The European Union’s leading economic power, Germany is peaceful without being pacific, it is attached to the protection of the environment and is economically open. It was a founder member of the European Union; its institutional culture and its federal reality facilitate its ease with the mechanisms and practices of the Union. It has also developed a strong bilateral relationship with France. Its history defines its visions and perceptions, since it was only unified in 1870 under the impetus of Otto von Bismarck. Germany was forced to pay heavy reparations to its neighbours after the First World War. In 1933 Hitler came to power and triggered the Second World War in 1939. Following this Germany was invaded by the Allies and separated into two entities, one of which adopted a communist regime. The Berlin Wall fell on 9th November 1989 and Germany reunified on 3rd October 1990.