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Reich (/raɪk,raɪx/ryke, raikh;[1][2]German:[ʁaɪç]ⓘ) is aGerman word whose meaning is analogous to the English word "realm".[a] The termsKaiserreich[b] andKönigreich[c] are respectively used in German in reference toempires andkingdoms. In English usage, the term "the Reich" often refers toNazi Germany, also called "the Third Reich".[2]
The termDeutsches Reich (sometimes translated to "German Empire") continued to be used even after the collapse of the German Empire and theabolition of the monarchy in 1918. There was no emperor, but many Germans had imperialistic ambitions. According to historianRichard J. Evans:
The continued use of the term "German Empire",Deutsches Reich, by theWeimar Republic ... conjured up an image among educated Germans that resonated far beyond the institutional structures Bismarck created: the successor to the Roman Empire; the vision of God's Empire here on earth; the universality of its claim tosuzerainty; and in a more prosaic but no less powerful sense, the concept of a German state that would include all German speakers in central Europe—"one People, one Reich, one Leader", as the Nazi slogan was to put it.[3]
The term is used for historical empires in general, such as theRoman Empire (Römisches Reich),Persian Empire (Perserreich), and both theTsardom of Russia and theRussian Empire (Zarenreich, literally "Tsars' realm").Österreich, the name used forAustria today, is composed ofÖster- andReich which, literally translated, means "Eastern Realm". The name once referred to the eastern parts of theHoly Roman Empire.
In thehistory of Germany specifically, it is used to refer to:
The Nazis adopted the term "Third Reich" to legitimize their government as the rightful successor to the retroactively renamed "First" and "Second" Reichs – the Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire, respectively; the Nazis discounted the legitimacy of the Weimar Republic entirely. The terms "First Reich" and "Second Reich" are not used by historians, and the term "Fourth Reich" is mainly used in fiction and political humor, although it is also used by those who subscribe toneo-Nazism.
The term is derived from theGermanic word which generally means "realm", but in German, it is typically used to designate akingdom or an empire, especially theRoman Empire.[4] The termsKaisertum (German:[ˈkaɪzɐˌtuːm]ⓘ,'Imperium') andKaiserreich ('Imperial realm') are used in German to more specifically define an empire ruled by an emperor.[4]
Reich is comparable in meaning and development (as well as descending from the sameProto-Indo-European root) to the English word "realm" (via Frenchreaume'kingdom' from Latinregalis'royal').
The German nounReich is derived fromOld High German:rīhhi, which together with its cognates inOld English:rīce,Old Norse:ríki, andGothic:reiki is derived from aCommon Germanic*rīkijan.The English noun survives only in the compoundsbishopric andarchbishopric.
The German adjectivereich, on the other hand, has an exact cognate in Englishrich. Both the noun (*rīkijan) and the adjective (*rīkijaz) are derivations based on theCommon Germanic*rīks "ruler,king", reflected in Gothic asreiks, glossingἄρχων "leader, ruler, chieftain".
It is probable that the Germanic word was not inherited from pre-Proto-Germanic, but rather loaned fromCeltic (i.e.Gaulishrīx,Welshrhi, both meaning 'king') at anearly time.[5]
The word has many cognates outside of Germanic and Celtic, notablyLatin:rex andSanskrit:राज,romanized: raj,lit. 'rule'. It is ultimately fromProto-Indo-European*reg-,lit. 'to straighten out or rule'.
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Frankenreich orFränkisches Reich is the German name given to theFrankish Kingdom ofCharlemagne.Frankenreich came to be used ofWestern Francia andmedieval France after the development ofEastern Francia into theHoly Roman Empire.The German name ofFrance,Frankreich, is a contraction ofFrankenreich used in reference to thekingdom of France from the late medieval period.[6]
The termReich was part of the German names for Germany for much of its history.Reich was used by itself in the common German variant of theHoly Roman Empire, (Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR)).Der rîche was a title for the Emperor. However, Latin, not German, was the formal legal language of the medieval Empire (Imperium Romanum Sacrum), so English-speaking historians are more likely to use Latinimperium than GermanReich as a term for this period of German history. The common contemporary Latin legal term used in documents of the Holy Roman Empire was for a long timeregnum ("rule, domain, empire", such as inRegnum Francorum for theFrankish Kingdom) beforeimperium was in fact adopted, the latter first attested in 1157, whereas the parallel use ofregnum never fell out of use during the Middle Ages.
At the beginning of themodern age, some circles redubbed the HRE into the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" (Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation), a symptom of the formation of a Germannation state as opposed to themultinational state the Empire was throughout its history.
Resistance against theFrench Revolution with its concept of the state brought a new movement to create a German "ethnical state", especially after theNapoleonic Wars.Ideal for this state was the Holy Roman Empire; thelegend arose that Germany were "un-defeated when unified", especially after theFranco-Prussian War (Deutsch-Französischer Krieg, lit. "German-French war"). Before that, theGerman question ruptured this "German unity" after the1848 Revolution before it was achieved, however; Austria-Hungary as a multinational state could not become part of the new "German empire", and nationality conflicts inPrussia with the Prussian Poles arose ("We can never be Germans – Prussians, every time!").
The advent of national feeling and the movement to create an ethnically German Empire did lead directly tonationalism in 1871. Ethnic minorities declined since the beginning of the modern age; thePolabs,Sorbs and even the once importantLow Germans had to assimilate themselves. This marked the transition betweenAntijudaism, where converted Jews were accepted as full citizens (in theory), toAntisemitism, where Jews were thought to be from a differentethnicity that could never become German. Apart from all those ethnic minorities being de facto extinct, even today the era of national feeling is taught in history in German schools as an important stepping-stone on the road to a German nation.
In the case of the Hohenzollern Empire (1871–1918), the official name of the country wasDeutsches Reich ("German Realm"), because under theConstitution of the German Empire, it was legally aconfederation of German states under the permanent presidency of theKing of Prussia. The constitution granted the King of Prussia the title of "German Emperor" (Deutscher Kaiser), but this referred to the German nation rather than directly to thestate of Germany.[4]
The exact translation of the term "German Empire" would beDeutsches Kaiserreich. This name was sometimes used informally for Germany between 1871 and 1918, but it was disliked by the first German Emperor,Wilhelm I, and never became official.
Theunified Germany which arose under ChancellorOtto von Bismarck in 1871 was the first entity that was officially called in GermanDeutsches Reich.Deutsches Reich remained the official name of Germany until 1945, although these years saw three very different political systems more commonly referred to in English as: "theGerman Empire" (1871–1918), theWeimar Republic (1919–1933; this term is a post-World War II coinage not used at the time), andNazi Germany (1933–1945).
After 1918 "Reich" was usually not translated as "Empire" in English-speaking countries, and the title was instead simply used in its original German. During theWeimar Republic the termReich and the prefixReichs- referred not to the idea of empire but rather to the institutions, officials, affairs etc. of the whole country as opposed to those of one ofits constituent federal states (Länder), in the same way that the termsBund (federation) andBundes- (federal) are used in Germany today, and comparable toThe Crown in Commonwealth countries andThe Union in theUnited States.
TheNazis sought tolegitimize their powerhistoriographically by portraying their ascendancy to rule as the direct continuation of an ancient German past. They adopted the termDrittes Reich ("Third Empire" – usually rendered in English in the partial translation "the ThirdReich"), first used in a 1923 book entitledDas Dritte Reich byArthur Moeller van den Bruck,[7] that counted the medievalHoly Roman Empire (which nominally survived until the 19th century) as the first and the1871–1918 monarchy as the second, which was then to be followed by a "reinvigorated" third one. The Nazis ignored the previous1918–1933 Weimar period, which they denounced as a historical aberration, contemptuously referring to it as "the System". In the summer of 1939, the Nazis themselves actually banned the continued use of the term in the press, ordering it to use expressions such asNationalsozialistisches Deutschland ("National Socialist Germany"),Großdeutsches Reich ("Greater German Reich"), or simplyDeutsches Reich (German Reich) to refer to the German state instead.[8] It was Adolf Hitler's personal desire thatGroßdeutsches Reich andnationalsozialistischer Staat ("[the] National Socialist State") would be used in place ofDrittes Reich.[8]Reichskanzlei Berchtesgaden ("Reich ChancelleryBerchtesgaden"), another nickname of the regime (named after the eponymous town located in the vicinity ofHitler's mountain residence where he spent much of his time in office) was also banned at the same time, despite the fact that a sub-section of the Chancellery was in fact installed there to serve Hitler's needs.[8]
Although the term "Third Reich" is still commonly used in reference to the Nazi dictatorship, historians avoid using the terms "First Reich" and "Second Reich", which are seldom found outsideNazi propaganda. During and following theAnschluss (annexation) ofAustria in 1938, Nazi propaganda also used thepolitical sloganEinVolk, ein Reich, einFührer ("One nation, oneReich, one leader"), in order to enforcepan-German sentiment. The termAltes Reich ("old Reich"; cf. Frenchancien regime for monarchical France) is sometimes used to refer to theHoly Roman Empire. The termAltreich was also used after the Anschluss to denote Germany with its pre-1938 post-World War I borders. Another name that was popular during this period was the termTausendjähriges Reich ("Thousand-Year Reich"), themillennial connotations of which suggested thatNazi Germany would last a thousand years.
The Nazis also spoke of enlarging the then-established Greater German Reich into a "Greater Germanic Reich of the German Nation" (Großgermanisches Reich Deutscher Nation) by gradually and directly annexing all of the historically Germanic countries and regions of Europe into the Nazi state (Flanders, theNetherlands,Denmark,Norway,Sweden etc.).[9]
A number of previously neutral words which were used by the Nazis later took on negative connotations in German (e.g.Führer orHeil); while in many contextsReich is not one of them (Frankreich, France;Römisches Reich,Roman Empire;Österreich, Austria), it can imply Germanimperialism or strongnationalism if it is used to describe a political or governmental entity.Reich has thus not been used in official terminology since 1945, though it is still found in the name of theReichstag building, which since 1999 has housed the German federalparliament, theBundestag. The decision not to rename the Reichstag building was taken only after long debate in the Bundestag; even then, it is described officially asReichstag – Sitz des Bundestages (Reichstag, seat of the Bundestag). As seen in this example, the term "Bund" (federation) has replaced "Reich" in the names of various state institutions such as the army ("Bundeswehr"). The term "Reichstag" also remains in use in the German language as the term for the parliaments of some foreign monarchies, such asSweden'sRiksdag andJapan's pre-warImperial Diet.
The exception is that during theCold War, theEast Germanrailway incongruously continued to use the nameDeutsche Reichsbahn (German Reich Railways), which had been the name of the national railway during the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era. Even afterGerman reunification in October 1990, the Reichsbahn continued to exist for over three years as the operator of the railroad in eastern Germany, ending finally on 1 January 1994 when the Reichsbahn and the westernDeutsche Bundesbahn were merged to form the unifiedstate-owned enterpriseDeutsche Bahn AG.
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The cognate of the word Reich is used in allScandinavian languages with the identical meaning, i.e. "realm". It is spelledrige in Danish and older Norwegian (before the1907 spelling reform) andrike in Swedish and modern Norwegian. The word is traditionally used for sovereign entities, generally simply means "country" or "nation" (in the sense of a sovereign state) and does not have any special or political connotations. It does not imply any particular form of government, but it implies that the entity is both of a certain size and of a certain standing, like the Scandinavian kingdoms themselves; hence the word might be considered exaggerated for very small states like a city-state. Its use as a stand-alone word is more widespread than in contemporary German, but most often, it refers to the three Scandinavian states themselves and certain historical empires, like theRoman Empire. The standard word for a "country" is usuallyland, and there are many other words used to refer to countries.
The word is part of the official names of Denmark, Norway and Sweden in the form ofkongerige (Danish),kongerike (Norwegian), andkonungarike (Swedish), all meaning kingdom, or literally the "realm of a king" (a kingdom can also be calledkongedømme in Danish and Norwegian andkungadöme orkonungadöme in Swedish, direct cognates of the English word). Two regions in Norway that werepetty kingdoms before the unification of Norway around 900 AD have retained the word in the names (seeRingerike andRomerike). The word is also used in "Svea rike", with the current spellingSverige, the name of Sweden in Swedish. Thus in the official name of Sweden,Konungariket Sverige, the wordrike appears twice.
The derived prefixrigs- (Danish and pre-1907 Norwegian) andriks- (Swedish and Norwegian) and implies nationwide or under central jurisdiction. Examples includeriksväg andriksvei, names for a national road in Swedish and Norwegian. It is also present in the names of numerous institutions in all the Scandinavian countries, such asRigsrevisionen (the agency responsible for oversight of the state finances in Denmark) andSveriges Riksbank (commonly known as justRiksbanken), the central bank of Sweden. It is also used in words such asudenrigs (Danish),utrikes (Swedish) andutenriks (Norwegian), relating to foreign countries and other things from abroad. The opposite word isindenrigs/inrikes/innenriks, meaning domestic.
The adjective form of the word,rig in Danish andrik in Swedish/Norwegian, means "rich" like in other Germanic languages.
Rijk is theDutch andryk theAfrikaans andFrisian equivalent of the German wordReich.
In a political sense in the Netherlands and Belgium, the wordrijk often connotes a connection with theKingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Belgium as opposed to the European part of the Netherlands or the provincial or municipal governments. Theministerraad is the executive body of theNetherlands' government and therijksministerraad that of theKingdom of the Netherlands, a similar distinction is found inwetten (laws) versusrijkswetten (kingdom laws) or the now-abolishedrijkswacht (lit. 'guard of the realm') for theBelgian Gendarmerie. The wordrijk can also be found in institutions like theRijkswaterstaat,Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu andRijksuniversiteit Groningen. The German way of applyingrijk is largely followed in Dutch, resulting inFrankrijk (France),Oostenrijk (Austria) and the historicalPersische Rijk andRomeinse Rijk for the Persian and Roman Empires respectively.
In colloquial speech,rijk usually means working for the central government rather than the provincial or municipal government, much as Americans refer to the "federal" government.
InAfrikaans,ryk refers to rulership and area of governance (mostly a kingdom), but in a modern sense, the term is used in a much more figurative sense (e.g.Die Hemelse Ryk'theHeavenly Kingdom', China), as the sphere under one's control or influence:
As in German, the adjectiverijk/ryk also means "rich".
the Reich (alsothe Third Reich) : Germany during the period of Nazi control from 1933 to 1945
