Foun­da­tion of the German Empire in 187

While the Franco-Prussian War was still raging, King Wilhelm I of Prussia was proclaimed German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles on January 18, 1871. This created the first German nation state as a constitutional, federal monarchy from the North German Confederation and the four southern German states of Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt under Prussian leadership. Otto von Bismarck, who became the first Chancellor of the Reich in 1871, played a key role in paving the way for German unification. Berlin, the capital of Prussia, became the capital of the empire, where a new Reichstag building was erected, which was completed in 1894 after a construction period of ten years.