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The empire was founded on 18 January 1871 at the Palace of Versailles, outside Paris, France, where the south German states, except for Austria and Liechtenstein, joined the North German Confederation and the new constitution came into force on 16 April, changing the name of the federal state to the German Empire and introducing the title of ...
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 ...
The chosen name for the projected empire was a deliberate reference to the Holy Roman Empire (of the German Nation) that existed in medieval times, known as the First Reich in Nazi historiography. [24] Different aspects of the legacy of this medieval empire in German history were both celebrated and derided by the government of Nazi Germany.
The German Empire consisted of 25 constituent states and an imperial territory, the largest of which was Prussia.These states, or Staaten (or Bundesstaaten, i.e. federal states, a name derived from the previous North German Confederation; they became known as Länder during the Weimar Republic) each had votes in the Bundesrat, which gave them representation at a federal level.
The Constitution of the German Empire (German: Verfassung des Deutschen Reiches) was the basic law of the German Empire of 1871–1918, from 16 April 1871, coming into effect on 4 May 1871. [1] Some German historians refer to it as Bismarck's imperial constitution , in German the Bismarcksche Reichsverfassung (BRV).
The Kingdom of Prussia [a] (German: Königreich Preußen, pronounced [ˈkøːnɪkʁaɪç ˈpʁɔʏsn̩] ⓘ) constituted the German state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. [5] It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1866 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. [5]
The territorial evolution of Germany in this article include all changes in the modern territory of Germany from its unification making it a country on 1 January 1871 to the present although the history of "Germany" as a territorial polity concept and the history of the ethnic Germans are much longer and much more complex.
By this ceremony, the North German Confederation was transformed into the German Empire. This empire was a federal monarchy ; the emperor was head of state and president of the federated monarchs (the kings of Bavaria , Württemberg , Saxony , the grand dukes of Oldenburg , Baden , Mecklenburg-Schwerin , Hesse , as well as other principalities ...