German states
The term German states (German: Deutsche Länder) refers to all states of Germany from the time of the Holy Roman Empire (comprising all German states and, at times, Lorraine, parts of Italy, the Netherlands, the Swiss Confederation, Bohemia and Silesia) to the German Confederation (a confederation of “sovereign princes free cities of Germany”) and North German Confederation. Many small states and cities together formed the overall picture. Such an association is also called a loose confederation of states.
Although it was a community, each state was independent and independent. There was no head of state like in a federal state. On the contrary: the states had their own rulers, policies, and sometimes even their own currency. The Roman-German Emperor, for example, was elected by the Reichstag and could theoretically be withdrawn again. This would change, when the German Empire was founded in 1871. The German Reich from 1919 to 1945 is also considered a federal state (German: Bundesstaat), not a confederation.
After WWII, the occupying forces dismembered Germany, eventually forming the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic and Eastern Germany, which was occupied and incorporated by communist nations. After the German partial unification in 1990, the five re-established states of the former GDR unified (through accession) with the Federal Republic of Germany with its 10 (or eleven, when including West-Berlin) "old federal states", now comprised of 16 German federal states or Bundesländer. The federal states of the Republic of Austria are also referred to as Bundesländer.
