When were the 1st and 2nd Reichs?

Question

What were their characteristics?

Answer 1

The first Reich was the German Empire founded in 1872 when Kaiser  Wilhelm I was crowned in Versailles, to the great chargin of the defeated French. This fell in 1918 with the end of the war. The second Reich was the democratic government between then and Hitler. Hitler founded the third Reich.

Answer 2

1st Reich - Charlemagne

2nd Reich - Otto von Bismarck and the Unification of Germany

Answer 3

Reich is the German word for empire as you probably know.

I would date the 1st Reich with Charlemagne specifically Christmas day 800 AD when the pope crowned Charles the Great (aka Charlemagne) of the Franks as the first Holy Roman Emperor.  This Reich or empire ended in 1806 with the Napoleonic take over.

The 2nd was as stated above 1871 to 1918.  Remember that Germany only became unified in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War.  Germany lost her empire (colonies in Africa and the far eastern Pacific) at the end of WWI with the Treaty of Versailles.

See http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=... which backs up my version.

Answer 4

The first Reich was the Holy Roman Empire:

Began in the middle ages; dissolved by Napoleon on 6 August 1806.

The second Reich was the German Empire:

Founded 18 January 1871; abolished on 9 November, 1918

Answer 5

The First Reich was the Holy Roman Empire. Dark ages to Napoleon.

The second Reich was the First German Empire under Wilhelm I and Bismarck.  1871 to 1918

Characteristics, look at my sources.

Answer 6

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/4009

The First Reich, was also known as The Holy Roman Empire (a continuation of the Roman Empire in Europe), that started in the lands ruled by Charlemagne (Germany, Austria, Eslovenia, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, eastern France, Northern Italy and western Poland), with a period beginning on the 9th century and finishing in the 19th century.

The Second Reich, also known as The German Empire, ruled by the Hohenzollern dinasty, in the areas known as Prussia and Brandenburg, from 1871 to 1919, they fell with the ending of World War I. During this Reich the "Iron Chancellor" Otto Von Bismark united Germany, and set the roots for World War I.

Then there was a period known as the Weimar Republic, from 1919 to 1933 (called sometimes the pre-3rd Reich).

Answer 7

You know, Joe is right, not the first guy. The first Reich is the Holy Roman Empire and the second is the First German Empire, it was ended when the Germans were defeated in WW1

LOL