In 1806, the Austrian empire renounced the Imperial Crown, thus
triggering the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine
(1806-1813), followed in 1815 by the Germanic Confederation.
In 1871 reconstruction of the German Empire began under the
Versailles Treaty, moving the capital from Vienna to Berlin.
The first sovereign was William I of Prussia and his first
chancellor, Bismarck. Germany rose to become a great industrial
and military power, awakening misgivings in France and England
which eventually led to the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918)
with disastrous results for Germany.
Emperor
William II was forced to abdicate and the Republic of Weimar
was proclaimed (1919). The humiliating conditions the Versailles
Treaty imposed on the Germans was, among others, one of the
reasons for which in 1933, one of the elections granted the
National Socialist Party, led by Adolf Hitler, triumph and
power. Hitler, named Chancellor of the Third Reich, developed
a militarist, racist, single party policy, triggering World
War II (1939-1945), which ended in yet another defeat for
Germany and caused its division, according to the counties
who occupied the territory.
