The
Foreign Office (, abbr.
AA) is the
foreign ministry of
Germany, a
federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign politics and its relationship with the
European Union. From 1871 to 1919, it was led by a Foreign Secretary, and since 1919, it has been led by the
Foreign Minister of Germany. Since 2009,
Guido Westerwelle has served as Foreign Minister and
Vice Chancellor, and
Werner Hoyer and
Cornelia Pieper as Ministers of State.The primary seat of the ministry is at the
Werderscher Markt square in the
Mitte district, the historic centre of
Berlin.
History
The
Auswärtiges Amt was established in 1870 to form the
foreign policy of the
North German Confederation, and from 1871 of the
German Empire. The Foreign Office was originally led by a
secretary of state (therefore not called a ministry), while the
Chancellor remained in charge of foreign affairs.In the first years of the German nation-state under
Otto von Bismarck, the Foreign Office on
Wilhelmstrasse No. 76 next to the
Reich Chancellery had two departments, a political and an economic, legal and consular. After Bismarck's dismissal in 1890 another department for colonial policy was established, spun off as the separate
Reichskolonialamt in 1907. In the forefront of
World War I the
Auswärtiges Amt had to deal with the own foreign policy of Emperor
Wilhelm II.
In 1919, the Foreign Office was reorganized and a modern structure was established. It was now under the authority of a
foreign minister, though...
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