more or less, yeah...
the question about the first king of Germany is difficult, since there's no clear definition of "germany" back then. today it is commonly accepted that Henry I. the bird-hunter (rough translation) was the first king of Germany because he had the support of all German tribes...he was the second non-carolingian (non-frankish) ruler of the eastern Frankish kingdom (Conrad I. the younger didn't had the support of all duchies), that was composed of Germanic tribes (Alemanns/Swabians, Saxons, Thringians, Baiuvarians, Friesians, Salian Franks and later middle/Lorraine-Franks) conquered by the Franks. thus, later the kingdom was renamed regnum teutonicum ("Deutschland"/germany, before it was regnum francorum).
since under the third ruler, Otto I. Germany became the HRE, Charlemagne/Carl the Great was still regarded as founder and as later the HRE became uninvitably chained to Germany, Charlemagne isn't really viewed as a foreign ruler by many Germans....
so the whole issue about Germans claiming Charlemagne can be compared to Byzantines claiming Roman ancestry. of course nationalism also plays a large role here...
Originally posted by Janus Rook
I thought after Wilhelm II abdicated it became the Weimar Republic?
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Weimar Republic is of course just a nickname of the period between the fall of the monarchy and the rise of the Nazis, official name was still German empire.
Edited by Temujin