The bilateral relations between Germany and the United Kingdom span hundreds of years, and the countries were allied for hundreds of years in the Late Middle Ages and have been aligned since the end of World War II. During Classical antiquity and the Migration Period , the progenitors of the populations of the United Kingdom and Germany consisted of the same Ingvaeonic and Elbe Germanic peoples.
Before the Unification of Germany in , Britain was often allied in wartime with German nations, including Prussia. The royal families often intermarried. Queen Victoria , known as the grandmother of Europe , married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , and further diplomatic marriages would result in their grandchildren occupying both the British and German thrones.
Historians have long focused on the diplomatic and naval rivalries between Germany and Britain after to search for the root causes of the growing antagonism that led to World War I. In recent years, historians have paid greater attention to the mutual cultural, ideological and technological influences. Germany was defeated by the United Kingdom and its allies in both wars. Following the defeat of Nazi Germany, Germany was occupied by the allied forces , including the United Kingdom, from to , after which it was divided into West Germany and East Germany.
West Germany was a founding member of the European Communities , later to become the European Union , which the United Kingdom joined in West Germany and the United Kingdom were among the most powerful countries in the organisation, both having significant influence on its development. Germany broadly favoured European integration , whereas the United Kingdom generally opposed it. East and West Germany reunified in following the fall of the Berlin Wall in , which marked the end of the Cold War, hence an improvement of the relationship between East Germany and the United Kingdom, with which she had developed along with West Germany.
Through membership of the European Union, trade and cooperation with the United Kingdom significantly increased in many areas, particularly in research and development which has created enduring links between the science and university communities of Germany and the United Kingdom.
