Parliament
| Reichstag - related terms | |
|---|---|
| Council of estates in the Holy Roman Empire since 754 | Reichstag (Holy Roman Empire) , Perpetual Reichstag |
| Parliamentary assemblies in Germany and Austria since 1848 | Reichstag (Austria) , Constituent Reichstag , Reichstag (North German Confederation) , Reichstag (German Empire) , Reichstag (Weimar Republic) , Reichstag (time of National Socialism) , Greater German Reichstag |
In the Holy Roman Empire , in the European states that arose from it, as well as in some other states, the Reichstag designates an estates and later parliamentary assembly that was to serve as a counterweight to the emperor (and later to the imperial leadership or state government).
Stand representations
The Diet of the Holy Roman Empire , namesake of the following institutions, was held from 754 to 1806 in sometimes loose succession at different conference locations. The Perpetual Reichstag met from 1663 as a permanent envoy congress in Regensburg . In contrast to the Hoftag , the term “Reichstag” reflects a counterweight to central state power that has not yet been perceived by the people's representative bodies, but by the territorial lords.
Parliamentary assemblies
In the 19th century it happened in many countries that modern states named their organs after older institutions. In the German Revolution of 1848/49 the term Reichstag appears repeatedly for a parliament, for example:
- in the Seventeen Draft , a draft constitution by a commission of the Bundestag in April 1848;
- in the Frankfurt constitution of March 1849;
- in the draft constitution of the Dreikönigsbündes or in the Erfurt Union constitution of 1849/50; this Reichstag was finally renamed Parliament of the German Union .
There was also a Reichstag in Austria in 1848/49. In Austria, the term Reichstag was subsequently avoided, and in 1861 a Reichsrat was introduced to emphasize its purely advisory role vis-à-vis the emperor. From the Austro-Hungarian compromise in 1867, however, the Hungarian parliament could call itself the Reichstag (Hungary) .
In the North German Confederation , following a constitutive Reichstag in 1867, there was a Reichstag from 1867 until the founding of the German Empire in 1871. It was followed by the Reichstag of the German Empire from 1871 until the end of the First World War in 1918. It was in turn joined by the Reichstag the Weimar Republic in 1919 until the Nazis came to power in 1933. This was followed by the last parliament of this name, the Reichstag during the time of National Socialism from 1933 to 1945, which was called the Greater German Reichstag when Austria was annexed in 1938 .
literature
- Michael Kotulla : German Constitutional History: From the Old Reich to Weimar. Springer, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-54048-707-4 .
