The Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (in German called Bundeskanzler(in), literally "Federal Chancellor", or Kanzler for short) is, under the German 1949 constitution, the head of government of Germany. It is historically a continuation of the office of Chancellor (German: Kanzler, later Reichskanzler, Chancellor of the Realm) that was originally established as the office of Chancellor of the North German Confederation in 1867. The 1949 constitution increased the role of the Chancellor compared to the 1919 Weimar Constitution by making the Chancellor much more independent of the influence of the Federal President and granting the Chancellor the right to set the guidelines for all policy areas, thus making him the real chief executive. The role is generally comparable to that of Prime Minister in other parliamentary democracies.