[samus]

Germany was not even unified by the time the UK took over India from the East India Company. Germany eventually had colonies, but they altogether didn't have such a long-lasting influence on the global economy as the British Empire had.

The French colonial empire was much larger, but in the 19th century they were not really present in the Americas anymore, and Vietnam was their only major colony in Asia.

[pmontra]

Yes, but the German speaking empire of the last centuries was Austria, not Germany.

Both had limited reach outside Europe. Germany had that colonial push to grab what was left in Africa and in Oceania at the end of the 19th century. Losing WW1 ended it all.

[samus]

The legacy of that empire (it was purely Austria only after 1809) and of Prussia was quite long-lasting though. Because of the medieval Ostsiedlung and rulers granting land and privileges, there once were German-speaking enclaves all over Eastern Europe. A few still exist. Only ethnic cleansing after WWII and Germany enabling them to move away by granting citizenship to them made them disappear.

Some legacy still remains: for economic reasons, German is one of the most frequently learned languages in Eastern Europe.