Pastlasby Oleh Voronko

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
Map: East Germany in 1973, its borders in gold among its neighbours
East Germany in 1973, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 112,700 km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Where it sits in time

3000 BCE2000 BCE1000 BCE110002000German Reich: 1871 – 1949Germany: 1990 – 2026East Germany: 1949 – 1990

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.

Walter Ulbricht · 1949 – 1971 · deposed, the article saysErich Honecker · 1971 – 1989 · no death date to read the end againstEgon Krenz · 1989 – 1989 · deposed, the article saysHans Modrow · 1989 – 1990 · no death date to read the end against19501960197019801990
deposed, abdicated, exiled or removedending not on record
RulerReignLengthHow it ended · sourceTo the ruler before
Walter Ulbricht1949 – 197122 yearsdeposed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article
Erich Honecker1971 – 198918 yearsending not on record
Egon Krenz1989 – 1989under a yeardeposed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article
Hans Modrow1989 – 19901 yearending 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 Grotewohl1949 – 1964
Wilhelm Pieck1949 – 1960
Walter Ulbricht1960 – 1973
Willi Stoph1964 – 1973
Horst Sindermann1973 – 1976
Willi Stoph1973 – 1976
Friedrich Ebert Jr.1973 – 1973
Willi Stoph1976 – 1989
Erich Honecker1976 – 1989
Hans Modrow1989 – 1990
Manfred Gerlach1989 – 1990
Egon Krenz1989 – 1989
Lothar de Maizière1990 – 1990
Sabine Bergmann-Pohl1990 – 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.

1950196019701980

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 of Germany
    flag, 1949 – 1959Flag of Germany · Public domain
  • State arms of the German Democratic Republic
    coat of arms, 1950 – 1990State arms of the German Democratic Republic · Public domain
  • Flag of the German Democratic Republic
    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

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.

Eastern Front · Recorded · 1941 – 1955Eastern FrontAllied Control Council · Linked · 1945 – 1948Allied Control CouncilGerman Reich · Linked · 1871 – 1949German ReichSoviet occupation zone of Germany · Linked · 1945 – 1949Soviet occupation zone of GermanyWorld War II · In the article · 1939 · “At the Yalta Conference during World War II, the Allies – the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and the Soviet Union (USSR) – agreed to divide defe…”World War IIPrussia · In the article · 1525 · “Because of the imperial and military legacy of Prussia, the SED repudiated continuity between Prussia and the GDR.”PrussiaEast Germany · 1949 – 1990East GermanyGermany · Linked · 1990 – 2026Germanynew states of Germany · Linked · 1990new states of Germany16001700180019002000
recordedin the articlelinked

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

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.