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How has the United States' relationship with Germany changed over time?

Before 1900, Germany's relations with the United States were marked by large-scale German migration to the U.S., including during the colonial period and continuing into the 1800s. Many Americans trace their ancestry at least partly back to Germany, and, even today, Germans are the largest ancestry group in the U.S. (as reported to the Census Bureau). In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Americans regarded Germany as a model of scientific and medical education, and many Americans went to Germany for medical and scientific training. In addition, German culture, including its language, music, and poetry, was highly regarded in the U.S.


After Germany unified in 1871, it began to develop a strong navy and military force that was used to expand its empire. The U.S., while still generally friendly towards Germany, watched its growing expansion towards the Caribbean and elsewhere with some degree of concern.


World War I marked a change in German-American relations, as the U.S., after a period of neutrality, entered the war on the side of England against Germany after unrestricted German submarine warfare and other events. Propaganda began to target German atrocities and to convince Americans of the need to intervene in Europe to stop them. In the aftermath of the war, Germany was punished with reparations and relied on loans from American bankers to pay their reparations to England and France.


World War II marked the nadir of German-American relations, as the Americans fought against the Nazis, and German culture went from a position of being esteemed to a position of being seen as brutal and genocidal. After the war, American relations with West Germany became friendly, particularly in the aftermath of events such as the construction of the Berlin Wall. The U.S. devoted itself to rebuilding West Germany along American lines in an attempt to avoid what had happened to Germany after World War I. Today, Germany, with its western and eastern halves united, is one of American's most important allies. 

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