German Empire The German Empire ( or " Deutsches Kaiserreich " ) is the common name given to the state officially named German Reich ( literally : " German Realm " ) , designating Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871 , to 1918 , when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor , Wilhelm II . The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent territories ( most of them ruled by royal families ) . While the Kingdom of Prussia contained most of the population and most of the territory of the Reich , the Prussian leadership became supplanted by German leaders and Prussia itself played a lesser role . As Dwyer ( 2005 ) points out , Prussia ' s " political and cultural influence had diminished considerably " by the 1890s . Its three largest neighbours were rivals Imperial Russia to the east , France to the west and ally Austria - Hungary to the south . Germany industrialized rapidly after 1850 , with a foundation in coal , iron ( and later steel ) , chemicals and railways . From a population of 41 million people in 1871 , it grew to 68 million in 1913 . From a heavily rural nation in 1815 , it was now predominantly urban . During its 47 years of existence , the German Empire operated as an industrial , technological and scientific giant , receiving more Nobel Prizes in science than Britain , France , Russia and the United States combined . It became a great power , boasting a rapidly growing economy and the world ' s strongest army and a fast - growing industrial base . Its navy went from being negligible to second only behind the Royal Navy in less than a decade . After the removal of the powerful Otto von Bismarck in 1890 following the death of Emperor Wilhelm I , the young Emperor Wilhelm II engaged in increasingly reckless foreign policies that left the Empire isolated . Its network of small colonies in Africa and the Pacific paled in comparison to the British and French empires . When the great crisis of 1914 arrived , it had only two weak allies ( the Austro - Hungarian and Ottoman Empire s ) left . In World War I its plans to quickly capture Paris in 1914 failed and the Western Front ( against Britain and France ) became a stalemate . The Allied naval blockade made for increasing shortages of food . However , Germany , as a result of the Communists ' determination to end Russian involvement in World War I , carved large Eastern territories following the Treaty of Brest - Litovsk . German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 was designed to strangle the British ; it failed because of the use of a trans - Atlantic convoy system . But the declaration - along with the Zimmermann Telegram - did bring the United States into the war , with its large reserves of money , food , and soldiers . Meanwhile German troops had become radicalised by the Russian Revolution . The high command under Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff increasingly controlled the Reich as they gambled on one last offensive in spring 1918 ( before the Americans could arrive in force ) . It failed and by October the armies were in retreat , the Austro - Hungarian Empire had collapsed , and the German people had lost faith in the political system . The Empire collapsed overnight in the November 1918 Revolution as all the royals abdicated and a republic took over . History . Background . The German Confederation was created by an act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars , after being alluded to in of the 1814 Treaty of Paris . German nationalism rapidly shifted from its liberal and democratic character in 1848 , called " Pan - Germanism " , to Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarck ' s pragmatic " Realpolitik " . Bismarck sought to extend Hohenzollern hegemony throughout the German states ; to do so meant unification of the German states and the elimination of Prussia ' s rival , Austria , from the subsequent empire . He envisioned a conservative , Prussian - dominated Germany . Three wars led to military successes and helped to persuade German people to do this : the Second war of Schleswig against Denmark in 1864 , the Austro - Prussian War in 1866 , and the Franco - Prussian War against France in 1870 – 71 . The German Confederation ended as a result of the Austro - Prussian War of 1866 between the constituent Confederation entities of the Austrian Empire and its allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia and its allies on the other . The war resulted in the Confederation being partially replaced by a North German Confederation in 1867 which included Prussia but excluded Austria and the South German states . During November 1870 the four southern states joined the North German Confederation by treaty . The foundation of empire . On 10 December 1870 the North German Confederation Reichstag renamed the Confederation as the German Empire and gave the title of German Emperor to the King of Prussia as President of the Confederation . During the Siege of Paris on 18 January 1871 , King Wilhelm I of Prussia was proclaimed German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles . The 1871 German Constitution was adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April , which was substantially based upon Bismarck ' s North German Constitution . The new empire had a parliament called the " Reichstag " , which was elected by universal male suffrage . However , the original constituencies drawn in 1871 were never redrawn to reflect the growth of urban areas . As a result , by the time of the great expansion of German cities in the 1890s and first decade of the 20th century , rural areas were grossly overrepresented . Legislation also required the consent of the " Bundesrat " , the federal council of deputies from the states . Executive power was vested in the emperor , or " Kaiser " , who was assisted by a chancellor responsible only to him . The emperor was given extensive powers by the constitution . He alone appointed and dismissed the chancellor , was supreme commander - in - chief of the armed forces , and final arbiter of all foreign affairs . Officially , the chancellor was a one - man cabinet and was responsible for the conduct of all state affairs ; in practice , the State Secretaries ( bureaucratic top officials in charge of such fields as finance , war , foreign affairs , etc . ) acted as unofficial portfolio ministers . The " Reichstag " had the power to pass , amend or reject bills and to initiate legislation . However , in practice the real power was vested in the emperor and chancellor . Although nominally a league of equals , in practice the empire was dominated by the largest and most powerful state , Prussia . It stretched across the northern two thirds of the new " Reich " , and contained three fifths of its population . The imperial crown was hereditary in the House of Hohenzollern , the ruling house of Prussia . With the exception of the years 1872 – 1873 and 1892 – 1894 , the chancellor was always simultaneously the prime minister of Prussia . With 17 out of 58 votes in the " Bundesrat " , Berlin needed only a few votes from the small states to exercise effective control . The other states retained their own governments , but had only limited aspects of sovereignty . For example , both postage stamps and currency were issued for the empire as a whole . Coins through one mark was also minted in the name of the empire , while higher valued pieces were issued by the states . But these larger gold and silver issues were virtually commemorative coins and had limited circulation . While the states issued their own decoration s , and some had their own armies , the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control . Those of the larger states , such as the Kingdoms of Bavaria and Saxony , were coordinated along Prussian principles and would in wartime be controlled by the federal government . The evolution of the German Empire is somewhat in line with parallel developments in Italy which became a united nation state shortly before the German Empire . Some key elements of the German Empire ' s authoritarian political structure were also the basis for conservative modernization in Imperial Japan under Meiji and the preservation of an authoritarian political structure under the Tsars in the Russian Empire . One factor in the social anatomy of these governments had been the retention of a very substantial share in political power by the landed elite , the Junker s , resulting from the absence of a revolutionary breakthrough by the peasants in combination with urban areas . Although authoritarian in many respects , the empire had some democratic features . Besides universal suffrage , it permitted the development of political parties . Bismarck ' s intention was to create a constitutional façade which would mask the continuation of authoritarian policies . In the process , he created a system with a serious flaw . There was a significant disparity between the Prussian and German electoral systems . Prussia used a highly restrictive three - class voting system in which the richest third of the population could choose 85 % of the legislature , all but assuring a conservative majority . As mentioned above , the king and ( with two exceptions ) the prime minister of Prussia were also the emperor and chancellor of the empire – meaning that the same rulers had to seek majorities from legislatures elected from completely different franchises . As mentioned above , rural areas were grossly overrepresented from the 1890s onward . Industrial power . For 30 years , Germany struggled against Britain to be Europe ' s leading industrial power , though both fell behind the United States . Representative of Germany ' s industry was the steel giant Krupp , whose first factory was built in Essen . By 1902 , the factory alone became " A great city with its own streets , its own police force , fire department and traffic laws . There are 150 kilometres of rail , 60 different factory buildings , 8 , 500 machine tools , seven electrical stations , 140 kilometres of underground cable and 46 overhead . " Under Bismarck , Germany was a world innovator in building the welfare state . German workers enjoyed health , accident and maternity benefits , canteens , changing rooms and a national pension scheme . Constituent states . Before unification , German territory was made up of 27 constituent state s . These states consisted of kingdoms , grand duchies , duchies , principalities , free Hanseatic cities and one imperial territory . The Kingdom of Prussia was the largest of the constituent states , covering some 60 % 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 . Some of the existing states , in particular Hanover , were abolished and annexed by Prussia as a result of the war of 1866 . Each component of the German Empire sent 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 were somewhat fluid , and were developed on an ongoing basis . The extent to which the Emperor could , for example , intervene on occasions of disputed or unclear succession was much debated on occasion – for example with the Lippe - Detmold inheritance crisis . Linguistic minorities . About 92 % of the population spoke German as their first language . The only minority language with a significant number of speakers ( 5 . 4 % ) was Polish ( a figure that rises to over 6 % when including Kashubian , Masurian , and other forms classified by the Imperial government as separate languages but today more often considered variants of Polish ) . The non - German Germanic languages language group ( 0 . 5 % ) like Danish , Dutch and Frisian were located in the north and northwest of the empire , near the borders with Denmark , the Netherlands , Belgium , and Luxembourg . Low German was spoken throughout northern Germany and , though linguistically as separate from High German ( " Hochdeutsch " ) as from Dutch and English , is considered " German " , hence also its name . Danish and Frisian were spoken predominantly in the north of the Prussia n province of Schleswig - Holstein and Dutch in the western border areas of the Prussia — that is , Hanover , Westphalia and the Rhine Province . Polish and other Slavic languages ( 6 . 28 % ) were spoken chiefly in the east . A few ( 0 . 5 % ) spoke French , especially in the Reichsland Elsass - Lothringen , where French - speakers formed 11 . 6 % of the total population . Bismarck era . Bismarck ' s domestic policies played an important role in forging the authoritarian political culture of the " Kaiserreich " . Less preoccupied by continental power politics following unification in 1871 , Germany ' s semi - parliamentary government carried out a relatively smooth economic and political revolution from above that pushed them along the way towards becoming the world ' s leading industrial power of the time . Foreign policy . Bismarck ' s post - 1871 foreign policy was conservative and sought to preserve the balance of power in Europe . His biggest concern was France , which was left defeated and resentful after the Franco - Prussian War . As the French lacked the strength to defeat Germany by themselves , they sought an alliance with Russia , which would trap Germany between the two in a war ( as would ultimately happen in 1914 ) . Bismarck wanted to prevent this at all costs and maintain friendly relations with the Russians , and thereby formed an alliance with them and Austria - Hungary ( which by the 1880s was being slowly reduced to a German satellite ) , the " Dreikaiserbund " ( League of Three Emperors ) . During this period , individuals within the German military were advocating a preemptive strike against Russia , but Bismarck knew that such ideas were foolhardy . He once wrote that " the most brilliant victories would not avail against the Russian nation , because of its climate , its desert , and its frugality , and having but one frontier to defend , " and because it would leave Germany with another bitter , resentful neighbor . Bismarck once contrasted his nation ' s foreign policy difficulties with the easy situation of the U . S . ( the only strong power in the Western Hemisphere ) , saying " The Americans are a very lucky people . They ' re bordered to the north and south by weak neighbors , and to the east and west by fish . " Meanwhile , the chancellor remained wary of any foreign policy developments that looked even remotely warlike . In 1886 , he moved to stop an attempted sale of horses to France on the grounds that they might be used for cavalry and also ordered an investigation into large Russian purchases of medicine from a German chemical works . Bismarck stubbornly refused to listen to Georg Herbert zu Munster ( ambassador to France ) , who reported back that the French were not seeking a revanchist war , and in fact were desperate for peace at all costs . Bismarck and most of his contemporaries were conservative - minded and focused their foreign policy attention on Germany ' s neighboring states . In 1914 , 60 % of German foreign investment was in Europe , as opposed to just 5 % of British investment . Most of the money went to developing nations such as Russia that lacked the capital or technical knowledge to industrialize on their own . The construction of the Baghdad Railway , financed by German banks , was designed to eventually connect Germany with the Turkish Empire and the Persian Gulf , but it also collided with British and Russian geopolitical interests . Colonies . Bismarck secured a number of German colonial possessions during the 1880s in Africa and the Pacific , but he never considered an overseas colonial empire valuable ; Germany ' s colonies remained badly undeveloped . However they excited the interest of the religious - minded , who supported an extensive network of missionaries . Germans had dreamed of colonial imperialism since 1848 . Bismark began the process , and by 1884 had acquired German New Guinea . By the 1890s , German colonial expansion in Asia and the Pacific ( Kiauchau in China , the Marianas , the Caroline Islands , Samoa ) led to frictions with Britain , Russia , Japan and the U . S . The largest colonial enterprises were in Africa , where the extermination of the Nama and Herero in what is now Namibia in 1906 – 07 led to Herero and Namaqua Genocide Economy . Railways . Lacking a technological base at first , the Germans imported their engineering and hardware from Britain , but quickly learned the skills needed to operate and expand the railways . In many cities , the new railway shops were the centres of technological awareness and training , so that by 1850 , Germany was self - sufficient in meeting the demands of railroad construction , and the railways were a major impetus for the growth of the new steel industry . However , German unification in 1870 stimulated consolidation , nationalisation into state - owned companies , and further rapid growth . Unlike the situation in France , the goal was support of industrialisation , and so heavy lines crisscrossed the Ruhr and other industrial districts , and provided good connections to the major ports of Hamburg and Bremen . By 1880 , Germany had 9 , 400 locomotives pulling 43 , 000 passengers and 30 , 000 tons of freight , and forged ahead of France . The total length of German railroad tracks expanded from 21 , 000 kilometers in 1871 to 63 , 000 kilometres by 1913 , establishing the largest rail network in the world after the United States , and effectively surpassing the 32 , 000 kilometers of rail that connected Britain in the same year . Industry . Industrialization progressed dynamically in Germany and German manufacturers began to capture domestic markets from British imports , and also to compete with British industry abroad , particularly in the U . S . The German textiles and metal industries had by 1870 surpassed those of Britain in organization and technical efficiency and superseded British manufacturers in the domestic market . Germany became the dominant economic power on the continent and was the second largest exporting nation after Britain . Technological progress during German industrialization occurred in four waves : the railway wave ( 1877 – 86 ) , the dye wave ( 1887 – 96 ) , the chemical wave ( 1897 – 1902 ) , and the wave of electrical engineering ( 1903 – 18 ) . Since Germany industrialized later than Britain , it was able to model its factories after those of Britain , thus making more efficient use of its capital and avoiding legacy methods in its leap to the envelope of technology . Germany invested more heavily than the British in research , especially in chemistry , motors and electricity . Germany ' s dominance in physics and chemistry was such that one - third of all Nobel Prizes went to German inventors and researchers . The German cartel system ( known as " Konzerne " ) , being significantly concentrated , was able to make more efficient use of capital . Germany was not weighted down with an expensive worldwide empire that needed defense . Following Germany ' s annexation of Alsace - Lorraine in 1871 , it absorbed parts of what had been France ' s industrial base . By 1900 , the German chemical industry dominated the world market for synthetic dyes . The three major firms BASF , Bayer and Hoechst produced several hundred different dyes , along with the five smaller firms . In 1913 , these eight firms produced almost 90 % of the world supply of dyestuffs and sold about 80 % of their production abroad . The three major firms had also integrated upstream into the production of essential raw materials and they began to expand into other areas of chemistry such as pharmaceuticals , photographic film , agricultural chemicals and electrochemicals . Top - level decision - making was in the hands of professional salaried managers ; leading Chandler to call the German dye companies " the world ' s first truly managerial industrial enterprises " . There were many spinoffs from research — such as the pharmaceutical industry , which emerged from chemical research . By the start of World War I ( 1914 – 1918 ) , German industry switched to war production . The heaviest demands were on coal and steel for artillery and shell production , and on chemicals for the synthesis of materials that were subject to import restrictions and for chemical weapons and war supplies . Consolidation . The creation of the Empire under Prussian leadership was a victory for the concept of " Kleindeutschland " ( Smaller Germany ) over the " Großdeutschland " concept . This meant that Austria - Hungary , a multi - ethnic Empire with a considerable German - speaking population , would remain outside of the German nationstate . Bismarck ' s policy was to pursue a solution diplomatically . The effective alliance between Germany and Austria played a major role in Germany ' s decision to enter World War I in 1914 . Bismarck announced there would be no more territorial additions to Germany in Europe , and his diplomacy after 1871 was focused on stabilizing the European system and preventing any wars . He succeeded , and only after his ouster in 1890 did the diplomatic tensions start rising again . Social issues . After achieving formal unification in 1871 , Bismarck devoted much of his attention to the cause of national unity under the ideology of Prussianism . He opposed conservative Catholic activism and emancipation , especially the powers of the Vatican under Pope Pius IX , and working class radicalism , represented by the emerging Social Democratic Party . Kulturkampf . Prussia in 1871 included 16 , 000 , 000 Protestants , both Reformed and Lutheran , and 8 , 000 , 000 Catholics . Most people were generally segregated into their own religious worlds , living in rural districts or city neighborhoods that were overwhelmingly of the same religion , and sending their children to separate public schools where their religion was taught . There was little interaction or intermarriage . On the whole , the Protestants had a higher social status , and the Catholics were more likely to be peasant farmers or unskilled or semiskilled industrial workers . In 1870 , the Catholics formed their own political party , the Centre Party , which generally supported unification and most of Bismarck ' s policies . However , Bismarck distrusted parliamentary democracy in general and opposition parties in particular , especially when the Centre Party showed signs of gaining support among dissident elements such as the Polish Catholics in Silesia . A powerful intellectual force of the time was anti - Catholicism , led by the liberal intellectuals who formed a vital part of Bismarck ' s coalition . They saw the Catholic Church as a powerful force of reaction and anti - modernity , especially after the proclamation of papal infallibility in 1870 , and the tightening control of the Vatican over the local bishops . The Kulturkampf launched by Bismarck 1871 – 1880 affected Prussia ; although there were similar movements in Baden and Hesse , the rest of Germany was not affected . According to the new imperial constitution , the states were in charge of religious and educational affairs ; they funded the Protestant and Catholic schools . In July 1871 Bismarck abolished the Catholic section of the Prussian Ministry of ecclesiastical and educational affairs , depriving Catholics of their voice at the highest level . The system of strict government supervision of schools was applied only in Catholic areas ; the Protestant schools were left alone . Much more serious were the May laws of 1873 . One made the appointment of any priest dependent on his attendance at a German university , as opposed to the seminaries that the Catholics typically used . Furthermore , all candidates for the ministry had to pass an examination in German culture before a state board which weeded out intransigent Catholics . Another provision gave the government a veto power over most church activities . A second law abolished the jurisdiction of the Vatican over the Catholic Church in Prussia ; its authority was transferred to a government body controlled by Protestants . Nearly all German bishops , clergy , and laymen rejected the legality of the new laws , and were defiant in the face of heavier and heavier penalties and imprisonments imposed by Bismarck ' s government by 1876 , all the Prussian bishops were imprisoned or in exile , and a third of the Catholic parishes were without a priest . In the face of systematic defiance , the Bismarck government increased the penalties and its attacks , and were challenged in 1875 when a papal encyclical declared the whole ecclesiastical legislation of Prussia was invalid , and threatened to excommunicate any Catholic who obeyed . There was no violence , but the Catholics mobilized their support , set up numerous civic organizations , raised money to pay fines , and rallied behind their church and the Centre Party . The government had set up an " Old - Catholic Church , " which attracted only a few thousand members . Bismarck , a devout pietistic Protestant , realized his Kulturkampf was backfiring when secular and socialist elements used the opportunity to attack all religion . In the long run , the most significant result was the mobilization of the Catholic voters , and their insistence on protecting their religious identity . In the elections of 1874 , the Centre party doubled its popular vote , and became the second - largest party in the national parliament — and remained a powerful force for the next 60 years , so that after Bismarck it became difficult to form a government without their support . Social reform . Bismarck built on a tradition of welfare programs in Prussia and Saxony that began as early as in the 1840s . In the 1880s he introduced old age pensions , accident insurance , medical care and unemployment insurance that formed the basis of the modern European welfare state . He came to realize that this sort of policy was very appealing , since it bound workers to the state , and also fit in very well with his authoritarian nature . The social security systems installed by Bismarck ( health care in 1883 , accident insurance in 1884 , invalidity and old - age insurance in 1889 ) at the time were the largest in the world and , to a degree , still exist in Germany today . Bismarck ' s paternalistic programs won the support of German industry because its goals were to win the support of the working classes for the Empire and reduce the outflow of immigrants to America , where wages were higher but welfare did not exist . Bismarck further won the support of both industry and skilled workers by his high tariff policies , which protected profits and wages from American competition , although they alienated the liberal intellectuals who wanted free trade . Germanisation . One of the effects of the unification policies was the gradually increasing tendency to eliminate the use of non - German languages in public life , schools and academic settings with the intent of pressuring the non - German population to abandon their national identity in what was called " Germanization " . These policies had often the reverse effect of stimulating resistance , usually in the form of home schooling and tighter unity in the minority groups , especially the Poles . The Germanization policies were targeted particularly against the significant Polish minority of the empire , gained by Prussia in the Partitions of Poland . Poles were treated as an ethnic minority even where they made up the majority , as in the Province of Posen , where a series of anti - Polish measures was enforced . Numerous anti - Polish laws had no great effect especially in the province of Posen where the German - speaking population dropped from 42 . 8 % in 1871 to 38 . 1 % in 1905 , despite all efforts . Antisemitism . Antisemitism was an endemic problem in Germany . Before Napoleon ' s decrees ended the ghettos in Germany , it had been religiously motivated , but by the 19th century , it was a factor in German nationalism . The last legal barriers on Jews in Prussia were lifted by the 1860s , and within 20 years , they were well represented in the white - collar professions and much of academia . Despite the often crude antisemitism of German elites , many of them utilized the services of Jews , such as Bismarck ' s banker Gerson Bleichroder ( 1822 – 1893 ) . In the popular mind Jews became a symbol of capitalism and modernity , two things that were resented by the Prussian aristocracy , who were finding their power and prestige rapidly diminished in the new , unified Germany . On the other hand , the constitution and legal system protected the rights of Jews as German citizens . Antisemitic parties were formed but soon collapsed . Law . Bismarck ' s efforts also initiated the levelling of the enormous differences between the German states , which had been independent in their evolution for centuries , especially with legislation . The completely different legal histories and judicial systems posed enormous complications , especially for national trade . While a common trade code had already been introduced by the Confederation in 1861 ( which was adapted for the Empire and , with great modifications , is still in effect today ) , there was little similarity in laws otherwise . In 1871 , a common Criminal Code ( " Reichsstrafgesetzbuch " ) was introduced ; in 1877 , common court procedures were established in the court system ( " Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz " ) , civil procedures ( " Zivilprozessordnung " ) and criminal procedures ( " Strafprozessordnung " ) . In 1873 the constitution was amended to allow the Empire to replace the various and greatly differing Civil Codes of the states ( If they existed at all ; for example , parts of Germany formerly occupied by Napoleon ' s France had adopted the French Civil Code , while in Prussia the " Allgemeines Preußisches Landrecht " of 1794 was still in effect ) . In 1881 , a first commission was established to produce a common Civil Code for all of the Empire , an enormous effort that would produce the " Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch " ( BGB ) , possibly one of the most impressive legal works of the world ; it was eventually put into effect on 1 January 1900 . It speaks volumes for the conceptual quality of these codifications that they all , albeit with many amendments , are still in effect today . Constitution . The Empire ' s constitution was based on two houses of Parliament , the Bundesrat and the Reichstag . There was universal male suffrage for the Reichstag , however legislation would have to pass both houses . The Bundesrat contained representatives of the states , in which the voting system was based on classes and wealth . This meant that wealthier classes always had a veto over any legislation . Year of three emperors . On 9 March 1888 , Wilhelm I died shortly before his 91st birthday , leaving his son Frederick III as the new emperor . Frederick was a liberal and an admirer of the British constitution , while his links to Britain strengthened further with his marriage to Princess Victoria , eldest child of Queen Victoria . With his ascent to the throne , many hoped that Frederick ' s reign would lead to a liberalisation of the Reich and an increase of parliament ' s influence on the political process . The dismissal of Robert von Puttkamer , the highly - conservative Prussian interior minister , on 8 June was a sign of the expected direction and a blow to Bismarck ' s administration . By the time of his accession , however , Frederick had developed incurable laryngeal cancer , which had been diagnosed in 1887 . He died on the 99th day of his rule , on 15 June 1888 . His son Wilhelm II became emperor . Wilhelmine era . Reaffirmation of prerogative monarchy , and Bismarck ' s resignation . Wilhelm II sought to reassert his ruling prerogatives at a time when other monarchs in Europe were being transformed into constitutional figureheads . This decision led the ambitious Kaiser into conflict with Bismarck . The old chancellor had hoped to guide Wilhelm as he had guided his grandfather , but the emperor wanted to be the master in his own house and had many sycophants telling him that Frederick the Great would not have been great with a Bismarck at his side . A key difference between Wilhelm II and Bismarck was their approaches to handling political crises , especially in 1889 , when German coal miners went on strike in Upper Silesia . Bismarck demanded that the German Army be sent in to crush the strike , but Wilhelm II rejected this authoritarian measure , responding " I do not wish to stain my reign with the blood of my subjects . " Instead of condoning repression , Wilhelm had the government negotiate with a delegation from the coal miners , which brought the strike to an end without violence . The fractious relationship ended in March 1890 , after Wilhelm II and Bismarck quarrelled , and the chancellor resigned days later . Bismarck ' s last few years had seen power slip from his hands as he grew older , more irritable , more authoritarian , and less focused . German politics had become progressively more chaotic , and the chancellor understood this better than anyone . But unlike Wilhelm II and his generation , Bismarck knew well that an ungovernable country with an adventurous foreign policy was a recipe for disaster . With Bismarck ' s departure , Wilhelm II became the dominant ruler of Germany . Unlike his grandfather , Wilhelm I , who had been largely content to leave government affairs to the chancellor , Wilhelm II wanted to be fully informed and actively involved in running Germany , not an ornamental figurehead , although most Germans found his claims of divine right to rule amusing . Wilhelm allowed politician Walther Rathenau to tutor him in European economics and industrial and financial realities in Europe . As Hull ( 2004 ) notes , Bismarkean foreign policy " was too sedate for the reckless Kaiser . " Wilhelm became internationally notorious for his aggressive stance on foreign policy and his strategic blunders ( such as the Tangier Crisis ) , which pushed the German Empire into growing political isolation and eventually helped to cause World War I . Domestic affairs . Under Wilhelm II , Germany no longer had long - ruling strong chancellors like Bismarck . The new chancellors had difficulty in performing their roles , especially the additional role as Prime Minister of Prussia assigned to them in the German Constitution . The reforms of Chancellor Leo von Caprivi , which liberalized trade and so reduced unemployment , were supported by the Kaiser and most Germans except for Prussian landowners , who feared loss of land and power and launched several campaigns against the reforms . While Prussian aristocrats challenged the demands of a united German state , in the 1890s several organizations were set up to challenge the authoritarian conservative Prussian militarism which was being imposed on the country . Educators opposed to the German state - run schools , which emphasized military education , set up their own independent liberal schools , which encouraged individuality and freedom . However nearly all the schools in Imperial Germany had a very high standard and kept abreast with modern developments in knowledge . Artists began experimental art in opposition to Kaiser Wilhelm ' s support for traditional art , to which Wilhelm responded " art which transgresses the laws and limits laid down by me can no longer be called art [ . . . ] . " It was largely thanks to Wilhelm ' s influence that most printed material in Germany used blackletter instead of the Roman type used in the rest of Western Europe . At the same time , a new generation of cultural creators emerged . From the 1890s onwards , the most effective opposition to the monarchy came from the newly formed Social Democratic Party of Germany ( SPD ) , which advocated Marxism . The threat of the SPD to the German monarchy and industrialists caused the state both to crack down on the party ' s supporters and to implement its own programme of social reform to soothe discontent . Germany ' s large industries provided significant social welfare programmes and good care to their employees , as long as they were not identified as socialists or trade - union members . The larger industrial firms provided pensions , sickness benefits and even housing to their employees . Having learned from the failure of Bismarck ' s Kulturkampf , Wilhelm II maintained good relations with the Roman Catholic Church and concentrated on opposing socialism . This policy failed when the Social Democrats won ⅓ of the votes in the 1912 elections to the " Reichstag " , and became the largest political party in Germany . The government remained in the hands of a succession of conservative coalitions supported by right - wing liberals or Catholic clerics and heavily dependent on the Kaiser ' s favour . The rising militarism under Wilhelm II caused many Germans to emigrate to the U . S . and the British colonies to escape mandatory military service . During World War I , the Kaiser increasingly devolved his powers to the leaders of the German High Command , particularly future President of Germany , Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and " Generalquartiermeister " Erich Ludendorff . Hindenburg took over the role of commander – in – chief from the Kaiser , while Ludendorff became de facto general chief of staff . By 1916 , Germany was effectively a military dictatorship run by Hindenburg and Ludendorff , with the Kaiser reduced to a mere figurehead . Foreign affairs . Wilhelm II wanted Germany to have her " place in the sun , " like Britain , which he constantly wished to emulate or rival . With German traders and merchants already active worldwide , he encouraged colonial efforts in Africa and the Pacific ( " new imperialism " ) , causing the German Empire to vie with other European powers for remaining " unclaimed " territories . With the encouragement or at least the acquiescence of Britain , which at this stage saw Germany as a counterweight to her old rival France , Germany acquired German Southwest Africa ( today Namibia ) , German Kamerun ( Cameroon ) , Togoland and German East Africa ( the mainland part of current Tanzania ) . Islands were gained in the Pacific through purchase and treaties and also a 99 - year lease for the territory of Kiautschou in northeast China . But of these German colonies only Togoland and German Samoa ( after 1908 ) became self - sufficient and profitable ; all the others required subsidies from the Berlin treasury for building infrastructure , school systems , hospitals and other institutions . Bismarck had originally dismissed the agitation for colonies with contempt ; he favoured a Eurocentric foreign policy , as the treaty arrangements made during his tenure in office show . As a latecomer to colonization , Germany repeatedly came into conflict with the established colonial powers and also with the United States , which opposed German attempts at colonial expansion in both the Caribbean and the Pacific . Native insurrections in German territories received prominent coverage in other countries , especially in Britain ; the established powers had dealt with such uprisings decades earlier , often brutally , and had secured firm control of their colonies by then . The Boxer Rising in China , which the Chinese government eventually sponsored , began in the Shandong province , in part because Germany , as colonizer at Kiautschou , was an untested power and had only been active there for two years . Eight western nations , including the United States , mounted a joint relief force to rescue westerners caught up in the rebellion ; and during the departure ceremonies for the German contingent , Wilhelm II urged them to behave like the Hun invaders of continental Europe – an unfortunate remark that would later be resurrected by British propagandists to paint Germans as barbarians during World War I and World War II . On two occasions , a French - German conflict over the fate of Morocco seemed inevitable . Upon acquiring Southwest Africa , German settlers were encouraged to cultivate land held by the Herero and Nama . Herero and Nama tribal lands were used for a variety of exploitive goals ( much as the British did before in Rhodesia ) , including farming , ranching , and mining for minerals and diamonds . In 1904 , the Herero and the Nama revolted against the colonists in Southwest Africa , killing farm families , their laborers and servants . In response to the attacks , troops were dispatched to quell the uprising which then resulted in the Herero and Namaqua Genocide . In total , some 65 , 000 Herero ( 80 % of the total Herero population ) , and 10 , 000 Nama ( 50 % of the total Nama population ) perished . The commander of the punitive expedition , General Lothar von Trotha , was eventually relieved and reprimanded for his usurpation of orders and the cruelties he inflicted . These occurrences were sometimes referred to as " the first genocide of the 20th century " and officially condemned by the United Nations in 1985 . In 2004 a formal apology by a government minister of the Federal Republic of Germany followed . Middle East . Bismarck and Wilhelm II after him sought closer economic ties with the Ottoman Empire . Under Wilhelm , with the financial backing of the Deutsche Bank , the Baghdad Railway was begun in 1900 , although by 1914 it was still short of its destination in Baghdad . In an interview with Wilhelm in 1899 , Cecil Rhodes had tried " to convince the Kaiser that the future of the German empire abroad lay in the Middle East " and not in Africa ; with a grand Middle - Eastern empire , Germany could afford to allow Britain the unhindered completion of the Cape - to - Cairo railway that Rhodes favoured . Britain initially supported the Baghdad Railway ; but by 1911 British statesmen came to fear it might be extended to Basra on the Persian Gulf , threatening Britain ' s naval supremacy in the Indian Ocean . Accordingly they asked to have construction halted , to which Germany and the Ottoman Empire acquiesced . Europe . Wilhelm II and his advisers committed a fatal diplomatic error when they allowed the " Reinsurance Treaty " that Bismarck had negotiated with Tsarist Russia to lapse . Germany was left with no firm ally but Austria - Hungary , and her support for action in annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908 further soured relations with Russia . Wilhelm missed the opportunity to secure an alliance with Britain in the 1890s when it was involved in colonial rivalries with France , and he alienated British statesmen further by openly supporting the Boers in the South African War and building a navy to rival Britain ' s . By 1911 Wilhelm had completely picked apart the careful power balance established by Bismarck and Britain turned to France in the Entente Cordiale . Germany ' s only other ally besides Austria was the Kingdom of Italy , but it remained an ally only " pro forma " . When war came , Italy saw more benefit in an alliance with Britain , France , and Russia , which , in the secret Treaty of London in 1915 promised it the frontier districts of Austria where Italians formed the majority of the population and also colonial concessions . Germany did acquire a second ally that same year when the Ottoman Empire entered the war on its side , but in the long run supporting the Ottoman war effort only drained away German resources from the main fronts . World War I . Origins . Following the assassination of the Austro - Hungarian Archduke of Austria - Este , Franz Ferdinand by Bosnian Serbs , the Kaiser offered Emperor Franz Joseph full support for Austro - Hungarian plans to invade the Kingdom of Serbia , which Austria - Hungary blamed for the assassination . This unconditional support for Austria - Hungary was called a blank cheque by historians , including German Fritz Fischer . Subsequent interpretation – for example at the Versailles Peace Conference – was that this " blank cheque " licensed Austro - Hungarian aggression regardless of the diplomatic consequences , and thus Germany bore responsibility for starting the war , or at least provoking a wider conflict . Germany began the war by targeting its chief rival , France . Germany saw France as its principal danger on the European continent as it could mobilize much faster than Russia and bordered Germany ' s industrial core in the Rhineland . Unlike Britain and Russia , the French entered the war mainly for revenge against Germany , in particular for France ' s loss of Alsace - Lorraine to Germany in 1871 . The German high command knew that France would muster its forces to go into Alsace - Lorraine . In the East the German Empire planned to annex up to 35 , 000 square kilometers of pre - war Congress Poland and ethnically cleanse between 2 to 3 million Poles and Jews out of these territories to make room for German settlers . Western Front . Germany did not want to risk lengthy battles along the Franco - German border and instead adopted the Schlieffen Plan , a military strategy designed to cripple France by invading Belgium and Luxembourg , sweeping down towards Paris and encircling and crushing the French forces along the Franco - German border in a quick victory . After defeating France , Germany would turn to attack Russia . The plan required the violation of Belgium ' s and Luxembourg ' s official neutrality , which Britain had guaranteed by treaty . However , the Germans had calculated that Britain would enter the war regardless of whether they had formal justification to do so . At first the attack was successful : the German Army swept down from Belgium and Luxembourg and was nearly at Paris , at the nearby River Marne . However the French Army and the British Army put up a strong resistance to defend Paris at the First Battle of the Marne resulting in the German Army retreating . The aftermath of the First Battle of the Marne was a long - held stalemate between the German Army and the Allies in dug - in trench warfare . Further German attempts to break through deeper into France failed at the two battles of Ypres ( 1st / 2nd ) with huge casualties . German Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn decided to break away from the Schlieffen Plan and instead focus on a war of attrition against France . Falkenhayn targeted the ancient city of Verdun because it had been one of the last cities to hold out against the German Army in 1870 , and Falkenhayn knew that as a matter of national pride the French would do anything to ensure that it was not taken . He expected that with proper tactics , French losses would be greater than those of the Germans and that continued French commitment of troops to Verdun would " bleed the French Army white " and then allow the German army to take France easily . In 1916 , the Battle of Verdun began , with the French positions under constant shelling and poison gas attack and taking large casualties under the assault of overwhelmingly large German forces . However , Falkenhayn ' s prediction of a greater ratio of French killed proved to be wrong . Falkenhayn was replaced by Erich Ludendorff , and with no success in sight , the German Army pulled out of Verdun in December 1916 and the battle ended . Eastern Front . While the Western Front was a stalemate for the German Army , the Eastern Front eventually proved to be a great success . Despite initial setbacks due to the unexpectedly rapid mobilisation of the Russian army , which resulted in a Russian invasion of East Prussia and Austrian Galicia , the badly organised and supplied Russian Army faltered and the German and Austro - Hungarian armies thereafter steadily advanced eastward . The Germans benefited from political instability in Russia and its population ' s desire to end the war . In 1917 the German government allowed Russia ' s communist Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin to travel through Germany from Switzerland into Russia . Germany believed that if Lenin could create further political unrest , Russia would no longer be able to continue its war with Germany , allowing the German Army to focus on the Western Front . In March 1917 , the Tsar was ousted from the Russian throne , and in November a Bolshevik government came to power under the leadership of Lenin . Facing political opposition to the Bolsheviks , he decided to end Russia ' s campaign against Germany , Austria - Hungary , the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria in order to redirect Bolshevik energy to eliminating internal dissent . In 1918 , by the Treaty of Brest - Litovsk , the Bolshevik government gave Germany and the Ottoman Empire enormous territorial and economic concessions in exchange for an end to war on the Eastern Front . All of the modern - day Baltic states ( Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania ) were given over to the German occupation authority " Ober Ost " , along with Belarus and Ukraine . Thus Germany had at last achieved its long - wanted dominance of " Mitteleuropa " ( Central Europe ) and could now focus fully on defeating the Allies on the Western Front . In practice , however , the forces needed to garrison and secure the new territories were a drain on the German war effort . Colonies . Germany quickly lost almost all its colonies . However , in German East Africa , an impressive guerrilla campaign was waged by the colonial army leader there , General Paul Emil von Lettow - Vorbeck . Using Germans and native Askari s , Lettow - Vorbeck launched multiple guerrilla raids against British forces in Kenya and Rhodesia . He also invaded Portuguese Mozambique to gain his forces supplies and to pick up more Askari recruits . His force was still active at war ' s end . 1918 . Defeating Russia in 1917 enabled Germany to transfer hundreds of thousands of combat troops from the east to the Western Front , giving it a numerical advantage over the Allies . By retraining the soldiers in new storm - trooper tactics , the Germans expected to unfreeze the battlefield and win a decisive victory before the army of the United States , which had now entered the war on the side of Britain and France , arrived in strength . However , the repeated German offensives in the autumn of 1917 and the spring of 1918 all failed , as the Allies fell back and regrouped and the Germans lacked the reserves needed to consolidate their gains . Meanwhile soldiers had become radicalised by the Russian Revolution and were less willing to continue fighting . The war effort sparked civil unrest in Germany , while the troops , who had been constantly in the field without relief , grew exhausted and lost all hope of victory . In the summer of 1918 , with the Americans arriving at the rate of 10 , 000 a day and the German reserves spent , it was only a matter of time before multiple Allied offensives destroyed the German army . Home front . The concept of " total war " , meant that supplies had to be redirected towards the armed forces and , with German commerce being stopped by the Allied naval blockade , German civilians were forced to live in increasingly meagre conditions . First food prices were controlled , then rationing was introduced . During the war about 750 , 000 German civilians died from malnutrition . Towards the end of the war conditions deteriorated rapidly on the home front , with severe food shortages reported in all urban areas . The causes included the transfer of many farmers and food workers into the military , combined with the overburdened railway system , shortages of coal , and the British blockade . The winter of 1916 – 1917 was known as the " turnip winter " , because the people had to survive on a vegetable more commonly reserved for livestock , as a substitute for potatoes and meat , which were increasingly scarce . Thousands of soup kitchens were opened to feed the hungry , who grumbled that the farmers were keeping the food for themselves . Even the army had to cut the soldiers ' rations . The morale of both civilians and soldiers continued to sink . Revolt . Many Germans wanted an end to the war and increasing numbers began to associate with the political left , such as the Social Democratic Party and the more radical Independent Social Democratic Party , which demanded an end to the war . The entry of the U . S . into the war in April 1917 changed the long - run balance of power in favour of the Allies . The end of October 1918 , in Kiel , in northern Germany , saw the beginning of the German Revolution of 1918 – 1919 . Units of the German Navy refused to set sail for a last , large - scale operation in a war which they saw as good as lost , initiating the uprising . On 3 November , the revolt spread to other cities and states of the country , in many of which workers ' and soldiers ' councils were established . Meanwhile , Hindenburg and the senior generals lost confidence in the Kaiser and his government . Between 24 October and 3 November 1918 , Italy defeated Austria - Hungary in the battle of Vittorio Veneto . So , in November 1918 , with internal revolution , a stalemated war , Austria - Hungary falling apart from multiple ethnic tensions , and pressure from the German high command , the Kaiser and all German ruling princes abdicated . On 9 November , the Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed a Republic . The new government led by the German Social Democrats called for and received an armistice on 11 November . The war was over ; the history books closed on the German Empire . It was succeeded by the democratic , yet flawed , Weimar Republic . Those opposed , including disaffected veterans , joined a diverse set of paramilitary and underground political groups like the Freikorps , the Organisation Consul , and the Communists , and Germany headed towards troubled times . Legacy . The defeat and aftermath of World War I and the penalties imposed by the Treaty of Versailles shaped the positive memory of the Empire , especially among Germans who distrusted and despised the Weimar Republic . Conservatives , liberals , socialists , nationalists , Catholics , and Protestants all had their own interpretations , which led to a fractious political and social climate in Germany in the aftermath of the empire ' s collapse . Under Bismarck , a united German state had finally been achieved , but it remained a Prussian - dominated state and did not include German Austria as Pan - German nationalists had desired . The influence of Prussian militarism , the Empire ’ s colonial efforts and its vigorous , competitive industrial prowess all gained it the dislike and envy of other nations . The German Empire enacted a number of progressive reforms , such as Europe ' s first social welfare system ( still in place today ) and freedom of press . There was also a modern system for electing the federal parliament , the Reichstag , in which every adult man had one vote . This enabled the Socialists and the Catholic Centre Party to play considerable roles in the empire ' s political life despite the continued hostility of Prussian aristocrats . The era of the German Empire is well remembered in Germany as one of great cultural and intellectual vigour . Thomas Mann published his novel " Buddenbrooks " in 1901 . Theodor Mommsen received the Nobel prize for literature a year later for his Roman history . Painters like the groups Der Blaue Reiter and Die Brücke made a significant contribution to modern art . The AEG turbine building in Berlin by Peter Behrens from 1909 can be regarded as a milestone in classic modern architecture and an outstanding example of emerging functionalism . The social , economic , and scientific successes of this " Gründerzeit " , or founding epoch , have sometimes led the Wilhelmine era to be regarded as a golden age . In the field of economics , the " " Kaiserzeit " " laid the foundation of Germany ' s status as one of the world ' s leading economic powers . The iron and coal industries of the Ruhr area , the Saar Bassin and Upper Silesia especially contributed to that process . The first motorcar was built by Karl Benz in 1886 . The enormous growth of industrial production and industrial potential also led to a rapid urbanisation of Germany , which turned the Germans into a nation of city dwellers . More than 5 million people left Germany for the United States during the 19th century . Sonderweg . Many historians have emphasized the central importance of a German " Sonderweg " or " special path " ( or " exceptionalism " ) as the root of Nazism and the German catastrophe in the 20th century . According to the historiography by Kocka ( 1988 ) , the process of nation - building from above had very grievous long - term implications . In terms of parliamentary democracy , Parliament was kept weak , the parties were fragmented , and there was a high level of mutual distrust . The Nazis built on the illiberal , anti - pluralist elements of Weimar ' s political culture . The Junker elites ( the large landowners in the east ) and senior civil servants used their great power and influence well into the twentieth century to frustrate any movement toward democracy . They played an especially negative role in the crisis of 1930 – 1933 . Bismarck ' s emphasis on military force amplified the voice of the officer corps , which combined advanced modernization of military technology with reactionary politics . The rising upper - middle - class elites , in the business , financial , and professional worlds , tended to accept the values of the old traditional elites . The German Empire was for Hans - Ulrich Wehler a strange mixture of highly successful capitalist industrialization and socio - economic modernization on the one hand , and of surviving pre - industrial institutions , power relations and traditional cultures on the other . Wehler argues that it produced a high degree of internal tension , which led on the one hand to the suppression of socialists , Catholics , and reformers , and on the other hand to a highly aggressive foreign policy . For these reasons Fritz Fischer and his students emphasized Germany ’ s primary guilt for causing World War I . Hans - Ulrich Wehler , a leader of the Bielefeld School of social history , places the origins of Germany ' s path to disaster in the 1860s – 1870s , when economic modernization took place , but political modernization did not happen and the old Prussian rural elite remained in firm control of the army , diplomacy and the civil service . Traditional , aristocratic , premodern society battled an emerging capitalist , bourgeois , modernizing society . Recognizing the importance of modernizing forces in industry and the economy and in the cultural realm , Wehler argues that reactionary traditionalism dominated the political hierarchy of power in Germany , as well as social mentalities and in class relations ( " Klassenhabitus " ) . The catastrophic German politics between 1914 and 1945 are interpreted in terms of a delayed modernization of its political structures . At the core of Wehler ' s interpretation is his treatment of " the middle class " and " revolution , " each of which was instrumental in shaping the 20th century . Wehler ' s examination of Nazi rule is shaped by his concept of " charismatic domination , " which focuses heavily on Adolf Hitler . The historiographical concept of a German Sonderweg has had a turbulent history . Nineteenth century scholars who emphasized a separate German path to modernity saw it as a positive factor that differentiated Germany from the " western path " typified by Great Britain . They stressed the strong bureaucratic state , reforms initiated by Bismarck and other strong leaders , the Prussian service ethos , the high culture of philosophy and music , and Germany ' s pioneering of a social welfare state . In the 1950s , historians in West Germany argued that the Sonderweg lead Germany to the disaster of 1933 – 1945 . The special circumstances of German historical structures and experiences , were interpreted as preconditions that , while not directly causing National Socialism , did hamper the development of a liberal democracy and facilitate the rise of fascism . The Sonderweg paradigm has provided the impetus for at least three strands of research in German historiography : the " long nineteenth century " , the history of the bourgeoisie , and comparisons with the West . After 1990 , increased attention to cultural dimensions and to comparative and relational history moved German historiography to different topics , with much less attention paid to the Sonderweg . While some historians have abandoned the Sonderweg thesis , they have not provided a generally accepted alternative interpretation . Territorial legacy . In addition to present - day Germany , large parts of what comprised the German Empire now belong to several other modern European countries :