Geographic HistoryMap of the German Empire
On the Geographic History map, the German Empire appears from 1871 to 1917. It reaches its largest mapped extent in 1914: about 3.6 million km² across 122 provinces.
The German Empire was proclaimed at Versailles in January 1871, after Prussia's victory over France, with the King of Prussia as emperor and Otto von Bismarck as chancellor. It became a leading industrial power and built a colonial empire in Africa and the Pacific. Defeated in the First World War, it ended when Wilhelm II abdicated in November 1918.
Mapped area over time
The German Empire on the world maps
Largest other states in 1914
| State | Mapped area |
|---|---|
| Russia | 21 million km² |
| United Kingdom | 13 million km² |
| France | 11 million km² |
| United States of America | 9.7 million km² |
| Brazil | 8.6 million km² |
| Republic of China | 8 million km² |
| Australia | 7.9 million km² |
| Canada | 6 million km² |
About this map
Territory comes from the Chronas historical dataset used by the Geographic History app. Areas are approximate, computed from about 2,400 province shapes, and describe this map rather than official historical figures - border data for the ancient and medieval world is necessarily a reconstruction.
Every year has a map
Drag a timeline across 2,500 years in the free Geographic History app - every province, ruler and battle, also offline.
