State · 1871 – 1918
German Empire
A state of 1871 – 1918 — 47 years in Europe. It replaced North German Confederation. It was replaced by Weimar Republic and followed by Second Polish Republic. The atlas records 345 things within it — wars and battles 15 · unrest and atrocity 1 · famine and plague 1 · treaties 8 · people 317 · works and ideas 3. Its line of rulers holds 3 people. Its own article says it was replaced by Weimar Republic.
For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.
- Stood
- 47 years
- 1871 – 1918
- Rulers
- 3
- the King of Prussia
- Most ground
- 1.02 million km²
- in 1918
- Within it
- 345
- recorded rows
- Symbols
- 3
- on record, with years
1871 · first mapped · 658,100 km²
1918 · at its largest · 1.02 million km²
Where it sits in time
Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.
Before and after
The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.
Before it
- North German Confederation · replaces · 1867 – 1870
After it
- Second Polish Republic · followed by · 1918 – 1939
- Weimar Republic · replaced by · 1918 – 1933
How it ended, as its article says
Replaced by Weimar Republic. Read from the article's section “History - Revolt and demise” by its grammar; the claim is only that the article says so.
It was succeeded by the Weimar Republic.
One sentence of the English Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Rulers
The line of King of Prussia - the office this state names as its head of state.
| Ruler | Reign | Length | How it ended · source | To the ruler before |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilhelm I | 1861 – 1888 | 27 years | died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone | |
| Frederick III, German Emperor | 1888 – 1888 | under a year | died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death | child |
| Wilhelm II | 1888 – 1918 | 30 years | deposed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | child |
3 rulers, 3 with terms dated as terms, covering 1861 – 1918. Median reign 27 years. 0 of 2 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.
Ground held, by year
km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.
658,100 km² in 1871, 1.02 million km² in 1918; at its largest 1.02 million km² in 1918. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.
Flags and arms, in order
Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.

coat of arms, undatedWappen Deutsches Reich - Reichsadler 1889 · Public domain .svg/120px-Wappen_Deutsches_Reich_-_Reichswappen_(Grosses).svg.png)
coat of arms, undatedWappen Deutsches Reich - Reichswappen (Grosses) · Public domain .svg/120px-Flag_of_Germany_(1867%E2%80%931918).svg.png)
flag, undatedFlag of Germany (1867–1918) · Public domain
What happened within it, by century
Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.
1800 – 1899205 rows · 2 wars and battles
- Hermann Hesse · philosopher · 1877 – 1962
- Bertolt Brecht · writer · 1898 – 1956
- Germanium · discovery · 1886
- Martin Heidegger · scientist · 1889 – 1976
- Erwin Rommel · commander · 1891 – 1944
- Wilhelm Wien · scientist · 1864 – 1928
- Otto Hahn · scientist · 1879 – 1968
- Shmuel Yosef Agnon · writer · 1888 – 1970
and 197 more in the atlas.
1900 – 1999140 rows · 13 wars and battles · 1 risings, regime changes and massacres
- Heinrich Himmler · politician · 1900 – 1945
- Heinrich Böll · writer · 1917 – 1985
- Helmut Schmidt · politician · 1918 – 2015
- Wernher von Braun · inventor · 1912 – 1977
- Erich Fromm · philosopher · 1900 – 1980
- Theodor W. Adorno · philosopher · 1903 – 1969
- Adolf Eichmann · politician · 1906 – 1962
- Eva Braun · artist · 1912 – 1945
and 132 more in the atlas.
Among all states
Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.
- How long it stood47 years
stood longer than 32% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
- The most ground it held1,019,900 km²
held more ground at its peak than 85% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
- Wars recorded per century1.0
had more wars on record per century than 94% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
- How long a reign lasted, at the median27 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 78% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
- Rulers on record3
has more rulers on record than 48% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.
What led to it, and what came of it
The investigation's own picture: 45 causes the record names and 3 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.
Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.
Theories that apply to its ending
Of 3 theories of why states fall, 1 has every condition present at this ending; each is applied by its own logic, condition by condition, and whether its authors named this case is a footnote.
Demographic-structural breakdown
Goldstone 1991 · Turchin & Nefedov 2009
Applies by its own logic: 2 of its 3 conditions held here (it needs 2), and this is the kind of outcome it predicts — unrest, adverse regime change or the state's ending.
- famine, plague or disaster within 30 y in the state, or population up 25% over 50 y — prior
- a war the state is fighting, still under way, or a war the state fought, ended within 10 y — warOngoing
Open in the atlas
- On the timeline, 1861 – 1928, with everything that stood beside it.
- On the map in 1918, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
- Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.
Wikidata Q43287 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · one sentence of the English Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA 4.0 · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.