The Constitution of the German Empire (German: Verfassung des Deutschen Reiches) was the basic law of the German Empire of 1871-1919, enacted 16 April 1871. German historians often refer to it as Bismarck's imperial constitution.
The constitution was effectively a treaty between its signatories, the North German Confederation and four southern German states, adding those states as members of the confederation and giving the enlarged entity a new identity as the Deutsches Reich (conventionally translated as "German Empire"). The Austro-Prussian War of 1866 had resulted in the dissolution of the German Confederation in 1866 and formation of the North German Confederation in 1867, among other events.
The text of the constitution was based on that of the Constitution of the North German Confederation, which had likewise been instigated by Otto von Bismarck.
According to the constitution, head of state was the King of Prussia as the president of the Bundesrat, the council of representatives of the German states. His title was German Emperor. The Emperor installed the Chancellor, the head of government. Laws were enacted by the Bundesrat and the Reichstag, the Imperial Diet elected by male Germans above the age of 25 years.
The most important changes to this constitution, of October 1918, gave the Reichstag the right to call for a demission of the Chancellor. These changes have led to the notion October constitution.
It has the same German title as its successor, the Weimar Constitution (also known as the "Constitution of the German Reich"), which replaced it in 1919 creating the Weimar Republic.
Read more about Constitution Of The German Empire: Signatories and Members, The Emperor, Legislation, The Reichskanzler (Imperial Chancellor), Citizenship, Imperial Officials, Amendments
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“What we learn for the sake of knowing, we hold; what we learn for the sake of accomplishing some ulterior end, we forget as soon as that end has been gained. This, too, is automatic action in the constitution of the mind itself, and it is fortunate and merciful that it is so, for otherwise our minds would be soon only rubbish-rooms.”
—Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)
“Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.”
—Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
“Without the Constitution and the Union, we could not have attained the result; but even these, are not the primary cause of our great prosperity. There is something back of these, entwining itself more closely about the human heart. That something, is the principle of “Liberty to all”Mthe principle that clears the path for all—gives hope to all—and, by consequence, enterprize [sic], and industry to all.”
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“The Germans—once they were called the nation of thinkers: do they still think at all? Nowadays the Germans are bored with intellect, the Germans distrust intellect, politics devours all seriousness for really intellectual things—Deutschland, Deutschland Über alles was, I fear, the end of German philosophy.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Without the Empire we should be tossed like a cork in the cross current of world politics. It is at once our sword and our shield.”
—William Morris Hughes (1864–1952)