The North German Confederation (red). The southern German states that joined in 1870 to form the German Empire are in orange. Alsace–Lorraine, the territory annexed following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, is in tan. The red territory in the south marks the original princedom of the House of Hohenzollern, rulers of the Kingdom of Prussia.
• Accession of southern states; German Empire adopted as name
1 January 1871
• Empire proclaimed
18 January 1871
• Constitution of the Empire
4 May 1871
Currency
Vereinsthaler
Preceded by
Succeeded by
German Confederation[a]
Duchy of Schleswig
Province of Prussia
Province of Posen
Kingdom of Prussia
German Empire
Part of a series on the
History of Germany
Topics
Chronology
Historiography
Military history
Economic history
Healthcare
Islam
LGBT history
Jewish history
Women's history
Territorial evolution
Historic states (Holy Roman Empire)
Monarchs (Queens, Empresses, 1918, Family tree, Austria, Bavaria, Prussia, Saxony, Württemberg, Mediatised)
Early history
Germanic peoples
Migration Period
Barbarian kingdoms
Frankish Empire
Middle Ages
East Francia
Kingdom of Germany
Holy Roman Empire
Eastward settlement
Early Modern period
Sectionalism
18th century
Kingdom of Prussia
Unification
Mediatisation
Confederation of the Rhine
German Confederation
Zollverein
German revolutions of 1848–1849
North German Confederation
German Reich
German Empire
1871–1918
World War I
1914–1918
Weimar Republic
1918–1933
Nazi Germany
1933–1945
World War II
1939–1945
Contemporary Germany
Occupation
Ostgebiete
1945–1949/1952
Expulsion of Germans
1944–1950
West–East division
1949–1990
Reunification
New states
1990
Modern history
since 1990
Germany portal
History portal
v
t
e
The North German Confederation (German: Norddeutscher Bundⓘ)[1] was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated state (a de facto federal state) that existed from July 1867 to December 1870. A milestone of the German Unification, it was the earliest continual legal predecessor of the modern German nation-state known today as the Federal Republic of Germany.[2]
The Confederation came into existence following the Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 over the lordship of two small Danish duchies (Schleswig-Holstein) resulting in the Peace of Prague, where Prussia pressured Austria and its allies into accepting the dissolution of the existing German Confederation (an association of German states under the leadership of the Austrian Empire), thus paving the way for the Lesser German version of German unification in the form of a federal state in Northern Germany. Construction of such state became a reality in August 1866, following the North German Confederation Treaty, initially as a military alliance only, while its first federal constitution establishing a constitutional monarchy with the Prussian king holding as the head of state the Bundespräsidium was adopted on 1 July 1867.[3] Laws could only be enabled with the consent of the Reichstag (a parliament based on universal male suffrage) and the Federal Council (Bundesrat, a representation of the states). During the initial three and a half years of the Confederation, a conservative-liberal cooperation undertook important steps to unify (Northern) Germany with regard to law and infrastructure. The designed political system and the political parties remained essentially the same also after 1870.
Shortly after its inception, tensions emerged between the North German Confederation and the Second French Empire, which was ruled by the French Emperor Napoleon III. In Summer 1870, a dispute over a new king for Spain escalated into the Franco-Prussian War. At the time, the original Confederation had nearly 30 million inhabitants of whom 80% lived in Prussia, thus making up roughly 75% of the population of the future German Empire. Under these circumstances, the South German states of Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Württemberg and Bavaria previously opposed to the Confederation ultimately decided to join it.[4] A new short-lived constitution subsequently entered into force on 1 January 1871 proclaiming in its preamble and article 11 the "German Empire" despite being titled as one of a new "German Confederation", but it lasted only four months. Following the victory in the war with France, the German princes and senior military commanders proclaimed Wilhelm "German Emperor" in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles.[5] Transition from the Confederation to the Empire was completed when the Constitution of the German Empire which prevailed until the demise of the monarchy entered into force on 4 May 1871, while France recognised the empire on 10 May 1871 in the Treaty of Frankfurt.[6][7]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
^An alternative translation is "North German Federation." The German word Bund is used in the German constitutional history (a) for confederations (associations of states, in German Staatenbund) such as the German Confederation of 1815, but (b) also for federations (federal states, in German Bundesstaat or Föderaler Staat) such as the Federal Republic of Germany or the United States of America.
^See Michael Kotulla: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte. Vom Alten Reich bis Weimar (1495–1934). Springer, Berlin 2008, p. 526. R. Stettner, in: H. Dreier (ed.), Grundgesetz-Kommentar, vol. 2, second edition 2006, Art. 123, Rn. 14. Bernhard Diestelkamp: Rechtsgeschichte als Zeitgeschichte. Historische Betrachtungen zur Entstehung und Durchsetzung der Theorie vom Fortbestand des Deutschen Reiches als Staat nach 1945. In: Zeitschrift für Neuere Rechtsgeschichte 7 (1985), pp. 187 and following.
^Michael Kotulla: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte. Vom Alten Reich bis Weimar (1495–1934). Springer, Berlin 2008, pp. 487–489.
^Michael Kotulla: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte. Vom Alten Reich bis Weimar (1495–1934). Springer, Berlin 2008, pp. 525–527.
^Die Reichsgründung 1871 (The Foundation of the Empire, 1871), Lebendiges virtuelles Museum Online, accessed 2008-12-22. German text translated: [...] on the wishes of Wilhelm I, on the 170th anniversary of the elevation of the House of Brandenburg to royal status on January 18, 1701, the assembled German princes and high military officials proclaimed Wilhelm I as German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Versailles Palace.
^Crankshaw, Edward. Bismarck. New York, The Viking Press, 1981, p. 299.
^Ernst Rudolf Huber: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. Vol. III: Bismarck und das Reich. 3rd edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [et al.] 1988, p. 747.
and 25 Related for: North German Confederation information
The NorthGermanConfederation (German: Norddeutscher Bund) was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of...
The GermanConfederation (German: Deutscher Bund, German pronunciation: [ˌdɔɪ̯t͡ʃɐ ˈbʊnt] ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign...
The NorthGermanConfederation Treaty (in German Augustbündnis, or Alliance of August) (also called the NorthGerman Federation Treaty and the Treaty of...
constitutes the old German imperial eagle with the surrounding scripture "GermanConfederation" and the colors of the former German imperial coat of arms...
southern German states concerned did not make use of this. In the north, the Kingdom of Prussia formed the NorthGermanConfederation as a new German federal...
involving Germany from 1806. It includes the Confederation of the Rhine, the GermanConfederation, the NorthGermanConfederation, the German Empire, the...
of the NorthGermanConfederation which was formed in 1867. During the Franco-Prussian War, the German Empire was founded (i.e., the South German states...
called the NorthGermanConfederation (1867–1870). The Southern states joined the federal state in 1870/71, which was consequently renamed the German Empire...
9/10 December, transformed the NorthGermanConfederation (German: Norddeutscher Bund) into the German Empire (German: Deutsches Reich). This empire was...
junior co-regents are italicized. German Emperor Family tree of German monarchs List of German monarchs in 1918 List of German queens Emperor of Austria List...
created in the NorthGermanConfederation in 1867, when Otto von Bismarck became the first chancellor. With the unification of Germany and establishment...
of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine or Rhine Confederation, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest...
Bundesstaaten, i.e. federal states, a name derived from the previous NorthGermanConfederation; they became known as Länder during the Weimar Republic) each...
when Germany was divided, a unified Germany was called 'Gesamtdeutschland'. Since 1815, the German states had belonged to the GermanConfederation. Its...
the North German Confederation. This nation state for Prussia and other north and central German states was expanded to the south German states in 1870–71...
Europe. The modern office of chancellor was established with the NorthGermanConfederation, of which Otto von Bismarck became Bundeskanzler (meaning "Federal...
adoption of the NorthGerman Constitution. The process symbolically concluded when most of south German states joined the NorthGermanConfederation with the...
Versailles where the south German states, except for Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, joined the NorthGermanConfederation and the new constitution...
name "Bundesrat" was used by similar bodies in the NorthGermanConfederation (1867) and the German Empire (1871). The predecessor of the Bundesrat in...
Imperial Germany. After Prussia defeated Austria in 1866, the NorthGermanConfederation was founded by Prussia in order to replace the former German Confederation...
the GermanConfederation. That constitution had already incorporated some of the agreements between the NorthGermanConfederation and the four German states...
by German Colonel General Erich Ludendorff, who wrote, "German prestige demands that we should hold a strong protecting hand, not only over German citizens...
forming the NorthGermanConfederation as a military alliance in August 1866 without Austria. A year later, the NorthGermanConfederation made a constitution...