Over the first half of the 20th century, the Soviet Union's GDP per capita rose from 1,218 U.S. dollars to 2,8334 U.S. dollars. There was a slight decrease between 1913 and 1929 due to the devastation caused by the First World War and Russian Revolution and the transition to a communist government and socialist economic structure. However, GDP per capita grew over the following three intervals, and the Soviet Union's relative isolation in the 1920s and 1930s meant that it was relatively untouched by the Great Depression in the 1930s. At the end of the recovery period after the Second World War, in 1950, GDP per capita had already exceeded pre-war levels by a significant margin, and the Soviet Union emerged as one of the two global superpowers, alongside the United States.

In the first half of the 20th century, the Soviet Union's GDP per capita rose from roughly one-third of Western Europe's GDP per capita in 1900 to one-half of its rate in 1950. Although it grew gradually between the given intervals, it did drop between 1913 and 1929 due to the devastation caused by the First World War and Russian Revolution. However, this year also marked the beginning of the Great Depression, which caused a significant economic downturn across Western Europe while being relatively unfelt in the Soviet Union.

During the post-war economic boom, between the Second World War and the 1970s' recession, virtually all areas of Europe experienced significant economic growth. While this period is known as the "Golden Age of Capitalism" in Western Europe, communist countries in Eastern Europe (with socialist economic systems) generally experienced higher GDP growth rates in the 1950s and 1960s. Although most of these economies entered the period at a much less-developed stage than the likes of Britain, France, or West Germany, the Soviet model proved to be an economic success in these decades. Controlling the means of production The transition to communism across Eastern Europe saw the nationalization of most industries, as governments took control of the means of production in their respective countries. As much of Eastern Europe entered the period with relatively-low levels of industrialization compared to the west, this meant that governments could dictate the development of their manufacturing and retail industries. By the end of the 1960s, state-owned endeavors in Eastern Europe were responsible for over 95 percent of national income. Problems did arise, however, when states attempted to take control of the agricultural sector, as many of the families who owned the land were unwilling to part with it. Agriculture proved to be the only major industry not mostly owned by the state during Eastern Europe's communist era; in the long term, agriculture suffered due to the lack of government investment in such state-run economic systems. Variations There is a correlation between the sides taken during the Second World War and the speed of economic growth in each decade; the Allied nations of Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia all experienced faster economic growth in the 1950s; whereas the Axis nations of Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania saw faster growth in the 1960s. East Germany was the exception to this rule, as its economy was much more developed than other former-Axis powers. The speed of recovery in these countries was the largest contributor to variations in growth rates, although regional variations in governance did influence development in later years (particularly in Yugoslavia).

In 1950, at the end of the recovery period that followed the Second World War, GDP per capita across the Eastern Bloc varied greatly by country. Czechoslovakia, the most industrialized country in the Bloc after East Germany, had a GDP per capita that was 69 percent of the rate across Western European** countries. In contrast, Romania's GDP per capita was less than a quarter of the Western European average in 1950. 1950-1989 Generally speaking, Eastern European economies grew faster and made gains on those of the west (not including Mediterranean region) in the 1950s and 1960s, however, a series of recessions and increasing debts meant that this gap widened in the 1970s and 1980s. By 1989, as communism in Europe came to an end, the difference between overall GDP per capita in the Eastern and Western Blocs returned to a similar rate as in 1950, although it varied by country. The Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, three of the larger economies of those given, had a lower share of western GDP per capita in 1989 than in 1950, while the smaller economies of the Balkans saw an increase. 1989-2000 Between 1989 and 2000, the European Union's GDP per capita grew faster than in the former Eastern Bloc countries. However, the end of communism did negatively impact EU economies in the early 1990s. Poland was the only Eastern Bloc country to make gains on the west in these years, although this was more to do with its poor economy in the 1980s. The former-Soviet states, in particular, saw GDP per capita drop below one-quarter of the European Union's rate over this decade, as post-Soviet economic recovery did not realistically begin until the late 1990s.

The dataset reports annual estimates for primary energy per capita and GDP per capita for 185 countries for 1950 through 2014. The data allows investigating long-term joint evolution of economic activity and energy demand, which is important for both understanding the past energy needs of economic development, and forming useful baselines for scenario development, especially for integrated assessment modeling around climate change mitigation. Other commonly used datasets only go back to 1971 (International Energy Agency) for worldwide coverage and so extending the data back to 1950 allows analyzing a longer time period than before. The dataset also includes more individual country time series than IEA data thanks to data from the UN. 185 Countries as well as Czechoslovakia, East and West Pakistan, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia prior to their dissolution. Covers upward of 99% of global population after 1970. Data were downloaded from online repositories and then cleaned, harmonized and merged.

In 1950, GDP per capita in Western Europe (29 countries) was just 48 percent of GDP per capita in the U.S. The post-war economic boom from 1950 to 1973 was the most prosperous period in Western Europe's history, and GDP per capita more than doubled in this period, reaching 69 percent of the U.S.' rate. Due to several economic crises in Europe in the following decades, growth rates in Western Europe remained relatively stable. Still, they did not reach the same heights as seen during the so-called Golden Age of Capitalism.

In contrast, the U.S. had been harder hit than Western Europe by the economic difficulties of the 1970s and 1980s, but the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 coincided with one of the most successful decades in U.S. history, with the economy thriving in the 1990s. For Western Europe, the fall of communism had a knock-on effect that limited growth in the early 1990s, although GDP per capita compared to the U.S. was fairly similar to 1973's rate (albeit lower) at 66 percent.

Throughout the Second World War, the United States consistently had the largest gross domestic product (GDP) in the world. Additionally, U.S. GDP grew significantly throughout the war, whereas the economies of Europe and Japan saw relatively little growth, and were often in decline. The impact of key events in the war is also reflected in the trends shown here - the economic declines of France and the Soviet Union coincide with the years of German invasion, while the economies of the three Axis countries experienced their largest declines in the final year of the war.

Compared to Western Europe over the late 20th century, the GDP per capita across some of Western Europe's peripheral countries (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain) grew from approximately half of the rest of Western Europe's rate in 1950, to three quarters in 1998. By comparison, GDP per capita in the Eastern Bloc fell in the same period, from 42 to 29 percent in Central and Eastern Europe, and from 57 to 21 percent in the Soviet Union and its successor states.

The period between 1950 and 1973, known as the "Golden Age of capitalism" in the west, was the most prosperous period in Europe's modern history. The economic boom in the post-war period saw GDP grow by an average of almost four percent in Western and Eastern Europe, and almost five percent in the south. Although the west was the most technologically advanced of the three, this period did see a significant amount of catching up in the other two regions, whose rapid industrialization and urbanization changed the lives of its citizens forever. Recession hits the west The recession of 1973-1975 brought this economic and industrial growth to an end, however, as conflict in the Middle East saw oil prices skyrocket. Virtually all of Western Europe's industrial powers went into recession, and this had a detrimental knock-on effect in Poland and Romania due to their indebtedness to the west. While the recession ended in most countries by 1976, factors such as unemployment, inflation, and industrial output often remained high until the 1980s. The 1980s and 1990s also saw the rapid economic growth of countries such as Ireland and Finland. However, growth was much slower in these decades for most western economies than it had been in the 1950s and1960s. Collapse of communism The 1970s marked the beginning of the economic decline in Eastern Europe, as the command economies of the East Bloc could not maintain pace with the capitalist west and failed to adapt to the challenges that emerged in this period. Communism in Eastern Europe eventually ended around the early 1990s, and the largest power, the Soviet Union, was dissolved. This resulted in severe economic hardships in the former communist states, and recovery in the former-Soviet states did not begin until the late 1990s. The effects of communism's collapse in Europe was so severe that GDP in the east actually fell by an average of 0.9 percent per year between 1973 and 1998

For Western Europe's economies in the late twentieth century, there were regional differences in the development of GDP per capita in many of the northern, industrialized nations and those in the south and on the northern periphery. In 1950, GDP per capita was lower than the regional average in these countries due to the lower levels of industrialization. The south then managed to make up a lot of ground by 1973. During Western Europe's "Golden Age of Capitalism," however, Ireland actually lost ground on the rest of the region due to its isolationist policies and inability to industrialize at the same pace. The last quarter-century of the decade saw this trend reverse, with Ireland's GDP per capita eventually growing above the regional average due to the influx of U.S. investment and its increased integration with European markets. Finland, which had a fairly unique position as being a West Bloc country within the Soviet sphere of influence, did experience some economic success during the Cold War through its exports into the East Bloc. The dissolution of the Soviet Union saw Finland rapidly restructure its economy to compete with the west, which caused GDP to fall by 14 percent between 1989 and 1993. By the end of the decade, however, this transition saw Finland emerge as a global leader in the export of high-tech goods, and income surpassed Swedish figures. By 2004, Ireland and Finland were respectively ranked as the top two leading nations in high-tech manufacturing by the OECD.

The 1973-1975 Recession marked the end of the most economically prosperous period in modern European history. GDP per capita saw virtually uninterrupted growth across all regions of Europe for more than two decades. Between 1950 and 1973, GDP per capita grew by almost five percent each year in western Europe, and growth was between three and four percent in the Eastern Bloc. The recession had varying effects across the continent, impacting some countries (such as Poland) more severely than others; however, overall GDP per capita growth rates remained much lower over the subsequent 25 year period. In the Soviet Union and its successor states, the economic impact of dissolution, partition, and the transition to market economies meant that the period between 1989 and 1998 was particularly challenging from a financial perspective, with GDP per capita falling by 45 percent between these years, undoing much of the progress that had been made in previous decades.

Oskar Schwarzer konstatiert in der Einleitung seiner Studie: „Vergegenwärtigt man sich die Situation in den Jahren nach 1889/90, so wird deutlich, dass die Kenntnisse über die reale wirtschaftliche Situation in der DDR zuvor unzureichend waren … Die wesentliche Variable dabei war die wirtschaftliche Leistungsfähigkeit der DDR, die überschätzt worden war“ (Schwarzer, O., a.a.O., S. 1). Zentrales Thema seiner Publikation ist die Verortung der DDR-Wirtschaft im innerdeutschen Vergleich. Die bis 1989 erschienenen Publikationen sind aus verschiedenen Gründen unvollständig: Für westdeutsche, westeuropäische und amerikanische Wissenschaftler stellte sich bis 1989 im hohen Maße das Problem der ungünstigen Quellenlage, da das Material aus der DDR nur schwer oder gar nicht zugänglich war. DDR - Wissenschaftler standen hingegen unter dem Druck der offiziellen Parteilinie der SED. Diese Situation nahm Oskar Schwarzer zum Anlass, sich eingehender mit der DDR-Wirtschaft zu beschäftigen. Welchen wirtschaftlichen Leistungsstand hatte die DDR während ihrer Existenz tatsächlich? Warum konnte der Staat im internationalen Vergleich nicht mithalten? Oskar Schwarzer beginnt mit der Beschreibung der sozialistischen Umgestaltung in der SBZ/DDR nach 1945 und deren Auswirkungen. Die Verhältnisse in der Sowjetunion waren Vorbild für die Systemänderung in der SBZ, da die Sowjetunion "als richtungsweisender Staat im Ostblock, als Modell und als Schutzschild die Entwicklung maßgeblich mitbestimmte" (Schwarzer, O., a.a.O., S. 11). Nach der Darstellung der sozialistischen Umgestaltung, die noch 1945 einsetzte, und ihren Auswirkungen folgt eine kurze, vergleichende Skizze der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der beiden deutschen Staaten im internationalen Vergleich und eine Analyse des Humankapitalbestandes der DDR. In einem weiteren Kapitel führt Oskar Schwarzer eine Effizienz-Analyse der DDR-Wirtschaft durch. Dabei geht er auf das Wachstum der Gesamtwirtschaft, Investitionen, Außenhandel, Subventionen und die Verschuldung der DDR ein. Ein Problem stellt die Vergleichbarkeit der Währung und der Preise der DDR zu nichtsozialistischen Staaten dar. "Die über das Kriegsende hinaus weiterführende Abschottung gegenüber den Weltmärkten durch Außenhandels- und Valutamonopol, die Abschaffung der Gewerbefreiheit und die Nivellierung der Einkommen auf relativ niedrigen Niveau mit der Folge, daß die Leistungsmotivation der ökonomisch aktiven Bevölkerung sank, verhinderte in der DDR einen vergleichbaren Wiederaufbau wie im Westen" (Schwarzer, O., a.a.O., S. 223) so faßt Oskar Schwarzer das Ursachenbündel für die Ineffizienz der DDR-Wirtschaft zusammen. Hinzu kamen, dass erhebliche Teile des Volkseinkommens und des Volksvermögens zu Machtsicherungszwecken eingesetzt wurden. Im Ergebnis lebte spätestens ab Mitte der 50er Jahre die DDR von der Hand in den Mund, hatte also keine Reserven mehr. "Der intervalutarische Produktivitätsvergleich erbrachte für die DDR 1989 eine Bandbreite von 14 bis 20% des bundesdeutschen Niveaus [...]. Dies entsprach etwa einem Produktivitätsstand wie ihn die Bundesrepublik vor 1950 oder Deutschland 1936 bzw. 1914 hatte" (Schwarzer, O., a.a.O., S. 217). Oskar Schwarzer stellt seiner Untersuchung ein umfangreiches Quellensupplement zur Seite. Darin sind eine ausführlich Statistik des gesellschaftlichen Gesamtproduktes und des Nationaleinkommens der DDR von 1949 bis 1989 in Mark der DDR enthalten, Statistiken zum Umrechnungsverhältnis der Mark der DDR zu konvertiblen Währungen und zur „Leitwährung“, „Statistischer Koeffizient“ und zur Währungsstruktur im Außenhandel. Außerdem präsentiert Oskar Schwarzer Quellen aus dem Bundesarchiv Berlin und Quellen der Stiftung der Parteien und Massenorganisationen der ehemaligen DDR im Bundesarchiv - Zentrales Parteiarchiv der SED, Berlin. Schwarzer beschäftigt sich zwar vordergründig nicht mit einer Rückrechnung des Bruttoinlandsprodukts der DDR für den Zeitraum 1950 bis 1989, aber mit einem wichtigen methodischen Problem in diesem Zusammenhang: der Umrechnung von Mark der DDR in DM. Er untersucht mögliche Varianten und Datenquellen für die Bildung eines einheitlichen Wechselkurssurrogats für die Umrechnung von Mark der DDR in DM. Diese Surrogate für einen einheitlichen Umrechnungskoeffizienten sollten an Stelle eines nicht existierenden Wechselkurses dazu dienen, dass zu DDR-Preisen ermittelte BIP von der Bewertung in Mark der DDR in DM umzurechnen und quasi den fehlenden Wechselkurs ersetzen. Schwarzer beschreibt mehrere zu nutzende Möglichkeiten für die Bildung von Surrogaten für einen nicht vorhandenen Wechselkurs: Terms of Trade - Index (Export-/Importpreise), Basis 1950; Rentenüberleitungs - Koeffizient (Kehrwert); Internes Umrechnungsverhältnis Valutamark zu DDR – Mark; Preisniveauvergleich Bundesrepublik/DDR (Basis 1936). Die Ursprungsquellen dieser Surrogate sind sehr unterschiedlich. Bei der Berechnung des Bruttoinlandsprodukt ging Schwarzer von Originalzahlen der SZS der DDR aus und rechnete diese zum BIP hoch. Die Umrechnung in der preislichen Bewertung von Mark der DDR in DM erfolgte dann mit Hilfe der genannten Wechselkurssurrogate. Themen Datentabellen im Recherche- und Downloadsystem HISTAT (Thema Volkswirtschaftliche Gesamtrechnung): Die Datentabellen sind nach folgenden Themen gegliedert: A. Supplement 1: Statistik des Gesellschaftlichen Gesamtprodukts und des Nationaleinkommens der DDR 1949 bis 1989 in vergleichbaren Preisen (Angaben jeweils in Mio. Mark der DDR);B. Supplement 1: Statistik des Gesellschaftlichen Gesamtprodukts und des Nationaleinkommens der DDR 1949 bis 1989 in jeweiligen Preisen (Angaben jeweils in Mio. Mark der DDR);C. Supplement 2: Zum Umrechnungsverhältnis der Mark der DDR zu konvertiblen Währungen;D. Supplement 3: Leitwährung, Statistischer Koeffizient, Währungsstruktur im Außenhandel;E. - G. Ausgewählte Tabellen aus dem Textteil: Produktivitätsvergleich, Bevölkerung, Arbeitskräftepotential, Subventionen und Verschuldung, Intervalutarischer Produktivitätsvergleich. The central theme of this publication is the localization of the East German economy into the inner German economy by means of the comparison of the two German economies.The investigator begins with a description of the socialist transformation in the Soviet Zone / GDR after 1945 and their implications. The conditions in the Soviet Union were the example for the system change in the Soviet zone, because the Soviet Union as a pioneering state in the Eastern bloc, pionted the way of future economic development, served as a model and as a shield, and had a significant influence on future economic developments. After the presentation of the socialist transformation, which began in 1945 and its effects, a brief comparative sketch of the competitiveness of the two German states in international comparison and an analysis of the human capital stock of the GDR follows.In another chapter Oskar Schwarzer carried out an efficiency analysis of the East German economy. He looks at the growth of the economy, investment, foreign trade, subsidies and debt of the GDR. One problem is the comparability of the GDR´s currency and prices to non-socialist countries.Schwarzer compiled extensive source material for his investigation. It includes detailed statistics of the overall social product and the national income of the GDR in the period of 1949 to 1989 in GDR mark. Moreover it contains the statistics on conversion ratio of the GDR-Mark to convertible currencies and on the leading currency as well as on the currency structure of the foreign trade. The researcher focuses on an important methodological problem in this context: the conversion of the GDR mark in DM. He looks at possible options and data sources for the computation of a standardized exchange rate surrogate for the conversion of the GDR mark in DM. These surrogates for a standardized conversion coefficient should supersede a non-existing exchange rate. They were used to convert the calculated GDP in GDR-Marks into DM and in this way to replace the missing exchange rate. Topics Timeseries in the search- and downloadsystem HISTAT (Topic: Volkswirtschaftliche Gesamtrechnung ( national income accounts) )HISTAT is offered only in German language ! The data tables are divided into the following subjects: A. Supplement 1: Statistik des Gesellschaftlichen Gesamtprodukts und des Nationaleinkommens der DDR 1949 bis 1989 in vergleichbaren Preisen (Angaben jeweils in Mio. Mark der DDR);B. Supplement 1: Statistik des Gesellschaftlichen Gesamtprodukts und des Nationaleinkommens der DDR 1949 bis 1989 in jeweiligen Preisen (Angaben jeweils in Mio. Mark der DDR);C. Supplement 2: Zum Umrechnungsverhältnis der Mark der DDR zu konvertiblen Währungen;D. Supplement 3: Leitwährung, Statistischer Koeffizient, Währungsstruktur im Außenhandel;E. - G. Ausgewählte Tabellen aus dem Textteil: Produktivitätsvergleich, Bevölkerung, Arbeitskräftepotential, Subventionen und Verschuldung, Intervalutarischer Produktivitätsvergleich.

In the second half of the 20th century, Western Europe consistently had the highest GDP of any region in Europe, doubling any of the other given regions in the selected years. These years are significant, as 1950 marked the end of the post-war recovery period in most European countries, 1973 was the year when the post-war economic boom came to an end, and 1998 was when the former-Soviet states began to recover from the economic impact of communism's end.

The region with the largest GDP per capita growth in these years was the peripheral Western countries, which did not experience the same boom observed in most of the west in the 1950s and 1960s, but their economic boom came in later decades due to the emerging tourism sectors in Europe's south, and the investment in high-tech goods in Ireland. In contrast, GDP per capita in the East Bloc more than doubled between 1950 and 1973 but changed little in the non-Soviet states by 1998 and dropped by more than one-third in Russia and the Soviet-successor states.

The United States became involved in the Korean War in 1950, as it led a UN military force which entered the war on the side of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) against the communist forces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), and later the People's Republic of China. The war was fought in the context of the Cold War, the period of heightened geopolitical tensions and rivalry between the world's two military and economic superpowers, the United States and Soviet Union. U.S. military expenditures and Korea During this period the two sides engaged in a number of proxy conflicts, rather than fighting a direct war (hence the 'cold' war), of which the Korean War was one of the most consequential. The war killed at least 1.5 million people and has led to the Korean peninsula being divided between the North and South to this day. In order to maintain large standing armies, fund innovations in military technologies, and to support allied regimes, both sides spend vast sums of money on military expenditures during the Cold War. Annual U.S. military expenditure more than doubled over the course of the Korean war, from less than 15 billion U.S. dollars to over 50 billion. This expansion of military expenditures would be repeated during the Vietnam War (1964-1975) and in periods of heightened competition in military technologies with Soviet Union (particularly the early 1980s).

The statistic shows GDP in India from 1987 to 2024, with projections up until 2030. In 2024, GDP in India was at around 3.91 trillion U.S. dollars, and it is expected to reach six trillion by the end of the decade. See figures on India's economic growth here, and the Russian GDP for comparison. Historical development of the Indian economy In the 1950s and 1960s, the decision of the newly independent Indian government to adopt a mixed economy, adopting both elements of both capitalist and socialist systems, resulted in huge inefficiencies borne out of the culture of interventionism that was a direct result of the lackluster implementation of policy and failings within the system itself. The desire to move towards a Soviet style mass planning system failed to gain much momentum in the Indian case due to a number of hindrances, an unskilled workforce being one of many.When the government of the early 90’s saw the creation of small-scale industry in large numbers due to the removal of price controls, the economy started to bounce back, but with the collapse of the Soviet Union - India’s main trading partner - the hampering effects of socialist policy on the economy were exposed and it underwent a large-scale liberalization. By the turn of the 21st century, India was rapidly progressing towards a free-market economy. India’s development has continued and it now belongs to the BRICS group of fast developing economic powers, and the incumbent Modi administration has seen India's GDP double during its first decade in power.

In 2022/23, the United Kingdom's defence spending as a share of Gross Domestic Product is estimated to be 2.2 percent. During this time period, the UK's defence spending was at its highest in 1955/56 when 7.6 percent of the UK's GDP was spent on the military. Defence spending has fallen considerably throughout this period, especially after 1984/85, and then at a much faster pace after the end of the Cold War in 1991. It is estimated that defence spending as a share of GDP fell to its lowest level between 2016/17 and 2018/19 when it was just 1.8 percent. Armed forces fall to record lows in 2024 Since the early 1950s, there has been a consistent reduction in the size of the UK's armed forces. The importance of Britain maintaining a large standing army declined following the collapse of the British Empire by the late 1970s, and the end of the Cold War around a decade later. At the start of the 1990s, there were approximately 300,000 personnel in the armed forces, with this falling to 200,000 by 2005. Following a further strategic review of the army's capabilities in 2010, additional cuts to personnel were implemented, with cuts of approximately 50,000 throughout the 2010s. As of 2024, there were 75,320 personnel in the Army, 30,800 in the Royal Air Force, and 32,000 in the Royal Navy and Marines, a total of 138,120 active personnel. The UK and NATO The UK is one of the twelve founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance formed in 1949. NATO's initial purpose was to defend Western Europe against the Soviet Union, with its role evolving to include peacekeeping and counter-terrorism after the end of the Cold War. As of 2025, the alliance includes 32 nations, with just two of these (Canada and the United States) outside of Europe. The United States is by far the largest military power in the alliance, dominating in terms of manpower, equipment, and military spending. Donald Trump's return to the White House in 2025, who has been skeptical of NATO, may prove difficult for the alliance should he distance the U.S. from Europe's security challenges.

In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, Germany was split into four zones, each administered by France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union respectively. In 1949, the Soviet-controlled zone formed the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), while the rest became the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). In this time, Berlin was also split into four zones, and the three non-Soviet zones formed West Berlin, which was a part of West Germany (although the West's administrative capital was moved to Bonn). One population grows, while the other declines Between 1949 and 1961, an estimated 2.7 million people migrated from East to West Germany. East Germany had a communist government with a socialist economy and was a satellite state of the Soviet Union, whereas West Germany was a liberal democracy with a capitalist economy, and western autonomy increased over time. Because of this difference, West Germany was a much freer society with more economic opportunities. During the German partition, the population of the west grew, from 51 million in 1950 to 62.7 million in 1989, whereas the population of East Germany declined from 18.4 million to just 16.4 million during this time. Little change after reunification In 1989, after four decades of separation, the process of German reunification began. The legal and physical barriers that had split the country were removed, and Germans could freely travel within the entire country. Despite this development, population growth patterns did not change. The population of the 'new states' (East Germany) continued to decline, whereas the population of the west grew, particularly in the 1990s, the first decade after reunification. The reasons for this continued imbalance between German population in the east and west, is mostly due to a low birth rate and internal migration within Germany. Despite the fact that levels of income and unemployment in the new states have gotten closer to those reported for the west (a major obstacle after reunification), life and opportunities in the west continue to attract young Germans from rural areas in the east with detrimental effect on the economy and demography of the new states.

In 1800, the region of Germany was not a single, unified nation, but a collection of decentralized, independent states, bound together as part of the Holy Roman Empire. This empire was dissolved, however, in 1806, during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras in Europe, and the German Confederation was established in 1815. Napoleonic reforms led to the abolition of serfdom, extension of voting rights to property-owners, and an overall increase in living standards. The population grew throughout the remainder of the century, as improvements in sanitation and medicine (namely, mandatory vaccination policies) saw child mortality rates fall in later decades. As Germany industrialized and the economy grew, so too did the argument for nationhood; calls for pan-Germanism (the unification of all German-speaking lands) grew more popular among the lower classes in the mid-1800s, especially following the revolutions of 1948-49. In contrast, industrialization and poor harvests also saw high unemployment in rural regions, which led to waves of mass migration, particularly to the U.S.. In 1886, the Austro-Prussian War united northern Germany under a new Confederation, while the remaining German states (excluding Austria and Switzerland) joined following the Franco-Prussian War in 1871; this established the German Empire, under the Prussian leadership of Emperor Wilhelm I and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. 1871 to 1945 - Unification to the Second World War The first decades of unification saw Germany rise to become one of Europe's strongest and most advanced nations, and challenge other world powers on an international scale, establishing colonies in Africa and the Pacific. These endeavors were cut short, however, when the Austro-Hungarian heir apparent was assassinated in Sarajevo; Germany promised a "blank check" of support for Austria's retaliation, who subsequently declared war on Serbia and set the First World War in motion. Viewed as the strongest of the Central Powers, Germany mobilized over 11 million men throughout the war, and its army fought in all theaters. As the war progressed, both the military and civilian populations grew increasingly weakened due to malnutrition, as Germany's resources became stretched. By the war's end in 1918, Germany suffered over 2 million civilian and military deaths due to conflict, and several hundred thousand more during the accompanying influenza pandemic. Mass displacement and the restructuring of Europe's borders through the Treaty of Versailles saw the population drop by several million more.

Reparations and economic mismanagement also financially crippled Germany and led to bitter indignation among many Germans in the interwar period; something that was exploited by Adolf Hitler on his rise to power. Reckless printing of money caused hyperinflation in 1923, when the currency became so worthless that basic items were priced at trillions of Marks; the introduction of the Rentenmark then stabilized the economy before the Great Depression of 1929 sent it back into dramatic decline. When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazi government disregarded the Treaty of Versailles' restrictions and Germany rose once more to become an emerging superpower. Hitler's desire for territorial expansion into eastern Europe and the creation of an ethnically-homogenous German empire then led to the invasion of Poland in 1939, which is considered the beginning of the Second World War in Europe. Again, almost every aspect of German life contributed to the war effort, and more than 13 million men were mobilized. After six years of war, and over seven million German deaths, the Axis powers were defeated and Germany was divided into four zones administered by France, the Soviet Union, the UK, and the U.S.. Mass displacement, shifting borders, and the relocation of peoples based on ethnicity also greatly affected the population during this time. 1945 to 2020 - Partition and Reunification In the late 1940s, cold war tensions led to two distinct states emerging in Germany; the Soviet-controlled east became the communist German Democratic Republic (DDR), and the three western zones merged to form the democratic Federal Republic of Germany. Additionally, Berlin was split in a similar fashion, although its location deep inside DDR territory created series of problems and opportunities for the those on either side. Life quickly changed depending on which side of the border one lived. Within a decade, rapid economic recovery saw West Germany become western Europe's strongest economy and a key international player. In the east, living standards were much lower, although unemployment was almost non-existent; internationally, East Germany was the strongest economy in the Eastern Bloc (after the USSR), though it eventually fell behind the West by the 1970s. The restriction of movement between the two states also led to labor shortages in t...

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the US Government, founded in 1958, taking over from the dissolved National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It oversees the US space program, as well as research into aeronautics and aerospace, while the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) oversees military matters regarding space. NASA was founded at the beginning of what has become known as the 'space race,' a period of Cold War history where the Soviet Union and the US competed for dominance and superiority of space technology. In 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite (Sputnik) into the earth's orbit, marking the first significant development in the space race. While the relationship between the US and Russia is much friendlier today, with both countries cooperating on space endeavors such as the International Space Station (ISS), it is important to remember that tensions between both nations were very high during this time, and the launch of the satellite displayed the potential ability to launch nuclear warheads from space.

America responds The US responded in 1958 with the launch of Explorer I, and this was also the year that NASA was founded. From the graph we can see that US investment in NASA in its infancy grew exponentially, jumping from 330 million US dollars in 1959 to 5.25 billion in 1965, which translates to approximately $34 billion in 2020 dollars, which is more than NASA has ever been allocated by the US government since its founding. During this time NASA also worked with the CIA and US Air Force to monitor Soviet military activity. The reason that the United States began investing more money during the early 60s was because of advancements made by the Soviets in this time, such as the launch of Luna 2, and Yuri Gagarin's first manned orbit of the earth. Three weeks after Yuri Gagarin's orbit, Alan Shepard became the first American man to go into space, and in February 1962 John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth.

The Apollo Program In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy made the claim that the US would put a man on the moon before the end of the decade, and the Apollo project was born. The Apollo Program, which lasted between 1961 and 1972, cost almost 30 billion US dollars at the time. Kennedy's dream of landing man on the moon was achieved on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to stand on the moon, and NASA sent a further five manned missions to the moon, culminating with Apollo 17 in December 1972.

...and beyond By landing on the moon first, and with four failed attempts by the Soviets to land on the moon, the US claimed to have 'won' the space race. After this point government investment in NASA decreased to just 3 billion US dollars in 1974. From 1972 onwards NASA's main focuses have included the Space Shuttle Program, the ISS, and space exploration, among many others. While investment has gradually grown until today, the government has never invested money in space exploration in the same way it did during the space race. In 2019, fifty years after Apollo 11 landed on the moon, NASA's budget is 21.5 billion US dollars.

Wirtschaftlicher Wettlauf der Weltmächte: Zwischen 1950 und 1990 wuchs das Bruttoinlandsprodukt (BIP) der USA von mehr als **** Billionen auf rund *** Billionen Internationale Dollar an. Im selben Zeitraum stieg das sowjetische BIP von rund ****** Milliarden auf rund **** Billionen Internationale Dollar an. Während sich das BIP beider Staaten demnach in dem Zeitraum rund vervierfachten, war die Wirtschaftskraft der USA der UdSSR zu jedem Zeitpunkt weit überlegen.Der Internationale Dollar (auch Geary–Khamis Dollar) ist eine von der Weltbank berechnete Vergleichswährung, die auf dem US-Dollar basiert. Wie entwickelte sich das BIP pro Kopf? In beiden Staaten wuchs im Zeitraum von 1950 bis 1990 die Bevölkerungszahl erheblich. Dadurch zeigt sich, dass auch das BIP pro Kopf in den USA weit über dem BIP pro Kopf der Sowjetunion lag: Zwischen 1950 und 1990 wuchs das BIP pro Kopf in den Vereinigten Staaten von rund ***** auf ****** Internationale Dollar an, während im selben Zeitraum das sowjetische BIP pro Kopf von rund ***** auf ***** Internationale Dollar anstieg. Der Kalte Krieg Die Zeit von 1950 bis 1990 kennzeichnet für beide Mächte das Zeitalter des Kalten Krieges, das von einer Konkurrenz der politischen Systeme (und Ideologien), Wirtschaftsmodellen und Vormachtstellungen in der Welt geprägt war. Durch eine massive Aufrüstung, insbesondere der Nukleararsenale, konnte eine direkte Konfrontation vermieden werden, es kam jedoch zu zahlreichen Stellvertreterkriegen in der Dritten Welt. Der Kalte Krieg endete mit der Auflösung der Sowjetunion im Jahr 1991. Weitere Informationen zu historischen Themen finden Sie hier.