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German Empire (1871-1945)
In 1871 25 single states unite to the German Empire (Deutsches Reich), according to his first constitution a federal state with constitutional monarchy (common German term about this period: "Kaiserreich"). In 1919 the constitutional monarchy was substituted with a democratic government, the German Empire becomes a republic and a federal state (Weimar constitution of 1919). In 1933 the constitution is changed once more: there follows a totalitarian leader's dictatorship of Hitler and the National-socialist German Labor Party -NSDAP- (purpose: "The millennial (third) empire"). In 1945 the government power of the imperial government (new-educated after Hitler's death) is taken away by the Allies. Therefore there ends the history of the German empire whose state area after end of the war corresponded to four occupied zones.
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