Talk:German Empire

Skip to table of contents

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the German Empire article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1, 2: 180 days

A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the On this day section on January 18, 2005, January 18, 2006, January 18, 2007, January 18, 2008, and January 18, 2009.

European history High‑importance

	Europe portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject European history, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the history of Europe on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.European historyWikipedia:WikiProject European historyTemplate:WikiProject European historyEuropean history articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Military history: European / German / World War I C‑class

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles

C

This article has been rated as C-class on the project's quality scale.

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

Associated task forces:
/
	European military history task force
	German military history task force
	World War I task force

Germany: Prussia Top‑importance

	Germany portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Germany, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Germany on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.GermanyWikipedia:WikiProject GermanyTemplate:WikiProject GermanyGermany articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Prussia, a project which is currently considered to be inactive.

Former countries: Prussia

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Former countries, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of defunct states and territories (and their subdivisions). If you would like to participate, please join the project.Former countriesWikipedia:WikiProject Former countriesTemplate:WikiProject Former countriesformer country articles
	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Prussia, a project which is currently considered to be inactive.

Name in German

In the Infobox it mentions the name of the German Empire was "Deutsches Reich" in German. However, above in its introduction, it mentioned the German Empire in German was "Deutsches Kaiserreich". Unless I'm wrong, both would be correct, but in that case shouldn't both be side by side in both instances?

Thanks to anyone willing to answer. Sandjaar (talk) 16:24, 11 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

WP:COMMONNAME applies here. Displaying the two names side by side is clunky and adds minimal extra information, they are largely in free variation. Maybe there should be some additional consistency in how they are presented, but having them next to each other seems pointless. Remsense聊 17:00, 11 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

These terms are not equal and are properly used in this context, throughout 1871 to 1945 Germany had the same official name, Deutsches Reich, though in English the official name used was "German Empire" until 1918 and "German Reich" onwards to 1945 (since the "Empire" translation denotes a monarchy). Today, German historiography differences the Imperial period by calling it the Deutsches Kaiserreich, since Kaiserreich indisputably means Empire (unlike Reich, whose usage depends on the context). Point is, Deutsches Kaiserreich is a modern German term to name the period, but Deutsches Reich was the official contemporary name used by the state in question. (See also the references and notes attached to the name Deutsches Kaiserreich in the lead.) Shrek 5 the divorce (talk) 16:06, 12 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I agree we should be using the word "Kaiserreich" instead of "Second Reich". the word Kaiserreich is more commonly used by German Historians, and in my POV its used more by normal people. Also people don't really use the word "Second Reich" when talking about the German Empire. also in my POV, using terms such as "First, second, third, and fourth Reich" only serves to legitimize National socialism. Zyxrq (talk) 02:13, 15 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]