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German Empire
Deutsches Reich
Flag Coat of Arms
Flag Coat of Arms
Motto
Deutschland Über Alles
Capital Berlin
Largest city Berlin
Other cities Frankfurt/Main, Munich, Hamburg
Language
  official
 
German
  others Polish,French,Allemanisch
Government Constitutional Monarchy
Kaiser Wilhelm IV
  House of: Hohenzollern
Chancellor editing
Area 668,483 km²
Population 122,490,583 
Established 1871
Currency Mark (ℳ)

The German Empire, also referred to simply as Germany, is a country in central Europe. It shares a frontier to the north with Denmark, the North and Baltic Seas; to the east with Poland and Lithuania; to the South with Austria and Czecho-Slovakia; and to the west with France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Germany's territory covers 668,483 sq. km and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With over 122 million inhabitants, it is the largest state in Europe, if Asiatic Russia is not included.

Germany is a federal constitutional monarchy consisting of twenty-six states. The imperial capital and largest city is Berlin. The German Emperor (Kaiser) is head of state; an elected Parliament (Reichstag) forms the lower house of the national legislature. The Upper chamber of parliament is the Federal Council (Bundesrat) which is appointed by the state governments. The majority party or governing coaltion in the Reichstag nominates the Chancellor (Reichskanzler) as head of government. The government may be dismissed by the Kaiser. The upper chamber is the federal council, (Bundesrat) and each state is allocated a certain number of votes. Germany is a member of the League of Nations and the European Confederation and a founding member of its precurser the European Economic Community.

Constituent states of the Empire

File:Deutsches Reich1.svg

Member states of the German Empire (Prussia shown in blue).

German colonial

The German Colonial Empire in 1914.

Before unification, German territory was made up of 26 constituent states. These states consisted of kingdoms, grand duchies, duchies, principalities, free Hanseatic cities and one imperial territory. (Alsace-Lorraine was elevated to a Duchy in 1955 as part of Kaiser Louis-Ferdinand's reform program.) The Kingdom of Prussia was the largest of the constituent states, covering some 60 percent of the territory of the German Empire.

Several of these states had gained sovereignty following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. 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 acquisition, or, in several cases, divisions of the ruling family trees.

Each component of the German Empire sends representatives to the Imperial Council (Bundesrat) and 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 Kaiser could, for example, intervene on occasions of disputed or unclear succession was much debated on occasion - for example with the Lippe-Detmold inheritance crisis.

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State Capital
Kingdoms (Königreiche)
Flag of Prussia 1892-1918 Prussia (Preußen) Berlin
Flag of Bavaria (striped) Bavaria (Bayern) Munich
Flagge Königreich Sachsen (1815-1918) Saxony (Sachsen) Dresden
Flagge Königreich Württemberg Württemberg Stuttgart
Grand duchies (Großherzogtümer)
Flagge Großherzogtum Baden (1871-1891) Baden Karlsruhe
Flagge Großherzogtum Hessen ohne Wappen Hesse (Hessen) Darmstadt
Flagge Großherzogtümer Mecklenburg Mecklenburg-Schwerin Schwerin
Flagge Großherzogtümer Mecklenburg Mecklenburg-Strelitz (EEC) Neustrelitz
File:Oldenburg Flagge.jpg Oldenburg Oldenburg
Flagge Großherzogtum Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1813-1897) Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach) Weimar
Duchies (Herzogtümer)
Flagge Herzogtum Anhalt Anhalt Dessau
Flagge Herzogtum Braunschweig Brunswick (Braunschweig) Braunschweig
File:File:Flag Alsace-Lorraine.PNG Alsace-Lorriane (Elsaß-Lothringen) Straßburg
Flagge Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha (1826-1911) Saxe-Altenburg (Sachsen-Altenburg) Altenburg
Flagge Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha (1911-1920) Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha) Coburg
File:Flagge Herzogtum Sachsen-Meiningen.svg Saxe-Meiningen (Sachsen-Meiningen) Meiningen
Principalities (Fürstentümer)
Flagge Fürstentum Lippe Lippe Detmold
Flagge Fürstentum Reuß jüngere Linie Reuss, junior line Gera
Flagge Fürstentum Reuß ältere Linie Reuss, senior line Greiz
Flagge Fürstentum Schaumburg-Lippe Schaumburg-Lippe Bückeburg
Flagge Fürstentümer Schwarzburg Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Rudolstadt
Flagge Fürstentümer Schwarzburg Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Sondershausen
File:Flag of Germany (2-3).svg Waldeck-Pyrmont Arolsen
Free Hanseatic cities (Freie Hansestädte)
Flag of Bremen Bremen
Flag of Hamburg Hamburg
Flag of the Free City of Lübeck Lübeck
German Commonwealth (Deutscher Genossenshaft)
File:Flag Gabon Capital
File:Flag Kamerun Buea
File:Flag Kongo Kinschasa
File:Flag Namibia Windhoek
File:Flag New Guinea Rabaul
File:Flag German Samoa Apia
File:Flag Tanganjika Dar es Salaam
File:Flag Ubangi-Shari Bangi


To be continued...

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