German Empire

The German Empire (German: Deutsches Reich),^{[lower-alpha 1][16][17][18][19]} also referred to as Imperial Germany,^[20] the Second Reich^{[lower-alpha 2][21]} or simply Germany, was a country in Europe during the period of the German Reich from 1871 until its dissolution in November 1918. When the German Empire collapsed, it became the Weimar Republic as part of the German Republic.^[22][23]

German Empire Deutsches Reich  (German)
1871–1918
Flag Coat of arms (1889–1918)[2]
Motto: Gott mit uns (German)[3] Nobiscum Deus (Latin) ("God with us")
Anthem: Heil dir im Siegerkranz[4] ("Hail to Thee in the Victor's Crown") Die Wacht am Rhein (unofficial)[5][6][7] ("The Watch on the Rhine")
The German Empire in 1914 The German Empire and its occupied territories in the final stage of World War I, September 1918 States of the German Empire
The German colonial empire in 1914
Capital and largest city	Berlin 52°31′7″N 13°22′34″E
Official languages	German
Common languages	List Unofficial: Low German, Polish, Danish, Yiddish, Limburgish, Frisian, Sorbian, Sinte Romani, Lithuanian, Kashubian, Swahili, Arabic
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
Government	Federal parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy[8][9][10][11] Under a military dictatorship[12] (1916–1918)
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
Legislature	Bicameral
• Upper house	Bundesrat
• Lower house	Reichstag
Historical era	New Imperialism • World War I
• Unification	18 January 1871
• Constitution	16 April 1871
• Berlin Conference	15 November 1884
• WWI began	28 July 1914
• German Revolution	3 November 1918
• Abdication of Kaiser[13]	9 November 1918
• Armistice	11 November 1918
• Weimar Constitution	11 August 1919
Area
• Total	1,750,000 km2 (680,000 sq mi)
1910[14]	540,857.54 km2 (208,826.26 sq mi)
Population
• Estimate	70,000,000
• 1871[15]	41,058,792
• 1900[15]	56,367,178
• 1910[15]	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

List of German states

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

Related pages

• Germany
• Holy Roman Empire
• Nazi Germany

Notes

1. Pronounced de; today often referred to as Deutsches Kaiserreich.
2. German: Zweites Reich

References

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. Seyler, Gustav A.:Die Wappen der deutschen Landesfürsten. Reprograf. Nachdr. von Siebmacher's Wappenbuch 1. Bd., 1. Abt. 2. – 5. Teil (Nürnberg 1909 – 1929)
3. 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
4. Fischer, Michael; Senkel, Christian (2010). Klaus Tanner (ed.). Reichsgründung 1871: Ereignis, Beschreibung, Inszenierung. Münster: Bachmann Verlag.
5. Hansen, Hans Jürgen (1978). Heil Dir im Siegerkranz: die Hymnen der Deutschen. Oldenburg, Hamburg: Stalling. ISBN 3-7979-1950-6.
6. 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.
7. Ochsmann, Almut. "100 Jahre deutsche Nationalhymne: Überlegungen zu Eine vaterländische Ouvertüre op. 140." Mitteilungen der Internationalen Max-Reger-Gesellschaft 3.42 (2022): 18–23.
8. "German Empire". Britannica. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
9. Nipperdey, Thomas, "Deutsche Geschichte 1866–1918: Zweiter Band: Machtstaat vor der Demokratie" (1995), p. 98–108.
10. Röhl, John C. G. "Kaiser Wilhelm II: A Concise Life" (2014), p. 172–173.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. Statement of Abdication of Wilhelm II
14. "German Empire: administrative subdivision and municipalities, 1900 to 1910" (in German). Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2007.
15. "Population statistics of the German Empire, 1871" (in German). Archived from the original on 5 April 2007. Retrieved 25 April 2007.
16. "German constitution of 1871" (in German). German Wikisource. 16 March 2011. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
17. "Cornell University Library Making of America Collection". collections.library.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
18. 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.
19. 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.
20. 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.
21. "German Empire". Britannica. Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
22. 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)
23. 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.