Editing German Empire (section)

==Constituent states==
{{Main|States of the German Empire}}
{{See also|List of historic states of Germany}}
[[File:Wappen und Flaggen des Deutschen Reichs und der Preußischen Provinzen.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Coats of arms and flags of the constituent states in 1900]]

Before unification, German territory (excluding Austria and Switzerland) was made up of 27 constituent states. These states consisted of kingdoms, grand duchies, duchies, principalities, free [[Hanseaten (class)|Hanseatic]] cities and one imperial territory. The free cities had a republican form of government on the state level, even though the Empire at large was constituted as a monarchy, and so were most of the states. Prussia was the largest of the constituent states, covering two-thirds of the empire's territory.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Several of these states had gained sovereignty following the dissolution of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], and had been ''de facto'' sovereign from the mid-1600s onward. 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 acquisitions, or, in several cases, divisions of the ruling families. Some of the initially existing states, in particular Hanover, were abolished and annexed by Prussia as a result of the war of 1866.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

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 German Emperor could, for example, intervene on occasions of disputed or unclear succession was much debated on occasion—for example in the inheritance crisis in [[Principality of Lippe|Lippe-Detmold]].{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Unusually for a federation or a nation-state, the German states maintained limited autonomy over foreign affairs and continued to exchange ambassadors and other diplomats (both with each other and directly with foreign nations) for the Empire's entire existence. Shortly after the Empire was proclaimed, Bismarck implemented a convention in which his sovereign would only send and receive envoys to and from other German states as the King of Prussia, while envoys from Berlin sent to foreign nations always received credentials from the monarch in his capacity as German Emperor. In this way, the Prussian foreign ministry was largely tasked with managing relations with the other German states while the Imperial foreign ministry managed Germany's external relations.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

===Map and table===
{{German Empire States|width=600|include_list=y}}

===Other maps===
<gallery widths=180>
Karte Deutsches Reich, Verwaltungsgliederung 1900-01-01.png|Administrative map
Meyers b4 s0812a.jpg|Population density ({{Circa|1885}})
Karte der Reichstagswahlkreise farbig-2011-11-09.svg|Election constituencies for the Reichstag
Deutsches Kaiserreich 1893.jpg|Detailed map in 1893 with cities and larger towns
</gallery>