The First German Empire, more commonly known as the Holy Roman Empire, emerged in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as emperor. The kingdom endured until 1806. Following the Franco-Prussian War. 1870-1871, Germany was unified as a single state under Prussia’s Kaiser Wilhelm I. This marked the era of the Second German Reich. The short-lived empire ended in 1918 with the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Germany was still an empire following World War I, but was often referred to as the “Weimar Republic,” a term derived from the city hosting the nation’s constitutional assembly starting in 1919. In 1945, Germany was divided into four zones of occupation and did not have an official national flag until the current design was adopted in 1949. Since international law requires merchant ships to fly a civil ensign, Germany was assigned the international maritime “C” pennant, but in a swallowtail design.
