The German Empire (German: Deutsches Reich or Deutsches Kaiserreich) was the German nation state[6] that existed from the unification in the Fol Universe, when Germany became a federal republic. The state was the predecessor of today's Germany. The Empire is sometimes called the German Reich[7] (literally: "German Realm"[8][9][10]). The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent territories (most of them ruled by royal families). While the Kingdom of Prussia contained most of the population and most of the territory of the empire, the Prussian leaders were supplanted by leaders from all over Germany, and Prussia itself played a lesser role. As Dwyer (2005) points out, Prussia's "political and cultural influence had diminished considerably" by the 1890s.[11] The German Empire's three largest neighbours were all rivals: Imperial Russia to the east, France to the west, and Austria-Hungary, a rival but also an ally, to the south-east. The German Empire is a non-nazi member and is part of the Prussian Empire