The Chancellor of the German Empire, in German Reichskanzler, meaning Imperial Chancellor was the title of the head of the German gouvernment from 1871 till 1934. In the German Empire, the Reichskanzler served both as the Kaiser's first minister, and as presiding officer of the Bundesrat, the upper chamber of the Imperial German parliament. He was neither elected by nor responsible to Parliament (the Reichstag). Instead, the Reichskanzler was appointed by the Emperor.

This was only changed on October 29, 1918 with an amendment to the 1871 constitution. However, the change could not prevent the outbreak of the revolution a few days later. The new constitution of the 1919 Weimar Republic said that the Reichskanzler was appointed by the Imperial President, but that the parliament had the right to dismiss a chancellor or any of the ministers. In fact many of the Weimar governments depended highly on the cooperation of the President, due to uncertain circumstances in the parliament. The last of 15 Weimar chancellors was Adolf Hitler, appointed on January 30, 1933.

Reichskanzler of the 1871 German Empire:

• 1871-1890 Prince Otto von Bismarck
• 1890-1894 Count Leo von Caprivi
• 1894-1900 Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst
• 1900-1909 Prince Bernhard von Bülow
• 1909-1917 Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg
• 1917          Georg Michaelis
• 1917-1918 Count Georg von Hertling
• 1918          Prince Maximilian of Baden
• 1918          Friedrich Ebert (SPD)

Ebert continued to serve as Head of Government during the two months between the end of the German Empire in November 1918 and the first gathering of the National Assembly in February 1919, but did not hold the title of Chancellor.

Reichskanzler of the 1919 Weimar Republic:

• 1919          Philipp Scheidemann (SPD)
• 1919-1920 Gustav Bauer (SPD)
• 1920          Hermann Müller (SPD)
• 1920-1921 Konstantin Fehrenbach (Centre Party)
• 1921-1922 Joseph Wirth (Centre Party)
• 1922-1923 Wilhelm Cuno (unaffiliated)
• 1923          Gustav Stresemann (DVP)
• 1923-1925 Wilhelm Marx (Centre Party)
• 1925-1926 Hans Luther (DVP)
• 1926-1928 Wilhelm Marx (Centre Party)
• 1928-1930 Hermann Müller (SPD)
• 1930-1932 Heinrich Brüning (Centre Party)
• 1932          Franz von Papen (Centre Party)
• 1932-1933 Kurt von Schleicher

Reichskanzler of the Nazi Era

• 1933-1945 Adolf Hitler; the office was combined with that of the Reichspräsident in 1934 and called Führer und Reichskanzler (see Gleichschaltung) and separated again in Hitler's political testament
• 1945 Joseph Goebbels (formally for one day between Hitler's and his own suicide)
• 1945 Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk