The German Empire (1871 – 1914)

The German Empire was founded in 1871 by Otto von Bismarck following the unification of the German nation-states. Although Germany’s official title was the Deutsches Reich during this period, it was also known as the Deutsches Kaiserreich. It was also referred to later as the “Second Reich” by German historian Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, in order to connect the reign of the Kaisers with the Holy Roman Empire, of which Germany was a part, and which he referred to as the “First Reich.” However, this terminology has been frowned upon since the end of the Second World War, since it was co-opted by the Nazis, who referred to their Germany as the “Third Reich.”

The German Empire first came together in 1871, when the North German Confederation merged with southern Germany to crown Wilhelm I as emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. The constitution, which was outlined by Bismarck himself in 1871, described a government with a few democratic features, such as a bicameral parliament with an independent chancellor who was responsible only to the emperor, or Kaiser (or Caesar). The lower house, the Reichstag, was elected entirely from the people, while the Bundestrat, the federal council of deputies from the German states, was not. Although the Reichstag had the power of veto, as well as the ability to pass and amend the chancellor was the one who had to introduce legislation for consideration. Despite the fact that all states were supposed to have an equal vote, the German Empire was dominated by Prussia, its most powerful state. Also, the German Empire’s government never updated its population figures when considering the number of representatives that should be assigned to a given area, leading growing urban areas to be vastly underrepresented in the Reichstag. Many believe that Bismarck’s new constitution was merely a democratic faA§ade on an authoritarian government.

At the end of the nineteenth century, the German Empire emerged as a world power in the field of manufacturing. The nation was a strong economic power that was incredibly proud of its industrial might. For the first time ever, Germans were able to compete with the British for domestic markets, and began to make new headway into foreign markets. Germans also excelled at physics and chemistry, the hard sciences, and had a number of early Nobel Prize winning scientists among them.

A wave of nationalism developed in the German Empire also during this period, stemming from the unification of all of the nation-states into a glorious new nation. The extreme national pride, the ever-growing economy, and the excessive amount of power available to the Kaiser led to tensions with other nations in Europe, and eventually, to the First World War.