# data[].attributes.body
After WWII Germany couldn't be trusted so it was divided into east and western Germany. Western had almost no rights so they kept trying to go to eastern Germany. When the government banned the people from moving they built the berlin wall. People start to protest and on November 11th 1989 they bring down the berlin wall, and Germany is one again.

# data[].attributes.body
Germany was divided into 4 zones, the British, French, Americans, and the Soviets all controlling a zone. In 1949 the French, Britain's, and Americans combined their land into east Germany. Many German represenitives had a sliver of hope the Germany would become one again. Many years later their wishes would come true when in 1989 Germany is reunited.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Federal Republic of Germany (popularly known as West Germany) is formally established as a separate and independent nation. This action marked the effective end to any discussion of reuniting East and West Germany.

In the period after World War II, Germany was divided into four occupation zones, with the British, French, Americans, and Soviets each controlling one zone. The city of Berlin was also divided in a like fashion. This arrangement was supposed to be temporary, but as Cold War animosities began to harden, it became increasingly evident that the division between the communist and non-communist controlled sections of Germany and Berlin would become permanent. In May 1946, the United States halted reparation payments from West Germany to the Soviet Union. In December, the United States and Great Britain combined their occupation zones into what came to be known as Bizonia. France agreed to become part of this arrangement, and in May 1949, the three zones became one.

On May 23, the West German Parliamentary Council met and formally declared the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany. Although Konrad Adenauer, the president of the council and future president of West Germany, proudly proclaimed, "Today a new Germany arises," the occasion was not a festive one. Many of the German representatives at the meeting were subdued, for they had harbored the faint hope that Germany might be reunified. Two communist members of the council refused to sign the proclamation establishing the new state.

The Soviets reacted quickly to the action in West Germany. In October 1949, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was officially announced. These actions in 1949 marked the end of any talk of a reunified Germany. For the next 41 years, East and West Germany served as symbols of the divided world, and of the Cold War animosities between the Soviet Union and the United States. In 1990, with Soviet strength ebbing and the Communist Party in East Germany steadily losing its grip on power, East and West Germany were finally reunited as one nation.
READ MORE: How Germany Was Divided After World War II

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Federal Republic of Germany is established

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Federal Republic of Germany (popularly known as West Germany) is formally established as a separate and independent nation. This action marked the effective

# data[].attributes.body
Costa Rica didn't have to fight for independence. Costa Rica obtained their independence when Mexico beat Spain. After they got independence they fought in a war to decide if they were going to be part of Mexico or their own country. In 1948 Jose Figueres abolished the army and it has remained that way ever since.

# data[].attributes.body
Mexico declared it's independence from Spain and Costa Rica was a part of the short Mexican empire. Leaders then started to realize the potential for coffee. Other central American countries tried to involve Costa Rica in disputes. In the late 19th century bananas started to rival coffee.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When Mexico declared its independence from Spain in 1821, Costa Rica, with other parts of Central America, joined the short-lived Mexican Empire. In 1823 Costa Rica helped create the United Provinces of Central America but, disenchanted with the strife in the other four states of the federation, severed its ties in 1838. A pattern of isolationism similar to that of the colonial period was reinforced. Indeed, Costa Ricans invariably showed little interest in the many attempts to revive the federation throughout the 19th and most of the 20th century, until their country joined the Central American Common Market in 1962.

Costa Rican leaders soon realized the potential for coffee cultivation and strove to promote coffee planting. From the 1840s a constant stream of oxcarts carried coffee from the Valle Central to Pacific ports and ships bound for Europe. This trade triggered British investment. Unlike sugar and indigo planters, coffee farmers with even small acreage could derive an adequate if simple existence, and Costa Ricans achieved a competitive advantage over coffee farmers in other Latin American countries.

Costa Rica's policy of isolationism did not completely save it from foreign troubles. In 1825 the province of Guanacaste seceded from Nicaragua and joined Costa Rica, creating an issue that was contended until the boundary treaty of 1896. Political refugees from other Central American countries attempted, and occasionally succeeded, in involving Costa Rica in regional conflicts. Another danger developed when William Walker and his band of filibusters took over Nicaragua in 1856, threatening all of Central America. Costa Rican troops participated in the Central American coalition force that drove Walker out of the region.

Material progress came to Costa Rica during the era of Gen. Tomás Guardia, who dominated the country from 1870 until 1882. His government curtailed liberty and added to the debt, but it also brought increases in coffee and sugar exports as well as widespread construction of schools. A new constitution, adopted in 1871, remained in effect, except for a brief interlude (1917-19), until 1949. The emphasis on agricultural exports strained transportation, and, with mainly British funds, Costa Rica sought to link the Valle Central with the seaports by railway. The chief promoter was an American, Minor C. Keith, who made a fortune with the opening of his rail line between Cartago and Limón. With vast land grants, Keith then entered the banana business. By the late 19th century, bananas were beginning to rival coffee as the chief source of Costa Rican foreign exchange, especially after Keith's investments were merged with others to form the United Fruit Company in 1899.

The last decades of the 19th century were also marked by a gradual decline in Roman Catholic Church activity in secular affairs. The Jesuits were expelled for a few years, cemeteries were secularized, and public education was expanded. In 1886 free public education became compulsory; public schools, a museum, and a national library were founded. Though the government continued to support the church, the constitution of 1871 provided for religious toleration. Strengthening the tradition of democracy for which Costa Rica was to become famed throughout Latin America was the victory in 1889 of Pres. José Joaquín Rodríguez in what is considered the first entirely free and honest election in all of Central America.

Costa Rica in the 20th century

In the early 20th century Costa Rica and four other Central American republics established the Central American Court of Justice, the first international court with wide juridical powers. The headquarters were established in Cartago, but, when the building was destroyed in the 1910 earthquake, the headquarters were moved to San José. One of the court's landmark cases involved the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty of 1916, which gave the United States permission to use the San Juan River (the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica) as part of an interoceanic canal route. Costa Rica protested that Nicaragua was violating preexisting treaty rights and that opening a route would threaten Costa Rican security. The claim was brought before the court, which ruled in Costa's Rica's favour; however, Nicaragua refused to accept the ruling and withdrew from the court. Because of Nicaragua's withdrawal and an overall ineffective judicial procedure, the court dissolved in 1918 after 10 years in existence. However, the building in San José, which had been constructed with help from a donation by U.S. philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, became the home of Costa Rica's Ministry of Foreign Relations.

Costa Rica's boundary with Panama (originally with Colombia, before Panamanian independence) was also in dispute. Arbitration awards by France and the United States in 1900 and 1914, respectively, had been generally favourable to Costa Rica but were rejected by Panama. In 1921 Costa Rica attempted forcible occupation of this area (on the Pacific coast) but was diverted by the intervention of the United States. Panama then evacuated the region, but relations between the two small states were not reestablished until 1928. In 1941 the governments finally reached an accord over the boundary.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Costa Rica - Costa Rica - Independence: When Mexico declared its independence from Spain in 1821, Costa Rica, with other parts of Central America, joined the short-lived Mexican Empire. In 1823 Costa Rica helped create the United Provinces of Central America but, disenchanted with the strife in the other four states of the federation, severed its ties in 1838.

# data[].attributes.body
Simon Bolivar said that all new nation states should keep the same border. Peru ended up holding out against Bolivar. De la riva aguero established a republic. Bolivar became a dictator of peru in 1824.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Gran Colombia-Peru War | 3 Minute History

# data[].attributes.body
Peru gained independence on July 28th 1821. Peru did not have the power to attack the strong Spanish forces. san martin had the idea to get help from Simon bolivar.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Napoleonic invasion of Spain in 1808 sparked the Creoles (those of European descent born in America) in other Spanish colonies to struggle for independence between 1810 and 1821. But Peru remained loyal because of the conservative attitude of the Peruvian aristocracy, the presence of many Spaniards in Peru, the concentration of Spanish military power in Lima, and the effective suppression of uprisings by Indigenous people. Peru's independence was, consequently, achieved primarily by outsiders.

Among them was Gen. José de San Martín of Argentina, whose aims were to secure Argentine control of Upper Peru's silver from the Spanish forces that had occupied Upper Peru and to ensure Argentina's independence by destroying the remaining Spanish power in South America. Because Argentine forces had previously been defeated in Upper Peru, San Martín determined to surround the Spaniards by liberating Chile and using it as a base for a seaborne attack on Peru. Chile was freed in 1818 and a fleet was readied, which enabled San Martín to occupy the Peruvian port of Pisco in September 1820. When the viceroy withdrew his forces into the interior, San Martín entered Lima. Peruvian independence was declared on July 28, 1821.

Lacking power to attack the strong Spanish forces in the interior, San Martín sought aid from Simón Bolívar, who had liberated northern South America, but Bolívar declined, refusing to share leadership. San Martín then withdrew, and Bolívar assumed power in Peru to carry on the struggle for liberation. At the battles of Junín (August 6, 1824) and Ayacucho (December 9, 1824), Spanish power was broken and Peru's independence ensured.
Robert N. Burr Thomas M. Davies

Peru from 1824 to 1884

The end of Spanish rule did not, however, provide a solution to the many political, social, and economic problems facing the country. The transition from a colonial dependency to a modern state proved difficult.

Struggle for power

At the outset of Peru's national existence, military leaders ( caudillos) who had gained prominence in the struggle for independence sought to seize power. The departure of Bolívar in 1826 removed a stabilizing influence. The aims of the caudillos were furthered by the absence of a tradition of self-government, by the prevalence of a feudal society of Creoles and Indigenous people, and by the reluctance of civilians to assume political responsibility. Despite military influences, a liberal constitution was adopted in 1828. This did not prevent Gen. Agustín Gamarra from taking government power by illegal means. He was succeeded in 1835 by another self-seeking caudillo, Gen. Felipe Salaverry.

The ambitions of Gamarra and Salaverry were thwarted by Andrés de Santa Cruz, a military commander of Spanish-Indigenous descent who proposed a confederation of Peru and Bolivia. For three years Santa Cruz, though born in La Paz, was backed by influential groups in Peru and maintained the political union. But his hopes were shattered at the Battle of Yungay in 1839 by a joint force of nationalist-minded Peruvians and of Chileans fearing a threat to the balance of power in the Pacific.

Establishment of order

During the initial period of statehood in Peru, liberal and conservative parties with ill-defined programs emerged. Their rivalry exacerbated the political instability of the country.

Gen. Ramón Castilla assumed the presidency in 1845. Castilla dominated the political scene from 1845 to 1851 and from 1855 to 1862, in spite of his mestizo background. His greatest accomplishment for the promotion of national wealth was the exploitation of the guano deposits along the coast and offshore islands. Taxes on this industry, which was controlled by foreign corporations, furnished the principal source of government revenue for several decades. Castilla appealed to liberals by abolishing the payment of tribute by Indigenous persons and by emancipating enslaved Black persons. Landowners on the coastal plantations, however, were permitted to import thousands of Chinese workers in order to have a sufficient labour supply. As an additional concession to the liberals, Castilla established a system of state education at the primary and secondary levels. Through his influence, an assembly in 1860 adopted a constitution that lasted into the 1900s.

In the second half of the 19th century, Peru's history was characterized by many setbacks. In 1864 Spain dispatched a naval force to the Pacific, ostensibly to protect the rights of Basque immigrants but in reality to attempt to reestablish domination over its former colony. In 1869, after meeting with the determined opposition of Peru and Chile, Spain withdrew and recognized Peru's independence for the first time, but the conflict was a heavy drain on Peru's treasury.

Dissatisfaction with military rule resulted in 1871 in the formation of the Civilian Party, representing an oligarchy of landowners and merchants ( see Civilista). This party, headed by Manuel Pardo (president, 1872-76), approved a costly program of internal development, which included the construction of railroads across the Andes. Corruption on the part of government officials and contractors characterized the work, which decreased the isolation of the Peruvian interior but increased enormously the national debt.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Peru - Independence, Revolution, Viceroyalty

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Peru - Independence, Revolution, Viceroyalty: The Napoleonic invasion of Spain in 1808 sparked the Creoles (those of European descent born in America) in other Spanish colonies to struggle for independence between 1810 and 1821.