Europe · The modern states
German Empire
1871–1918
The Deutsches Kaiserreich was proclaimed on 18 January 1871 in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, when Wilhelm I of Prussia was acclaimed German Emperor following the defeat of France. It was a federal monarchy dominated by Prussia; Bismarck served as imperial chancellor until 1890, engineering a conservative constitutional order and a web of alliances.
- Existed
- 1871–1918
- Shown on the map
- 1871–1919
- Peak area
- 1.4M km²
- Region
- Europe
Overview
The Deutsches Kaiserreich was proclaimed on 18 January 1871 in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, when Wilhelm I of Prussia was acclaimed German Emperor following the defeat of France. It was a federal monarchy dominated by Prussia; Bismarck served as imperial chancellor until 1890, engineering a conservative constitutional order and a web of alliances. Wilhelm II (r. 1888–1918) dismissed Bismarck in 1890 and pursued a more assertive Weltpolitik. Alsace-Lorraine was annexed from France in 1871. The Empire collapsed at the end of World War I: the November Revolution of 1918 forced Wilhelm II's abdication (announced 9 November, formalized 28 November 1918) and the proclamation of a republic.
Common questions
- What was the German Empire?
- The Deutsches Kaiserreich was proclaimed on 18 January 1871 in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, when Wilhelm I of Prussia was acclaimed German Emperor following the defeat of France. It was a federal monarchy dominated by Prussia; Bismarck served as imperial chancellor until 1890, engineering a conservative constitutional order and a web of alliances.
- When did the German Empire exist?
- The German Empire existed 1871–1918. On this map it is drawn 1871–1919.
- How large was the German Empire?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the German Empire covered about 1.4 million km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each territory as the primary basis, with Encyclopædia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia, German History in Documents and Images, national institutions such as the Swiss Federal Council and the National Museum of Denmark, and the scholarship of Peter H. Wilson and Joachim Whaley on the Holy Roman Empire. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — German Empire en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Empire
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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