Everyone heard of the Third Reich, led by Hitler. There is no person who does not know about the strongest state, whose power was based on an idea in which citizens so wholeheartedly and faithfully believed. But how much do we know about the state, which was called 1 Reich?
The formation and existence of states
In all the years of its existence, the First Reich occupied a different territory due to the unification of completely different peoples. It is customary to call this state, formed in 962, the Holy Roman Empire. It existed for a long time, until 1806. It was formed as an analogue of the ancient Roman Empire. At first, the state united Germanic peoples, but throughout its existence its territory has repeatedly changed. In different years, the Roman Empire included Italy, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Alsace and Lorraine, the Kingdom of Burgundy, the Netherlands, and Belgium. East Frankish King Otto I can rightfully be called the father of the First Reich state, since it was he who was able to unite these states into a single whole. It was rather difficult to keep such a great number of people under one head, therefore the territory of the empire repeatedly changed its borders. As a result of the encroachments of the papal throne on Roman power, the Thirty Years War, and the period of the Reformation, the state could not stand it and began to break up. The final collapse came as a result of the invasion of the Napoleonic army, and in 1806 the last king, Franz II, was forced to abdicate. After the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, it was only in 1871 that Bismarck united Germany and Prussia into one state, which is commonly called the Second Reich.
The fate of this state is known to us much better: it failed to exist even for centuries. Firstly, the royal power has become a relic of the past, new progressive parties are becoming increasingly stronger in society. Secondly, the failure in the First World War was the last straw in the existence of the state, which we call the 2nd Reich. Then began the era of the Third Reich, led by Adolf Hitler.
The form of government in the First Reich
Since the First Reich united many states, it was rather difficult to legitimize centralized power. At the head of the Roman Empire was the emperor, whose power was not unlimited and absolute. The emperor’s power was not inherited; he was elected by the prince-elector. Since the empire was a feudal state, at the head of each principality was a prince who had the right to vote in the election of the emperor. The power of the emperor was limited to the aristocracy, and most of the state issues were decided precisely by it by voting.
Since the 15th century, this authority was renamed the Reichstag, which included representatives of the highest aristocratic families in Germany. Gradually, under the influence of neighboring states, the papal throne, under the threat of creating a union of independent republics, imperial power weakened. In 1806, a state called the First Reich, or, as we used to call it, the
Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist
.