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 |
Read more about this topic: Names Of Germany
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“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)
“The history of a soldier’s wound beguiles the pain of it.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“We have need of history in its entirety, not to fall back into it, but to see if we can escape from it.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)