Countries

Germany

Europe's largest economy and the world's third-largest, built in large part on precision manufacturing and machinery exports. Neuschwanstein Castle, built by Bavaria's reclusive King Ludwig II in the 1870s-80s, is the direct inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Neuschwanstein Castle perched on a hill in the Bavarian Alps, Germany

Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria

Photo: Thomas Wolf, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE

Black, red and gold: colors carried by volunteer militia against Napoleon in the 1810s, later adopted by liberal and unification movements. Formally the flag of the modern Federal Republic since 1949.

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