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The "first" Empire was the Holy Roman Empire, which began with the pope's coronotation of German King Otto I in 962, and ended with Franz II's abdication in 1806 during the Napoleonic wars. The Second Empire was that of Wilhelm I (he was named German Emperor at Versailles in 1871 when Prussia and the Northern German Federation united) and lasted from 1871-1918, ending with Wilhelm II's abdication and World War I. These terms, incidentially, were first used by the Nazis, who were claiming their regime to be the "Third Empire" "Reich" actually means "realm;" "empire" is properly "Kaiserreich" (emperor-realm) in German.

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14y ago

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