Hitler kept talking about the 3rd Reich. What was the 1st and 2nd Reich then?

This question can be answered quite quickly. It concerns the “two German empires”:

The “First” (that’s only what the Nazis called it, hence the quotes) empire was actually the Holy Roman Empire (Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation) which emerged from the Eastern part of the Frankish Empire in 962. In the 15th century it became Heiliges Römisches Reich called the “Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation”. In 1806 the last German emperor abdicated under the influence of the Napoleonic Wars.

In 1871 a new “German Empire” came under Wilhelm I, when Wilhelm Scheidemann (after the Germans had lost World War I) proclaimed the “German Republic” in 1918, that “Empire” also came to an end.

Two elements therefore stand out in Hitler’s propaganda, he gave himself a history and opposed both the French who in his eyes had destroyed the “First Reich” and against the “democrats” who, after the German defeat in 1918, “had a knife in the back of the German people”. Moreover, those “Empires” had borders that stretched over parts of Europe where the Germans had nothing to do after 1918: so it made it clear that he was aiming for expansion.

He therefore wanted to reconnect with a history that could legitimize his own regime.

What he, by the way, called “the Millennium” also matched that, as the HRR held out for nearly 1000.

A very short answer, but I hope that answers your question?

BEST REGARDS

Widukind De Ridder