Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Germany in 1939 before the start of World War II. On 13 March 1939, Nazi armies entered Prague and proceeded to occupy the remainder of Bohemia and Moravia, which was transformed into a protectorate of the Reich. The eastern half of the country, Slovakia, became a separate pro-Nazi state, the Slovak Republic.
After the Austro-Prussian War, Prussia led the Northern states into a federal state called the North German Confederation (1867–1870). The Southern states joined the federal state in 1870/71, which was consequently renamed the German Empire (1871–1918). The state continued as the Weimar Republic (1919–1933).
Germany quickly remilitarized, annexed its German-speaking neighbors and invaded Poland, triggering World War II. During the war, the Nazis established a systematic genocide program known as the Holocaust which killed 17 million people, including 6 million Jews (representing 2/3rds of the European Jewish population). By 1944, the German Army ...
Germany covers a total of 357,600 km 2 (138,100 sq mi), of which 5,157 km 2 (1,991 sq mi) is irrigated land and 8,350 km 2 (3,220 sq mi) is covered by water, the largest lakes being Lake Constance (total area of 536 km 2 (207 sq mi), with 62% of the shore being German; international borders are not defined on the lake itself), Müritz (117 km 2 ...
Germany had established itself as a major power in continental Europe, boasting one of the most powerful and professional armies in the world. [143] Although Britain remained the dominant world power overall, British involvement in European affairs during the late 19th century was limited, owing to its focus on colonial empire-building ...
In referring to the entire period between 1871 and 1945, the partially translated English phrase "German Reich" (/-ˈ r aɪ k /) is applied by historians in formal contexts; [3] although in common English usage this state was and is known simply as Germany, the English term "German Empire" is reserved to denote the German state between 1871 and 1918.
3 March – German federal election, 1871; 21 March – Otto von Bismarck is appointed as the first Imperial Chancellor of the German Empire and his Bismarck cabinet was sworn in. 16 April – Constitution of the German Empire, the basic law of the German Empire of 1871–1918, passed by German Reichtstag and coming into effect on 4 May 1871.
The process symbolically concluded when most of south German states joined the North German Confederation with the ceremonial proclamation of the German Empire i.e. the German Reich having 25 member states and led by the Kingdom of Prussia of Hohenzollerns on 18 January 1871; the event was later celebrated as the customary date of the German ...