Editing Reich (section)

===German Reich===
{{See also|German Reich}}

In the case of the Hohenzollern Empire (1871–1918), the official name of the country was {{Lang|de|Deutsches Reich|italic=no}} ("German Realm"), because under the [[Constitution of the German Empire]], it was legally a [[confederation]] of German states under the permanent presidency of the [[King of Prussia]].  The constitution granted the King of Prussia the title of "German Emperor" (''Deutscher Kaiser''), but this referred to the German nation rather than directly to the ''state'' of Germany.<ref name="HM" />

The exact translation of the term "German Empire" would be {{Lang|de|Deutsches Kaiserreich}}. This name was sometimes used informally for Germany between 1871 and 1918, but it was disliked by the first German Emperor, [[Wilhelm I]], and never became official.

The [[Unification of Germany|unified Germany]] which arose under Chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck]] in 1871 was the first entity that was officially called in German ''{{lang|de|Deutsches Reich}}''. {{Lang|de|Deutsches Reich|italic=no}} remained the official name of Germany until 1945, although these years saw three very different political systems more commonly referred to in English as: "the [[German Empire]]" (1871&ndash;1918), the [[Weimar Republic]] (1919&ndash;1933; this term is a post-[[World War II]] coinage not used at the time), and [[Nazi Germany]] (1933&ndash;1945).