North German Confederation

North German Confederation
*Norddeutscher Bund* (German)
North German Confederation Norddeutscher Bund (German)
1866–1871
	Flag Coat of arms
	The North German Confederation in 1870
	The North German Confederation (red). The southern German states that joined in 1870 to form the German Empire are in orange. Alsace–Lorraine, the territory annexed following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, is in tan. The red territory in the south marks the original princedom of the House of Hohenzollern, rulers of the Kingdom of Prussia.
Status	Federation
Capital	Berlin
Common languages	German, Low German, Danish, East Frisian, North Frisian, Polish, Kashubian, Slovincian, Silesian, Czech, Moravian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Polabian, Lithuanian, Kursenieki, Yiddish, Wymysorys, French, Dutch
Religion	Majority:; Protestantism (Lutheran, Calvinist, United churches); Minorities: Catholicism, Judaism
Demonym(s)	North German
Government	Confederal parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy
President
• 1867–1871	Wilhelm I
Chancellor
• 1867–1871	Otto von Bismarck
Legislature	Bicameral
• Upper house	Bundesrat
• Lower house	Reichstag
Historical era	New Imperialism
• Peace of Prague; German Confederation dissolved	20 August 1866
• Confederation Treaty	18 August 1866
• Constitution adopted	16 April 1867
• Accession of southern states; German Empire adopted as name	1 January 1871
• Empire proclaimed	18 January 1871
• Constitution of the Empire	4 May 1871
Currency	Vereinsthaler
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	German Confederation[a]
	Duchy of Schleswig
	Province of Prussia
	Province of Posen
	Kingdom of Prussia
German Empire

The North German Confederation (German: Norddeutscher Bund^ⓘ)^[1] was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated state (a de facto federal state) that existed from July 1867 to December 1870. A milestone of the German Unification, it was the earliest continual legal predecessor of the modern German nation-state known today as the Federal Republic of Germany.^[2]

The Confederation came into existence following the Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 over the lordship of two small Danish duchies (Schleswig-Holstein) resulting in the Peace of Prague, where Prussia pressured Austria and its allies into accepting the dissolution of the existing German Confederation (an association of German states under the leadership of the Austrian Empire), thus paving the way for the Lesser German version of German unification in the form of a federal state in Northern Germany. Construction of such state became a reality in August 1866, following the North German Confederation Treaty, initially as a military alliance only, while its first federal constitution establishing a constitutional monarchy with the Prussian king holding as the head of state the Bundespräsidium was adopted on 1 July 1867.^[3] Laws could only be enabled with the consent of the Reichstag (a parliament based on universal male suffrage) and the Federal Council (Bundesrat, a representation of the states). During the initial three and a half years of the Confederation, a conservative-liberal cooperation undertook important steps to unify (Northern) Germany with regard to law and infrastructure. The designed political system and the political parties remained essentially the same also after 1870.

Shortly after its inception, tensions emerged between the North German Confederation and the Second French Empire, which was ruled by the French Emperor Napoleon III. In Summer 1870, a dispute over a new king for Spain escalated into the Franco-Prussian War. At the time, the original Confederation had nearly 30 million inhabitants of whom 80% lived in Prussia, thus making up roughly 75% of the population of the future German Empire. Under these circumstances, the South German states of Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Württemberg and Bavaria previously opposed to the Confederation ultimately decided to join it.^[4] A new short-lived constitution subsequently entered into force on 1 January 1871 proclaiming in its preamble and article 11 the "German Empire" despite being titled as one of a new "German Confederation", but it lasted only four months. Following the victory in the war with France, the German princes and senior military commanders proclaimed Wilhelm "German Emperor" in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles.^[5] Transition from the Confederation to the Empire was completed when the Constitution of the German Empire which prevailed until the demise of the monarchy entered into force on 4 May 1871, while France recognised the empire on 10 May 1871 in the Treaty of Frankfurt.^[6]^[7]

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^ An alternative translation is "North German Federation." The German word Bund is used in the German constitutional history (a) for confederations (associations of states, in German Staatenbund) such as the German Confederation of 1815, but (b) also for federations (federal states, in German Bundesstaat or Föderaler Staat) such as the Federal Republic of Germany or the United States of America.
^ See Michael Kotulla: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte. Vom Alten Reich bis Weimar (1495–1934). Springer, Berlin 2008, p. 526. R. Stettner, in: H. Dreier (ed.), Grundgesetz-Kommentar, vol. 2, second edition 2006, Art. 123, Rn. 14. Bernhard Diestelkamp: Rechtsgeschichte als Zeitgeschichte. Historische Betrachtungen zur Entstehung und Durchsetzung der Theorie vom Fortbestand des Deutschen Reiches als Staat nach 1945. In: Zeitschrift für Neuere Rechtsgeschichte 7 (1985), pp. 187 and following.
^ Michael Kotulla: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte. Vom Alten Reich bis Weimar (1495–1934). Springer, Berlin 2008, pp. 487–489.
^ Michael Kotulla: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte. Vom Alten Reich bis Weimar (1495–1934). Springer, Berlin 2008, pp. 525–527.
^ Die Reichsgründung 1871 (The Foundation of the Empire, 1871), Lebendiges virtuelles Museum Online, accessed 2008-12-22. German text translated: [...] on the wishes of Wilhelm I, on the 170th anniversary of the elevation of the House of Brandenburg to royal status on January 18, 1701, the assembled German princes and high military officials proclaimed Wilhelm I as German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Versailles Palace.
^ Crankshaw, Edward. Bismarck. New York, The Viking Press, 1981, p. 299.
^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. Vol. III: Bismarck und das Reich. 3rd edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [et al.] 1988, p. 747.

[2] An alternative translation is "North German Federation." The German word Bund is used in the German constitutional history (a) for confederations (associations of states, in German Staatenbund) such as the German Confederation of 1815, but (b) also for federations (federal states, in German Bundesstaat or Föderaler Staat) such as the Federal Republic of Germany or the United States of America.

[3] See Michael Kotulla: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte. Vom Alten Reich bis Weimar (1495–1934). Springer, Berlin 2008, p. 526. R. Stettner, in: H. Dreier (ed.), Grundgesetz-Kommentar, vol. 2, second edition 2006, Art. 123, Rn. 14. Bernhard Diestelkamp: Rechtsgeschichte als Zeitgeschichte. Historische Betrachtungen zur Entstehung und Durchsetzung der Theorie vom Fortbestand des Deutschen Reiches als Staat nach 1945. In: Zeitschrift für Neuere Rechtsgeschichte 7 (1985), pp. 187 and following.

[4] Michael Kotulla: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte. Vom Alten Reich bis Weimar (1495–1934). Springer, Berlin 2008, pp. 487–489.

[5] Michael Kotulla: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte. Vom Alten Reich bis Weimar (1495–1934). Springer, Berlin 2008, pp. 525–527.

[6] Die Reichsgründung 1871 (The Foundation of the Empire, 1871), Lebendiges virtuelles Museum Online, accessed 2008-12-22. German text translated: [...] on the wishes of Wilhelm I, on the 170th anniversary of the elevation of the House of Brandenburg to royal status on January 18, 1701, the assembled German princes and high military officials proclaimed Wilhelm I as German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Versailles Palace.

[7] Crankshaw, Edward. Bismarck. New York, The Viking Press, 1981, p. 299.

[8] Ernst Rudolf Huber: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. Vol. III: Bismarck und das Reich. 3rd edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [et al.] 1988, p. 747.

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