Prompt Cast
The First, Second, and Third Reichs: A Brief History of German Empires
TLDR The First Reich was the Holy Roman Empire, the Second Reich was the German Empire, and the Third Reich referred to Hitler's regime. The Weimar Republic, which followed the Second Reich, suffered from hyperinflation and political extremism, leading to Hitler's rise to power and the establishment of the Third Reich.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The First and Second Reichs were the first two German empires, and the Third Reich referred to Hitler's regime.
01:59
The first two Reichs were the Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire, which were not directly related to the Nazis but were used by them for propaganda purposes.
03:35
The Holy Roman Empire was not necessarily a German state and included non-German parts, and after its collapse, the German Confederation was formed in an attempt to fill the void, but it was weak and there were attempts at creating a unified German state in 1848.
05:07
The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 triggered the creation of the German Empire, or Deutsches Reich, which consisted of almost all German lands except for Austria, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, along with some non-German lands.
06:44
The Second Reich, also known as the Hohenzollern dynasty, was the creation of Kaiser Wilhelm I and Otto von Bismarck, and it marked the first true German state, which grew militarily and economically powerful before being replaced by the Weimar Republic.
08:19
The term "Weimar Republic" was coined by Hitler in reference to the Constitutional Assembly in Weimar, and it suffered from hyperinflation and political extremism, eventually leading to Hitler's rise to power in 1933 and the establishment of the Third Reich, which only lasted for 12 years.
09:59
The term "Third Reich" was an invention of a 1920s German nationalist and had no connection to the previous two Reichs.
