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Translating Reich is problematic. The word designates a state (or group of states under one rule). If ruled by an emperor (Kaiser), it is an empire (Kaiserreich), if ruled by a king (König), it is a kingdom (Königreich). Reich cannot easily be translated when it refers to a territory that is ruled by neither an emperor nor a king; so the word has been adopted in English as a loan word. Cf. The Chambers Dictionary: ""Reich: the German state; Germany as an empire (the First Reich) . . . and Third Reich as a dictatorship under the Nazi regime . . .)  "