Summary The quest for political stability: Germany, complete notes

Germany 1871 – 1990
Bismarck 1871 – 1890

Bismarck and the Liberals

Realpolitk = a form of politcal realism where the ends justfy the means

 No 'right' or 'wrong' in politcal or moral terms
 Examples:
o 1866 - Austro-Prussian war to establish Prussian dominance
o 1870 – Franco-Prussian war to push for German unity

Bismarck wished to see Germany as a power-broker, he thought trade was naïve and idealistc

 Bismarck's politcal pragmatsm set him apart

2 primary reasons for Natonal Liberal alliance (1871 – 1878);

1. Perpetuaton of illusion of democracy
2. Politcal support for the Kuulturkampf
a. Additonally they applauded his uniicaton eforts
 Bismarck exploited this alliance to gain Reichstag approval for policies and legislaton which
furthered German uniicaton
o Common currency + Reichbank (1875)
o Common legal system + reform (duraton of 1870's)

Natonal Liberals were well aware that they were being exploited to give Bismarck's policy the
veneer of Democracy.

In 1878, Bismarck brought his Liberal era to an end;

 Found Liberalism distasteful (owing to his upper-class Prussian, Conservatve upbringing)
 Never forgave the Natonal Liberals for opposing the Military Budget 1874 (Septennates)
 Natonal Liberals were losing popularity and Bismarck had only been with them for their
majority (1877)
o No longer largest party in the Reichstag

Alliance deinitvely came to an end in 1879 with the introducton of the Tarif Laws, which split the
Natonal Liberals apart

The Military in Imperial Germany

Prussia's power and prestge was built on 18 th and 19th century military victories

 Officer class (nunkers) dominated the army aeer 1871, answered only to the Kuaiser with high
autonomy
 'State within a state'
 Outside of the Consttuton

Bismarck wanted the military to be based on federal funds paid for by the natonal government,
which would automatcally take 80% of the budget

The Kuulturkampf (1873 – 1878)

,There was pre-existng hostlites between German Catholics and the Imperial regime;

 Prussia had promoted 'kleinedeutscheland' which excluded Catholic Austria and southern
states
 nesuits who promoted ultramontanism (supremacy of the Pope) were seen as subvertng
Prussian autocracy and so were expelled by Bismarck in 1872
 'syllabus of errors' published in 1877 condemned 'recent civilisaton, liberalism and
natonalism'
 Catholic militancy infuenced by the 'Doctrine of Papal Infallibility' (1870)

CAUSE = formaton of the Centre Party (Zentrum), this prompted Bismarck into Kuulturekampf
between 1873 – 1878

May 1873, Dr Adalbert Falk introduced the 'May Laws';

 Bring the Catholic Church under state control
 Trainee priests needed to atend secular universites
 Religious appointments needed to be approved by the state

Why the Kuulturkampf end in 1878?;

 Centre Party grew (58 seats in 1871 to 91 seats in 1878), as Catholics rallied around to
protect the cause
 Kuaiser Wilhelm I believed it to be 'un-German'
 Bismarck wished to change tacks (Growth of SPD and socialism)
 Church threatened excommunicaton for priests who listened so only 30 of 10,000 priests
obeyed the state rules
 The Natonal Liberal alliance was coming to an end
 Bismarck faced protestant anger as educaton laws afected them also

Economic Protectonism

In 1873, a long term recession began to hit

 nunkers lobbied Bismarck for protectonist tarifs (To end cheap Russian and USA wheat
imports)
o Tarif would deal inal deathblow to the Natonal Liberals and their alliance

1879 Tarif laws;

 Guaranteed German agriculture a strong share of the market
 Levy provided important funds that did not have to be sourced from the Reichstag
 Paved the way for new politcal alliances
 Split the Natonal Liberal's into a facton which supported free trade and a facton which
supported, and was stll loyal to, Bismarck

Beginning of 'Sammlungspolitk'- an atempt to create and control a right wing coaliton within the
Reichstag

 Conservatve coaliton of diferent factons and partes which would create a majority
 Gave Bismarck politcal control of the Reichstag once again

,  Protectonism greatly assisted with German uniicaton as it fostered close trade links
between northern and southern states
o 'Alliance of Wheat and Steel'

The Ant-Socialist Laws

The SPD were formed in 1875

 Gotha programme drew together the Bebel-Liebknecht radicals and the Lassallian reformists
with a compromise manifesto

Bismarck was iercely against the whole concept, as it went against the intrinsic social order

 By 1877, SPD had won 13 seats and 500,000 votes
 Despite the Ant-Socialist laws of 1884 (passed aeer 2 assassinaton atempts on the Kuaiser),
SPD won 24 seats
o Much like Catholics in the Kuulturkampf, the Socialists rallied around their cause

State Socialism

Bismarck introduced a series of welfare measures designed to wean the public of Socialism

 Sickness Insurance Act (1883)
 Accident Insurance Act (1884)
 Old Age Pensions and Disabilites Act (1889)

These were seen as a sham by many, and simply an atempt to wean the public of of Socialism and
the SPD, who by 1890 held 35 seats

 Bismarck's refusal to compromise with the SPD is evident in 1889 when he atempted to
make aspects of the Ant-Socialist laws permanent

BOTH Ant-Socialist laws and State Socialism failed to halt the SPD

The Fall of Bismarck

When Wilhelm II came to the throne, he wished to rule as well as reign

 This immediately put him at odds with Bismarck, who was used to being the puppetmaster

Whilst they held roughly the same politcal views;

 Disagreed on Russian relatons
 Bismarck favoured repression of Socialism whilst Wilhelm favoured reforms
 Wilhelm opposed Bismarck amending the Consttuton to efectvely end the Reichstag

When Bismarck prevented Wilhelm II from having direct access to his ministers, he was ofered an
ultmatum, Resign or be sacked.

 Bismarck resigned on 20th March 1890, citng disagreements over Russian relatons, however
it was more so over their direct personality conficts and on how to deal with Socialism