// Modern era
German Empire
- Period
- AD 1871 – AD 1919
- Duration
- approx. 48 years
- Greatest extent
- around AD 1918
- Area (max.)
- approx. 1.4 million km²
Period and duration
German Empire — according to the map data from AD 1871 to AD 1919, roughly 48 years. The dates refer to the time the empire is drawn as its own territory on the world map; historians sometimes date its founding and end differently.
Greatest extent
German Empire — greatest extent around AD 1918: the mapped borders then cover about 1.4 million km², roughly 1% of Earth's land area. The area is calculated from the border lines of the map and is therefore an approximation.
Predecessors and successors
States that ruled the same territory directly before and after:
Before (AD 1870)
- Russian Empire
- North German Confederation
After
- Weimar Republic
- Second Polish Republic
Neighbours around AD 1918
The largest states in the region at the same time:
- British Empire
- Russian Republic
- French Third Republic
- British Colonial Empire
- French Africa
- British Africa
- United States of America
- Netherlands
Learn more
- Open the world map in AD 1918 — tap the empire for a detailed description
- German Empire on Wikipedia
- All 300 empires at a glance
Borders and dates: Cliopatria / Seshat Global History Databank (CC BY 4.0). Coastlines: Natural Earth. Text: Centaurian.