first met Borchetta in 2004. She was one of Big Machine's first signings, and her father purchased a three-percent stake in the company for an estimated $120,000. She began working on her eponymous debut album with producer Nathan Chapman, with whom she felt she had the right "chemistry". Swift wrote three of the album's songs alone, and co-wrote the remaining eight with Rose, Robert Ellis Orrall, Brian Maher, and Angelo Petraglia. "Taylor Swift" was released on October 24, 2006. "Country Weekly" critic Chris Neal deemed Swift better than previous aspiring teenage country singers because of her "honesty, intelligence and idealism". The album peaked at number five on the U.S. "Billboard" 200, where it spent 157 weeks—the longest stay on the chart by any release in the U.S. in the 2000s decade. It made Swift the first female country-music artist to write or co-write every track on a U.S. platinum-certified album.


title: Taylor Swift

text: Big Machine Records was still in its infancy during the June 2006 release of the lead single, "Tim McGraw", which Swift and her mother helped promote by sending copies of the CD single to country radio stations. As there was not enough furniture at the label yet, they would sit on the floor to do so. She spent much of 2006 promoting "Taylor Swift" with a radio tour, television appearances; she opened for Rascal Flatts on select dates during their 2006 tour, as a replacement for Eric Church. Borchetta said that although record industry peers initially disapproved of his signing a 15-year-old singer-songwriter, Swift tapped into a previously unknown market—teenage girls who listen to country music. Following "Tim McGraw", four more singles were released throughout 2007 and 2008: "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn" and "Should've Said No". All appeared on "Billboard"s Hot Country Songs, with "Our Song", and "Should've Said No" reaching number one. With "Our Song", Swift became the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a number-one song on the chart. "Teardrops on My Guitar" reached number thirteen on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100. Swift also released two EPs, "The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection" in October 2007 and "Beautiful Eyes" in July 2008. She promoted her debut album extensively as the opening act for other country musicians' tours throughout 2006–2007, including George Strait, Brad Paisley, and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.


title: Taylor Swift

text: Swift won multiple accolades for "Taylor Swift". She was one of the recipients of the Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist of the Year in 2007, becoming the youngest person to be honored with the title. She also won the Country Music Association's Horizon Award for Best New Artist, the Academy of Country Music Awards' Top New Female Vocalist, and the American Music Awards' Favorite Country Female Artist honor. She was also nominated for Best New Artist at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. In 2008, she opened for the Rascal Flatts again, and dated singer Joe Jonas for three months.


title: Taylor Swift

text: Swift's second studio album, "Fearless", was released on November 11, 2008, in North America, and in March 2009, in other markets. Critics lauded Swift's honest and vulnerable songwriting in contrast to other teenage singers. Five singles were released in 2008 through 2009: "Love Story", "White Horse", "You Belong with Me", "Fifteen", and "Fearless". "Love Story", the lead single, peaked at number four on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number one in Australia. It was the first country song to top "Billboard"'s Pop Songs chart. "You Belong with Me" was the album's highest-charting single on the "Billboard" Hot 100, peaking at number two, and was the first country song to top "Billboard"'s all-genre Radio Songs chart. All five singles were Hot Country Songs top-10 entries, with "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" topping the chart. "Fearless" became her first number-one album on the "Billboard" 200 and 2009's top-selling album in the U.S. The Fearless Tour, Swift's first headlining concert tour, grossed over $63 million. "", a three-part documentary miniseries, aired on television and was later released on DVD and Blu-ray. Swift also performed as a supporting act for Keith Urban's Escape Together World Tour in 2009.


title: Taylor Swift

text: In 2009, the music video for "You Belong with Me" was named Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards. Her acceptance speech was interrupted by rapper Kanye West, an incident that became the subject of controversy, widespread media attention, and many Internet memes. That year she won five American Music Awards, including Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album. "Billboard" named her 2009's Artist of the Year. The album ranked number 99 on NPR's 2017 list of the 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women. She won Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year for "Love Story" at the 2009 CMT Music Awards, where she made a parody video of the song with rapper T-Pain called "Thug Story". At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, "Fearless" was named Album of the Year and Best Country Album, and "White Horse" won Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Swift was the youngest artist to win Album of the Year. At the 2009 Country Music Association Awards, Swift won Album of the Year for "Fearless" and was named Entertainer of the Year, the youngest person to win the honor.


title: Taylor Swift

text: Swift featured on John Mayer's single "Half of My Heart" and Boys Like Girls' single "Two Is Better Than One", both of which she co-wrote. She co-wrote and recorded "Best Days of Your Life" with Kellie Pickler, and co-wrote two songs for the —"You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Crazier". She contributed two songs to the "Valentine's Day" soundtrack, including the single "Today Was a Fairytale", which was her first number-one on the Canadian Hot 100, and peaked at number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100. While shooting her film debut "Valentine's Day" in October 2009, Swift dated co-star Taylor Lautner. In 2009, she made her television debut as a rebellious teenager in an "" episode. She hosted and performed as the musical guest on "Saturday Night Live"; she was the first host to write their own opening monologue.


title: Taylor Swift

text: In August 2010, Swift released "Mine", the lead single from her third studio album, "Speak Now." It entered the Hot 100 at number three. Swift wrote the album alone and co-produced every track. "Speak Now", released on October 25, 2010, debuted atop the "Billboard" 200 with first-week sales of one million copies. It became the fastest-selling digital album by a female artist, with 278,000 downloads in a week, earning Swift an entry in the 2010 "Guinness World Records". Critics appreciated Swifts grown-up perspectives; Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stone" wrote, "in a mere four years, the 20-year-old Nashville firecracker has put her name on three dozen or so of the smartest songs released by anyone in pop, rock or country." The songs "Mine", "Back to December", "Mean", "The Story of Us", "Sparks Fly", and "Ours" were released as singles, with the latter two reaching number one. "Back to December" and "Mean" peaked in the top ten in Canada. She briefly dated actor Jake Gyllenhaal in 2010.


title: Taylor Swift

text: At the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012, Swift won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance for "Mean", which she performed during the ceremony. Swift won other awards for "Speak Now", including Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association (2010 and 2011), Woman of the Year by "Billboard" (2011), and Entertainer of the Year by the Academy of Country Music (2011 and 2012) and the Country Music Association in 2011. At the American Music Awards of 2011, Swift won Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album. "Rolling Stone" placed "Speak Now at" number 45 in its 2012 list of the "50 Best Female Albums of All Time", writing: "She might get played on the country station, but she's one of the few genuine rock stars we've got these days, with a flawless ear for what makes a song click."


title: Taylor Swift

text: The Speak Now World Tour ran from February 2011 to March 2012 and grossed over $123 million, followed up with its live album, "". She contributed two original songs to : "Safe & Sound", co-written and recorded with the Civil Wars and T-Bone Burnett, and "Eyes Open". "Safe & Sound" won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. Swift featured on B.o.B's single "Both of Us", released in May 2012. Swift dated Conor Kennedy that year.


title: Taylor Swift

text: In August 2012, Swift released "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", the lead single from her fourth studio album, "Red". It became her first number one in the U.S. and New Zealand, and reached the top slot on iTunes' digital song sales chart 50 minutes after its release, earning the Fastest Selling Single in Digital History Guinness World Record. Other singles released from the album include "Begin Again", "I Knew You Were Trouble", "22", "Everything Has Changed", "The Last Time", and "Red". "I Knew You Were Trouble" reached the top five on charts in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S. Three singles, "Begin Again", "22", and "Red", reached the top 20 in the U.S. "Red" was released on October 22, 2012. On "Red", Swift worked with longtime collaborators Nathan Chapman and Liz Rose, as well as new producers such as Max Martin and Shellback. The album incorporated many pop and rock styles such as heartland rock, dubstep and dance-pop. Randall Roberts of "Los Angeles Times said" Swift "strives for something much more grand and accomplished" with "Red". It debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 with first-week sales of 1.21 million copies, making Swift the first female to have two million-selling album openings—a "Guinness World Records". "Red" was Swift's first number-one album in the U.K.


title: Taylor Swift

text: The Red Tour ran from March 2013 to June 2014 and grossed over $150 million, becoming the highest-grossing country tour when it completed. The album earned several accolades, including four nominations at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards (2014). Its single "I Knew You Were Trouble" won Best Female Video at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. Swift received American Music Awards for Best Female Country Artist in 2012, and Artist of the Year in 2013. She received the Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist Award for the fifth and sixth consecutive years in 2012 and 2013. Swift was honored by the Association with the Pinnacle Award, making her the second recipient of the accolade after Garth Brooks. During this time, she briefly dated English singer Harry Styles.


title: Taylor Swift

text: In 2013, Swift recorded "Sweeter than Fiction", a song she wrote and produced with Jack Antonoff for the "One Chance" film soundtrack. The song received a Best Original Song nomination at the 71st Golden Globe Awards. She provided guest vocals for Tim McGraw's song "Highway Don't Care", which featured guitar work by Keith Urban. Swift performed "As Tears Go By" with the Rolling Stones in Chicago, Illinois as part of the band's 50 & Counting tour. She joined Florida Georgia Line on stage during their set at the 2013 Country Radio Seminar to sing "Cruise". Swift voiced Audrey in the animated film "The Lorax" (2012), made a cameo in the sitcom "New Girl" (2013), and had a supporting role in the dystopian drama film "The Giver" (2014).


title: Taylor Swift

text: In March 2014, Swift began living in New York City. She worked on her fifth studio album, "1989", with producers Jack Antonoff, Max Martin, Shellback, Imogen Heap, Ryan Tedder, and Ali Payami. She promoted the album through various campaigns, including inviting fans to secret album-listening sessions. The album was released on October 27, 2014, and debuted atop the U.S. "Billboard" 200 with sales of 1.28 million copies in its first week. Its singles "Shake It Off", "Blank Space" and "Bad Blood" reached number one in Australia, Canada and the U.S., the first two making Swift the first woman to replace herself at the Hot 100 top spot; other singles include "Style", "Wildest Dreams", "Out of the Woods" and "New Romantics". The 1989 World Tour ran from May to December 2015 and was the highest-grossing tour of the year with $250 million in total revenue.


title: Taylor Swift

text: Prior to "1989"s release, Swift stressed the importance of albums to artists and fans. In November 2014, she removed her entire catalog from Spotify, arguing that the streaming company's ad-supported, free service undermined the premium service, which provides higher royalties for songwriters. In a June 2015 open letter, Swift criticized Apple Music for not offering royalties to artists during the streaming service's free three-month trial period and stated that she would pull "1989" from the catalog. The following day, Apple Inc. announced that it would pay artists during the free trial period, and Swift agreed to let "1989" on the streaming service. Swift's intellectual property rights holding company, TAS Rights Management, filed for 73 trademarks related to Swift and the "1989" era memes. She then returned her entire catalog plus "1989" to Spotify, Amazon Music and Google Play and other digital streaming platforms in June 2017. Swift was named "Billboard"s Woman of the Year in 2014, becoming the first artist to win the award twice. At the 2014 American Music Awards, Swift received the inaugural Dick Clark Award for Excellence. On her 25th birthday in 2014, the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live opened an exhibit in her honor in Los Angeles that ran until October 4, 2015, and broke museum attendance records. In 2015, Swift won the Brit Award for International Female Solo Artist. The video for "Bad Blood" won Video of the Year and Best Collaboration at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. Swift was one of eight artists to receive a 50th Anniversary Milestone Award at the 2015 Academy of Country Music Awards. At the 58th Grammy Awards in 2016, "1989" won Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, and "Bad Blood" won Best Music Video. Swift was the first woman and fifth act overall to win Album of the Year twice as a lead artist.


title: Taylor Swift

text: Swift dated Scottish DJ Calvin Harris from March 2015–June 2016. Prior to their breakup, they co-wrote the song "This Is What You Came For", which features vocals from Barbadian singer Rihanna; Swift was initially credited under the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg. After briefly dating English actor Tom Hiddleston, Swift began dating English actor Joe Alwyn in September 2016. She wrote the song "Better Man" for country band Little Big Town; it earned Swift an award for Song of the Year at the 51st CMA Awards. Swift and English singer Zayn Malik released a single together, "I Don't Wanna Live Forever", for the of the film "Fifty Shades Darker" (2017). The song reached number two in the U.S. and won Best Collaboration at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards. In August 2017, Swift successfully sued David Mueller, a former radio jockey for KYGO-FM. Four years earlier, Swift had informed Mueller's bosses that he had sexually assaulted her by groping her at an event. After being fired, Mueller accused Swift of lying and sued her for damages from his loss of employment. Shortly after, Swift counter-sued for sexual assault for nominal damages of only one dollar. The jury rejected Mueller's claims and ruled in favor of Swift.