View source for German Empire

{{Short description|German state from 1871 to 1918}}
{{Redirect|Second Reich|3=Reich (disambiguation)}}
{{About|the German nation-state existing from 1871 until 1918}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name            = {{Native name|de|Deutsches Reich}}
| conventional_long_name = German Empire <!-- do not replace with 'German Reich'; per infobox description and talk page -->
| common_name            = German Reich <!-- do not replace with 'Deutsches Kaiserreich' or 'German Empire', that's the official name, whereas this parameter is for the common name -->
| life_span              = 1871–1918
| event_start            = [[Unification of Germany|Unification]]
| date_start             = 18 January 1871
| event2                 = [[Constitution of the German Empire|Constitution]]
| date_event2            = 16 April 1871
| event3                 = [[Berlin Conference]]
| date_event3            = {{Nowrap|15 November 1884}}
| event4                 = [[World War I|World War I began]]
| date_event4            = 28 July 1914
| event5                 = [[German Revolution of 1918–1919|German Revolution]]
| date_event5            = 3 November 1918
| event6                 = {{Nowrap|[[Abdication of Wilhelm II|Abdication of Kaiser]]<ref>[[s:Statement of Abdication|Statement of Abdication of Wilhelm II]]</ref>}}
| date_event6            = 9 November 1918
| event7                 = {{Nowrap|[[Armistice of 11 November 1918|Armistice]]}}
| date_event7            = 11 November 1918
| event_end              = [[Weimar Constitution]]
| date_end               = 11 August 1919
| p1                     = North German Confederation
| flag_p1                = Flag of the German Empire.svg
| p2                     = Kingdom of Bavaria{{!}}Bavaria
| flag_p2                = Flag of Bavaria (striped).svg
| p3                     = Kingdom of Württemberg{{!}}Württemberg
| flag_p3                = Flagge Königreich Württemberg.svg
| p4                     = Grand Duchy of Baden{{!}}Baden
| flag_p4                = Flagge Großherzogtum Baden (1891–1918).svg
| p5                     = Grand Duchy of Hesse{{!}}Hesse
| flag_p5                = Flagge Großherzogtum Hessen ohne Wappen.svg
| s1                     = Weimar Republic
| flag_s1                = Flag of Germany (3-2 aspect ratio).svg
| s2                     = Klaipėda Region{{!}}Memel Territory
| flag_s2                = Flag of the Klaipėda Region.svg
| s3                     = Territory of the Saar Basin
| flag_s3                = Flag of Saar 1920-1935.svg
| s4                     = Free City of Danzig{{!}}Danzig
| flag_s4                = Flag of the Free City of Danzig.svg
| image_flag             = Flag of Germany (1867–1918).svg
| flag_type              = [[Flag of the German Empire|Flag]]
| s5                     = Second Polish Republic
| today                  = {{plainlist| 
[[Federal Republic of Germany]] 
[[Republic of Poland]] 
[[Russian Federation]] 
[[Republic of Lithuania]] 
[[French Republic]] 
[[Kingdom of Denmark]] }}
| flag_s5                = Flag of Poland (1919-1928).svg
| image_coat             = Wappen Deutsches Reich - Reichsadler 1889.svg
| symbol_type            = [[Coat of arms of Germany#German Empire|Coat of arms]]<br>(1889–1918)<ref>{{Harvp|Seyler|1981}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref>
| symbol_type_article    = [[Coat of arms]]<br>(1889–1919)
| royal_anthem           = ''{{Lang|de|[[Heil dir im Siegerkranz]]}}''{{Sfnp|Fischer|Senkel|Tanner|2010}}<br>"Hail to Thee in the Victor's Crown"<br><div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em" >{{Center|[[File:Heil Dir Im Siegerkranz (old recording).ogg]]}}</div>
| image_map              = {{Switcher|[[File:German Empire 1914.svg|upright=1.15|frameless]]|The German Empire in 1914|[[File:German Empire in 1918.png|upright=1.15|frameless]]|The German Empire and its occupied territories in the final stage of [[World War I]], September 1918|[[File:Deutsches Reich (1871-1918)-en.png|upright=1.15|frameless]]|[[States of the German Empire]]|default=1}}
| image_map2_caption     = The [[German colonial empire]] in 1914
| image_map2             = [[File:German colonial.PNG|German colonial|upright=1.2|frameless]]
| national_motto         = ''{{Lang|de|[[Gott mit uns]]}}''{{Sfnp|Preble|1894|p=102}}<br>"God with us"
| anthem                 = {{Lang|de|[[Die Wacht am Rhein]]}} {{Small|(unofficial)}}<ref>{{Harvp|Hansen|1978}}.{{Page needed|date=May 2025}}; {{Cite web |last=Klaiber |first=Adelheid |title=Max Schneckenburger (1819–1849)–der Dichter der "Wacht am Rhein |url=https://d-nb.info/1262885132/34#page=166 |access-date=9 September 2023 |website=SCHRIFTEN DER BAAR |pages=165}}</ref>{{Sfnp|Ochsmann|2022|pp=18–23}}<br>"The Watch on the Rhine"<br><div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em" >{{Center|[[File:Die Wacht am Rhein - German Patriotic Anthem (Old Recording).wav]]}}</div>
| capital                = [[Berlin]]<br>{{Coord|52|31|7|N|13|22|34|E|display=inline,title}}
| largest_city           = capital
| official_languages     = [[Standard German|German]]
| common_languages       = {{Collapsible list|'''Unofficial:'''<br>[[Low German]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[French language|French]], [[Yiddish]], [[Limburgish language|Limburgish]], [[Frisian languages|Frisian]], [[Sorbian languages|Sorbian]], [[Sinte Romani]], [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]], [[Kashubian language|Kashubian]], [[Swahili language|Swahili]], [[Arabic]]|style=font-size:100%;padding:0.25em 0 0; |headerstyle=text-align:left;font-weight:normal}}
| religion               = '''Majority:'''<br>{{Nowrap|62.63% [[Protestant]]}}<br><br>'''Minorities:'''<br>35.89% [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]]<br>1.24% [[Judaism]]<br>0.17% other [[Christians|Christian]]<br>0.07% other
| religion_year          = 1880
| government_type        = [[Federal monarchy|Federal]] parliamentary [[semi-constitutional monarchy]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Establishment of the North German Confederation |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/German-Empire/Establishment-of-the-North-German-Confederation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920170755/https://www.britannica.com/place/German-Empire/Establishment-of-the-North-German-Confederation |archive-date=20 September 2022 |access-date=17 September 2022 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}; {{Cite book |last=Nipperdey |first=Thomas |title=Deutsche Geschichte 1866–1918: Zweiter Band: Machtstaat vor der Demokratie |date=1995 |language=de |pages=98–108}}; {{Harvp|Röhl|2014|pp=172–173}}; {{Harvp|Haardt|2016|pp=529–554}}</ref>
* Under a [[military dictatorship]]{{Sfnp|Wheeler-Bennett|1967|pp=13–14}}<br>(1916–1918)
| title_leader           = [[German Emperor|Emperor]]
| leader1                = [[William I, German Emperor|Wilhelm I]]
| year_leader1           = 1871–1888
| leader2                = [[Frederick III, German Emperor|Friedrich III]]
| year_leader2           = 1888
| leader3                = [[Wilhelm II]]
| year_leader3           = 1888–1918
| title_deputy           = [[List of chancellors of Germany#German Empire, Reichskanzler (1871–1918)|Chancellor]]
| deputy1                = [[Otto von Bismarck]]
| year_deputy1           = 1871–1890
| deputy2                = [[Leo von Caprivi]]
| year_deputy2           = 1890–1894
| deputy3                = {{Nowrap|[[Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst|C. zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst]]}}
| year_deputy3           = 1894–1900
| deputy4                = [[Bernhard von Bülow]]
| year_deputy4           = 1900–1909
| deputy5                = [[Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg|T. von Bethmann Hollweg]]
| year_deputy5           = 1909–1917
| deputy6                = [[Georg Michaelis]]
| year_deputy6           = 1917
| deputy7                = [[Georg von Hertling]]
| year_deputy7           = 1917–1918
| deputy8                = [[Prince Maximilian of Baden|Max von Baden]]
| year_deputy8           = 1918
| legislature            = [[Bicameral]]
| upper_house            = [[Bundesrat (German Empire)|Bundesrat]]
| lower_house            = [[Reichstag (German Empire)|Reichstag]]
| type_house1            = Upper house
| type_house2            = Lower house
| stat_year1             = 1871
| stat_pop1              = 41,058,792
| stat_year2             = 1900
| stat_pop2              = 56,367,178
| stat_year3             = 1910
| stat_pop3              = 64,925,993
| currency               = {{Hidden|Until 1873:|{{Lang|de|[[Vereinsthaler]]}}, [[South German gulden]], {{Lang|de|[[Bremen thaler]]}}, {{Lang|de|[[Hamburg mark]]}}, [[French franc]]}}[[German gold mark]]<br>(1873–1914)<br>[[German Papiermark|German {{Lang|de|Papiermark|nocat=y}}]]<br>(1914–1918)
| footnotes              = Area and population not including [[German colonial empire|colonial possessions]]
| stat_area3             = 540857.54
| ref_area3              = <ref name="gem1900">{{Cite web |title=German Empire: administrative subdivision and municipalities, 1900 to 1910 |url=http://www.gemeindeverzeichnis.de/gem1900/gem1900.htm?gem1900_2.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226072855/http://www.gemeindeverzeichnis.de/gem1900/gem1900.htm?gem1900_2.htm%20 |archive-date=26 December 2018 |access-date=25 April 2007 |language=de}}</ref>
| ref_pop1               = <ref name="pop1871">{{Cite web |title=Population statistics of the German Empire, 1871 |url=http://www.deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/einwohner.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405061459/http://deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/einwohner.htm |archive-date=5 April 2007 |access-date=25 April 2007 |language=de}}</ref>
| ref_pop2               = <ref name="pop1871"/>
| ref_pop3               = <ref name="pop1871"/>
| demonym                = German
}}

The '''German Empire''' ({{Langx|de|link=yes|Deutsches Reich}}),{{Efn|Pronounced {{IPA|de|ˌdɔʏtʃəs ˈʁaɪç||De-Deutsches Reich.ogg}}; today often referred to as {{Lang|de|Deutsches Kaiserreich}}.}}<ref name="constitution">{{Cite web |date=16 March 2011 |title=German constitution of 1871 |url=http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Verfassung_des_Deutschen_Reiches_(1871) |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225074456/https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Verfassung_des_Deutschen_Reiches_(1871) |archive-date=25 December 2018 |access-date=2 April 2011 |publisher=German [[Wikisource]] |language=de}}; {{Cite web |title=Cornell University Library Making of America Collection |url=https://collections.library.cornell.edu/moa_new/harp.html |access-date=16 April 2024 |website=collections.library.cornell.edu}}; 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.</ref>{{Sfnp|Whitaker|1990|p=765|ps=, refers to the term ''{{Lang|de|Deutsches Reich}}'' being translated into English as "German Realm", up to and including the Weimar period.}} also referred to as '''Imperial Germany''',<ref>See, for example, {{Harvp|Chickering|2004}}{{page needed|date=May 2025}}; {{Harvp|Müller|Torp|2011}}{{page needed|date=May 2025}}; {{Cite book |title=Imperial Germany 1871–1918 |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor-last=Retallack |editor-first=James}}{{page needed|date=May 2025}}; {{Harvp|Hull|2005}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> the '''Second Reich''',{{Efn|{{Langx|de|link=no|Zweites Reich}}}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=German Empire |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/German-Empire |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917080005/https://www.britannica.com/place/German-Empire |archive-date=17 September 2021 |access-date=11 April 2022 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> or simply '''Germany''', was the period of the [[German Reich]]<ref name="CNMP-H-78-KY-M-20230413">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Reich, German political concept |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Reich |access-date=13 April 2023 |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413145817/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Reich |archive-date=13 April 2023}}; {{Harvp|Kitchen|2011}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> from the [[unification of Germany]] in 1871 until the [[German revolution of 1918–1919|November Revolution in 1918]], when Germany changed its form of government to [[Weimar Republic|a republic]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Schneider |first1=Gerd |last2=Toyka-Seid |first2=Christiane |title=Reichsgründung/ Deutsches Reich {{!}} bpb |url=https://m.bpb.de/nachschlagen/lexika/das-junge-politik-lexikon/231954/reichsgruendung-deutsches-reich |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026193718/https://m.bpb.de/nachschlagen/lexika/das-junge-politik-lexikon/231954/reichsgruendung-deutsches-reich |archive-date=26 October 2020 |access-date=21 September 2020 |website=bpb.de |language=de}}; {{Cite web |last=Sturm |first=Reinhard |date=23 December 2011 |title=Vom Kaiserreich zur Republik 1918/19 – Weimarer Republik |url=https://m.bpb.de/geschichte/deutsche-geschichte/weimarer-republik/275834/1918-19-vom-kaiserreich-zur-republik |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917075919/https://m.bpb.de/geschichte/deutsche-geschichte/weimarer-republik/275834/1918-19-vom-kaiserreich-zur-republik |archive-date=17 September 2021 |access-date=21 September 2020 |website=bpb.de |language=de}}</ref> The German Empire consisted of [[States of the German Empire|25 states]], each with its own [[nobility]]: four constituent [[Monarchy|kingdoms]], six [[Grand duchy|grand duchies]], five [[Duchy|duchies]] (six before 1876), seven [[Principality|principalities]], three [[Free imperial city|free]] [[Hanseatic League|Hanseatic]] [[City-state|cities]], and [[Alsace–Lorraine|one imperial territory]]. While [[Prussia]] was only one of the four kingdoms in the realm, it contained about two-thirds of the Empire's population and territory, and Prussian dominance was also constitutionally established, since the King of Prussia was also the German Emperor (''Deutscher Kaiser'').

The empire was [[Proclamation of the German Empire|founded]] on 18 January 1871, when the south German states, except for [[Cisleithania|Austria]], [[Switzerland]] and [[Liechtenstein]], joined the [[North German Confederation]]. The [[Constitution of the German Empire|new constitution]] came into force on 16 April, changing the name of the federal state to the German Empire and introducing the title of [[German Emperor]] for [[William I, German Emperor|Wilhelm I]], [[List of monarchs of Prussia|King of Prussia]] from the [[House of Hohenzollern]].{{Sfnp|Kotulla|2006|pp=231, 246}} [[Berlin]] remained its capital, and [[Otto von Bismarck]], [[Minister President of Prussia]], became [[Chancellor of Germany|chancellor]], the head of government. After 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized. In 1871, Germany had a population of 41&nbsp;million people; by 1913, this had increased to 68&nbsp;million. A heavily rural collection of states in 1815, the now united Germany became predominantly [[Urban area|urban]].<ref>{{Harvp|Clapham|1936}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> German factories were often larger and more modern than many of their British and French counterparts, but the preindustrial sector was more backward.<ref name="Germany article of Encyclopedia Britannia">{{Cite web |title=The economy, 1890–1914 |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-economy-1890-1914 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124145906/https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-economy-1890-1914 |archive-date=24 January 2022 |access-date=12 January 2022 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> The success of the German Empire in the natural sciences was such that one-third of all Nobel Prizes went to German inventors and researchers. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire became an industrial, technological, and scientific power in Europe, and by 1913, Germany was the [[Angus Maddison statistics of the ten largest economies by GDP (PPP)|largest economy]] in continental Europe and the third largest in the world.{{Sfnp|Gat|2008|p=517}} Germany also became a [[great power]], building the longest railway network of Europe, the world's strongest army,{{Sfnp|Vagts|1939|pp=210–221}} and a fast-growing industrial base.<ref>{{Harvp|Kennedy|1987}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> Starting very small in 1871, in a decade, the [[Imperial German Navy|navy]] became second only to [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]]'s [[Royal Navy]].

Otto von Bismarck served as the first and longest-tenured chancellor of the German Empire from 1871 to 1890. His tenure began with relatively liberal measures and broad reforms but gradually shifted toward conservatism, marked by the {{lang|de|[[Kulturkampf]]}} against the [[Catholic Church]]. In foreign affairs, Bismarck concluded the [[Dual Alliance (1879)|Dual Alliance]] with [[Austria-Hungary]] in 1879, expanded into the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]] with [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] in 1882, while also fostering close ties to the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Despite denouncing [[Liberalism|liberals]] and [[Socialism|socialists]] as “enemies of the Reich”, he introduced pioneering [[State Socialism (Germany)|social programs]] — including accident insurance, pensions, medical care, and unemployment protection — that laid the foundation for the modern European [[welfare state]]. In the 1880s, Germany entered the [[Scramble for Africa|colonial race]] despite Bismarck's earlier reluctance, acquiring territories in Africa, the Pacific, and China and building [[German colonial empire|the world's third-largest colonial empire]] after the [[British Empire|British]] and [[French colonial empire|French]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Heine |first=Matthias |date=17 September 2012 |title=Diese deutschen Wörter kennt man noch in der Südsee |url=https://www.welt.de/kultur/article168705897/Diese-deutschen-Woerter-kennt-man-noch-in-der-Suedsee.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019142308/https://www.welt.de/kultur/article168705897/Diese-deutschen-Woerter-kennt-man-noch-in-der-Suedsee.html |archive-date=19 October 2017 |access-date=18 April 2021 |work=Die Welt |language=de |quote=Einst hatten die Deutschen das drittgrößte Kolonialreich&nbsp;...}}</ref> Following his dismissal in 1890, [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]] pursued {{lang|de|[[Weltpolitik]]}} (“world politics”), a more aggressive and expansionist course that abandoned Bismarck's complex alliance system, leaving Germany increasingly isolated. When the [[July Crisis]] of 1914 escalated into the [[First World War]], Italy distanced itself from the Triple Alliance while the Ottoman Empire [[German–Ottoman alliance|aligned with Germany]]. The emperor's inconsistent and often unpredictable decisions contributed to the tensions that culminated in the outbreak of the war.

In the First World War, [[Schlieffen Plan|German plans to capture Paris quickly]] in the autumn of 1914 failed, and the war on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] became a stalemate. The [[Blockade of Germany (1914–1919)|Allied naval blockade]] caused severe shortages of food and supplements. However, Imperial Germany had success on the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]]; it occupied a large amount of territory to its east following the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]]. The German declaration of [[unrestricted submarine warfare]] in early 1917 contributed to bringing the United States into the war. In October 1918, after the failed [[German spring offensive|Spring Offensive]], the German armies [[Hundred Days Offensive|were in retreat]], allies Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, and [[Bulgaria during World War I|Bulgaria]] had surrendered. The empire collapsed in the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919|November 1918 Revolution]] with the abdication of Wilhelm II, which left the post-war federal republic to govern a devastated populace. The [[Treaty of Versailles]] imposed post-war reparation costs of 132 billion [[German mark (1871)|gold marks]] (around US$269 billion or €240 billion in 2019, or roughly US$32 billion in 1921),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Blakemore |first=Erin |date=27 June 2019 |title=Germany's World War I Debt Was So Crushing It Took 92 Years to Pay Off |url=https://www.history.com/news/germany-world-war-i-debt-treaty-versailles |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917075943/https://www.history.com/news/germany-world-war-i-debt-treaty-versailles |archive-date=17 September 2021 |access-date=17 November 2019 |website=History.com |language=en}}</ref> as well as limiting the army to 100,000 men and disallowing conscription, armored vehicles, submarines, aircraft, and more than six battleships.<ref>{{Cite web |last=[[National archives]] |title=Learning Curve {{!}} The Great War {{!}} Why was it hard to make peace? |url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/greatwar/g5/cs2/background.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214002043/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/greatwar/g5/cs2/background.htm |archive-date=14 December 2017 |access-date=14 November 2021 |website=nationalarchives.gov.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref> The consequential economic devastation, later exacerbated by the [[Great Depression]], as well as humiliation and outrage experienced by the German population are considered leading factors in the [[rise of Adolf Hitler]] and [[Nazism]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=How Did Hitler Happen? |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/how-did-hitler-happen |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917081720/https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/how-did-hitler-happen |archive-date=17 September 2021 |access-date=14 November 2021 |website=The National WWII Museum {{!}} New Orleans |language=en}}</ref>

==History==

===Background===
{{Main|Unification of Germany}}

{{Multiple image
 |total_width=300
 |perrow   = 2
 |header   = Founders of the German Empire
 |image1   = Otto von Bismarck.JPG
 |caption1 = Chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck]] (pictured in 1873)
 |image2   = Wilhelm I German Emperor circa 1870.jpg
 |caption2 = Emperor [[William I, German Emperor|Wilhelm I]] (pictured {{Circa|1870}})
}}
The [[German Confederation]] had been created by an act of the [[Congress of Vienna]] on 8 June 1815 as a result of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], after being alluded to in [[:wikisource:Treaty of Paris (1814)#ART.VI|Article 6]] of the 1814 [[Treaty of Paris (1814)|Treaty of Paris]].{{Sfnp|Heeren|1873|p=480}}

The liberal [[Revolutions of 1848]] were crushed after the relations between the educated, well-off middle-class liberals and the urban artisans broke down; [[Otto von Bismarck]]'s pragmatic ''[[Realpolitik]]'', which appealed to peasants as well as the aristocracy, took its place.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Otto von Bismarck |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Otto-von-Bismarck |access-date=23 July 2019 |last=Barkin |first=Kenneth |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917080008/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Otto-von-Bismarck |archive-date=17 September 2021}}</ref> Bismarck sought to extend [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollern]] hegemony throughout the German states; to do so meant unification of the German states and the exclusion of [[Prussia]]'s main German rival, [[Austrian Empire|Austria]], from the subsequent German Empire. He envisioned a conservative, Prussian-dominated Germany. The [[Second Schleswig War]] against [[Denmark]] in 1864, the [[Austro-Prussian War]] in 1866, and the [[Franco-Prussian War]] in 1870–1871 sparked a growing pan-German ideal and contributed to the formation of the German state, with victory to the ''[[Kleindeutsche Lösung]]'' ("[[Lesser Germany|Lesser German]] solution").<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pflanze |first1=Otto |title=Bismarck and the Development of Germany, Volume II: The Period of Consolidation, 1871-1880 |date=14 July 2014 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-6108-8 |pages=249–250 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kT0ABAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Rodney Bruce |editor1-last=Chafetz |editor1-first=Glenn |editor2-last=Frankel |editor2-first=Benjamin |editor3-last=Spirtaz |editor3-first=Michael |title=Origins of National Interests |date=12 October 2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-32748-3 |pages=187–193 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a_YrBgAAQBAJ |language=en |chapter=Territorial and national sovereigns: Sovereign identity and consequences for security policy}}</ref>

The [[German Confederation]] ended as a result of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 between the constituent Confederation entities of the [[Austrian Empire]] and its allies on one side and Prussia and its allies on the other. The war resulted in the partial replacement of the Confederation in 1867 by a [[North German Confederation]], comprising the 22 states north of the river [[Main (river)|Main]]. The patriotic fervor generated by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 overwhelmed the remaining opposition to a unified Germany (aside from Austria) in the four states south of the Main, and during November 1870, they joined the North German Confederation by treaty.{{Sfnp|Case|1902|page=139}}

==== Foundation ====
{{Main|Proclamation of the German Empire}}

[[File:Wernerprokla.jpg|thumb|''Die Proklamation des Deutschen Kaiserreiches'' by [[Anton von Werner]] (1877), depicting the proclamation of Emperor William I (18 January 1871, [[Palace of Versailles]]). From left, on the podium (in black): Crown Prince Frederick (later [[Frederick III, German Emperor|Frederick III]]), his father the emperor, and [[Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden|Frederick I of Baden]], proposing a toast to the new emperor. At centre (in white): Otto von Bismarck, first Chancellor of Germany, [[Helmuth von Moltke the Elder]], Prussian Chief of Staff.]]
On 10 December 1870, the North German Confederation Reichstag renamed the Confederation the "German Empire" and gave the title of [[German Emperor]] to [[William I, German Emperor|William I]], the [[King of Prussia]], as ''Bundespräsidium'' of the Confederation.{{Sfnp|Case|1902|pages=139–140}} The new constitution ([[Constitution of the German Confederation (1871)|Constitution of the German Confederation]]) and the title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871. During the [[Siege of Paris (1870–1871)|siege of Paris]] on 18 January 1871, William was proclaimed Emperor in the [[Hall of Mirrors]] at the [[Palace of Versailles]].{{Sfnp|Case|1902|page=140}}

The second [[Constitution of the German Empire|German Constitution]], adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April,{{Sfnp|Case|1902|page=140}} was substantially based upon Bismarck's [[North German Constitution]]. The political system remained the same. The empire had a parliament called the ''[[Reichstag (German Empire)|Reichstag]]'', which was elected by [[Universal suffrage|universal male suffrage]]. However, the original constituencies drawn in 1871 were never redrawn to reflect the growth of urban areas. As a result, by the time of the great expansion of German cities in the 1890s and 1900s, rural areas were grossly [[Malapportionment|over-represented]].

The legislation also required the consent of the ''[[Bundesrat (German Empire)|Bundesrat]]'', the federal council of deputies from the 27 states. Executive power was vested in the emperor, or ''[[Kaiser]]'', who was assisted by a [[Chancellor of Germany|chancellor]] responsible only to him. The emperor was given extensive powers by the constitution. He alone appointed and dismissed the chancellor (so in practice, the emperor ruled the empire through the chancellor), was supreme commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and final arbiter of all foreign affairs, and could also disband the ''Reichstag'' to call for new elections. Officially, the chancellor was a one-man cabinet and was responsible for the conduct of all state affairs; in practice, the [[State Secretary|State Secretaries]] (top bureaucratic officials in charge of such fields as finance, war, foreign affairs, etc.) functioned much like ministers in other monarchies. The ''Reichstag'' had the power to pass, amend, or reject bills and to initiate legislation. However, as mentioned above, in practice, the real power was vested in the emperor, who exercised it through his chancellor.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

[[File:Berlin Nationaldenkmal Kaiser Wilhelm mit Schloss 1900.jpg|thumb|right|[[Berlin Palace]], the main residence of the House of Hohenzollern]]
Although nominally a federal empire and league of equals, in practice, the empire was dominated by the largest and most powerful state, Prussia. It stretched across the northern two-thirds of the new ''Reich'' and contained three-fifths of the country's population. The imperial crown was hereditary in the ruling house of Prussia, the [[House of Hohenzollern]]. With the exception of 1872–1873 and 1892–1894, the chancellor was always simultaneously the prime minister of Prussia. With 17 out of 58 votes in the ''Bundesrat'', Berlin needed only a few votes from the smaller states to exercise effective control.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

The other states retained their own governments but had only limited aspects of sovereignty. For example, both postage stamps and currency were issued for the empire as a whole. Coins through one mark were also minted in the name of the empire, while higher-valued pieces were issued by the states. However, these larger gold and silver issues were virtually [[commemorative coin]]s and had limited circulation. While the states issued their own [[Military awards and decorations|decoration]]s and some had their own armies, the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. Those of the larger states, such as the Kingdoms of Bavaria and Saxony, were coordinated along Prussian principles and would, in wartime, be controlled by the federal government. The evolution of the German Empire is somewhat in line with parallel developments in Italy, which became a united nation-state a decade earlier. Some key elements of the German Empire's authoritarian political structure were also the basis for conservative modernization in [[Empire of Japan|Imperial Japan]] under [[Emperor Meiji]] and the preservation of an authoritarian political structure under the [[tsar]]s in the [[Russian Empire]].{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

One factor in the social anatomy of these governments was the retention of a very substantial share in political power by the [[landed elite]], the [[Junker]]s, resulting from the absence of a revolutionary breakthrough by the peasants in combination with urban areas.

Although authoritarian in many respects, the empire had some democratic features. Besides universal manhood suffrage, it permitted the development of political parties. Bismarck intended to create a constitutional façade that would mask the continuation of authoritarian policies. However, in the process, he created a system with a serious flaw. There was a significant disparity between the Prussian and German electoral systems. Prussia used a [[Prussian three-class franchise|three-class voting system]] which weighted votes based on the amount of taxes paid,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Peter |first=Jelena |date=1 February 2000 |title=Das Preußische Dreiklassenwahlrecht |trans-title=The Prussian Three-Class Franchise |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/kaiserreich/das-reich/dreiklassenwahlrecht.html |access-date=19 January 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref> all but assuring a conservative majority. The king and (with two exceptions) the prime minister of Prussia were also the emperor and chancellor of the empire – meaning that the same rulers had to seek majorities from legislatures elected from completely different franchises. Universal suffrage was significantly diluted by gross over-representation of rural areas from the 1890s onward. From 1871 to the turn of the century, the urban-rural population balance shifted significantly, going from 64% rural and 36% urban in 1871 to 46% rural and 54% urban in 1900.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zahn |first=Friedrich |date=1 February 1903 |title=Die Volkszählung 1900 und die Grossstadtfrage |trans-title=The 1900 Census and the Big City Question |journal=Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik |language=de |volume=81 |issue=1 |page=192 |doi=10.1515/jbnst-1903-0112 |via=De Gruyter Brill}}</ref>

===Bismarck era===
{{History of Germany sidebar}}
Bismarck's domestic policies played an important role in forging the authoritarian political culture of the ''Kaiserreich''. Less preoccupied with continental power politics following unification in 1871, Germany's semi-parliamentary government carried out a relatively smooth economic and political revolution from above that pushed them along the way towards becoming the world's leading industrial power of the time.

Bismarck's "revolutionary conservatism" was a conservative state-building strategy designed to make ordinary Germans—not just the Junker elite—more loyal to the throne and empire. According to Kees van Kersbergen and Barbara Vis, his strategy was:

{{Blockquote|granting social rights to enhance the integration of a hierarchical society, to forge a bond between workers and the state so as to strengthen the latter, to maintain traditional relations of authority between social and status groups, and to provide a countervailing power against the modernist forces of liberalism and socialism.{{Sfnp|Kersbergen|Vis|2013|p=38}}}}

Bismarck created the modern welfare state in Germany in the 1880s and enacted universal male suffrage in 1871.{{Sfnp|Moore|Vaudagna|2003|p=226}} He became a great hero to German conservatives, who erected many monuments to his memory and tried to emulate his policies.{{Sfnp|Frankel|2003|pp=543–560}}

====Foreign policy====

{{Further|International relations (1814–1919)}}
[[File:Karolinen-stamp.jpg|thumb|right|A postage stamp from the [[Caroline Islands]]]]

Bismarck's post-1871 foreign policy was conservative and sought to preserve the balance of power in Europe. British historian [[Eric Hobsbawm]] concludes that he "remained undisputed world champion at the game of multilateral diplomatic chess for almost twenty years after 1871, [devoting] himself exclusively, and successfully, to maintaining peace between the powers".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hobsbawm |first=Eric |author-link=Eric Hobsbawm |title=The Age of Empire: 1875–1914 |date=1987 |page=312}}</ref> This was a departure from his adventurous foreign policy for Prussia, where he favored strength and expansion, punctuating this by saying, "The great questions of the age are not settled by speeches and majority votes – this was the error of 1848–49 – but by iron and blood."{{Sfnp|Holborn|1982|p=162}}

Bismarck's chief concern was that France would plot revenge after its defeat in the [[Franco-Prussian War]]. As the French lacked the strength to defeat Germany by themselves, they sought an alliance with Russia, or perhaps even the newly reformed empire of Austria-Hungary, which would envelope Germany completely. Bismarck wanted to prevent this at all costs and maintain friendly relations with the Austrians and the Russians, signing the [[Dual Alliance (1879)]] with Austria-Hungary in 1879. The Dual Alliance was a defensive alliance that was established against Russia, and by association France, in the event alliance did not work out with the state. However, an alliance with Russia would come not long after the signing of the Dual Alliance with Austria, the ''[[League of the Three Emperors|Dreikaiserbund]]'' (League of Three Emperors), in 1881. During this period, individuals within the German military were advocating a preemptive strike against Russia, but Bismarck knew that such ideas were foolhardy. He once wrote that "the most brilliant victories would not avail against the Russian nation, because of its climate, its desert, and its frugality, and having but one frontier to defend", and because it would leave Germany with another bitter, resentful neighbor. Despite this, another alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy would be signed in 1882, preying on the fears of the German and Austro-Hungarian militaries of the untrustworthiness of Russia itself. This [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]] continued to 1915, when Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary. Despite Germany, and especially Austria's, lack of faith in the Russian alliance, the [[Reinsurance Treaty#:~:text=The Reinsurance Treaty was a,Petersburg.|Reinsurance Treaty]] would be first signed in 1887, and renewed up until 1890, when the Bismarckian system collapsed upon Bismarck's resignation.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Meanwhile, the chancellor remained wary of any foreign policy developments that looked even remotely warlike. In 1886, he moved to stop an attempted sale of horses to France because they might be used for cavalry and also ordered an investigation into large Russian purchases of medicine from a German chemical works. Bismarck stubbornly refused to listen to [[Georg Herbert Münster]], ambassador to France, who reported back that the French were not seeking a revanchist war and were desperate for peace at all costs.
Bismarck and most of his contemporaries were conservative-minded and focused their foreign policy attention on Germany's neighboring states. In 1914, 60% of German foreign investment was in Europe, as opposed to just 5% of British investment. Most of the money went to developing nations such as Russia that lacked the capital or technical knowledge to industrialize on their own. The construction of the [[Berlin–Baghdad railway]], financed by German banks, was designed to eventually connect Germany with the Ottoman Empire and the [[Persian Gulf]], but it also collided with British and Russian geopolitical interests. Conflict over the Baghdad Railway was resolved in June 1914.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Many consider Bismarck's foreign policy as a coherent system and partly responsible for the preservation of Europe's stability. It was also marked by the need to balance circumspect defensiveness and the desire to be free from the constraints of its position as a major European power. {{Sfnp|Tipton|2003|p=170}} Bismarck's successors did not pursue his foreign policy legacy. For instance, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who dismissed the chancellor in 1890, let the treaty with Russia lapse in favor of Germany's alliance with Austria, which finally led to a stronger coalition-building between Russia and France.{{Sfnp|Gvosdev|Marsh|2013|p=241}}

====Colonies====
{{Main|German colonial empire}}

[[File:German_colonial.PNG|thumb|374x374px|The [[German colonial empire]] and its protectorates in 1914]]
Germans had dreamed of colonial imperialism since 1848.{{Sfnp|Fitzpatrick|2007|pp=135–161}} Although Bismarck had little interest in acquiring overseas possessions, most Germans were enthusiastic, and by 1884 he had acquired [[German New Guinea]].{{Sfnp|Ciarlo|2008|pp=285–298}} By the 1890s, German colonial expansion in Asia and the Pacific ([[Jiaozhou Bay]] and [[Tianjin]] in China, the [[Mariana Islands|Marianas]], the [[Caroline Islands]], Samoa) led to frictions with the UK, Russia, Japan, and the US. The largest colonial enterprises were in Africa,<ref>{{Harvp|Gann|Duignan|1977}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}} (political and economic history)</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Perraudin|Zimmerer|2010}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}} (cultural impact in Africa and Germany).</ref> where the [[Herero Wars]] in what is now [[Namibia]] in 1906–1907 resulted in the [[Herero and Nama genocide]].{{Sfnp|Dedering|1993|pp=80–88}}

====Economy====
{{Further|Economic history of Germany}}
{{See also|Urbanization in the German Empire}}

By 1900, Germany became the largest economy in continental Europe and the third largest in the world behind the United States and the [[British Empire]], which were also its main economic rivals. Throughout its existence, it experienced economic growth and modernization led by heavy industry. In 1871, it had a largely rural population of 41&nbsp;million, while by 1913, this had increased to a predominantly urban population of 68&nbsp;million.{{Sfnp|Milward|Saul|1977|pp=17–70}}

=====Industrial power=====
{{Main|Economic history of Germany#Industrial Revolution|Industrialization in Germany}}

[[File:Essen a54 v Stadtpanorama-1890.jpg|thumb|The [[Krupp]] works in [[Essen]], 1890]]
For 30 years, Germany struggled against Britain to be Europe's leading industrial power. Representative of Germany's industry was the steel giant [[Krupp]], whose first factory was built in [[Essen]]. By 1902, the factory alone became "A great city with its own streets, its own police force, fire department and traffic laws. There are 150 kilometers of rail, 60 different factory buildings, 8,500 machine tools, seven electrical stations, 140 kilometers of underground cable, and 46 overhead."{{Sfnp|Taylor, Edmund|1967|p=206}}

Under Bismarck, Germany was a world innovator in building the [[welfare state]]. German workers enjoyed health, accident and maternity benefits, canteens, changing rooms, and a national pension scheme.<ref name="Hennock">{{Harvp|Hennock|2007}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref>

Industrialisation progressed dynamically in Germany, and German manufacturers began to capture domestic markets from British imports, and also to compete with British industry abroad, particularly in the U.S. The German textile and metal industries had by 1870 surpassed those of Britain in organisation and technical efficiency and superseded British manufacturers in the domestic market. Germany became the dominant economic power on the continent and was the second-largest exporting nation after Britain.<ref>{{Harvp|Tilly|Kopsidis|2020}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref>

Technological progress during German industrialisation occurred in four waves: the railway wave (1877–1886), the dye wave (1887–1896), the chemical wave (1897–1902), and the wave of electrical engineering (1903–1918).{{Sfnp|Streb|2006|pp=347–373}} Since Germany industrialised later than Britain, it was able to model its factories after those of Britain, thus making more efficient use of its capital and avoiding legacy methods in its leap to the envelope of technology. Germany invested more heavily than the British in research, especially in chemistry, ICE engines and electricity. Germany's dominance in physics and chemistry was such that one-third of all Nobel Prizes went to German inventors and researchers. The German [[cartel]] system (known as ''Konzerne''), being significantly concentrated, was able to make more efficient use of capital. Germany was not weighted down with an expensive worldwide empire that needed defense. Following Germany's annexation of [[Alsace-Lorraine]] in 1871, it absorbed parts of what had been France's industrial base.{{Sfnp|Broadberry|O'Rourke|2010}}

Germany overtook British steel production in 1893 and pig iron production in 1903. The German steel and pig iron production continued its rapid expansion: Between 1911 and 1913, the German steel and pig iron output reached one quarter of total global production.{{Sfnp|Torp|2014|p=63}}

German factories were larger and more modern than their British and French counterparts.<ref name="Germany article of Encyclopedia Britannia"/> By 1913, the German electricity production was higher than the combined electricity production of Britain, France, Italy and Sweden.{{Sfnp|Berend|2016|p=28}}

By 1900, the German chemical industry dominated the world market for [[Dye|synthetic dyes]].<ref>{{Harvp|Beer|1981}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> The three major firms [[BASF]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abelshauser |first=Werner |title=German History and Global Enterprise: BASF: The History of a Company |date=2004}} (covers 1865 to 2000)</ref> [[Bayer]] and [[Hoechst AG|Hoechst]] produced several hundred different dyes, along with the five smaller firms. Imperial Germany built up the world's largest chemical industry, the production of German chemical industry was 60% higher than that of the United States.{{Sfnp|Berend|2016|p=28}} In 1913, these eight firms produced almost 90% of the world supply of dyestuffs and sold about 80% of their production abroad. The three major firms had also integrated upstream into the production of essential raw materials, and they began to expand into other areas of chemistry such as [[Drug|pharmaceuticals]], [[photographic film]], [[Agrichemical|agricultural chemicals]] and [[Electrochemistry|electrochemicals]]. Top-level decision-making was in the hands of professional salaried managers; leading Chandler to call the German dye companies "the world's first truly managerial industrial enterprises".{{Sfnp|Chandler|2004|pp=474–475}} There were many spinoffs from research—such as the pharmaceutical industry, which emerged from chemical research.{{Sfnp|Burhop|2009|pp=475–477}}

By the start of [[World War I]] (1914–1918), German industry switched to war production. The heaviest demands were for coal and steel for artillery and shell production, and for chemicals for the synthesis of materials that were subject to import restrictions and for chemical weapons and war supplies.

=====Railways=====
Lacking a technological base at first, the Germans imported their engineering and hardware from Britain but quickly learned the skills needed to operate and expand the railways. In many cities, the new railway shops were the centers of technological awareness and training, so that by 1850, Germany was self-sufficient in meeting the demands of railroad construction, and the railways were a major impetus for the growth of the new steel industry. German unification in 1870 stimulated consolidation, nationalisation into state-owned companies, and further rapid growth. Unlike the situation in France, the goal was support of industrialisation, and so heavy lines crisscrossed the [[Ruhr]] and other industrial districts and provided good connections to the major ports of [[Hamburg]] and [[Bremen]]. By 1880, Germany had 9,400 locomotives, pulling 43,000 passengers and 30,000 tons of freight per year per locomotive,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mulhall |first1=Michael G. |author1-link=Michael George Mulhall |title=Mulhall's Dictionary of Statistics |date=1886 |publisher=George Routledge and Sons |location=London |page=293 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=15ZOT-DpF4kC&dq=Germany+9400+locomotives+1880&pg=PA293 |access-date=13 June 2025}}</ref> and its rail network forged ahead of France.<ref>{{Harvp|Mitchell|2000}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> The total length of German railroad tracks expanded from {{Cvt|21,000|km|mi}} in 1871 to {{Cvt|63,000|km|mi}} by 1913, establishing the second largest rail network in the world after the United States.<ref>{{Harvp|Feuchtwanger|2002|at=Table 1}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> The German rail network was followed by Austria-Hungary ({{Cvt|43,280|km|disp=semicolon}}), France ({{Cvt|40,770|km|disp=semicolon}}), the United Kingdom ({{Cvt|32,623|km|disp=semicolon}}), Italy ({{Cvt|18,873|km|disp=semicolon}}) and Spain ({{Cvt|15,088|km|disp=semicolon}}).{{Sfnp|Broadberry|O'Rourke|2010|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YHk0z-ujS3AC&pg=PA80 80]}}

====Consolidation====
The creation of the Empire under Prussian leadership was a victory for the concept of {{Lang|de|[[Kleindeutschland and Großdeutschland|Kleindeutschland]]}} (Smaller Germany) over the ''Großdeutschland'' concept. This meant that Austria-Hungary, a multi-ethnic Empire with a considerable German-speaking population, would remain outside of the German nation state. Bismarck's policy was to pursue a solution diplomatically.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} The effective alliance between Germany and Austria played a major role in Germany's decision to enter [[Causes of World War I|World War I]] in 1914.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Bismarck announced there would be no more territorial additions to Germany in Europe, and his diplomacy after 1871 was focused on stabilizing the European system and preventing any wars. He succeeded, and only after his departure from office in 1890 did the diplomatic tensions start rising again.{{Sfnp|Grenville|2000|p= 342}}

====Social issues====
After achieving formal unification in 1871, Bismarck devoted much of his attention to the cause of national unity. He opposed Catholic civil rights and emancipation, especially the influence of the [[Holy See|Vatican]] under [[Pope Pius IX]], and working-class radicalism, represented by the emerging [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]].

=====Kulturkampf=====
{{Main|Kulturkampf}}

{{See also|Pope Pius IX and Germany}}
[[File:Kladderadatsch 1875 - Zwischen Berlin und Rom.png|thumb|right|upright=1.35|Tensions between Germany and the Catholic Church hierarchy, depicted in a chess game between Bismarck and [[Pope Pius IX]]. ''Between Berlin and Rome'', [[Kladderadatsch]], 1875.]]
Prussia in 1871 included 16,000,000 Protestants, both Reformed and Lutheran, and 8,000,000 Catholics. Most people were generally segregated into their own religious worlds, living in rural districts or city neighbourhoods that were overwhelmingly of the same religion, and sending their children to separate public schools where their religion was taught. There was little interaction or intermarriage. On the whole, the Protestants had a higher social status, and the Catholics were more likely to be peasant farmers or unskilled or semiskilled industrial workers. In 1870, the Catholics formed their own political party, the [[Centre Party (Germany)|Centre Party]], which generally supported unification and most of Bismarck's policies. However, Bismarck distrusted parliamentary democracy in general and opposition parties in particular, especially when the Centre Party showed signs of gaining support among dissident elements such as the Polish Catholics in [[Silesia]]. A powerful intellectual force of the time was [[anti-Catholicism]], led by the liberal intellectuals who formed a vital part of Bismarck's coalition. They saw the Catholic Church as a powerful force of reaction and anti-modernity, especially after the proclamation of [[papal infallibility]] in 1870, and the tightening control of the Vatican over the local bishops.{{Sfnp|Lamberti|2001|pp=169–187}}

The Kulturkampf launched by Bismarck 1871–1880 affected Prussia; although there were similar movements in Baden and Hesse, the rest of Germany was not affected. According to the new imperial constitution, the states were in charge of religious and educational affairs; they funded the Protestant and Catholic schools. In July 1871 Bismarck abolished the Catholic section of the Prussian Ministry of ecclesiastical and educational affairs, depriving Catholics of their voice at the highest level. The system of strict [[state education|government supervision of schools]] was applied only in Catholic areas; the Protestant schools were left alone.{{Sfnp|Lamberti|2001|p=177}}

Much more serious were the May laws of 1873. One made the appointment of any priest dependent on his attendance at a German university, as opposed to the seminaries that the Catholics typically used. Furthermore, all candidates for the ministry had to pass an examination in German culture before a state board which weeded out intransigent Catholics. Another provision gave the government veto power over most church activities. A second law abolished the jurisdiction of the Vatican over the Catholic Church in Prussia; its authority was transferred to a government body controlled by Protestants.<ref>{{Harvp|Ross|1998}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref>

Nearly all German bishops, clergy, and laymen rejected the legality of the new laws, and were defiant in the face of heavier and heavier penalties and imprisonments imposed by Bismarck's government. By 1876, all the Prussian bishops were imprisoned or in exile, and a third of the Catholic parishes were without a priest. In the face of systematic defiance, the Bismarck government increased both the penalties and its attacks. They were challenged in 1875 when a papal encyclical declared the whole ecclesiastical legislation of Prussia invalid and threatened to excommunicate any Catholic who obeyed. There was no violence, but the Catholics mobilized their support, set up numerous civic organizations, raised money to pay fines, and rallied behind their church and the Centre Party. The "Old Catholic Church", which rejected the [[First Vatican Council]], attracted only a few thousand members. Bismarck, a devout pietistic Protestant, realized his Kulturkampf was backfiring when secular and socialist elements used the opportunity to attack all religion. In the long run, the most significant result was the mobilization of Catholic voters and their insistence on protecting their religious identity. In the elections of 1874, the Centre Party doubled its popular vote and became the second-largest party in the national parliament—and remained a powerful force for the next 60 years, so that after Bismarck it became difficult to form a government without their support.{{Sfnp|Holborn|1969|pages=258–260}}{{Sfnp|Clark|2006|pages=568–576}}

=====Social reform=====
Bismarck built on a tradition of welfare programs in Prussia and Saxony that began as early as the 1840s. In the 1880s he introduced old-age pensions, accident insurance, medical care and unemployment insurance that formed the basis of the modern [[European welfare state]]. He came to realize that this sort of policy was very appealing, since it bound workers to the state, and also fit in very well with his authoritarian nature. The social security systems installed by Bismarck (health care in 1883, accident insurance in 1884, invalidity and old-age insurance in 1889) at the time were the largest in the world and, to a degree, still exist in Germany today.

Bismarck's paternalistic programs won the support of German industry because its goals were to win the support of the working classes for the Empire and reduce the outflow of immigrants to America, where wages were higher but welfare did not exist.<ref name=Hennock/><ref>{{Harvp|Beck|1997}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> Bismarck further won the support of both industry and skilled workers by his high tariff policies, which protected profits and wages from American competition, although they alienated the liberal intellectuals who wanted free trade.{{Sfnp|Spencer|1979|pp=40–64}}{{Sfnp|Lambi|1962|pp=59–70}}

=====Antisemitism=====
As it was throughout Europe at the time, [[antisemitism]] was endemic in Germany during the period. Before [[Napoleon]]'s decrees ended the ghettos in the [[Confederation of the Rhine]], it had been religiously motivated, but by the 19th century, it was a factor in [[German nationalism]]. In the popular mind, Jews became a symbol of capitalism and wealth. On the other hand, the constitution and legal system protected the rights of Jews as German citizens. Antisemitic parties were formed but soon collapsed.<ref>{{Harvp|Levy|1975}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> But after the [[Treaty of Versailles]], and [[Adolf Hitler]]'s rise to power in [[Nazi Germany|Germany]], antisemitism in Germany would increase.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Everyday Antisemitism in Pre-War Nazi Germany |url=https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/microsoft%20word%20-%205618.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040512132613/http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205618.pdf |archive-date=12 May 2004}}</ref>

=====Germanisation=====
{{Main|Germanisation}}

[[File:Rugi pruskie.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Prussian deportations]] of ethnic [[Polish people|Poles]] ''(Polenausweisungen)'', 1909 painting by [[Wojciech Kossak]]]]
One of the effects of the unification policies was the gradually increasing tendency to eliminate the use of non-German languages in public life, schools and academic settings with the intent of pressuring the non-German population to abandon their national identity in what was called "[[Germanisation]]". These policies often had the reverse effect of stimulating resistance, usually in the form of homeschooling and tighter unity in the minority groups, especially the [[Polish people|Poles]].{{Sfnp|Baycroft|Hewitson|2006|p=166}}

The Germanisation policies were targeted particularly [[Germanisation of Poles during the Partitions|against the significant Polish minority]] of the empire, gained by Prussia in the [[partitions of Poland]]. Poles were treated as an [[ethnic minority]] even where they made up the majority, as in the [[Province of Posen]], where a series of anti-Polish measures was enforced.<ref>{{Harvp|Kulczycki|1981}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> Numerous anti-Polish laws had no great effect especially in the province of Posen where the German-speaking population dropped from 42.8% in 1871 to 38.1% in 1905, despite all efforts.{{Sfnp|Broszat|1978|p=144}}

====Law====
[[File:Meyers b18 s0533a.jpg|thumb|Crime; convicts in relation to the population, 1882–1886]]
Bismarck's efforts also initiated the levelling of the enormous differences between the German states, which had been independent in their evolution for centuries, especially with legislation. The completely different legal histories and judicial systems posed enormous complications, especially for national trade. While a common trade code had already been introduced by the [[German Confederation|Confederation]] in 1861 (which was adapted for the Empire and, with great modifications, is still in effect today), there was little similarity in laws otherwise.

In 1871, a common {{Ill|Reich criminal code|lt=criminal code |de|Reichsstrafgesetzbuch}} was introduced; in 1877, common court procedures were established in the court system by the {{Ill|courts constitution act|de|Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz}}, code of civil procedure ({{Lang|de|[[Zivilprozessordnung (Germany)|Zivilprozessordnung]]}}) and code of criminal procedure ({{Lang|de|{{Ill|Strafprozessordnung|de|Strafprozessordnung (Deutschland)|v=sup}}}}). In 1873 the constitution was amended to allow the Empire to replace the various and greatly differing Civil Codes of the states (If they existed at all; for example, parts of Germany formerly occupied by Napoleon's France had adopted the French Civil Code, while in Prussia the {{Lang|de|[[General State Laws for the Prussian States|Allgemeines Preußisches Landrecht]]}} of 1794 was still in effect). In 1881, a first commission was established to produce a common Civil Code for all of the Empire, an enormous effort that would produce the {{Lang|de|[[Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch]]}} (BGB), possibly one of the most impressive legal works in the world; it was eventually put into effect on 1 January 1900. All of these [[Codification (law)|codification]]s are, albeit with many amendments, still in effect today.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}
<gallery widths=180>
Legal systems in 1895 Germany.png| Different legal systems in Germany prior to 1900
DR Fields of Law.png|Fields of law in the German Empire
</gallery>

===Year of the three emperors===
[[File:Emperor Friedrich III.png|thumb|upright|[[Frederick III, German Emperor|Frederick III]] was emperor for only 99 days (9 March{{Spaced en dash}}15 June 1888)]]
{{Main|Year of the Three Emperors}}

On 9 March 1888, Wilhelm I died shortly before his 91st birthday, leaving his son [[Frederick III, German Emperor|Frederick]] as the new emperor. Frederick was a liberal and an admirer of the British constitution,{{Sfnp|Kitchen|2000|p=214}} while his links to Britain strengthened further with his marriage to [[Victoria, Princess Royal|Princess Victoria]], eldest child of [[Queen Victoria]]. With his ascent to the throne, many hoped that Frederick's reign would lead to a [[liberalization]] of the Reich and an increase of parliament's influence on the political process. The dismissal of [[Robert von Puttkamer]], the highly conservative [[Interior Minister of Prussia|Prussian interior minister]], on 8 June was a sign of the expected direction and a blow to Bismarck's administration.

By the time of his accession, however, Frederick had developed incurable [[laryngeal cancer]], which had been diagnosed in 1887. He died on the 99th day of his rule, on 15 June 1888. His son [[Wilhelm II|Wilhelm]] became emperor.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

===Wilhelmine era===
{{main|Wilhelminism}}

====Bismarck's resignation====
[[File:Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany - 1902.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Wilhelm II]] in 1902]]

[[Wilhelm II]] wanted to reassert his ruling prerogatives at a time when other monarchs in Europe were being transformed into constitutional figureheads. This decision led the ambitious Kaiser into conflict with Bismarck. The old chancellor had hoped to guide Wilhelm as he had guided his grandfather, but the emperor wanted to be the master in his own house and had many sycophants telling him that Frederick the Great would not have been great with a Bismarck at his side.{{Sfnp|Kurtz|1970|p=60}} A key difference between Wilhelm II and Bismarck was their approaches to handling political crises, especially in 1889, when German coal miners went on strike in [[Upper Silesia]]. Bismarck demanded that the [[German Army (German Empire)|German Army]] be sent in to crush the strike, but Wilhelm II rejected this authoritarian measure, responding "I do not wish to stain my reign with the blood of my subjects."{{Sfnp|Stürmer|2000 |p=63}} Instead of condoning repression, Wilhelm had the government negotiate with a delegation from the coal miners, which brought the strike to an end without violence. The fractious relationship ended in March 1890, after Wilhelm II and Bismarck quarrelled, and the chancellor resigned days later.{{Sfnp|Kurtz|1970|p=60}}

With Bismarck's departure, Wilhelm II became the dominant ruler of Germany. Unlike his grandfather, Wilhelm I, who had been largely content to leave government affairs to the chancellor, Wilhelm II wanted to be fully informed and actively involved in running Germany, not an ornamental figurehead, although most Germans found his claims of divine right to rule amusing. Wilhelm allowed politician [[Walther Rathenau]] to tutor him in European economics and industrial and financial realities in Europe.{{Sfnp|Kurtz|1970|p=63}}

As [[Isabel V. Hull]] noted in 2024, Bismarckian foreign policy "was too sedate for the reckless Kaiser".{{Sfn |Hull|2004|p=85}} Wilhelm became internationally notorious for his aggressive stance on foreign policy and his strategic blunders (such as the [[First Moroccan Crisis|Tangier Crisis]]), which pushed the German Empire into growing political isolation and eventually helped to cause [[World War I]].

====Domestic affairs====
[[File:Reichstagsgebaeude.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Reichstag building|Reichstag]]'' in the 1890s{{\}}early 1900s]]

Under Wilhelm II, Germany no longer had long-ruling strong chancellors like Bismarck. The new chancellors had difficulty in performing their roles, especially the additional role as [[Prime Minister of Prussia]] assigned to them in the German Constitution. The reforms of Chancellor [[Leo von Caprivi]], which liberalized trade and so reduced unemployment, were supported by the Kaiser and most Germans except for Prussian landowners, who feared loss of land and power and launched several campaigns against the reforms.{{Sfnp|Kurtz|1970|p=67}}

While Prussian aristocrats challenged the demands of a united German state, in the 1890s several organizations were set up to challenge the authoritarian conservative Prussian militarism which was being imposed on the country. Educators opposed to the German state-run schools, which emphasized military education, set up their own independent liberal schools, which encouraged individuality and freedom.{{Sfnp|Kurtz|1970|p=72}} However nearly all the schools in Imperial Germany had a very high standard and kept abreast with modern developments in knowledge.<ref>{{Harvp|Cocks|Jarausch|1990}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref>

Artists began experimental art in opposition to Kaiser Wilhelm's support for traditional art, to which Wilhelm responded "art which transgresses the laws and limits laid down by me can no longer be called art".{{Sfnp|Kurtz|1970|p=76}} It was largely thanks to Wilhelm's influence that most printed material in Germany used [[blackletter]] instead of the Roman type used in the rest of Western Europe. At the same time, a new generation of cultural creators emerged.<ref>{{Harvp|Jefferies|2003}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref>

[[File:Berlin Unter den Linden Cafe Bauer um 1900.jpg|thumb|Berlin in the late 19th century]]
From the 1890s onwards, the most effective opposition to the monarchy came from the newly formed [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (SPD), whose radicals advocated [[Marxism]]. The threat of the SPD to the German monarchy and industrialists caused the state both to crack down on the party's supporters and to implement its own programme of social reform to soothe discontent. Germany's large industries provided significant social welfare programmes and good care to their employees, as long as they were not identified as socialists or trade-union members. The larger industrial firms provided pensions, sickness benefits and even housing to their employees.{{Sfnp|Kurtz|1970|p=72}}

Having learned from the failure of Bismarck's [[Kulturkampf]], Wilhelm II maintained good relations with the Roman Catholic Church and concentrated on opposing socialism.{{Sfnp|Kurtz|1970|p=56}} This policy failed when the Social Democrats won a third of the votes in the [[1912 German federal election|1912 elections]] to the ''Reichstag'' and became the largest political party in Germany. The government remained in the hands of a succession of conservative coalitions supported by right-wing liberals or Catholic clerics and heavily dependent on the Kaiser's favour. The rising militarism under Wilhelm II caused many Germans to emigrate to the U.S. and the British colonies to escape mandatory military service.

During World War I, the Kaiser increasingly devolved his powers to the leaders of the German High Command, particularly future [[President of Germany|German president]], Field Marshal [[Paul von Hindenburg]] and ''Generalquartiermeister'' [[Erich Ludendorff]]. Hindenburg took over the role of commander–in–chief from the Kaiser, while Ludendorff became de facto general chief of staff. By 1916, Germany was effectively a military dictatorship run by Hindenburg and Ludendorff, with the Kaiser reduced to a mere figurehead.{{Sfnp|Cecil|1996|loc=ch. 9–13}}

====Foreign affairs====

{{Further|International relations (1814–1919)}}

=====Colonialism=====
{{Main|German colonial empire}}

[[File:Kongokonferenz.jpg|thumb|[[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]] at the [[Berlin Conference]], 1884]]

Wilhelm II wanted Germany to have her "[[place in the sun]]", like Britain, which he constantly wished to emulate or rival.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wilhelm II (1859–1941) |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilhelm_kaiser_ii.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808170841/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilhelm_kaiser_ii.shtml |archive-date=8 August 2018 |access-date=19 April 2014 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> With German traders and merchants already active worldwide, he encouraged colonial efforts in Africa and the Pacific ("[[new imperialism]]"), causing the German Empire to vie with other European powers for remaining "unclaimed" territories. With the encouragement or at least the acquiescence of Britain, which at this stage saw Germany as a counterweight to her old rival France, Germany acquired [[German South West Africa|German Southwest Africa]] (modern [[Namibia]]), [[Kamerun|German Kamerun]] (modern [[Cameroon]]), [[Togoland]] (modern [[Togo]]) and [[German East Africa]] (modern [[Rwanda]], [[Burundi]], and the mainland part of current [[Tanzania]]). Islands were gained in the Pacific through purchase and treaties and also a 99-year lease for the territory of [[Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory|Jiaozhou]] in northeast China. But of these German colonies only Togoland and [[German Samoa]] (after 1908) became self-sufficient and profitable; all the others required subsidies from the Berlin treasury for building infrastructure, school systems, hospitals and other institutions.{{citation needed|date=August 2025}}
[[File:Reichskolonialflagge.svg|thumb|left|Flag of the German colonial empire{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}]]

Bismarck had originally dismissed the agitation for colonies with contempt; he favoured a Eurocentric foreign policy, as the treaty arrangements made during his tenure in office show. As a latecomer to colonization, Germany repeatedly came into conflict with the established colonial powers and also with the United States, which opposed German attempts at colonial expansion in both the Caribbean and the Pacific. Native insurrections in German territories received prominent coverage in other countries, especially in Britain; the established powers had dealt with such uprisings decades earlier, often brutally, and had secured firm control of their colonies by then. The [[Boxer Rebellion|Boxer Rising]] in China, which the Chinese government eventually sponsored, began in the Shandong province, in part because Germany, as colonizer at [[Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory|Jiaozhou]], was an untested power and had only been active there for two years. Seven western nations, including the United States, and Japan mounted a joint relief force to rescue westerners caught up in the rebellion. During the departure ceremonies for the German contingent, Wilhelm II urged them to behave like the [[Hun]] invaders of continental Europe – an unfortunate remark that would later be resurrected by British propagandists to paint Germans as barbarians during [[World War I]] and [[World War II]]{{According to whom|date=October 2023}}. On two occasions, a French-German conflict over the fate of Morocco seemed inevitable.
[[File:Herero chained.jpg|thumb|Prisoners from the [[Herero people|Herero]] tribe during the 1904-1908 revolt]]

Upon acquiring Southwest Africa, German settlers were encouraged to cultivate land held by the [[Herero people|Herero]] and [[Nama people|Nama]]. Herero and Nama tribal lands were used for a variety of exploitative goals (much as the British did before in [[Rhodesia]]), including farming, ranching, and mining for minerals and [[diamonds]]. In 1904, the Herero and the Nama revolted against the colonists in Southwest Africa, killing farm families, their laborers and servants. In response to the attacks, troops were dispatched to quell the uprising which then resulted in the [[Herero and Nama genocide]]. In total, some 65,000 Herero (80% of the total Herero population), and 10,000 Nama (50% of the total Nama population) perished. The commander of the punitive expedition, General [[Lothar von Trotha]], was eventually relieved and reprimanded for his usurpation of orders and the cruelties he inflicted. These occurrences were sometimes referred to as "the first genocide of the 20th century" and officially condemned by the United Nations in 1985. In 2004 a formal apology by a government minister of the Federal Republic of Germany followed.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

=====Middle East=====
Bismarck and [[Wilhelm II]] after him sought closer economic ties with the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Under Wilhelm II, with the financial backing of the [[Deutsche Bank]], the [[Baghdad Railway]] was begun in 1900, although by 1914 it was still {{Cvt|500|km|mi}} short of its destination in Baghdad.{{Sfnp|Stürmer|2000|p=91}} In an interview with Wilhelm in 1899, [[Cecil Rhodes]] had tried "to convince the Kaiser that the future of the German empire abroad lay in the Middle East" and not in Africa; with a grand Middle-Eastern empire, Germany could afford to allow Britain the unhindered completion of the Cape-to-Cairo railway that Rhodes favoured.{{Sfnp|Louis|1963|p=163}} Britain initially supported the [[Baghdad Railway]]; but by 1911 British statesmen came to fear it might be extended to [[Basra]] on the [[Persian Gulf]], threatening Britain's naval supremacy in the Indian Ocean. Accordingly, they asked to have construction halted, to which Germany and the Ottoman Empire acquiesced.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

=====South America=====
In South America, Germany's primary interest was in [[ABC countries|Argentina, Brazil, Chile]], and [[Uruguay]] and viewed the countries of northern South America—[[Ecuador]], [[Colombia]], and [[Venezuela]]—as a buffer to protect its interest from the growing influence of the United States.{{Sfnp|Fischer|2008|pp=135–160}} Policymakers in Germany analysed the possibility of establishing bases in [[Margarita Island]] and showed interest in the [[Galápagos Islands]] but soon abandoned any such designs given that far-flung bases in northern South America would be very vulnerable.{{Sfnp|Mitchell|1999|p=67}}{{Sfnp|Fischer|2008|pp=135–160}} Germany attempted to promote Chile, a country that was [[German influence in Chile|heavily influenced by Germany]],<ref name="Carlos2011">{{Cite book |last=Sanhueza |first=Carlos |title=Ideas viajeras y sus objetos. El intercambio científico entre Alemania y América austral. Madrid–Frankfurt am Main: Iberoamericana–Vervuert |date=2011 |pages=29–40 |language=es |chapter=El debate sobre "el embrujamiento alemán" y el papel de la ciencia alemana hacia fines del siglo XIX en Chile |chapter-url=http://publications.iai.spk-berlin.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/Document_derivate_00000510/BIA%20146%20Sanhueza.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221182758/http://publications.iai.spk-berlin.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/Document_derivate_00000510/BIA%20146%20Sanhueza.pdf |archive-date=21 December 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> into a regional counterweight to the United States.<ref name="Fischer2008">{{Cite journal |last=Fischer |first=Ferenc |date=1 January 2008 |title=La expansión (1885–1918) del modelo militar alemán y su pervivencia (1919–1933) en América Latina |journal=Revista del CESLA |language=es |publisher=[[Uniwersytet Warszawski]] |volume=11 |pages=135–160}}</ref> Germany and Britain managed through Chile to have Ecuador deny the United States a naval base in the [[Galápagos Islands]].<ref name="Fischer2008"/>

Claims that German communities in South America acted as extensions of the German Empire were ubiquitous by 1900 but it has never been proved that these communities acted in such way to any significant degree.{{Sfnp|Penny|2017|pp=519–549}} German political, cultural and scientific influence was particularly intense in Chile in the decades before World War I, and the prestige of Germany and German things in Chile remained high after the war but did not recover to its pre-war levels.{{Sfnp|Sanhueza|2011|pp=29–40}}{{Sfnp|Penny|2017|pp=519–549}}

=====Pre-war Europe=====
{{Main|Causes of World War I|Diplomatic history of World War I}}

Berlin was deeply suspicious of a supposed conspiracy of its enemies: that year-by-year in the early 20th century it was systematically encircled by enemies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carroll |first=E. Malcolm |title=Germany and the great powers, 1866–1914: A study in public opinion and foreign policy |date=1938 |pages=485–487, 830 |ol=7014761W}}</ref> There was a growing fear that the supposed enemy coalition of Russia, France and Britain was getting stronger militarily every year, especially Russia. The longer Berlin waited the less likely it would prevail in a war.{{Sfnp|Seligmann|2002|pp=333–355}} According to American historian [[Gordon A. Craig]], it was after the set-back in Morocco in 1905 that the fear of encirclement began to be a potent factor in German politics."{{Sfnp|Craig|1978|p=321}} Few outside observers agreed with the notion of Germany as a victim of deliberate encirclement.{{Sfnp|Geise|1976|pp=121–138}}<ref>{{Harvp|Kantorowicz|1931}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> English historian [[G. M. Trevelyan]] expressed the British viewpoint:

{{Blockquote|The encirclement, such as it was, was of Germany's own making. She had encircled herself by alienating France over Alsace-Lorraine, Russia by her support of Austria-Hungary's anti-Slav policy in the Balkans, England by building her rival fleet. She had created with Austria-Hungary a military bloc in the heart of Europe so powerful and yet so restless that her neighbors on each side had no choice but either to become her vassals or to stand together for protection....They used their central position to create fear in all sides, in order to gain their diplomatic ends. And then they complained that on all sides they had been encircled.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Trevelyan |first=G. M. |author-link=G. M. Trevelyan |title=British history in the 19th century and after 1782–1919 |date=1937 |page=463 |ol=10439924W |orig-date=1922}}</ref>}}

Wilhelm II, under pressure from his new advisors after Bismarck left, committed a fatal error when he decided to allow the "[[Reinsurance Treaty]]" that Bismarck had negotiated with Tsarist Russia to lapse. It allowed Russia to make a new alliance with France. Germany was left with no firm ally but [[Austria-Hungary]], and her support for action in annexing [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]] in 1908 further soured relations with Russia. Berlin missed the opportunity to secure an alliance with Britain in the 1890s when it was involved in colonial rivalries with France, and it alienated British statesmen further by openly supporting the Boers in the [[South African War]] and building a navy to rival Britain's. By 1911, Wilhelm had completely picked apart the careful power balance established by Bismarck and Britain turned to France in the [[Entente Cordiale]]. Germany's only other ally besides Austria was the [[Kingdom of Italy]], but it remained an ally only ''pro forma''. When war came, Italy saw more benefit in an alliance with Britain, France, and Russia, which, in the secret [[Treaty of London (1915)|Treaty of London]] in 1915 promised it the frontier districts of Austria and also colonial concessions. Germany did acquire a second ally in 1914 when the Ottoman Empire entered the war on its side, but in the long run, supporting the Ottoman war effort only drained away German resources from the main fronts.{{Sfnp|Craig|1978|pp=302–338, 350}}

===World War I===
{{See also|History of Germany during World War I}}

====Origins====
{{Main|German entry into World War I}}

[[File:WWI-re.png|thumb|upright=1.75|Map of the world showing the participants in World War I. Those fighting on the [[Triple Entente|Entente]]'s side (at one point or another) are depicted in green, the [[Central Powers]] in orange, and neutral countries in grey.]]

Following the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|Franz Ferdinand]] by [[Gavrilo Princip]], the Kaiser offered Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz Joseph]] full support for Austro-Hungarian plans to invade the [[Kingdom of Serbia]], which Austria-Hungary blamed for the assassination. This unconditional support for Austria-Hungary was called a "blank cheque" by historians, including German [[Fritz Fischer (historian)|Fritz Fischer]]. Subsequent interpretation – for example at the [[Versailles Peace Conference]] – was that this "blank cheque" licensed Austro-Hungarian aggression regardless of the diplomatic consequences, and thus [[War Guilt Clause|Germany bore responsibility for starting the war]], or at least provoking a wider conflict.

Germany began the war by targeting its chief rival, France. Germany saw the French Republic as its principal danger on the European continent as it could mobilize much faster than Russia and bordered Germany's industrial core in the [[Rhineland]]. Unlike Britain and Russia, the French entered the war mainly for revenge against Germany, in particular for France's [[Franco-Prussian War|loss]] of [[Alsace-Lorraine]] to Germany in 1871. The German high command knew that France would muster its forces to go into Alsace-Lorraine. Aside from the very unofficial [[Septemberprogramm]], the Germans never stated a clear list of goals that they wanted out of the war.{{Sfnp|Stibbe|2006|pp=176–178}}

====Western Front====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R19231, Berlin, Mobilmachung.jpg|thumb|German troops being mobilized, 1914]]

Germany did not want to risk lengthy battles along the Franco-German border and instead adopted the [[Schlieffen Plan]], a military strategy designed to cripple France by [[Rape of Belgium|invading Belgium]] and [[Luxembourg]], sweeping down to encircle and crush both Paris and the French forces along the Franco-German border in a quick victory. After defeating France, Germany would turn to attack Russia. The plan required violating the official neutrality of Belgium and Luxembourg, which [[British Empire|Britain]] had guaranteed by treaty. However, the Germans had calculated that Britain would enter the war regardless of whether they had formal justification to do so.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Schlieffen Plan {{!}} German military history |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Schlieffen-Plan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802075838/https://www.britannica.com/event/Schlieffen-Plan |archive-date=2 August 2019 |access-date=18 May 2021 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> At first the attack was successful: the [[German Army (German Empire)|German Army]] swept down from Belgium and Luxembourg and advanced on Paris, at the nearby river [[Marne (river)|Marne]]. However, the evolution of weapons over the last century heavily favored defense over offense, especially thanks to the machine gun, so that it took proportionally more offensive force to overcome a defensive position. This resulted in the German lines on the offense contracting to keep up the offensive timetable while correspondingly the French lines were extending. In addition, some German units that were originally slotted for the German far-right were transferred to the Eastern Front in reaction to Russia mobilizing far faster than anticipated. The combined effect had the German right flank sweeping down in front of Paris instead of behind it, exposing the German Right flank to the extending French lines and attack from strategic French reserves stationed in Paris. Attacking the exposed German right flank, the [[French Army]] and the [[British Army]] put up a strong resistance to the defense of Paris at the [[First Battle of the Marne]], resulting in the German Army retreating to defensive positions along the river [[Aisne (river)|Aisne]]. A subsequent [[Race to the Sea]] resulted in a long-held stalemate between the German Army and the Allies in dug-in [[trench warfare]] positions from [[Alsace]] to [[Flanders]].
[[File:Karte Brigadestandorte des Deutschen Heers 1914.png|thumb|left|German Army positions, 1914]]{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

German attempts to break through failed at the two battles of [[Ypres]] ([[First Battle of Ypres|1st]]/[[Second Battle of Ypres|2nd]]) with huge casualties. A series of allied offensives in 1915 against German positions in [[Second Battle of Artois|Artois]] and [[Second Battle of Champagne|Champagne]] resulted in huge allied casualties and little territorial change. German [[Chief of Staff]] [[Erich von Falkenhayn]] decided to exploit the defensive advantages that had shown themselves in the 1915 Allied offensives by attempting to goad France into attacking strong defensive positions near the ancient city of [[Verdun]]. Verdun had been one of the last cities to hold out against the German Army in 1870, and Falkenhayn predicted that as a matter of national pride the French would do anything to ensure that it was not taken. He expected that he could take strong defensive positions in the hills overlooking Verdun on the east bank of the river Meuse to threaten the city and the French would launch desperate attacks against these positions. He predicted that French losses would be greater than those of the Germans and that continued French commitment of troops to Verdun would "bleed the French Army white." In February 1916, the [[Battle of Verdun]] began, with the French positions under constant shelling and poison gas attack and taking large casualties under the assault of overwhelmingly large German forces. However, Falkenhayn's prediction of a greater ratio of French killed proved to be wrong as both sides took heavy casualties. Falkenhayn was replaced by [[Erich Ludendorff]], and with no success in sight, the German Army pulled out of Verdun in December 1916 and the battle ended.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

====Eastern Front====
[[File:Map Treaty of Brest-Litovsk-de.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] at the time of the cease-fire and the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]]]]

While the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] was a stalemate for the German Army, the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] eventually proved to be a great success. Despite initial setbacks due to the unexpectedly rapid mobilisation of the Russian army, which resulted in a Russian invasion of East Prussia and Austrian [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]], the badly organised and supplied [[Imperial Russian Army|Russian Army]] [[Battle of Tannenberg|faltered]] and the German and Austro-Hungarian armies thereafter steadily advanced eastward. The Germans benefited from political instability in Russia and its population's desire to end the war. In 1917 the German government allowed Russia's communist [[Bolshevik]] leader [[Vladimir Lenin]] to travel through Germany from [[Switzerland]] into Russia. Germany believed that if Lenin could create further political unrest, Russia would no longer be able to continue its war with Germany, allowing the German Army to focus on the Western Front.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

In March 1917, the [[Tsar]] was ousted from the Russian throne, and in November a [[Bolshevik]] government came to power under the leadership of Lenin. Facing political opposition, he decided to end Russia's campaign against Germany, Austria-Hungary, the [[Ottoman Empire]] and [[Bulgaria]] to redirect Bolshevik energy to eliminating internal dissent. In March 1918, by the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Russia–Central Powers)|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]], the Bolshevik government gave Germany and the Ottoman Empire enormous territorial and economic concessions in exchange for an end to war on the Eastern Front. All of present-day <!--three Baltic countries--> [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]] and [[Lithuania]] was given over to the German occupation authority ''[[Ober Ost]]'', along with [[Belarus]] and [[Ukraine]]. Thus Germany had at last achieved its long-wanted dominance of "Mitteleuropa" (Central Europe) and could now focus fully on defeating the Allies on the Western Front. In practice, however, the forces that were needed to garrison and secure the new territories were a drain on the German war effort.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

====Colonies====
Germany quickly lost almost all its colonies. However, in [[German East Africa]], a guerrilla campaign was waged by the colonial army leader there, General [[Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck|Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck]]. Using Germans and native [[Askari]]s, Lettow-Vorbeck launched multiple guerrilla raids against British forces in [[Kenya]] and [[Rhodesia]]. He also invaded [[Portuguese Mozambique]] to gain his forces supplies and to pick up more Askari recruits. His force was still active at war's end.<ref>{{Harvp|Hoyt|1981}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref>

====1918====
[[File:German Empire in 1918.png|thumb|The German Empire during [[World War I]], shortly before its collapse:
{{Legend|#336733|Home Territory (1871–1918)}}
{{Legend|#48a448|[[Puppet states]] (1917–1918)}}
{{Legend|#77c977|Occupied territory (1914–1918)}}]]
The defeat of Russia in 1917 enabled Germany to transfer hundreds of thousands of troops from the Eastern to the Western Front, giving it a numerical advantage over the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]]. By retraining the soldiers in new [[infiltration tactics]], the Germans expected to unfreeze the battlefield and win a decisive victory before the army of the United States, which had now entered the war on the side of the Allies, arrived in strength.<ref>{{Harvp|Herwig|1996}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> In what was known as the "Kaiserschlacht", Germany converged their troops and delivered multiple blows that pushed back the allies. However, the repeated German offensives in the spring of 1918 all failed, as the Allies fell back and regrouped and the Germans lacked the [[military reserve|reserves]] needed to consolidate their gains. Meanwhile, soldiers had become radicalised by the [[Russian Revolution]] and were less willing to continue fighting. The war effort sparked civil unrest in Germany, while the troops, who had been constantly in the field without relief, grew exhausted and lost all hope of victory. In the summer of 1918, the British Army was at its peak strength with as many as 4.5&nbsp;million men on the western front and 4,000 tanks for the Hundred Days Offensive, the Americans arriving at the rate of 10,000 a day, Germany's allies facing collapse and the German Empire's manpower exhausted, it was only a matter of time before multiple Allied offensives destroyed the German army.<ref>{{Harvp|Paschall|1994}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref>

The concept of "[[total war]]" meant that supplies had to be redirected towards the armed forces and, with German commerce being stopped by the Allied [[naval blockade]], German civilians were forced to live in increasingly meagre conditions. First [[food prices]] were controlled, then rationing was introduced. During the war about 750,000 German civilians died from malnutrition.<ref>{{Cite web |last=German Historical Museum |author-link=German Historical Museum |title=1914–18: Lebensmittelversorgung |url=http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/wk1/wirtschaft/versorgung/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001102140012/http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/wk1/wirtschaft/versorgung/index.html |archive-date=2 November 2000 |access-date=23 July 2007 |language=de}}</ref>

Towards the end of the war, conditions deteriorated rapidly on the home front, with severe food shortages reported in all urban areas. The causes included the transfer of many farmers and food workers into the military, combined with the overburdened railway system, shortages of coal, and the British blockade. The winter of 1916–1917 was known as the "turnip winter" because the people had to survive on a vegetable more commonly reserved for livestock as a substitute for potatoes and meat, which were increasingly scarce. Thousands of soup kitchens were opened to feed the hungry, who grumbled that the farmers were keeping the food for themselves. Even the army had to cut the soldiers' rations.{{Sfnp|Chickering|2004|pages=141–142}} The morale of both civilians and soldiers continued to sink. The population of Germany was already suffering from outbreaks of disease due to malnutrition due to Allied blockade preventing food imports. [[Spanish flu]] arrived in Germany with returning troops. Around 287,000 people died of Spanish flu in Germany between 1918 and 1920 with 50,000 deaths in Berlin alone.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

=====Revolt and demise=====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 175-01448, Berlin, Reichskanzlei, Philipp Scheidemann.jpg|thumb|The [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD]] leader [[Philipp Scheidemann]] [[Proclamation of the republic in Germany|proclaims the republic for Germany]] from the [[Reichstag building]] on 9 November 1918.]]
Many Germans wanted an end to the war and increasing numbers began to associate with the political left, such as the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] (SPD) and the more radical [[Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany|Independent Social Democratic Party]] (USPD), which demanded an end to the war. The [[American entry into World War I|entry of the U.S.]] into the war in April 1917 tipped the long-run [[balance of power (international relations)|balance of power]] even more in favour of the Allies.

The end of October 1918, in [[Kiel]], in northern Germany, saw the beginning of the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919]]. Units of the German Navy refused to set sail for a last, large-scale operation in a war which they saw as good as lost, initiating the uprising. On 3 November, the revolt spread to other cities and states of the country, in many of which [[German workers' and soldiers' councils 1918–1919|workers' and soldiers' councils]] were established. Meanwhile, Hindenburg and the senior generals lost confidence in the Kaiser and his government.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

[[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] signed the [[Armistice of Salonica]] on 29 September 1918. The [[Ottoman Empire]] signed the [[Armistice of Mudros]] on 30 October 1918. Between 24 October and 3 November 1918, Italy defeated [[Austria-Hungary]] in the [[battle of Vittorio Veneto]], which forced Austria-Hungary to sign the [[Armistice of Villa Giusti]] on 3 November 1918. So, in November 1918, with internal revolution, the Allies [[Hundred Days Offensive|advancing toward Germany on the Western Front]], Austria-Hungary falling apart from multiple ethnic tensions, its other allies out of the war and pressure from the German high command, the Kaiser and all German ruling kings, dukes, and princes abdicated, and [[German nobility]] was abolished. On 9 November, the Social Democrat [[Philipp Scheidemann]] [[Proclamation of the republic in Germany|proclaimed a republic]]. The new government led by the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|German Social Democrats]] called for and received an [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|armistice]] on 11 November. It was succeeded by the [[Weimar Republic]].<ref>{{Harvp|Ryder|2008}}.{{Page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> Those opposed, including disaffected veterans, joined a diverse set of paramilitary and underground political groups such as the [[Freikorps]], the [[Organisation Consul]], and the Communists.

==Constitution==
{{Main|Constitution of the German Empire}}

The Empire was a [[Federal monarchy|federal]] [[Parliamentary system|parliamentary]] [[constitutional monarchy]].

The [[Bundesrat (German Empire)|Federal Council]] ({{Lang|de|Bundesrat}}) held sovereignty over the Empire and served as its highest authority.<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 January 2019 |title=Bundesrat |url=https://deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/wordpress/bundesrat |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127042750/https://deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/wordpress/bundesrat |archive-date=27 January 2023 |access-date=29 April 2023 |website=deutsche-schutzgebiete.de |language=de}}</ref> The {{Lang|de|Bundesrat}} was a legislative body that possessed the right of [[Right of initiative (legislative)|legislative initiative]] (Article VII Nr. 1) and, because all laws required its consent, could effectively veto any bill coming from the ''Reichstag'' (Article V).<ref name="Constitution of the German Empire">{{Cite wikisource |title=Constitution of the German Empire}}</ref> The {{Lang|de|Bundesrat}} was able to set guidelines and make organisational changes within the executive branch, act as supreme arbitrator in administrative disputes between states, and serve as constitutional court for states that did not have a constitutional court (Article LXXVI).<ref name="Constitution of the German Empire"/> It was composed of representatives who were appointed by and reported to the state governments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Haardt |first=Oliver F. R. |date=2020 |title=Der Bundesrat in Verfassung und Wirklichkeit |trans-title=The Federal Council in the Constitution and Reality |url=https://www.demokratie-geschichte.de/index.php/3158/der-bundesrat-in-verfassung-und-wirklichkeit |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430135720/https://www.demokratie-geschichte.de/index.php/3158/der-bundesrat-in-verfassung-und-wirklichkeit |archive-date=30 April 2023 |access-date=29 April 2023 |website=Orte der Demokratie Geschichte |language=de}}</ref>

The [[Reichstag (German Empire)|Imperial Diet]] (''Reichstag'') was a legislative body elected by universal male suffrage that effectively served as parliament. It had the right to propose bills and, with the concurrence of the {{Lang|de|Bundesrat}}, approve the state budget annually and the military budget for periods of seven years until 1893, then after that for five years. All laws required the ''Reichstag's'' approval to pass.<ref name="Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung-2016">{{Cite web |date=2016 |title=Das Deutsche Kaiserreich 1871–1918: Der föderative Nationalstaat |trans-title=The German Empire 1871–1918: The Federal Nation State |url=https://www.bpb.de/system/files/dokument_pdf/BPB_IzpB_329_Kaiserreich_barrierefrei.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430142927/https://www.bpb.de/system/files/dokument_pdf/BPB_IzpB_329_Kaiserreich_barrierefrei.pdf |archive-date=30 April 2023 |access-date=29 April 2023 |website=Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung |page=10 |language=de}}</ref> After the [[German constitutional reforms of October 1918|constitutional reforms of October 1918]], the Reich chancellor, through a change to Article XV, became dependent on the confidence of the ''Reichstag'' rather than the emperor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gesetz zur Abänderung der Reichsverfassung vom 28. Oktober 1918 |trans-title=Law Amending the Imperial Constitution of 28 October 1918 |url=http://www.documentarchiv.de/ksr/1918/reichsverfassung-aenderung_ges02.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115062232/http://www.documentarchiv.de/ksr/1918/reichsverfassung-aenderung_ges02.html |archive-date=15 November 2022 |access-date=29 April 2023 |website=documentarchiv.de |language=de}}</ref>

The [[German emperor|emperor]] (''[[Kaiser]]'') was [[head of state]] of the Empire – he was not a ruler. He appointed the chancellor, usually the person able to command the confidence of the ''Reichstag''. The chancellor, in consultation with the emperor, determined the government's broad policy guidelines and presented them to the ''Reichstag.''<ref name="Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung-2016"/> On the advice of the chancellor, the emperor appointed the ministers and – at least formally – all other imperial officers. All acts of the emperor except for military directives{{Sfnp|Huber|1988|p=1003}} required the countersignature of the chancellor (Article XVII). The emperor was also responsible for signing bills into law, declaring war (which required the consent of the ''Bundesrat''), negotiating peace, making treaties, and calling and adjourning sessions of the {{Lang|de|Bundesrat}} and the ''Reichstag'' (Articles XI and XII). The emperor was [[commander-in-chief]] of the Empire's [[Imperial German Army|Army]] (Article LXIII) and [[Imperial German Navy|Navy]] (Article LIII);<ref name="Constitution of the German Empire"/> when exercising his military authority he had [[plenary power]].

The chancellor was [[head of government]] and chaired the {{Lang|de|Bundesrat}} and the Imperial Government, led the lawmaking process and countersigned all acts of the emperor (except for military directives).<ref name="Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung-2016"/>

==Constituent states==
{{Main|States of the German Empire}}

{{See also|List of historic states of Germany}}
[[File:Wappen und Flaggen des Deutschen Reichs und der Preußischen Provinzen.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Coats of arms and flags of the constituent states in 1900]]

Before unification, German territory (excluding Austria and Switzerland) was made up of 27 constituent states. These states consisted of kingdoms, grand duchies, duchies, principalities, free [[Hanseaten (class)|Hanseatic]] cities and one imperial territory. The free cities had a republican form of government on the state level, even though the Empire at large was constituted as a monarchy, and so were most of the states. Prussia was the largest of the constituent states, covering two-thirds of the empire's territory.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Several of these states had gained sovereignty following the dissolution of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and had been ''de facto'' sovereign from the mid-1600s onward. Others were created as sovereign states after the [[Congress of Vienna]] in 1815. Territories were not necessarily contiguous—many existed in several parts, as a result of historical acquisitions, or, in several cases, divisions of the ruling families. Some of the initially existing states, in particular Hanover, were abolished and annexed by Prussia as a result of the war of 1866.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Each component of the German Empire sent representatives to the Federal Council (''Bundesrat'') and, via single-member districts, the Imperial Diet (''Reichstag''). Relations between the Imperial centre and the Empire's components were somewhat fluid and were developed on an ongoing basis. The extent to which the German Emperor could, for example, intervene on occasions of disputed or unclear succession was much debated on occasion—for example in the inheritance crisis in [[Principality of Lippe|Lippe-Detmold]].{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Unusually for a federation or a nation-state, the German states maintained limited autonomy over foreign affairs and continued to exchange ambassadors and other diplomats (both with each other and directly with foreign nations) for the Empire's entire existence. Shortly after the Empire was proclaimed, Bismarck implemented a convention in which his sovereign would only send and receive envoys to and from other German states as the King of Prussia, while envoys from Berlin sent to foreign nations always received credentials from the monarch in his capacity as German Emperor. In this way, the Prussian foreign ministry was largely tasked with managing relations with the other German states while the Imperial foreign ministry managed Germany's external relations.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

===Map and table===
{{German Empire States|width=600|include_list=y}}

===Other maps===
<gallery widths=180>
Karte Deutsches Reich, Verwaltungsgliederung 1900-01-01.png|Administrative map
Meyers b4 s0812a.jpg|Population density ({{Circa|1885}})
Karte der Reichstagswahlkreise farbig-2011-11-09.svg|Election constituencies for the Reichstag
Deutsches Kaiserreich 1893.jpg|Detailed map in 1893 with cities and larger towns
</gallery>

==Demographics==
[[File:Sprachen Deutsches Reich 1900.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Percentage of linguistic minorities of the German Empire in 1900 by [[Kreis in Prussia|Kreis]]]]

About 92% of the population spoke German as their first language. The only minority language with a significant number of speakers (5.4%) was [[Polish language|Polish]] (a figure that rises to over 6% when including the related [[Kashubian language|Kashubian]] and [[Masurian dialects|Masurian]] languages).

The non-German [[Germanic languages]] (0.5%), like [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and [[North Frisian language|Frisian]], were located in the north and northwest of the empire, near the borders with [[Denmark]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]], and [[Luxembourg]]. [[Low German]] was spoken throughout northern Germany and, though linguistically as distinct from High German (''Hochdeutsch'') as from Dutch and English, was considered "German", hence also its name. Danish and [[North Frisian language|Frisian]] were spoken predominantly in the north of the [[Prussia]]n [[province of Schleswig-Holstein]] and Dutch in the western border areas of Prussia ([[Province of Hanover|Hanover]], [[Province of Westphalia|Westphalia]], and the [[Rhine Province]]).

Polish and other [[West Slavic languages]] (6.28%) were spoken chiefly in the east.{{Efn|1={{Citation needed span|date=June 2020|text=The Slavic speakers included [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Masurian dialects|Masurian]], [[Kashubian language|Kashubian]], [[Sorbian languages|Sorbian]] and [[Czech language|Czech]] were located in the east; Polish mainly in the [[Prussia]]n [[Provinces of Prussia|provinces]] of [[Province of Posen|Posen]], [[West Prussia]] and [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]] ([[Upper Silesia]]). Small islands also existed in [[Recklinghausen]] ([[Province of Westphalia|Westphalia]]) with 13.8% of the population and in the [[Districts of Prussia|Kreis]] of [[Calau]] ([[Province of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]]) (5.5%) and in parts of [[East Prussia]] and [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Pomerania]]. Czech was spoken predominantly in the south of the [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]], Masurian in the south of East Prussia, Kashubian in the north of West Prussia and Sorbian in the [[Lusatia]]n regions of Prussia (Brandenburg and Silesia) and the [[Kingdom of Saxony]].}}}}
A few (0.5%) spoke French, the vast majority of these in the Reichsland [[Elsass-Lothringen]] where francophones formed 11.6% of the total population.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

===1900 census results===
[[File:Demographics of pre-WW1 Europe.png|thumb|400px|Demographics of pre-WW1 European countries]]
{| class="wikitable sortable toptextcells" style="text-align:left"
|+Native languages of the citizens of the German Empire<br/>(1 December 1900)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fremdsprachige Minderheiten im Deutschen Reich |url=http://www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/fremdsprachen.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206125600/http://www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/fremdsprachen.html |archive-date=6 February 2010 |access-date=20 January 2010 |language=de}}</ref>
! style="background:#b3b7ff" | language
! style="background:#b3b7ff" |Count
! style="background:#b3b7ff" |Percentage
|-
|German{{Efn|Including [[Low German]]}}
|style="text-align:right"|51,883,131
|style="text-align:right"|92.05
|-
|German and a foreign language
|style="text-align:right"|252,918
|style="text-align:right"|0.45
|-
|[[polish language|Polish]]
|style="text-align:right"|3,086,489
|style="text-align:right"|5.48
|-
|French
|style="text-align:right"|211,679
|style="text-align:right"|0.38
|-
|[[Masurian dialects|Masurian]]
|style="text-align:right"|142,049
|style="text-align:right"|0.25
|-
|[[Danish language|Danish]]
|style="text-align:right"|141,061
|style="text-align:right"|0.25
|-
|[[lithuanian language|Lithuanian]]
|style="text-align:right"|106,305
|style="text-align:right"|0.19
|-
|[[Kashubian language|Kashubian]]
|style="text-align:right"|100,213
|style="text-align:right"|0.18
|-
|[[Sorbian languages|Wendish (Sorbian)]]
|style="text-align:right"|93,032
|style="text-align:right"|0.16
|-
|[[Dutch language|Dutch]]
|style="text-align:right"|80,361
|style="text-align:right"|0.14
|-
|Italian
|style="text-align:right"|65,930
|style="text-align:right"|0.12
|-
|[[Czech language|Moravian (Czech)]]
|style="text-align:right"|64,382
|style="text-align:right"|0.11
|-
|[[Czech language|Czech]]
|style="text-align:right"|43,016
|style="text-align:right"|0.08
|-
|[[North Frisian language|Frisian]]
|style="text-align:right"|20,677
|style="text-align:right"|0.04
|-
|English
|style="text-align:right"|20,217
|style="text-align:right"|0.04
|-
|Russian
|style="text-align:right"|9,617
|style="text-align:right"|0.02
|-
|[[Swedish language|Swedish]]
|style="text-align:right"|8,998
|style="text-align:right"|0.02
|-
|[[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]
|style="text-align:right"|8,158
|style="text-align:right"|0.01
|-
|Spanish
|style="text-align:right"|2,059
|style="text-align:right"|0.00
|-
|[[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]
|style="text-align:right"|479
|style="text-align:right"|0.00
|-
| Other foreign languages
|style="text-align:right"|14,535
|style="text-align:right"|0.03
|- style="background:#ffffec" 
||'''Imperial citizens'''
| style="text-align:right" | '''56,367,187'''
| style="text-align:right" | '''100'''
|}

===Linguistic maps===
<gallery widths=180>
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 dänisch.png|[[Danish language|Danish]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 niederländisch.png|[[Dutch language|Dutch]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 friesisch.png|[[North Frisian language|Frisian]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 polnisch.png|[[Polish language|Polish]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 tschechisch.png|[[Czech language|Czech]] (and [[Moravian language|Moravian]])
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 masurisch.png|[[Masurian dialects|Masurian]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 kaschubisch.png|[[Kashubian language|Kashubian]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 sorbisch.png|[[Sorbian languages|Sorbian]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 französisch.png|[[French language|French]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 wallonisch.png|[[Walloon language|Walloon]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 italienisch.png|[[Italian language|Italian]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 litauisch.png|[[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]]
Sprachen deutsches reich 1900 nichtdeutsch.png|non-German
</gallery>

== Immigration ==
In the 1860s, Russia removed privileges for German emigrants and placed pressure on German immigrants to assimilate. The majority of German emigrants left Russia after the turn of the century. Many of these ethnic Germans immigrated back to Germany.{{Sfnp|Oltmer|2006|pp=429–446}}

== Religion ==
[[File:Wilhelm II Auguste Viktoria Jerusalem 1898.jpg|thumb|right|Emperor Wilhelm II, who was the ''Supreme Governor of the [[Evangelical Church of Prussia]]'s older Provinces'', and Empress [[Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg|Augusta Victoria]] after the inauguration of the [[Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem|Evangelical Church of the Redeemer]] in Jerusalem ([[Reformation Day]], 31&nbsp;October 1898)]]
{{Further|Landeskirche}}

Generally, religious demographics of the [[early modern period]] hardly changed. Still, there were almost entirely Catholic areas (Lower and Upper Bavaria, northern Westphalia, Upper Silesia, etc.) and almost entirely Protestant areas (Schleswig-Holstein, Pomerania, Saxony, etc.). Confessional prejudices, especially towards mixed marriages, were still common. Bit by bit, through internal migration, religious blending was more and more common. In eastern territories, confession was almost uniquely perceived to be connected to one's ethnicity and the equation "Protestant = German, Catholic = Polish" was held to be valid. In areas affected by immigration in the Ruhr area and Westphalia, as well as in some large cities, the religious landscape changed substantially. This was especially true in largely Catholic areas of Westphalia, which changed through Protestant immigration from the eastern provinces.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Politically, the confessional division of Germany had considerable consequences. In Catholic areas, the Centre Party had a big electorate. On the other hand, Social Democrats and [[Free Trade Unions (Germany)|Free Trade Unions]] usually received hardly any votes in the Catholic areas of the Ruhr. This began to change with the secularization arising in the last decades of the German Empire.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
|+ Religious confessions in the German Empire 1880
|-
! rowspan="2"|Area
! colspan="2"|Protestant
! colspan="2"|Catholic
! colspan="2"|Other Christian
! colspan="2"|Jewish
! colspan="2"|Other
|-
!Number
!%
!Number
!%
!Number
!%
!Number
!%
!Number
!%
|-
|style="text-align:left"| Prussia || 17,633,279 || 64.64 || 9,206,283 || 33.75 || 52,225 || 0.19 || 363,790 || 1.33 || 23,534 || 0.09
|-
|style="text-align:left"| Bavaria || 1,477,952 || 27.97 || 3,748,253 || 70.93 || 5,017 || 0.09 || 53,526 || 1.01 || 30 || 0.00
|-
|style="text-align:left"| Saxony || 2,886,806 || 97.11 || 74,333 || 2.50 || 4,809 || 0.16 || 6,518 || 0.22 || 339 || 0.01
|-
|style="text-align:left"| Württemberg || 1,364,580 || 69.23 || 590,290 || 29.95 || 2,817 || 0.14 || 13,331 || 0.68 || 100 || 0.01
|-
|style="text-align:left"| Baden || 547,461 || 34.86 || 993,109 || 63.25 || 2,280 || 0.15 || 27,278 || 1.74 || 126 || 0.01
|-
|style="text-align:left"| Alsace-Lorraine || 305,315 || 19.49 || 1,218,513 || 77.78 || 3,053 || 0.19 || 39,278 || 2.51 || 511 || 0.03
|- style="background:#EAECF0"  class="sortbottom"
|style="text-align:left"| '''Total''' || 28,331,152 || 62.63 || 16,232,651 || 35.89 || 78,031 || 0.17 || 561,612 || 1.24 || 30,615 || 0.07
|}

In Germany's [[German colonial empire|overseas colonial empire]], millions of subjects practiced various [[indigenous religions]] in addition to Christianity. Over two million [[Muslims]] also lived under German colonial rule, primarily in [[German East Africa]].{{Sfnp|Levenda|2014|p=64}}
<gallery widths=180>
Verbreitung der Konfessionen im deutschen Reich.jpg|Distribution of Protestants and Catholics in Imperial Germany
Meyers b4 s0817a.jpg|Distribution of Protestants, Catholics and Jews in Imperial Germany (Meyers Konversationslexikon)
Verbreitung der Juden im deutschen Reich.jpg|Distribution of Jews in Imperial Germany
</gallery>

== Coat of arms ==
<gallery class="center">
Greater Coat of Arms of the German Empire.svg|[[Coat of arms of Germany|Greater Imperial coat of arms of Germany]]
Middle Coat of Arms of the German Empire.svg|[[Coat of arms of Germany|Middle Imperial coat of arms of Germany]]
Reichsadler (1871-1918).svg|[[Coat of arms of Germany|Lesser Imperial coat of arms of Germany]]
</gallery>

==Legacy==
The defeat and [[aftermath of the First World War]] and the penalties imposed by the [[Treaty of Versailles]] shaped the positive memory of the Empire, especially among Germans who distrusted and despised the Weimar Republic. Conservatives, liberals, socialists, nationalists, Catholics and Protestants all had their own interpretations, which led to a fractious political and social climate in Germany in the aftermath of the empire's collapse.

[[File:War Ensign of Germany 1903-1918.svg|thumb|[[Reichskriegsflagge|War flag]] of the German Empire used since 1903. In 1956, the [[Iron Cross]] was re-introduced as the symbol of the ''{{Lang|de|[[Bundeswehr]]}}'', the modern German armed forces.]]
Under Bismarck, a united German state had finally been achieved, but it remained a Prussian-dominated state and did not include German Austria as [[Pan-German]] nationalists had desired. The influence of Prussian [[militarism]], the Empire's colonial efforts and its vigorous, competitive industrial prowess all gained it the dislike and envy of other nations. The German Empire enacted a number of progressive reforms, such as Europe's first social welfare system and freedom of press. There was also a modern system for electing the federal parliament, the Reichstag, in which every adult man had one vote. This enabled the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrats]] and the Catholic [[Centre Party (Germany)|Centre Party]] to play considerable roles in the empire's political life despite the continued hostility of Prussian aristocrats.

The era of the German Empire is well remembered in Germany as one of great cultural and intellectual vigour. [[Thomas Mann]] published his novel ''[[Buddenbrooks]]'' in 1901. [[Theodor Mommsen]] received the [[Nobel prize for literature]] a year later for his Roman history. Painters like the groups [[Der Blaue Reiter]] and [[Die Brücke]] made a significant contribution to modern art. The [[AEG turbine factory]] in Berlin by [[Peter Behrens]] from 1909 was a milestone in classic modern architecture and an outstanding example of emerging functionalism. The social, economic, and scientific successes of this {{Lang|de|[[Gründerzeit]]}}, or founding epoch, have sometimes led the Wilhelmine era to be regarded as a [[golden age]].

In the field of economics, the "''Kaiserzeit''" laid the foundation of Germany's status as one of the world's leading economic powers. The iron and coal industries of the [[Ruhr]], the [[Saarland|Saar]] and [[Upper Silesia]] especially contributed to that process. The first motorcar was built by [[Karl Benz]] in 1886. The enormous growth of industrial production and industrial potential also led to a rapid urbanisation of Germany, which turned the Germans into a nation of city dwellers. More than 5&nbsp;million people left Germany for the [[German American|United States]] during the 19th century.<ref>"[https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/german4.html A New Surge of Growth] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206045546/http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/german4.html |date=6 February 2018}}". [[Library of Congress]].</ref>

===Sonderweg===
{{Main|Sonderweg}}

Many historians have emphasized the central importance of a German {{Lang|de|[[Sonderweg]]}} or "special path" (or "exceptionalism") as the root of Nazism and the German catastrophe in the 20th century. According to the 1988 historiography by [[Jürgen Kocka]], the process of nation-building from above had very grievous long-term implications. In terms of parliamentary democracy, Parliament was kept weak, the parties were fragmented, and there was a high level of mutual distrust. The Nazis built on the illiberal, anti-pluralist elements of Weimar's political culture. The Junker elites (the large landowners in the east) and senior civil servants used their great power and influence well into the twentieth century to frustrate any movement toward democracy. They played an especially negative role in the crisis of 1930–1933. Bismarck's emphasis on military force amplified the voice of the officer corps, which combined advanced modernisation of military technology with reactionary politics. The rising upper-middle-class elites, in the business, financial and professional worlds, tended to accept the values of the old traditional elites. The German Empire was for [[Hans-Ulrich Wehler]] a strange mixture of highly successful capitalist industrialisation and socio-economic modernisation on the one hand, and of surviving pre-industrial institutions, power relations and traditional cultures on the other. Wehler argues that it produced a high degree of internal tension, which led on the one hand to the suppression of socialists, Catholics and reformers, and on the other hand to a highly aggressive foreign policy. For these reasons [[Fritz Fischer (historian)|Fritz Fischer]] and his students emphasised Germany's primary guilt for causing the First World War.{{Sfnp|Kocka|1988|pp=3–16}}

Wehler, a leader of the [[Bielefeld School]] of social history, places the origins of Germany's path to disaster in the 1860s–1870s, when economic modernisation took place, but political modernisation did not happen, and the old Prussian rural elite remained in firm control of the army, diplomacy and the civil service. Traditional, aristocratic, premodern society battled an emerging capitalist, bourgeois, modernising society. Recognising the importance of modernising forces in industry and the economy and in the cultural realm, Wehler argues that reactionary traditionalism dominated the political hierarchy of power in Germany, as well as social mentalities and in class relations ({{Lang|de|Klassenhabitus}}). The catastrophic German politics between 1914 and 1945 are interpreted in terms of a delayed modernisation of its political structures. At the core of Wehler's interpretation is his treatment of "the middle class" and "revolution", each of which was instrumental in shaping the 20th century. Wehler's examination of Nazi rule is shaped by his concept of "charismatic domination", which focuses heavily on Hitler.<ref>{{Harvp|Wehler|2003}}.{{Page needed|date=May 2025}} None of the series has yet been translated into English, but a partial summary appears in {{Harvp|Wehler|1985}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref>

The historiographical concept of a German {{Lang|de|Sonderweg}} has had a turbulent history. 19th-century scholars who emphasised a separate German path to modernity saw it as a positive factor that differentiated Germany from the "western path" typified by Great Britain. They stressed the strong bureaucratic state, reforms initiated by Bismarck and other strong leaders, the Prussian service ethos, the high culture of philosophy and music, and Germany's pioneering of a social welfare state. In the 1950s, historians in [[West Germany]] argued that the {{Lang|de|Sonderweg}} led Germany to the disaster of 1933–1945. The special circumstances of German historical structures and experiences, were interpreted as preconditions that, while not directly causing National Socialism, did hamper the development of a liberal democracy and facilitate the rise of fascism. The {{Lang|de|Sonderweg}} paradigm has provided the impetus for at least three strands of research in German historiography: the "[[long 19th century]]", the history of the bourgeoisie, and comparisons with the West. After 1990, increased attention to cultural dimensions and to comparative and relational history moved German historiography to different topics, with much less attention paid to the {{Lang|de|Sonderweg}}. While some historians have abandoned the {{Lang|de|Sonderweg}} thesis, they have not provided a generally accepted alternative interpretation.{{Sfnp|Smith|2008|pp=225–240}}

== Military ==
The Empire of Germany had two armed forces:
*the [[Imperial German Army]], which included
** ''[[Schutztruppe]]'',
** [[Imperial German Air Service]], and
*the [[Imperial German Navy]],
** ''[[Seebataillon]]''.

==Territorial legacy==
{{Main|Territorial evolution of Germany}}

In addition to present-day Germany, large parts of what comprised the German Empire now belong to several other modern European countries.
[[File:Former German territories.svg|upright=1.35|thumb|German territories lost in both World Wars are shown in black, while present-day Germany is marked dark grey on this 1914 map.]]
{|class="wikitable"
! scope="col" style="width: 1em; overflow: hidden" | <div style="position: absolute; text-indent: -1000px" >When lost from Germany</div>
! scope="col" | Name
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Region
|-
| style="background: #c0c0c0; width: 1em; overflow: hidden" | <div style="position: absolute; text-indent: -1000px" >Both World Wars</div>
! scope="row" | [[Alsace-Lorraine]]
| France
| The [[Departments of France|departments]] of {{Lang|fr|[[Bas-Rhin]]|italic=no}}, {{Lang|fr|[[Haut-Rhin]]|italic=no}} (both within [[Alsace]] region) and {{Lang|fr|[[Moselle (department)|Moselle]]|italic=no}} (northeastern part of the [[Lorraine]] region)
|-
| style="background: #c0c0c0; width: 1em; overflow: hidden" | <div style="position: absolute; text-indent: -1000px" >Both World Wars</div>
! scope="row" | [[Eupen-Malmedy]]
| [[Belgium]]
| The two towns of [[Eupen]] and [[Malmedy]] and the [[municipalities of Belgium|municipalities]] of [[Amel]], [[Büllingen]], [[Burg-Reuland]], [[Bütgenbach]], [[Kelmis]], [[Lontzen]], [[Raeren]], [[Waimes]] and [[St. Vith]] (all are parts of [[Liège Province]] in the [[Wallonia]] region on the Belgian–German border)
|-
| style="background: #696969; width: 1em; overflow: hidden" | <div style="position: absolute; text-indent: -1000px" >World War II</div>
! scope="row" | [[Duivelsberg|Wylerberg]]
| [[Netherlands]]
| {{Lang|nl|[[Duivelsberg]]|italic=no}} ({{Langx|de|Wylerberg|italic=no}}), an uninhabited hill and some nearby slivers of land, annexed by the Netherlands after WWII
|-
| style="background: white; width: 1em; overflow: hidden" | <div style="position: absolute; text-indent: -1000px" >World War I</div>
! scope="row" | [[South Jutland County|Northern Schleswig]]
| [[Denmark]]
| [[South Jutland County]] (excluding towns of Taps, Hejle and Vejstrup), and the towns of Hviding, Roager and Spandet
|-
| style="background: #c0c0c0; width: 1em; overflow: hidden" | <div style="position: absolute; text-indent: -1000px" >Both World Wars</div>
! scope="row" | [[Hlučín Region|Hultschin Region]]
| [[Czech Republic]]
| [[Hlučín Region]], on the Czech–Polish border in Silesia, whose German population was [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)|partially deported following WWII]]; part of [[Czechoslovakia]] until its dissolution in 1992
|-
| style="background: #c0c0c0; width: 1em; overflow: hidden" | <div style="position: absolute; text-indent: -1000px" >Both World Wars</div>
! scope="row" | [[Klaipėda Region|Memel Territory]]
| [[Lithuania]]
| [[Klaipėda Region]], annexed by [[Lithuania]] in 1923, retaken by [[Nazi Germany]] in 1939, from which Germans were [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)|deported following WWII]] by the Soviet authorities; now part of independent Lithuania since 1990
|-
| style="background: #c0c0c0; width: 1em; overflow: hidden" | <div style="position: absolute; text-indent: -1000px" >Both World Wars</div>
! scope="row" | Most of [[West Prussia]] and [[Province of Posen|Posen]], a part of [[Upper Silesia]], parts of the districts of [[Bytów|Bütow]] and [[Lębork|Lauenburg]] in [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Pomerania]],<ref name="Brockhaus 1933">''Der Große Brockhaus''. 15th edition, vol. 14, Leipzig 1933, p. 741.</ref> [[Działdowo|Soldau]] in [[East Prussia]]
| [[Poland]]
| [[Silesian Voivodeship|Silesian]], [[Pomeranian Voivodeship|Pomeranian]] and [[Greater Poland Voivodeship]]s, parts of [[Bytów County|Bytów]] and [[Lębork County|Lębork]] counties, and [[Działdowo County]] with the town proper (the German population was [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)|deported following WWII]])
|-
| style="background: #696969; width: 1em; overflow: hidden" | <div style="position: absolute; text-indent: -1000px" >World War II</div>
! scope="row" | [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]], [[Neumark|East Brandenburg]], [[Warmia]], [[Masuria]], southern East Prussia, central and eastern parts of [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Pomerania]]
| [[Poland]]
| Northern and western parts of the country, including [[Pomerania]], [[Silesia]], [[Lubusz Land]], [[Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Warmia and Masuria]], from all of which Germans were [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)|deported following WWII]]
|-
| style="background: #696969; width: 1em; overflow: hidden" | <div style="position: absolute; text-indent: -1000px" >World War II</div>
! scope="row" | Northern [[East Prussia]]
| Russia
| The [[Kaliningrad Oblast]] exclave on the Baltic, from which Germans were [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)|deported following WWII]]. Transferred to the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]] and continued as a part of Russia following the [[collapse of the Soviet Union]]
|}
{{Legend|#ffffff|Denotes territories lost in World War I}}
{{Legend|#c0c0c0|Denotes territories lost in both World Wars}}
{{Legend|#696969|Denotes territories lost in World War II}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Germany}}
* [[Economic history of Germany]]
* [[Kingdom of Germany]]
* [[List of German monarchs]]
* [[List of German monarchs in 1918]]
* [[Timeline of the German Empire]]
* [[Spa Conference (29 September 1918)]]
* [[Spa Conferences (First World War)]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
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* {{Cite book |last=Preble |first=George Henry |author-link=George Henry Preble |title=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 |date=1894 |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin and Co |location=Boston |oclc=681420896}}
* {{Cite book |last=Röhl |first=John C. G. |author-link=John C. G. Röhl |title=Kaiser Wilhelm II: A Concise Life |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107072251 |location=Cambridge}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ross |first=Ronald J. |author-link=Ronald J. Ross |title=The failure of Bismarck's Kulturkampf: Catholicism and state power in imperial Germany, 1871–1887 |date=1998 |publisher=Catholic Univ. of America Press |isbn=0813208947 |location=Washington, DC |oclc=36165040 |ol=991581M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ryder |first=A. J. |title=The German Revolution of 1918: A Study of German Socialism in War and Revolt |date=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5210-8965-4 |location=Cambridge |ol=7134827W}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Seligmann |first=Matthew S. |date=2002 |title=A Barometer of National Confidence': a British Assessment of the Role of Insecurity in the Formulation of German Military Policy before the First World War |journal=English Historical Review |volume=117 |issue=471 |pages=333–355 |doi=10.1093/ehr/117.471.333 |jstor=579563}}
* {{Cite book |last=Seyler |first=Gustav |title=Die Wappen der deutschen Landesfürsten. 1. Bd., 1. Abt. 2. – 5. Teil |date=1981 |publisher=Bauer & Raspe |isbn=3879470022 |location=Neustadt an der Aisch |language=de}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Helmut Walser |author-link=Helmut Walser Smith |date=2008 |title=When the Sonderweg Debate Left Us |journal=German Studies Review |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=225–240 |jstor=27668514}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Spencer |first=Elaine Glovka |date=1979 |title=Rules of the Ruhr: Leadership and Authority in German Big Business Before 1914 |journal=Business History Review |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=40–64 |doi=10.2307/3114686 |jstor=3114686}}
* {{Cite book |last=Stibbe |first=Matthew |title=German Anglophobia and the Great War, 1914–1918 |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5210-2728-1 |location=Cambridge}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Streb |first=Jochen May |date=2006 |title=Technological and geographical knowledge spillover in the German empire 1877–1918 |journal=Economic History Review |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=347–373 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0289.2006.00347.x |jstor=3805939}}
* {{Cite book |last=Stürmer |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Stürmer |title=The German Empire: 1870–1918 |date=2000 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-6796-4090-5 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Edmond |title=The fossil monarchies: the collapse of the old order, 1905–1922 |date=1967 |publisher=Penguin |location=Harmondsworth |oclc=249852112 |ref={{SfnRef|Taylor, Edmund|1967}}}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Tilly |first1=Richard H |title=From Old Regime to Industrial State: A History of German Industrialization from the Eighteenth Century to World War I |last2=Kopsidis |first2=Michael |date=2020 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-2267-2557-4 |location=Chicago |ol=21907223W}}
* {{Cite book |last=Tipton |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Tipton |title=A History of Modern Germany Since 1815 |date=2003 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=978-0-8264-4909-2 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Torp |first=Cornelius |title=The Challenges of Globalization: Economy and Politics in Germany, 1860–1914 |date=2014 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-7823-8503-5 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Vagts |first=Alfred |author-link=Alfred Vagts |date=1939 |title=Land and Sea Power in the Second German Reich |journal=The Journal of Military History |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=210–221 |doi=10.2307/3038611|jstor=3038611 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Wehler |first=Hans-Ulrich |author-link=Hans-Ulrich Wehler |title=The German Empire, 1871–1918 |date=1985 |publisher=Berg |isbn=978-0-9075-8232-8 |ol=8294504M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wehler |first=Hans-Ulrich |author-link=Hans-Ulrich Wehler |title=Vom Beginn des Ersten Weltkrieges bis zur Gründung der Beiden Deutschen Staaten 1914–1949 |date=2003 |publisher=C. H. Beck |isbn=3-4063-2490-8 |series=Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte |volume=4 |location=Munich |language=de |ol=2471874M |author-mask=2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wheeler-Bennett |first=John |author-link=John Wheeler-Bennett |title=The Nemesis of Power The German Army in Politics 1918–1945 |date=1967 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-1-4039-1812-3 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Whitaker |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Whitaker (publisher) |title=Whitaker's almanack, 1991 |date=1990 |publisher=J Whitaker & Sons |isbn=0850212057 |location=London}}
{{Refend}} 


==Further reading==
<!---If these books are cited in this article, they should be turned into citations within the article text:--->
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Germany |volume= 11 |last1= Ashworth |first1= Philip Arthur |author1-link= Philip Arthur Ashworth |last2= Lake |first2= Philip |last3= Atkinson |first3= Charles Francis |pages=804–828 and more to page 901}}
* {{Cite book |last=Barker |first=J. Ellis |title=Modern Germany; her political and economic problems, her foreign and domestic policy, her ambitions, and the causes of her success |date=1907 |ol=1116423W}}
* {{Cite book |last=Berghahn |first=Volker Rolf |author-link=Volker Berghahn |title=Modern Germany: society, economy, and politics in the twentieth century |date=1982 |isbn=0-5212-3185-X |ol=2135748W}}
* {{Cite book |last=Berghahn |first=Volker Rolf |author-link=Volker Berghahn |title=Imperial Germany, 1871–1914: Economy, Society, Culture, and Politics |date=1994 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=1-5718-1013-7 |ol=OL2135746W |author-mask=2}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Berghahn |first=Volker Rolf |author-link=Volker Berghahn |author-mask=2 |date=2017 |title=German Colonialism and Imperialism from Bismarck to Hitler |journal=German Studies Review |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=147–162 |doi=10.1353/gsr.2017.0007}}
* {{Cite book |last=Blackbourn |first=David |author-link=David Blackbourn |title=The Long Nineteenth Century: A History of Germany, 1780–1918 |date=1998}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Blackbourn |first1=David |author-link1=David Blackbourn |title=The Peculiarities of German History: Bourgeois Society and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Germany |last2=Eley |first2=Geoff |date=1984 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-1987-3058-6 |ol=16949193W |author-mask1=2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Blanke |first=Richard |title=Prussian Poland in the German Empire |date=1981 |publisher=East European Monographs via Columbia University Press |isbn=0-9147-1080-X |ol=OL4291917W}}
* {{Cite book |last=Brandenburg |first=Erich |author-link=Erich Brandenburg |title=From Bismarck to the World War: A History of German Foreign Policy 1870–1914 |date=1927 |ol=1233526W}}
* {{Cite book |last=Cecil |first=Lamar |author-link=Lamar John Ryan Cecil |title=Wilhelm II |date=1989 |isbn=0-8078-1828-3 |volume=1: Prince and Emperor, 1859–1900 |ol=4639438W}}
* {{Cite book |last=Dawson |first=William Harbutt |title=Bismarck and state socialism; an exposition of the social and economic legislation of Germany since 1870 |date=1890 |ol=123112W}}
* {{Cite book |last=Dawson |first=William Harbutt |title=Germany and the Germans |date=1894 |volume=2 |ol=OL123092W |author-mask=2}}, politics and parties
* {{Cite book |last=Dawson |first=William Harbutt |title=Germany at home |date=1908 |publisher=Hodder and Stoughton |location=London |oclc=2955563 |ol=OL9217702W |author-mask=2}}, social life in villages and cities
* {{Cite book |last=Dawson |first=William Harbutt |title=The Evolution of Modern Germany |date=1908 |ol=OL123114W |author-mask=2}}, covers 1871–1906 with focus on social and economic history and colonies
* {{Cite book |last=Dawson |first=William Harbutt |title=Municipal life and government in Germany |date=1914 |ol=OL123105W |author-mask=2}}, describes the workings of local government and bureaucracy
* {{Cite book |last=Eyck |first=Erich |author-link=Erich Eyck |title=Bismarck and the German Empire |date=1968 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-3930-0235-5 |ol=6070500M |orig-date=1950}}
* {{Cite book |last=Fife |first=Robert Herndon |author-link=Robert Herndon Fife, Jr. |title=The German Empire between Two Wars; a Study of the Political and Social Development of the Nation between 1871 and 1914 |date=1916 |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |ol=6605131W}}
* {{Cite book |last=Fischer |first=Fritz |author-link=Fritz Fischer (historian) |title=From Kaiserreich to Third Reich: Elements of Continuity in German History, 1871–1945 |date=1986 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |isbn=0-0494-3043-2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Geiss |first=Imanuel |author-link=Imanuel Geiss |title=German Foreign Policy, 1871–1914 |date=1976 |publisher=Routledge and Kegan Paul |isbn=0-7100-8303-3 |ol=1410460W}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Hayes |first=Carlton J. H. |date=October 1917 |title=The History of German Socialism Reconsidered |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=62–101 |doi=10.2307/1837686 |jstor=1837686 |ref=none |doi-access=free |jstor-access=free}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Hewitson |first=Mark |date=June 2000 |title=Germany and France before the First World War: a reassessment of Wilhelmine foreign policy |journal=English Historical Review |volume=115 |issue=462 |pages=570–606 |doi=10.1093/ehr/115.462.570 |jstor=579667}}, argues Germany had a growing sense of military superiority
* {{Cite book |last=Hoyer |first=Katja |author-link=Katja Hoyer |title=Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871–1918 |date=2021 |publisher=The History Press |isbn=978-0-7509-9622-8 |ol=OL32753556M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Kennedy |title=The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, 1860–1914 |date=1988 |isbn=1-5739-2301-X |edition=2nd |ol=5930774W}}
* {{Cite book |last=Koch |first=Hannsjoachim W. |title=A constitutional history of Germany in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries |date=1984 |publisher=Longman |isbn=0-5824-9182-7 |ol=4541563W}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kurlander |first=Eric |author-link=Eric Kurlander |title=The Price of Exclusion: Ethnicity, National Identity, and the Decline of German Liberalism, 1898–1933 |date=2007 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-8007-3362-6 |ol=9288474W}}
* {{Cite book |title=Antisemitism: A historical encyclopedia of prejudice and persecution |date=2005 |publisher=Abc-clio |isbn=978-1-8510-9444-8 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Richard S. |editor-link=Richard S. Levy |ol=OL7010780W}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Kaiser: New Research on Wilhelm II's Role in Imperial Germany |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-5218-2408-7 |editor-last=Mombauer |editor-first=Annika |editor-link=Annika Mombauer |ol=18360784W |editor-last2=Deist |editor-first2=Wilhelm |editor-link2=Wilhelm Deist}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mommsen |first=Wolfgang |author-link=Wolfgang Mommsen |title=Imperial Germany 1867–1918: Politics, Culture, and Society in an Authoritarian State |date=1995 |publisher=Arnold |isbn=0-3406-4534-2 |ol=795874M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nipperdey |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Nipperdey |title=Germany from Napoleon to Bismarck |date=1996 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0-6910-2636-X |ol=1273142M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Padfield |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Padfield |title=The Great Naval Race: Anglo-German Naval Rivalry 1900–1914 |date=1974 |publisher=Hart-Davis, MacGibbon |isbn=0-2461-0578-X |ol=5231945M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ragins |first=Sanford |title=Jewish Responses to Anti-Semitism in Germany, 1870–1914: A Study in the History of Ideas |date=1980 |publisher=Hebrew Union College Press |isbn=0-8782-0115-7 |ol=4098851M}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Reagin |first=Nancy |date=2001 |title=The Imagined Hausfrau: National Identity, Domesticity, and Colonialism in Imperial Germany |journal=Journal of Modern History |volume=72 |issue=1 |pages=54–86 |doi=10.1086/319879 |jstor=10.1086/319879 |pmid=18335627 |s2cid=37192065 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Retallack |first=James |title=Germany in the Age of Kaiser Wilhelm II |date=1996 |publisher=Macmillan, St. Martin's Press |isbn=0-3121-6031-3 |ol=OL968133M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Retallack |first=James |title=Imperial Germany 1871–1918 |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1992-0487-8 |ol=OL16956477W |author-mask=2}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Rich |first=Norman |date=1973 |title=The Question of National Interest in Imperial German Foreign Policy: Bismarck, William II, and the Road to World War I |journal=Naval War College Review |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=28–41 |jstor=44641416}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ritter |first=Gerhard |author-link=Gerhard Ritter |title=The Sword and the Scepter; the Problem of Militarism in Germany |date=1969–1973 |publisher=University of Miami Press |isbn=0-8702-4127-3 |ol=OL5621722M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Richie |first=Alexandra |title=Faust's Metropolis: A History of Berlin |date=1998 |publisher=Carroll & Graf |isbn=0-7867-0510-8 |pages=188–233 |ol=OL356929M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sagarra |first=Eda |title=A Social History of Germany, 1648–1914 |date=1977 |publisher=Holmes & Meier |isbn=0-8419-0332-8 |ol=OL21299230M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Scheck |first=Raffael |url=http://www.colby.edu/personal/r/rmscheck/Contents.html |title=Lecture Notes, Germany and Europe, 1871–1945 |date=2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324100055/http://www.colby.edu/personal/r/rmscheck/Contents.html |archive-date=24 March 2012}}, a brief textbook
* {{Cite book |last=Schollgen |first=Gregor |title=Escape into War? The Foreign Policy of Imperial Germany |date=1990 |publisher=Berg |isbn=978-0-8549-6275-4 |series=German Historical Perspectives |ol=OL8300056M}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Modern German History |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1992-3739-5 |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Helmut Walser |editor-link=Helmut Walser Smith |ol=OL25132767M}}, essays by specialists on Germany since 1760
* {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Woodruff D. |title=The German Colonial Empire |date=1978 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=0-8078-1322-2 |ol=21370631M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sperber |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Sperber |title=The Kaiser's Voters: Electors and Elections in Imperial Germany |date=1997 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-5215-9138-4 |ol=1005753M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Stern |first=Fritz |author-link=Fritz Stern |title=Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichroder, and the Building of the German Empire |date=1977 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=0-3944-9545-4 |ol=4893220M}}, biography of leading banker and financier who worked closely with Bismarck
* {{Cite book |last=Steinberg |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Steinberg (historian) |title=Bismarck: A Life |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-1997-8252-9 |ol=OL24881585M}}, biography emphasizing Bismarck's personality
* {{Cite book |last=Steinmetz |first=George |author-link=George Steinmetz (academic) |title=The Devil's Handwriting: Precoloniality and the German Colonial State in Qingdao, Samoa, and Southwest Africa |date=2007 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-2267-7243-1 |series=Chicago Studies in Practices of Meaning |location=Chicago |ol=OL10193058M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=A. J. P. |author-link=A. J. P. Taylor |title=Bismarck: The Man and the Statesman |date=1967 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=978-0-3947-0387-9 |ol=22078389M |orig-date=1955 |ref={{SfnRef|Taylor, A. J. P.|1967}}}}
* {{Cite book |last=Vizetelly |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Vizetelly |title=Berlin under the New Empire; its institutions, inhabitants, industry, monuments, museums, social life, manners, and amusements |date=1879 |publisher=Tinsley bros. |volume=II |location=New York |ol=23384113M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wildenthal |first=Lora |author-link=Lora Wildenthal |title=German Women for Empire, 1884–1945 |date=2001 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-8095-5 |ol=26832197M}}
{{Refend}}

=== Historiography ===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite book |last=Berghahn |first=Volker Rolf |author-link=Volker Berghahn |title=The Kaiser: new research on Wilhelm II's role in imperial Germany |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5218-2408-8 |editor-last=Mombauer |editor-first=Annika |location=Cambridge, UK; New York |pages=281–293 |chapter=Structure and agency in Wilhelmine Germany: the history of the German Empire – past, present, and future |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511496790.014 |oclc=ocm52239699 |editor-last2=Deist |editor-first2=Wilhelm}}
* {{Cite book |title=Imperial Germany: a historiographical companion |date=1996 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-3132-7641-5 |editor-last=Chickering |editor-first=Roger |location=Westport, Connecticut}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Dickinson |first=E. R. |date=September 2008 |title=The German Empire: an Empire? |journal=History Workshop Journal |language=en |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=129–162 |doi=10.1093/hwj/dbn028 |issn=1363-3554}}, with guide to recent scholarship
* {{Cite book |last1=Eley |first1=Geoff |title=Wilhelminism and its legacies: German modernities, Imperialism, and the meanings of reform, 1890-1930: essays for Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann |last2=Retallack |first2=James |date=2004 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-5718-1687-0 |editor-last=Eley |editor-first=Geoff |location=New York; Oxford |chapter=Introduction |ref=none |editor-last2=Retallack |editor-first2=James N. |editor-last3=Pogge von Strandmann |editor-first3=Hartmut}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jefferies |first=Matthew |title=Contesting the German Empire, 1871-1918 |date=2008 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |isbn=978-1-4051-2996-1 |series=Contesting the past |location=Malden, Massachusetts; Oxford}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Reagin |first=Nancy R. |date=June 2004 |title=Recent Work on German National Identity: Regional? Imperial? Gendered? Imaginary? |journal=Central European History |language=en |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=273–289 |doi=10.1163/156916104323121483 |issn=0008-9389 |jstor=4547409}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|German Empire}}
{{Commons category|position=right}}
* [https://www.bpb.de/shop/zeitschriften/izpb/das-deutsche-kaiserreich-1871-1918-329/276739/karten/ Maps of population density, religion, rail networks, etc.]{{In lang|de}}
* [http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/ravenstein/ Ravenstein's Atlas of the German Empire]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606023641/http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/ravenstein|date=6 June 2013}}. ''library.wis.edu''.
* [[iarchive:GermanReichMapOfStates1913DeutschesReichStaatenkarte1913atlasFr|German Reich map of states 1913 (300 dpi)]]
* [[iarchive:VerbreitungDerDeutschenSprache|Dissemination of the German Language 1913 (map, 300 dpi)]]
* [[iarchive:DisseminationOfTheMainForeignMotherTonguesInTheGermanReich1913_934|Dissemination of the main foreign mother tongues in the German Reich 1913 (map, 300 dpi)]]

{{World War I}}
{{States of the German Empire}}
{{Monarchies}}
{{Germany topics}}
{{Empires}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:German Empire| ]]
[[Category:1870s in Germany]]
[[Category:1871 establishments in Germany]]
[[Category:1880s in Germany]]
[[Category:1890s in Germany]]
[[Category:1900s in Germany]]
[[Category:1910s in Germany]]
[[Category:1918 disestablishments in Germany]]
[[Category:19th century in Germany]]
[[Category:20th century in Germany by period]]
[[Category:Former empires]]
[[Category:Former monarchies of Europe]]
[[Category:Military dictatorships]]
[[Category:Modern history of Germany]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1918]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1871]]