Germany

=== German Confederation and Empire ===
{{Main|German question|German Confederation|Unification of Germany|German Empire|German colonial empire}}
[[File:German Confederation (1815).svg|thumb|The [[German Confederation]] in 1815]]
Following the fall of [[Napoleon]], the [[Congress of Vienna]] founded the German Confederation, a loose league of [[States of the German Confederation|39 sovereign states]]. The appointment of the [[emperor of Austria]] as the permanent president reflected the Congress's rejection of [[Prussia]]'s rising influence. Disagreement within [[Concert of Europe|restoration]] politics partly led to the rise of [[Liberalism in Germany|liberal]] movements, followed by new measures of repression by Austrian statesman [[Klemens von Metternich]].<ref>{{cite book|pages=307–308|title=The Wiley-Blackwell Dictionary of Modern European History Since 1789|editor1=Nicholas Atkin |editor2=Michael Biddiss |editor3=Frank Tallett|publisher=Wiley|year=2011|isbn=978-1-4443-9072-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter=Austria, Prussia, and the German Confederation: The Defense of Central Europe, 1815–1854|last=Sondhaus|first=Lawrence|pages=50–74|editor1=Talbot C. Imlay |editor2=Monica Duffy Toft|title=The Fog of Peace and War Planning: Military and Strategic Planning under Uncertainty|publisher=Routledge|year=2007|isbn=978-1-134-21088-6}}</ref> The {{lang|de|[[Zollverein]]}}, a tariff union, furthered economic unity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Henderson |first=W. O. |date=January 1934 |title=The Zollverein |journal=History |volume=19 |issue=73 |pages=1–19 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.1934.tb01791.x}}</ref> In light of [[Revolutions of 1848|revolutionary movements in Europe]], intellectuals and commoners started the [[German revolutions of 1848–1849|revolutions of 1848 in the German states]], raising the German question. King [[Frederick William IV of Prussia]] was offered the title of emperor, but with a loss of power; he rejected the crown and the proposed constitution, a temporary setback for the movement.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=40963126|title='The Old Forms are Breaking Up, ... Our New Germany is Rebuilding Itself': Constitutionalism, Nationalism and the Creation of a German Polity during the Revolutions of 1848–49|last=Hewitson|first=Mark|journal=The English Historical Review|volume=125|number=516|pages=1173–1214|year=2010|doi=10.1093/ehr/ceq276}}</ref>

King [[William I, German Emperor|William I]] appointed [[Otto von Bismarck]] as the [[Minister President of Prussia]] in 1862. Bismarck successfully concluded the [[Second Schleswig War|war with Denmark in 1864]]; the subsequent decisive Prussian victory in the [[Austro-Prussian War]] of 1866 enabled him to create the [[North German Confederation]] which excluded [[Austrian Empire|Austria]]. After the defeat of France in the [[Franco-Prussian War]], the German princes proclaimed the founding of the German Empire in 1871. Prussia was the dominant constituent state of the new empire; the King of Prussia ruled as its Kaiser, and Berlin became its capital.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/countries/issues/german-unification|title=Issues Relevant to U.S. Foreign Diplomacy: Unification of German States|publisher=US Department of State Office of the Historian|accessdate=18 March 2020|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001095812/https://history.state.gov/countries/issues/german-unification|archivedate=1 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="bismarck">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bismarck_otto_von.shtml|title=Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898)|publisher=BBC|accessdate=18 March 2020|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20191127025023/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bismarck_otto_von.shtml|archivedate=27 November 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the {{lang|de|[[Gründerzeit]]}} period following the unification of Germany, Bismarck's foreign policy as [[chancellor of Germany]] secured Germany's position as a great nation by forging alliances and avoiding war.<ref name="bismarck" /> However, under [[Wilhelm II]], Germany took an [[New Imperialism|imperialistic]] course, leading to friction with neighbouring countries.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=260734 |title=Kaiser Wilhelm II and German Politics|journal=Journal of Contemporary History|volume=25|year=1990|pages=289–316 |last1=Mommsen|first1=Wolfgang J.|issue=2/3|doi=10.1177/002200949002500207|s2cid=154177053 }}</ref> A [[Dual Alliance (1879)|dual alliance]] was created with the [[multinational state|multinational realm]] of [[Austria-Hungary]]; the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance of 1882]] included Italy. Britain, France and Russia also concluded alliances to protect against Habsburg interference with Russian interests in the Balkans or German interference against France.{{sfn|Fulbrook |1991|pp= 135, 149}} At the [[Berlin Conference]] in 1884, Germany claimed several [[List of former German colonies|colonies]] including [[German East Africa]], [[German South West Africa]], [[Togoland]], and [[Kamerun]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=100 maps |publisher=Sterling Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-4027-2885-3 |editor-last=Black, John |page=202}}</ref> Later, Germany further expanded its colonial empire to include holdings in the Pacific and China.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thediplomat.com/2014/10/how-imperial-germany-lost-asia/|magazine=The Diplomat|title=How Imperial Germany Lost Asia|last=Farley|first=Robert|date=17 October 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200319015901/https://thediplomat.com/2014/10/how-imperial-germany-lost-asia/|archivedate=19 March 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> The colonial government in South West Africa (present-day [[Namibia]]), from 1904 to 1907, carried out the [[Herero and Namaqua genocide|annihilation of the local Herero and Namaqua peoples]] as punishment for an uprising;<ref>{{cite book|last1=Olusoga|first1= David |last2= Erichsen|first2= Casper |year=2010|title= The Kaiser's Holocaust: Germany's Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism|publisher= Faber and Faber|isbn=978-0-571-23141-6}}</ref><ref name="Bazyler">{{Cite book|title=Holocaust, Genocide, and the Law: A Quest for Justice in a Post-Holocaust World|author=Michael Bazyler|author-link=Michael Bazyler|date=2016|pages=169–70|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> this was the 20th century's first [[genocide]].<ref name="Bazyler" />

[[Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|The assassination]] of [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|Austria's crown prince]] on 28 June 1914 provided the pretext for Austria-Hungary to attack Serbia and trigger [[World War I]]. After four years of warfare, in which approximately two million German soldiers were killed,<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/aged-107-last-german-world-war-i-veteran-believed-to-have-died-a-530319.html |title=Last German World War I veteran believed to have died |last=Crossland |first=David |date=22 January 2008 |work=Spiegel Online |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008172434/http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/aged-107-last-german-world-war-i-veteran-believed-to-have-died-a-530319.html |archivedate=8 October 2012 }}</ref> a [[Armistice with Germany|general armistice]] ended the fighting. In the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919|German Revolution]] (November 1918), Wilhelm II and the ruling princes [[abdication|abdicated]] their positions, and Germany was declared a [[federal republic]]. Germany's new leadership signed the [[Treaty of Versailles]] in 1919, accepting defeat by the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]]. Germans perceived the treaty as humiliating, which was seen by historians as influential in the rise of [[Adolf Hitler]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Versailles: A Reassessment after 75 Years |last1=Boemeke |first1=Manfred F. |last2=Feldman |first2=Gerald D. |last3=Glaser |first3=Elisabeth |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-521-62132-8 |series=Publications of the German Historical Institute |pages=1–20, 203–220, 469–505 }}</ref> Germany lost around 13% of its European territory and ceded all of its colonial possessions in Africa and the Pacific.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/media_nm.php?MediaId=1620 |title=GERMAN TERRITORIAL LOSSES, TREATY OF VERSAILLES, 1919 |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160704070745/https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/media_nm.php?MediaId=1620 |archivedate=4 July 2016 |accessdate=11 June 2016}}</ref>