History of Berlin - German Empire

German Empire

After the quick victory of an alliance of German states over France in the 1870 war, the German Empire was established in 1871. Bismarck had fought and succeeded in leaving out Austria, Prussia's long standing competitor, and Prussia became the largest and by far most influential state in the new German Empire. Wilhelm I reluctantly agreed to become emperor, Bismarck chancellor, and Berlin was designated the capital.

In the meantime, Berlin had become an industrial city with 800,000 inhabitants. Improvements to the infrastructure were needed; in 1896 the construction of the subway (U-Bahn) began and was completed in 1902. The neighborhoods around the city center (including Kreuzberg, Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain and Wedding) were filled with tenement blocks. The surroundings saw extensive development of industrial areas East of Berlin and wealthy residential areas in the South-West.

• 1875-1889: The economic boom caused by the new role of Berlin was followed by a crisis in the second half of the 1870s.
• 1881: Berlin became a city district (Stadtkreis Berlin) separate from the Province of Brandenburg.
• 1884: Construction of the parliament building, the Reichstag, was commenced.
• 1914-1918: World War I led to hunger in Berlin. In the winter of 1916/1917 150,000 people were dependent on food aid, and strikes broke out.
• 1918: When the war ended, Wilhelm II (1888–1918) abdicated. The socialist Philipp Scheidemann at the Reichstag and the communist Karl Liebknecht at the Castle both proclaimed a republic. In the next months Berlin became a battleground between the two political systems.