German Empire (Emancipation Map Game)

The German Empire (German: Deutsches Kaiserreich), officially the German Reich, was the historical German nation state that existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm I in June 1875, in the wake of an uprising the ousted the government of Leo von Caprivi.

After 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron (and later steel), chemicals, and railways. In 1871 it had a population of 41 million people, and by 1913 this had increased to 68 million. A heavily rural collection of states in 1815, the united Germany became predominantly urban. During this time, the German Empire operated as an industrial, technological, and scientific giant, gaining more Nobel Prizes in science than any other country.

In June 1875, while invading its Southern rival, a  political movement called the Labor League, formed from an assocation of textile workers that espoused Maxist principles, staged an uprising that led to a military coup led by Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Renner, forcing Caprivi to resign and the creation of the Commitee of Safety.