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German Empire

Coordinates: 52°31′7″N 13°22′34″E / 52.51861°N 13.37611°E / 52.51861; 13.37611
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German Empire
Deutsches Reich  (German)
1871–1918
Coat of arms (1889–1918)[1] of German Reich
Coat of arms
(1889–1918)[1]
Motto: Gott mit uns (German)[2]
Nobiscum Deus (Latin)
("God with us")
Anthem: Heil dir im Siegerkranz[3]
("Hail to Thee in the Victor's Crown")
Die Wacht am Rhein (unofficial)[4][5][6]
("The Watch on the Rhine")
The German colonial empire in 1914
Capital
and largest city
Berlin
52°31′7″N 13°22′34″E / 52.51861°N 13.37611°E / 52.51861; 13.37611
Official languagesGerman
Common languages
List
Religion
(1880)
Majority:
62.63% Protestant
(United Protestant, Lutheran, Reformed)
Minorities:
35.89% Roman Catholic
1.24% Jewish
0.17% other Christian
0.07% other
Demonym(s)German
GovernmentFederal parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy[7][8][9][10]
Emperor 
• 1871–1888
Wilhelm I
• 1888
Friedrich III
• 1888–1918
Wilhelm II
Chancellor 
• 1871–1890
Otto von Bismarck
• 1890–1894
Leo von Caprivi
• 1894–1900
C. zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst
• 1900–1909
Bernhard von Bülow
• 1909–1917
T. von Bethmann Hollweg
• 1917
Georg Michaelis
• 1917–1918
Georg von Hertling
• 1918
Max von Baden
LegislatureBicameral
• Upper house
Bundesrat
• Lower house
Reichstag
Historical eraNew Imperialism • World War I
18 January 1871
16 April 1871
15 November 1884
• WWI began
28 July 1914
3 November 1918
9 November 1918
• Armistice
11 November 1918
11 August 1919
Area
• Total
1,750,000 km2 (680,000 sq mi)
1910[13]540,857.54 km2 (208,826.26 sq mi)
Population
• Estimate
70,000,000
• 1871[14]
41,058,792
• 1900[14]
56,367,178
• 1910[14]
64,925,993
Currency
Until 1873:
Vereinsthaler, South German gulden, Bremen thaler, Hamburg mark, French franc
German gold mark
(1873–1914)
German Papiermark
(1914–1918)
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
North German Confederation
Bavaria
Württemberg
Baden
Hesse
Weimar Republic
Memel Territory
Territory of the Saar Basin
Danzig
Area and population not including colonial possessions

The German Empire (German: Deutsches Reich),[a][15][16][17][18] also referred to as Imperial Germany,[19] the Second Reich[b][20] or simply Germany, was a country in Europe during the period of the German Reich from 1871 to its dissolution in November 1918. When the German Empire collapsed, it became the Weimar Republic, a republic.[21][22]

List of German states

[change | change source]
State Capital
Kingdoms (Königreiche)
Prussia (Preußen) Berlin
Bavaria (Bayern) Munich
Saxony (Sachsen) Dresden
Württemberg Stuttgart
Grand duchies (Großherzogtümer)
Baden Karlsruhe
Hesse (Hessen) Darmstadt
Mecklenburg-Schwerin Schwerin
Mecklenburg-Strelitz Neustrelitz
Oldenburg Oldenburg
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach) Weimar
Duchies (Herzogtümer)
Anhalt Dessau
Brunswick (Braunschweig) Braunschweig
Saxe-Altenburg (Sachsen-Altenburg) Altenburg
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha) Coburg
Saxe-Meiningen (Sachsen-Meiningen) Meiningen
Principalities (Fürstentümer)
Lippe Detmold
Reuss, junior line Gera
Reuss, senior line Greiz
Schaumburg-Lippe Bückeburg
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Rudolstadt
Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Sondershausen
Waldeck-Pyrmont Arolsen
Free Hanseatic cities (Freie Hansestädte)
Bremen
Hamburg
Lübeck
Imperial territory (Reichsland)
Alsace-Lorraine (Elsaß-Lothringen) Straßburg


[change | change source]

Notes

[change | change source]
  1. ↑ Pronounced de; today often referred to as Deutsches Kaiserreich.
  2. ↑ German: Zweites Reich

References

[change | change source]
  1. ↑ Seyler, Gustav A.:Die Wappen der deutschen Landesfürsten. Reprograf. Nachdr. von Siebmacher's Wappenbuch 1. Bd., 1. Abt. 2. – 5. Teil (Nürnberg 1909 – 1929)
  2. ↑ Preble, George Henry, History of the Flag of the United States of America: With a Chronicle of the Symbols, Standards, Banners, and Flags of Ancient and Modern Nations, 2nd ed, p. 102; A. Williams and co, 1880
  3. ↑ Fischer, Michael; Senkel, Christian (2010). Klaus Tanner (ed.). Reichsgründung 1871: Ereignis, Beschreibung, Inszenierung. Münster: Bachmann Verlag.
  4. ↑ Hansen, Hans Jürgen (1978). Heil Dir im Siegerkranz: die Hymnen der Deutschen. Oldenburg, Hamburg: Stalling. ISBN 3-7979-1950-6.
  5. ↑ von ADELHEID, K. L. A. I. B. E. R. ""Max Schneckenburger (1819–1849)–der Dichter der "Wacht am Rhein "". SCHRIFTEN DER BAAR. p. 165. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  6. ↑ Ochsmann, Almut. "100 Jahre deutsche Nationalhymne: Überlegungen zu Eine vaterländische Ouvertüre op. 140." Mitteilungen der Internationalen Max-Reger-Gesellschaft 3.42 (2022): 18–23.
  7. ↑ "German Empire". Britannica. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  8. ↑ Nipperdey, Thomas, "Deutsche Geschichte 1866–1918: Zweiter Band: Machtstaat vor der Demokratie" (1995), p. 98–108.
  9. ↑ Röhl, John C. G. "Kaiser Wilhelm II: A Concise Life" (2014), p. 172–173.
  10. ↑ Haardt, Oliver F. R. (2016). "The Kaiser in the Federal State, 1871–1918". German History. 34 (4): 529–554. doi:10.1093/gerhis/ghw117. ISSN 0266-3554.
  11. ↑ Wheeler-Bennett, John (1967). The Nemesis of Power The German Army in Politics 1918–1945. London: Macmillan. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-1-4039-1812-3.
  12. ↑ Statement of Abdication of Wilhelm II
  13. ↑ "German Empire: administrative subdivision and municipalities, 1900 to 1910" (in German). Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2007.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "Population statistics of the German Empire, 1871" (in German). Archived from the original on 5 April 2007. Retrieved 25 April 2007.
  15. ↑ "German constitution of 1871" (in German). German Wikisource. 16 March 2011. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  16. ↑ "Cornell University Library Making of America Collection". collections.library.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  17. ↑ World Book, Inc. The World Book dictionary, Volume 1. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany.
  18. ↑ Joseph Whitaker. Whitaker's almanack, 1991. J Whitaker & Sons, 1990. Pp. 765. Refers to the term Deutsches Reich being translated into English as "German Realm", up to and including the Weimar period.
  19. ↑ See, for example, Roger Chickering, Imperial Germany and the Great War, 1914–1918. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014; Cornelius Torp and Sven Oliver Müller, eds., Imperial Germany Revisited: Continuing Debates & New Perspectives. Oxford: Berghahn, 2011; James Retallack, ed., Imperial Germany 1871–1918. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008; Isabel V. Hull, Absolute Destruction: Military Culture and the Practices of War in Imperial Germany. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005.
  20. ↑ "German Empire". Britannica. Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  21. ↑ Toyka-Seid, Gerd Schneider, Christiane. "Reichsgründung/ Deutsches Reich | bpb". bpb.de (in German). Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  22. ↑ Sturm, Reinhard (23 December 2011). "Vom Kaiserreich zur Republik 1918/19 – Weimarer Republik". bpb.de (in German). Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
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