German Reich

One State Name, Different Governments

The German Reich emerged from unification under Prussian leadership in 1871. Its emperor, Wilhelm I, was also king of Prussia, but he headed a federal German state. American minister George Bancroft, previously accredited to Prussia, presented President Ulysses S. Grant’s letter to the emperor in April 1871. [1]

The name Deutsches Reich continued after the monarchy fell in the November Revolution of 1918. The constitution adopted in 1919 made the Reich a republic whose authority came from the people. [2] [3]

War and Negotiated Recovery

During the First World War, German diplomats tried to manage the consequences of policies that endangered relations with neutral countries. Unrestricted submarine warfare led Washington to sever relations on 3 February 1917 and return ambassador Johann von Bernstorff’s passports. The American declaration of war followed in April. [1]

The postwar republic negotiated under the burden of defeat and reparations. A separate American-German peace treaty was signed in Berlin in 1921 after the United States failed to ratify Versailles. The Dawes Plan of 1924 then linked reparations to the recovery of German public finances and credit. Its experts argued that stable payments required a workable budget and currency. [1] [4]

Dictatorship, War, and Occupation

Hitler’s appointment as chancellor in January 1933 was followed by the destruction of democratic government. After the November 1938 anti-Jewish pogrom, Washington recalled its ambassador; Germany also recalled its ambassador. Relations continued at a lower level until Germany declared war on the United States in December 1941. Defeat in 1945 brought Allied occupation and the end of Nazi rule. Germany’s later diplomatic history developed through the two German states established in 1949 and their reunification in 1990. [3] [1]

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