Names of Germany - History

History

The terminology for "Germany", the "German states" and "Germans" is complicated by the history of many different states in which German was the dominant language. Not until 1871 was there a nation state called Germany.

Name of the state Period National Diet House of regional representatives Regional states
Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation until 1806 (Did not exist) (Immerwährender) Reichstag (Reichsstände)
Deutscher Bund 1815–1848/1866 (Did not exist) Bundesversammlung (often: Bundestag) Bundesstaaten
Deutsches Reich 1848/1849 Reichstag (Volkshaus) Reichstag (Staatenhaus) Staaten
Norddeutscher Bund 1866/1867–1871 Reichstag Bundesrat Bundesstaaten
Deutsches Reich 1871–1919 Reichstag Bundesrat Bundesstaaten
Deutsches Reich 1919–1933/1945 Reichstag Reichsrat Länder
Bundesrepublik Deutschland since 1949 Bundestag Bundesrat Länder (often: Bundesländer)
Deutsche Demokratische Republik 1949–1990 Volkskammer (Did not exist) Bezirke

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Famous quotes containing the word history:

    Well, for us, in history where goodness is a rare pearl, he who was good almost takes precedence over he who was great.
    Victor Hugo (1802–1885)

    History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this.... It is not “history” which uses men as a means of achieving—as if it were an individual person—its own ends. History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of their ends.
    Karl Marx (1818–1883)

    What has history to do with me? Mine is the first and only world! I want to report how I find the world. What others have told me about the world is a very small and incidental part of my experience. I have to judge the world, to measure things.
    Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)