Imperial Germany - Under Construction
Imperial Germany: 1871 - 1919
Known often as the Second Reich, Imperial Germany was the outcome of centuries of unification and warfare within the central European "German" states. Since the times of the Holy Roman Empire, Germany as such had not existed and had instead been under the control and influence of principalties and larger nation/states.The empire proper began it's journey to power following Prussia's revival against Napoleon, and would continue through various customs unions and political agreements until Bismarck began the solid steps that would lead to unification. Victories over Denmark in 1864, then Austria in 1866 and finally the humiliation of France in the Franco-Prussian war from 1870-1871 would lead to Prussia's ascendancy over central Europe.
The Empire proper was founded in Versailles in 1871 following the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. And Prussia herself became part of the Kaiserreich but still was the dominant force behind the Empire, and would continue to be until its fall in 1919.
Eventually the Empire would control colonies in Africa, the Pacific and China, with Kaiser Wilhelm II being the last monarch, seeing the Empire through to its defeat in the Great War, as in 1919 the German Empire was dissolved and the Weimar Republic was born.
