The German Empire, 1870-1918 by Michael Stürmer

In 1871 it had a population of 41 million people, and by 1913 this had increased to 68 million. Īfter 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron (and later steel), chemicals, and railways. As Dwyer (2005) points out, Prussia's 'political and cultural influence had diminished considerably' by the 1890s. Although the Kingdom of Prussia contained most of the Empire's population and territory, it played a lesser role. This included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies (six before 1876), seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. The German Empire consisted of 26 constituent territories, with most being ruled by royal families. The German Empire ( German : Deutsches Kaiserreich, officially Deutsches Reich) was the historical German nation state that existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in November 1918, when Germany became a federal republic (the Weimar Republic).

In the case of the German Empire, the official name was Deutsches Reich, which is properly translated as 'German Empire' because the official position of head of state in the constitution of the German Empire was officially a ' presidency' of a confederation of German states led by the King of Prussia who would assume 'the title of German Emperor' as referring to the German people but was not emperor of Germany as in an emperor of a state. The term ' Kaiserreich' literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary empire led by an emperor, although ' Reich' has been used in German to denote the Roman Empire because it had a weak hereditary tradition. The term 'Reich' does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. Area and population not including colonial possessions

The German Empire, 1870-1918 by Michael Stürmer