The Constitution of the German Empire was the basic law of the German Empire. It came into effect on 4 May 1871 and lasted formally until 14 August 1919. Some German historians refer to it as Bismarck
First and last page of the constitution of 1871, with the signature of Wilhelm, German Emperor and King of Prussia
Emperor Wilhelm I, who signed the imperial constitution
Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the architect of the Constitution of the German Empire, in 1873
The chamber of the Bundesrat in the Reichstag building, 1894
German Empire
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The German Empire, also referred to as Imperial Germany or the Second Reich, was the period of the German Reich from the unification of Germany in 1871 until the November Revolution in 1918, when Germ
Constitution of the German Empire
…The Constitution of the German Empire (German: Verfassung des Deutschen Reiches) was the basic law of the German Empire. It came into effect on 4 May 1871 and lasted formally until 14 August 1919. Some German historians refer to it as Bismarck's imperial constitution…
Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (pictured in 1873)
Emperor Wilhelm I (pictured c. 1870)
Die Proklamation des Deutschen Kaiserreiches by Anton von Werner (1877), depicting the proclamation of Emperor William I (18 January 1871, Palace of Versailles). From left, on the podium (in black): Crown Prince Frederick (later Frederick III), his father the emperor, and Frederick I of Baden, proposing a toast to the new emperor. At center (in white): Otto von Bismarck, first Chancellor of Germany, Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Prussian Chief of Staff.
Berlin Palace, the main residence of the House of Hohenzollern