Why did they call Hitler the Third Reich and what does it mean,was there a 1st & 2nd?

Answer 1

Quick answer, yes, there was a 1st and 2nd, although those periods were never referred to (when they existed) as 1st or 2nd Reich. It was only later that Hitler labeled them as the 1st Reich and the 2nd Reich.

You should go to a history site to find out more (sorry, its early, I haven't had my coffee yet, can't remember all the details), but I believe Hitler considered the period of Otto von Bismark's leadership of Germany (and Germany's military conquests and expansion of its territory) as the 2nd Reich.

Answer 2

It is common knowledge that Germany under Adolf Hitler (1933-1945) is referred to as the Third Reich, it is however less well known what the First Reich and Second Reich were. The word Reich is hard to translate to English, but realm or empire are probably the best translations.



The First Reich was the Holy Roman Empire (the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, Heiliges Römisches Reich deutscher Nation, not the ancient Roman Empire), 800 - 1806. Charlemagne (Charles the Great) was crowned emperor by Pope Leo III in Rome on Christmas Day 800, this is normally seen as the founding of the Empire, but sometimes the year of 962 is used, that was when Otto I (Otto the Great) was crowned.

The Empire existed almost in name only following the Peace of Westphalia at the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, but was not formally dissolved until 6 Aug 1806 when Emperor Francis II (Franz II) abdicated.



The Second Reich was the Hohenzollern Germany, from the unification of Germany following the Franco-Prussian War (1870 - 1871) and crowning of Wilhelm I as German Emperor at the Palace of Versailles, with Otto von Bismarck as the first Reichskanzler, to the abdication of Wilhelm II in 1919 following the German defeat in the First World War.



The Hohenzollern Empire was followed by the Weimar Republic (1919-1933), but this was not seen as the Third Reich, but rather as an Interim Reich.



The term Third Reich was most likely taken from the book "Das dritte Reich" published by Arthur Möller van den Bruck (1876-1925) in 1923.


Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the control of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, NSDAP), or Nazi Party, with the Führer (leader) Adolf Hitler as chancellor and head of state.

Answer 3

The First Reich was the Empire of Charlemagne.

The Second Reich was Imperial Germany, founded in 1870 and lasting to 1918.

Hitler was reviving the glory of Germany, and so called his state the Third Reich.

Answer 4

Hitler was never called the Third Reich (German for "realm" or "empire"). The Holy Roman Empire was the First Reich and the 1871 - 1918 monarchy was the Second Reich. The terms First and Second Reich were very rarely used outside Nazi propaganda.

Answer 5

Hitler called his vision of the German Empire the Third Reich, or Third empire. The first was the Greeks, and the second was the Romans. He believed the third Empire would last 1000 years. (he fell a little short of that prediction)

Answer 6

Third Reich was the name of Hitler's government. He named it. Yes there was a first and second.

Answer 7

Reich is German for kingdom, or state. The first Reich was Germany under the Kaisers. The second Reich was the German republic after the Kaiser was expelled after WWI.

Answer 8

Who cares man. As long as he is in hell right now, he can form his 4th Reich there with Satan if he wants to.

Answer 9

Yes. There was a 1st and 2nd "empire"

Answer 10

i might desire to be incorrect, yet i think this could be a referrence to his plans for finished international domination. the 1st and 2d i think talk with the Holy Roman and yet another important dominating imperialistic empire.