German Index

The Constituent States of the German Empire; Credit – Wikipedia

The German Empire existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 until the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II in 1918 after World War I when all the constituent monarchies in the German Empire were abolished. The German Empire consisted of 26 states, most of them ruled by royal families.  The King of Prussia was also the German Emperor (Kaiser) and the capital of the German Empire was Berlin. The member states retained their own governments but lost some aspects of sovereignty. For example, both postage stamps and currency were issued for the empire as a whole.

The constituent states of the German Empire included four kingdoms (Bavaria, Prussia, Saxony, Württemberg), six grand duchies (Baden, Hesse and by Rhine, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Oldenburg, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach), five duchies (Anhalt, Brunswick, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen), seven principalities (Lippe, Reuss-Gera Junior Line, Reuss-Greiz Elder Line, Schaumburg-Lippe, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen,  Waldeck and Pyrmont) three free Hanseatic cities (Bremen, Hamburg, Lübeck), and one imperial territory (Bremen, Hamburg, Lübeck).

GERMAN KINGDOMS

GERMAN GRAND DUCHIES

 GERMAN DUCHIES

GERMAN PRINCIPALITIES