Berlin, capital of all Germanies

Germany, XVIII century

If we compare a map of France from, let’s say, 1700, with a current map, the differences are not so great. Some territories may be missing, like Savoy, or Alsace, but otherwise France was already what it is today. The same goes for England and Spain.

But the case of Germany is very different. At the top of this page, a map of the German states around 1700.

I say "German states" in plural because Germany, in a political sense, did not exist. There was indeed a Holy Germanic Empire (what the Germans call their First Reich, Reich meaning State or Empire), but it was a kind of confederation without a strong central power, a common currency or even a capital. The territory that today is called Germany was a puzzle of small states: Oldenburg, Mecklenberg-Strelitz, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Württemberg, Hesse-Kassel, Schaumburg-Lippe. Principalities, duchies, landgraviates, free cities, but also some kingdoms. What a nightmare for the schoolchildren to have to draw a German map at that time!

German Empire 1871-1918 (Second Reich)

In time, one of those states, the kingdom of Prussia, in blue on the map above, became more and more dominant. Originally a remote territory, close to Lithuania, it gradually extended to the West, encompassing the city of Berlin and making it its capital. Later, through wars and dynastic alliances, Prussia acquires vast territories, extending its domains to the Rhine. By 1870 it was by far the largest of the German states.

In 1871, Bismarck, having defeated the French Empire, realized his dream: a unified German state under the rule of Prussia, more precisely of its king, who now became emperor (Kaiser). And the Prussian capital, Berlin, became simultaneously capital of the Second German Reich.

But what a war did, can be undone by another war: 1918 brings changes to the map: territories in the East disappear in favor of Poland, and Alsace and Lorraine return to France. Otherwise, the maps before and after 1918 are not that different.

It is interesting to note a parallelism between the Second Empires, French (1852-1870) and German (1871-1918). The war against Prussia marked the end of Napoleon III’s kingdom, an economically sound and politically stable country. Without that war Napoleon III could have reigned a few more years and even bequeathed the throne to his son.

The 1914 Reich was also a prosperous and flourishing country, the most powerful of the continent possiblly. Without the First War, who knows how far Germany would have gone? But the war did take place and the Empire turned Republic.

Weimar Republic 1919-1933

A Republic where Prussia was still the most important part, no longer a kingdom now but a Free State with a democratic organization. And its capital? Always Berlin, which was also capital of the Republic.

If this German republic is known as "of Weimar", the reason is not that the good city of Weimar was its capital. No, Weimar was the seat ofthe assembly that proclaimed the Constitution, but the capital remained Berlin.

During the Nazi nightmare, known as the Third Reich, Berlin, despite the lack of sympathy enjoyed by Nazism there, remained the seat of government. After 1945, Berlin was the capital of the Communist GDR, becoming in 1990, again capital of a reunified Germany.