Germany and its economy Known as the "fair" capital, Germany is located at the center of Europe and at the center of the European internal market. Around two thirds of major international trade fairs take place in Germany. Germany is successful. A leader in world trade, Germany is the third largest economy in the world and the largest market in Europe. But it wasn't always like this; European power struggles wounded the country in two devastating world wars in the first half of the 20th century and left the country dominated by the victorious Allied powers of the United States, United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union in 1945. Germany went through all the phases of the economic cycle many times. It also suffered a huge depression after World War I in the early 20th century. The Treaty of Versailles dug a deep hole in the German economy because the Allies had become a little greedy with their revenge. Payments made by Germany to the Allies represented a drain on capital that would otherwise have been directed to the growth of German industry. To pay off World War I debts, Germany engaged in massive "hyperinflation" of its currency, printing paper marks until, in 1923, they became worthless. The destruction of the currency wiped out people's savings, which meant that there would be very little capital available in the German economy for years to come. With Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, the German economy became increasingly socialized and militarized, moving from recovery to prosperity, which scared off foreign investors and made a healthy economic recovery nonexistent. Germany is described as a "social" market economy and remains a key member of Europe. Economic, political... middle of the paper... Germany is doing well, apart from a few shortcomings. Since they are the third largest economy in the world, they rank first together with the United States and France. Germany has some labor and energy shortages, but overall manages to record exports and GDP growth. Germany is an economy not very different from ours. In addition to being defined as market economies, Germany and the United States also share the same periods of business cycle changes. Both lived through the Great Depression in the 1920s and 1930s and are even seeing a recession now. I agree that an economy is just like a business. An economy goes through the same downs and ups, just like a business, an economy experiences depressions, recessions, recoveries and prosperity, and the goal of an economy is to have a surplus of money while providing its citizens the necessary goods and services..