Germany | Austria | Switzerland
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland), is a country in West–central Europe. It is bordered on the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; on the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; on the south by Austria and Switzerland; and on the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
Germany is a parliamentary federal republic of 16 states (Bundesländer). The capital city and seat of government is Berlin. As a nation–state, the country was unified amidst the Franco–Prussian War in 1871.
After World War II Germany was divided, and it became reunified in 1990. It is a founding member of the European Union, and with over 82 million people it has the largest population among the EU member states.
The Federal Republic of Germany is a modern great power, a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G4 nations and ranks fourth worldwide in defense spending.
Germany is the world’s third largest economy by nominal GDP, the world’s largest exporter of goods, and the world’s second largest importer of goods. In 2007 it holds the rotating presidencies of both the European Council and the G8 summits.
Austria (German: Österreich [Österreich]), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. Its capital city is Vienna.
The origins of modern Austria date back to the ninth century, when the countryside of upper and lower Austria became increasingly populated. The name “Ostarrichi” is first documented in an official document from 996. Since then this word has developed into the German word Österreich.
Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy consisting of nine federal states and is one of six European countries that have declared permanent neutrality and one of the few countries that includes the concept of everlasting neutrality in their constitution. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955 and joined the European Union in 1995.
Switzerland, (German: Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera, Romansh Svizra), officially Swiss Confederation (“Confœderatio Helvetica” in Latin and when abbreviated: CH), is a landlocked nation of 7.5 million people in Western Europe. Switzerland is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland is multilingual — it has three official languages: German, French and Italian, while a fourth national language, Romansh, is official only for communicating with persons of Romansh language. Switzerland is divided into 26 cantons, six of which are sometimes referred to as “half–cantons,” since they have less representation in the Council of States. Switzerland has had a long history of being neutral (it has not been in a foreign war since 1815) and therefore hosts various international organizations, such as the United Nations, which, though headquartered in New York City, has many departments in Switzerland.
The titles commonly used to name Switzerland in French (Confédération suisse), Italian (Confederazione Svizzera) and Romansh (Confederaziun svizra) translate as “Swiss Confederation”, while the German name of Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft translates literally as “Swiss Oath Fellowship” or “Swiss Commonwealth of the Covenant.” It dates its independence to 1291; historically it was a confederation, and it has been a federation since 1848.
Information compiled from Wikipedia and The World Factbook