State · 1949 – 1990
East Germany
A state of 1949 – 1990 — 41 years in Europe. It replaced German Reich, Soviet occupation zone of Germany and Allied Control Council. It was replaced by Germany and new states of Germany. The atlas records 17 things within it — wars and battles 1 · unrest and atrocity 1 · treaties 3 · people 12. Its line of rulers holds 4 people.
- Wikidata's English label: German Democratic Republic.
For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.
- Stood
- 41 years
- 1949 – 1990
- Rulers
- 4
- the De facto leader
- Most ground
- 112,700 km²
- in 1973
- Within it
- 17
- recorded rows
- Symbols
- 3
- on record, with years
Where it sits in time
Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.
Before and after
The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.
Before it
- German Reich · replaces · 1871 – 1949
- Soviet occupation zone of Germany · replaces
- Allied Control Council · replaces
After it
- Germany · replaced by · 1990 – present
- new states of Germany · replaced by
Rulers
The leaders of its ruling party, read from English Wikipedia, De facto leader of the GDR, revision 1376248210 - the line the atlas measures; its formal heads of state are listed with the government below.
| Ruler | Reign | Length | How it ended · source | To the ruler before |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walter Ulbricht | 1949 – 1971 | 22 years | deposed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Erich Honecker | 1971 – 1989 | 18 years | ending not on record | |
| Egon Krenz | 1989 – 1989 | under a year | deposed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Hans Modrow | 1989 – 1990 | 1 year | ending not on record |
4 rulers, 4 with terms dated as terms, covering 1949 – 1990. Only 41 years of the line are dated - too short for a median. 2 of 3 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.
Formal heads of state and heads of government
The line of head of government, drawn and never measured: a cabinet is not a reign.
| Otto Grotewohl | 1949 – 1964 |
| Wilhelm Pieck | 1949 – 1960 |
| Walter Ulbricht | 1960 – 1973 |
| Willi Stoph | 1964 – 1973 |
| Horst Sindermann | 1973 – 1976 |
| Willi Stoph | 1973 – 1976 |
| Friedrich Ebert Jr. | 1973 – 1973 |
| Willi Stoph | 1976 – 1989 |
| Erich Honecker | 1976 – 1989 |
| Hans Modrow | 1989 – 1990 |
| Manfred Gerlach | 1989 – 1990 |
| Egon Krenz | 1989 – 1989 |
| Lothar de Maizière | 1990 – 1990 |
| Sabine Bergmann-Pohl | 1990 – 1990 |
Ground held, by year
km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.
112,000 km² in 1949, 112,100 km² in 1989; at its largest 112,700 km² in 1974. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.
Flags and arms, in order
Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.

flag, 1949 – 1959Flag of Germany · Public domain 
coat of arms, 1950 – 1990State arms of the German Democratic Republic · Public domain 
flag, from 1959Flag of the German Democratic Republic · Public domain
What happened within it, by century
Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.
1900 – 199914 rows · 1 wars and battles · 1 risings, regime changes and massacres
- Erich Honecker · ruler · 1912 – 1994
- Egon Krenz · ruler · 1937 – present
- Sabine Bergmann-Pohl · ruler · 1946 – present
- East German uprising of 1953 · unrest · 1953
- Willi Stoph · ruler · 1914 – 1999
- Manfred Gerlach · ruler · 1928 – 2011
- Berlin Crisis of 1961 · war · 1961
- Katerina Tikhonova · politician · 1986 – present
and 6 more in the atlas.
Among all states
Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.
- How long it stood41 years
stood longer than 30% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
- The most ground it held112,700 km²
held more ground at its peak than 48% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
- Wars recorded per century1.0
had more wars on record per century than 94% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
- Rulers on record4
has more rulers on record than 58% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.
What led to it, and what came of it
The investigation's own picture: 98 causes the record names and 2 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.
Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.
Theories that apply to its ending
Of 3 theories of why states fall, 1 has every condition present at this ending; each is applied by its own logic, condition by condition, and whether its authors named this case is a footnote.
Demographic-structural breakdown
Goldstone 1991 · Turchin & Nefedov 2009
Applies by its own logic: 2 of its 3 conditions held here (it needs 2), and this is the kind of outcome it predicts — unrest, adverse regime change or the state's ending.
- overlapping reigns — rival claimants — within 20 y, or 3 or more changes of ruler within 20 y, or 2 or more reigns of two years or less within 20 y, or a monarch deposed or killed within 20 y — handovers 3
- a war the state is fighting, still under way, or a war the state fought, ended within 10 y — warOngoing
Open in the atlas
- On the timeline, 1939 – 2000, with everything that stood beside it.
- On the map in 1973, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
- Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.
Wikidata Q16957 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.