RewindTopics · AD 1871
Unification of Germany (1871)
On 18 January 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles during the Franco-Prussian War, King Wilhelm I of Prussia was proclaimed German Emperor, marking the formal unification of Germany into a federal nation-state.
On the map, the unification redrew Central Europe. The North German Confederation—founded under Prussian leadership in 1867—integrated the southern German kingdoms of Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, and Hesse-Darmstadt, alongside the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine from France. In a single stroke, dozens of historic German borders dissolved into the unified German Empire.
Drag the explorer’s year slider from 1865 to 1875 to watch the patchwork of Central European principalities and confederations consolidate into the unified empire.
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Sources
Wikidata: (Q154705)