The Basic Law, or Grundgesetz, is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was drafted in 1948 and 1949 by the Parliamentary Council in Bonn and approved by the Western Allies and the state parliaments in the three western zones of occupation. It was intended to be provisional until Germany was reunited, and for this reason it was called a Basic Law rather than a constitution. It begins with a guarantee of human dignity and basic rights, and it set up a federal system with a strong constitutional court, as a response to the failures of the Weimar Republic. After reunification in 1990, it was kept as the constitution of the whole country.
Before and after
- 5 May 1949Founding of Council of Europe
- 5 May 1949Founding of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
- 16 May 1949Founding of Tokyo Stock Exchange
- 19 May 1949Birth of Ashraf Ghani
- 23 May 1949Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
- from 23 May 1949 to 3 October 1990West Germany
- 18 June 1949Birth of Lech Kaczyński
- 18 August 1949Founding of French Civil Aviation University
- 23 September 1949Birth of Bruce Springsteen
More in Wars, politics & history
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- 10 December 1948Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- from 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953Korean War
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- from 16 May 1966 to 6 October 1976Cultural Revolution
- 24 February 2022Full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.
