, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification
on 3 October 1990.
This period, during which Germany and Berlin
were divided, ended when communist East Germany was dissolved and its five states joined the ten states of the Federal Republic of Germany along with the reunified city-state of Berlin
.
1948 Start of the Berlin Blockade: the Soviet Union makes overland travel between West Germany and West Berlin impossible.
1949 The western occupying powers approve the Basic Law for the new German state: the Federal Republic of Germany.
1949 The Federal Republic of Germany is established and the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is proclaimed.
1951 Ilse Koch, "The Bitch of Buchenwald", wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in West Germany.
1954 Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany.
1955 West Germany gains full sovereignty.
1955 Cold War: West Germany joins NATO.
1957 The European Economic Community is established (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg).
1962 A storm kills more than 300 people in Hamburg, West Germany.
1965 West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations.