Nazi Germany is the period when Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party controlled Germany. It is also sometimes called the Third Reich (), which means the 'Third Empire' or 'Third Realm'. The first German empire was the Holy Roman Empire. The second was the Second German Empire of 1871 - 1918. The Nazis said they were making the third, even if itself never was the monarchy at all. However, the term 'Third Reich' was more popular in other countries. In Germany it was merely The Reich (pronounced 'rike') or the Greater German Reich ().