What Were The First and Second Reichs?
Everyone is familiar with the Third Reich
Everyone is familiar with the horrors of the Third Reich. The Third Reich was the name given to the Nazi state ruled by Adolf Hitler. While we take the name Third Reich for granted, it raises an interesting question. What were the first two reichs? It is important to note that there is nothing ominous about the word Reich. Reich simply means kingdom. The only reason that Reich has such a negative connotation today is because of what was done under the guise of the third. But if Hitler was confident enough to proclaim his new state the Third Reich, he must have been referencing two previous Reichs that his people were familiar with.
Oddly enough, most historians do not officially recognize the existence of two previous reichs. This could be because recognizing a First Reich and a Second Reich lends legitimacy to Hitler’s idea of a Third Reich. (Indeed, the idea of different Reichs, which marked periods of peak German history, was heavily used by hardline nationalists and Nazis during the 1930s and 1940s, which is why many people are loathed to reference them today. While the language was used by bad actors in a previous era, the question of previous Reichs remains of interest. By exploring the idea of German Reichs, I am, in no way, condoning or praising the use of these ideas by…
