German Empire

German Empire Deutsches Reich (German)
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Gott mit uns" “God with us"
Anthem: Heil dir Im Siegerkranz
Status	Active
Capital and largest city	Berlin
Government seat	Heiliger Kaiser Kosmin
Official languages	German, English
Ethnic groups (2023)	26% Catholic Church 23.7% Evangelical Church 1.9% Eastern Ortodoxy 41.9% Non-religious 3.6% Islam 1.8% Other religions
Religion	Romano-Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinism
Demonym(s)	German
Government	Federal parliamentary Semi-Constitutional Monarchy
• Emperor	Cosmin I
• Chancellor	Vladimir P. Kaczmarek
Legislature	Bicameral
• Upper house	Bundesrat
• Lower house	Reichstag
Establishment	27 May 2023
Population
• 2024 census	21 (de facto)
HDI	0.942 very high
Currency	Cosminian Reichsmark
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Website Official Website

The German Empire (German: Deutsches Reich), also referred to as the German Reich, Imperial Germany, the Deutsches Reich, or simply Germany, is a micronation that claims to be the continuation of the German Empire that existed from from the unification of Germany in 1871 until the November Revolution in 1918, when the German Reich changed its form of government from a monarchy to a republic. It claims on the territories of the 1871-1918 German Empire, altough holding little to no de jure power over those territories and recognizes this fact.

History

1871-1918

The empire was founded on 18 January 1871, when the south German states, except for Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, joined the North German Confederation and the new constitution came into force on April 16, changing the name of the federal state to the German Empire and introducing the title of German Emperor for Wilhelm I, King of Prussia from the House of Hohenzollern. Berlin remained its capital, and Otto von Bismarck, Minister President of Prussia, became Chancellor, the head of government. As these events occurred, the Prussian-led North German Confederation and its southern German allies, such as Baden, Bavaria, Württemberg, and Hesse, were still engaged in the Franco-Prussian War. The German Empire consisted of 25 states, each with its own nobility, four constituent kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies (six before 1876), seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. While Prussia was one of 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).

After 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron (and later steel), chemicals, and railways. In 1871, Germany had a population of 41 million people; by 1913, this had increased to 68 million. A heavily rural collection of states in 1815, the now united Germany became predominantly urban. The success of German industrialization manifested itself in two ways in the early 20th century; the German factories were larger and more modern than their British and French counterparts. The dominance of the German Empire in the natural sciences, especially in physics and chemistry, 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 the industrial, technological, and scientific giant of Europe, and by 1913, Germany was the largest economy in continental Europe and the third-largest in the world. Germany also became a great power, building the longest railway network of Europe, the world's strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. Starting very small in 1871, in a decade, the navy became second only to Britain's Royal Navy.

From 1871 to 1890, Otto von Bismarck's tenure as the first and to this day longest-serving Chancellor was marked by relative liberalism at its start, but in time grew more conservative. Broad reforms, the anti-Catholic Kulturkampf and systematic repression of Polish people marked his period in the office. Despite his hatred of liberalism and socialism – he called liberals and socialists "enemies of the Reich" – social programs introduced by Bismarck included old-age pensions, accident insurance, medical care and unemployment insurance, all aspects of the modern European welfare state.

Late in Bismarck's chancellorship and in spite of his earlier personal opposition, Germany became involved in colonialism. Claiming much of the leftover territory that was yet unclaimed in the Scramble for Africa, it managed to build the third-largest colonial empire at the time, after the British and the French ones. As a colonial state, it sometimes clashed with the interests of other European powers, especially the British Empire. During its colonial expansion, the German Empire committed the Herero and Namaqua genocide.

After the removal of Otto von Bismarck by Wilhelm II in 1890, the empire embarked on Weltpolitik ("world politics") – a bellicose new course that ultimately contributed to the outbreak of World War I. Bismarck's successors were incapable of maintaining their predecessor's complex, shifting, and overlapping alliances which had kept Germany from being diplomatically isolated. This period was marked by increased oppression of Polish people and various factors influencing the Emperor's decisions, which were often perceived as contradictory or unpredictable by the public. In 1879, the German Empire consolidated the Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary, followed by the Triple Alliance with Italy in 1882. It also retained strong diplomatic ties to the Ottoman Empire. When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, Italy left the alliance and the Ottoman Empire formally allied with Germany.

In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in the autumn of 1914 failed, and the war on the Western Front became a stalemate. The Allied naval blockade caused severe shortages of food and supplements. However, Imperial Germany had success on the 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 Spring Offensive, the German armies were in retreat, allies Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, and Bulgaria had surrendered. The empire collapsed in the 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 gold marks (around US$269 billion or €240 billion in 2019, or roughly US$32 billion in 1921), as well as limiting the army to 100,000 men and disallowing conscription, armored vehicles, submarines, aircraft, and more than six battleships. 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.

2021-2023

The Second German Empire was established on 19 June 2021 and became the Cosminian Empire, being dismantled as a result. The Cosminian Empire still held the name of Second German Empire until the Imperial Edict of Restoration of 2023, when the Second German Empire was restored.

2023-present

The Second German Empire was restored by Emperor Cosmin I as as a separate state from the Cosminian Empire, in a personal union with the Cosminian Empire trough the Imperial Edict of Restoration of 2023. It has claims on all of the German Empire's (1871-1918) territories. After the Imperial Edict of Restoration was published, an initiative to begin diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Wyvern was stopped because the Kingdom of Wyvern is a member of the Holy Roman Empire, which also claims the european territories of the German Empire. It was later renamed the German Empire. On 8 September 2023 the German Empire annexed the Cosminian Empire. The claims on the German Empire's (1871-1918) territories were declared ceremonial because the Government doesn't have any control over them, the Principality of Bobokt being the only territory which the Government actually controls. After the installment of Maximilian Datenschutz as Imperial Chancellor, the German Empire began to develop more rapidly, recruiting new citizens and joining the German Micronational Alliance and other organisations. Because of the Chancellor's other position as President of the State of Lasetia, the German Empire began developing closer ties with Lasetia. The German Empire offered Lasetia the terriotries of the old Kingdoms of Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg, and the Directorate of Reichsliger of the dissolved Cosminian Empire, becoming the District of Reichsliger, being granted autonomy by Lasetia and ruled by the Kaiser. The Lasetian Monarchist Party was founded by the Deutsche Zentrumspartei as a branch of itself, aiming to transform Lasetia into a monarchy, and also integrate it into the German Empire, strenghtening its presence in Germany. The German Empire slowly began strenghtening its grip over Lasetia, the Monarchist Party recieving a seat in the National Council of Lasetia.

Constitution

The Empire is a federal parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy.

The Federal Council (Bundesrat) helds sovereignty over the Empire and servs as its highest authority. The Bundesrat is a legislative body that possesses the right of legislative initiative (Article VII Nr. 1) and, because all laws require its consent, can effectively veto any bill coming from the Reichstag (Article V). The Bundesrat is 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). It is composed of representatives who are appointed by and reported to the state governments.

The Imperial Diet (Reichstag) is a legislative body elected by universal male suffrage that effectively serves as parliament. It has the right to propose bills and, with the concurrence of the Bundesrat, approve the state budget annually and the military budget for periods of two years. All laws require the Reichstag's approval to pass.

The emperor (Kaiser) is head of state of the Empire – he is not a ruler. He appoints the chancellor, usually the person able to command the confidence of the Reichstag. The chancellor, in consultation with the emperor, determines the government's broad policy guidelines and presented them to the Reichstag. On the advice of the chancellor, the emperor appoints the ministers and – at least formally – all other imperial officers. All acts of the emperor except for military directives require the countersignature of the chancellor (Article XVII). The emperor is also responsible for signing bills into law, declaring war (which requires the consent of the Bundesrat), negotiating peace, making treaties, and calling and adjourning sessions of the Bundesrat and the Reichstag (Articles XI and XII). The emperor is commander-in-chief of the Empire's Army (Article LXIII) and Navy (Article LIII); when exercising his military authority he has plenary power.

The chancellor is head of government and chairs the Bundesrat and the Imperial Government, leads the lawmaking process and countersigns all acts of the emperor (except for military directives).

Constituent states

Main article: States of the German Empire

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 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.

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.

States of the German Empire

Each component of the German Empire sends 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 are somewhat fluid and are developed on an ongoing basis. The extent to which the German Emperor can, for example, intervene on occasions of disputed or unclear succession is much debated on occasion—for example in the inheritance crisis of the Lippe-Detmold.

Unusually for a federation and/or a nation-state, the German states maintain limited autonomy over foreign affairs. Shortly after the Empire was proclaimed, Bismarck implemented a convention in which his sovereign will 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 receive credentials from the monarch in his capacity as German Emperor. In this way, the Prussian foreign ministry is largely tasked with managing relations with the other German states while the Imperial foreign ministry manages Germany's external relations.

The Empire holds little to no de facto power over what it claims to be its de jure territories (except the Principality of Bobokt, which is fully controled) and recognizes this fact. This comes from the 17 September 2023 incident in which the German Empire was almost expelled from the GUM for violating the Wrythe and Edgbaston Conventions and preventing other micronations based in Germany or Poland from joining the GUM. The Emperor made the claims ceremonial.

Military

Land Forces

Officer corps

Subalterns / Subalternoffiziere

Shoulder insignia	Leutnant: infantry, cavalry and other arms Feuerwerksleutnant: artillery	Oberleutnant Feuerwerksoberleutnant	Hauptmann/Kapitän II Klasse: infantry and cavalry Rittmeister II Klasse: cavalry	Hauptmann/Kapitän I Klasse: infantry and artillery Rittmeister I Klasse: cavalry
	2nd Lieutenant	1st Lieutenant	Staff Captain	Captain (armed forces)

Staff Officers / Stabsoffiziere

Shoulder insignia	Major	Oberstleutnant	Oberst
	Major	Lieutenant Colonel	Colonel

General Officers / Generäle

Shoulder insignia	Generalmajor	Generalleutnant	General der... Infanterie, der Kavallerie, der Artillerie	Generaloberst	Generaloberst mit dem Rang als Generalfeldmarschall	Generalfeldmarschall
	N/A	N/A			N/A
	Major General	Lieutenant General	General of... the Infantry, the Cavalry, the Artillery	Colonel General	Colonel General in the rank of Field Marshal	Field Marshal

Navy

Flag Officers

Admiral ranks
Title	Großadmiral	Admiral	Vizeadmiral	Konteradmiral
Epaulette
Sleeve lace
Command flag
English designation	Grand Admiral	Admiral	Vice admiral	Rear admiral

Seamen

Seamen
Title	Obermatrose	Einjährig-Freiwilliger	Matrose
Sleeve
English designation	Seaman 1st Class	Seaman Volunteer (i.e.: Reserve Officer Candidate)	Seaman

Notes

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at German Empire. The list of authors can be seen in the page history.