2nd Reich - society and gov 1900-1919 Flashcards
Unification of Germany
1871
Powers of the Kaiser (5 things)
- Commander-in-chief of the army (who swore loyalty to him personally
- In charge of foreign policy
- Could appoint/dismiss the Chancellor and government ministers
- Could dissolve the Reichstag (parliament)
- President of the Bundesrat (federal council)
When did Kaiser Wilhelm II rule?
1888 - 1918
Role of the Chancellor and the ministers (1 each)
Chancellor -
1. presenting legislation to parliament
Chancellor and ministers -
2. implemented laws
To whom were the Chancellor and ministers responsible?
The Kaiser - NOT Parliament
From which group of people did the Kaiser tend to appoint his Chancellors and ministers?
Prussian aristocracy - Junker class
What was the democratic element of the German constitution and why?
The Reichstag - as is members were elected
Who could vote?
All men over the age of 25
What powers did the Reichstag have in regards to legislation?
What could it NOT do?
- It could vote to accept, reject, or amend legislation
2. Propose legislation
Who had the final say over legislation?
The Kaiser
How many seats did Prussia hold in the Bundesrat? (Out of how many in total)
17/58
What legislative powers did the Bundesrat hold?
- It could initiate legislation
2. if 14+ members voted against a law it could be vetoed
- Towards what group’s favour was the Bundesrat composed?
2. How did it do so?
- Prussian conservatives
2. Ensured their dominance
Who engineered the composition of the Bundesrat?
Bismarck
How did the composition of the Bundesrat favour the Kaiser? (2 things)
- He was supposed to share his powers with it
2. With the Prussian conservative dominance he was able to control it.
- What kind of state/constitution was Germany in this period?
- What did this mean for individual states?
- Federal
- Individual states had considerable power to determine the nature of their local political arrangements and to run education, health care, and local policing
To whom did the army swear an oath of allegiance?
The Kaiser
On average, between 1890-1914, how much did Germany’s economy expand, per year?
4.5%
Between 1890-1914 how much did coal and iron production increase?
almost doubled
- Why was Germany’s steel industry so impressive?
2. Which company dominated this industry?
- By 1900 steel production exceeded that of Britain
2. Krupp Corporation
By 1913 how much of Europe’s electrical goods were produced by Germany?
50%
Which particular industry did Germany excel in? (Give 3 examples)
New industries (Ones that used new and innovative technologies)
- Chemicals
- Pharmaceuticals
- Motor manufacture
Between 1890-1914, by how much did the contribution that industry made to the country’s GNP (Gross National Product) increase?
33% - 42%
+9%
What were the social consequences of the economic developments? (3 things)
- Urbanisation -
1910 60% living in urban areas –> led to homelessness and overcrowding - Poor standards of living
Created boom in membership of trade unions –> 1913 3mil people were members - Class tensions
- Industrial working class in conflict with owners of industry (over pay and conditions)
- Lower middle class unhappy as they found their SOL threatened by new industries
In what ways did the developing transport infrastructure between 1890-1914 improve Germany’s situation? (2 things)
- Facilitated travel and industrial development
2. Helped alleviate problems of overcrowding and homelessness in urban areas
What effect did social and economic change (1900-1914) have on politics?
Polarisation
What was the main driving factor for the expansion of left-wing political organisations (1900-1914)?
A growing urban working class
What was the main left-party 1900-1914?
the SDP (Social Democratic Party)
- In what year did the SPD become the largest party in the Reichstag?
- How many seats did they hold?
- What percentage of the vote did they win?
- 1912
- 110
- 28%
What effect did the changing economic and social situation (1900-1914) have on conservative politics? (3 things: hint - DKP, NPL, pressure groups)
- It saw a rise in nationalist politics with elements of the DKP (German Conservative Party) moving in an extremist direction
- Parties that represented the new business elite (e.g. NLP) became increasingly conservative
- Right-wing pressure groups sought to protect the social elite from free market policies, to promote nationalism and colonial/military expansion
What group of people did the German Conservative Party (DKP) represent?
After 1890 how did the party change?
Junkers –> often had links to government
Elements within the party became more radical and anti-Semitic
What groups of people supported the Free Conservative Party (FKP)? (2)
Industrialists and landowners
Which political party would bankers and industrialists support?
What political and economic agenda did it INITIALLY support?
The National Liberal Party (NLP)
Liberalism
What group of people did the Centre (Zentrum) Party represent?
What percentage of Germans did this group make up?
Catholics
1/3
What other parties would the Centre party work with? When was there an exception and why?
Conservative parties
In 1906 it sided with the SPD over the budget
What was the pressure group formed by the Junkers in 1893?
What did it seek?
The Agrarian League
Protectionist measures against competition
What did the Central Association of German Industrialists want?
Were they left or right-wing?
Tariffs to protect German industry from foreign competition
Right-wing
What was the organisation that campaigned for German naval expansion?
What was its membership?
The Navy League
1 mil
What were the two right-wing groups that supported German colonial expansion?
The German Colonial League
The Pan German League
What does historian John Rohl argue about the Kaisers system of rule?
What evidence does he give to support this?
By 1890 he had developed a system of autocratic personal rule
Appointed ministers who furthered his conservative political agenda:
Between 1896-97 he removed more progressive ministers from government and replaced them with people like von Bulow and von Tirpitz
What position in government did von Bulow hold, between what years?
Chancellor, 1900-1909
Give an example of Chancellor Bulow sidelining or defeating the Kaiser?
1902 Tariff Law
What was the significance of the 1902 Tariff Law? (2 things)
Put higher duties on imported grain
Reveals Bulow going against the Kaiser’s interests
Which political forces did Chancellor Bulow seek to align?
conservative and centrist
What was von Bulow attempting to do with his series of social reforms? Name 2 laws and what they did.
appease socialist forces (e.g. SPD voters)
1903 amendment of the Sickness Insurance Law –> gave workers more security
1908 Child Labour Law –> reduced hours of factory work
What was the budgetary crisis and Hottentot election? when was it?
1906-7
The SPD and Centre Party opposed the government’s budget, in protest at Germany’s colonial policies.
The Kaiser then dissolved the Reichstag and called an election
Conservative imperialist parties emerged strengthened afterwards
When was the Daily Telegraph Affair?
1908
What was the significance of the Daily Telegraph Affair? (2 things)
- It led to the Kaiser losing his confidence in Chancellor Bulow and the Chancellor’s subsequent resignation.
- Increased European tensions
When was Bethmann Hollweg Chancellor?
1909-17
What was the significance of the Zabern affair?
reveals the Reichstag’s lack of control over the gov. –> Bethmann lost a vote of no-confidence yet it could not force him out of office and he remained Chancellor as he had the support of the Kaiser
When was the Zabern affair?
1913
What was the significance of the 1913 Army Bill? Which Chancellor pushed it through?
Bethmann Hollweg
He gained SPD support for army expansion by funding it through progressive taxation
What was the significance of the budgetary crisis and Hottentot election (1906-7)? (4 things)
- The Reichstag trying to control the actions of the Kaiser, government, and army
- tensions between a left-wing Reichstag and conservative government
- The power of the Kaiser (dissolved the Reichstag)
- Support from the German public for a brutal imperialist agenda
Give a quote of the Kaiser’s from the Daily Telegraph Affair (1908)
the British were ‘mad, mad as March hares!’
What did the Daily Telegraph Affair (1908) demonstrate in regards to the Kaiser? (4 things)
- The Reichstag and German press were prepared to criticise the Kaiser
- The Reichstag could gain concessions from the Kaiser
- The Kaiser couldn’t always act in an autocratic manner
- The Kaiser could remove his Chancellors
What sparked the Zabern Affair (1913)?
A German soldier in Zabern, Alsace, made a derogatory comment about the locals –> tensions escalated –> soldier acquitted by military court of injuring a local
What did the Zabern Affair (1913) demonstrate about German politics? (4 things army/reichstag)
- The Army operated independently of civil authority
- The Reichstag were not able to hold the Chancellor to account –> He only needed the Kaiser’s support
- Reichstag could be ignored by Kaiser and army
- Tensions between the army and the Reichstag
What does John Rohl suggest about where the power lay in the second Reich? (4 things)
What is this approach called?
- with the Kaiser
- he built a semi-autocratic system
- his militaristic and conservative agenda was advanced
- the Reichstag was sidelined and liberal and democratic forces weakened
INDIVIDUALISTIC APPROACH
What does Hans-Ulrich Wehler argue about the Second Reich? (about the system itself and where the power lay)
What is this approach called?
- It was a failing system –> unable to cope with the political/social challenges that a modernising economy was producing
- Dominated by powerful conservative forces e.g. army –> not democratically accountable
TOP-DOWN APPROACH
What does Christopher Clark argue about the Second Reich? (system and rule)
How does he differ to Rohl and Wehler in his approach?
- The system was too fluid and the Kaiser too erratic for personal rule to have been possible
- He is more positive about the strength of liberal elements at this time
What do Geoff Eley and David Blackburn argue about where the power lay in the Second Reich?
What is this approach called?
- The scale and range of political participation would suggest that politics was driven from below
BOTTOM UP APPROACH
Evidence/examples that Germany was an autocracy, in relation to:
- Kaiser
- Kaiser had power to appoint/dismiss Chancellors/ministers and dissolve Reichstag –> dissolved the Reichstag 1906. Forced von Bulow to resign after Daily Telegraph affair (1908)
Evidence/examples that Germany was dominated by a conservative elite, in relation to:
- political agenda
- Political agenda –> naval, militaristic, and colonial expansion - colonial policies and Naval Bill 1906
Evidence/examples of democracy and liberalism in Germany, in regards to:
- suffrage
- Reichstag = democratic as all classes of men had the vote
How much of the £8.6mil cost of war was met by taxation?
16%
How many soldiers were killed in WWI and how many were wounded?
2mil killed
6.3mil wounded
during the war years, by how much did living standards fall?
what caused this decrease?
between 20-30%
inflation and tight controls on wages, food shortages
What was the main cause of food shortages during WWI?
the british naval blockade of German ports
How did Germany’s politics change during WWI?
Beginning: politically unified - a Burgfriede or political truce between Kaiser and Reichstag delcared
Middle: the left believed only a defensive war was justified –> disagreement w/ the right which wanted war of expansion
End: Disunity and discontent - politics polarized
What communist group emerged during the WWI? What did they want?
The Spartacist League
social revolution and an end to the war
Give an example of political disunity during WWI
What did it lead to?
1917 - 42 SPD deputies broke away to form anti-war and radical socialist USPD
Concern about the war –> Reichstag vote over ‘peace resolution’ which urged gov to try and negotiate peace settlement –> left and centre won vote by 212 to 126
What law led to considerable discontent among workers during WWI? Why?
December 1916, Auxiliary Service Law
Workers prevented from freely changing jobs
How did workers demonstrate their discontent during WWI? give an example
January 1918 - significant strikes in many areas e.g.
5 day strike in Berlin involving half a mil workers
How did the government change in character during the war years? HOW?
It became increasingly authoritarian and militaristic
- -> Kaiser sidelined by military
- -> by 1916 Generals Ludendorff and Hindenburg silent dictatorship
Bethmann forced out of office
- -> Generals Michaelis and Hertling became Chancellors
- -> they were puppets of Ludendorff and Hindenburg
What was this wartime government known as?
the ‘silent dictatorship’ of Ludendorff and Hindenburg
How did the shock of impending defeat influence later events? (2 things)
Contributed to the outbreak of the revolution
Acceptance of the ‘stab in the back myth’
In the final weeks of the war what happened as the Second Reich began to collapse?
The country shifted towards democracy and saw a social revolution w/ the weakening of aristocratic power
Evidence/examples that Germany was an autocracy, in relation to:
- Chancellors/ministers
- Chancellor/ministers not accountable to Reichstag –> Bethmann lost vote of no-confidence 1913 and remained Chancellor
Evidence/examples that Germany was an autocracy, in relation to:
- army
- Army only accountable to Kaiser –> not affected by Reichstag criticism after Zabern affair 1913
Evidence/examples that Germany was an autocracy, in relation to:
- political agenda
- country followed the Kaiser’s political agenda –> weltpolitik
Evidence/examples that Germany was dominated by a conservative elite, in relation to:
- pressure groups
-Conservative pressure groups –> Agrarian League and Central Association of German Industrialists successfully lobbied for increased agricultural tariffs in 1902
Evidence/examples that Germany was dominated by a conservative elite, in relation to:
- the bundesrat
17/58 Prussian members –> coming mainly from the conservative Junker class
Ensured their dominance / veto
Evidence/examples that Germany was dominated by a conservative elite, in relation to:
- Prussian elite
- Conservative Prussian elite dominated the state in the –> army, judiciary, civil service, and gov
Evidence/examples of democracy and liberalism in Germany, in regards to:
- power of the Reichstag (2 examples)
- Reichstag able to accept/reject legislation –> e.g. in 1906 they rejected colonial policy
- Reichstag increasingly assertive –> 1906 budget, criticisms of Kaiser post Daily Telegraph Affair (1908), censure of Bethmann 1913
Evidence/examples of democracy and liberalism in Germany, in regards to:
- the press
- press criticized Kaiser e.g. Daily Telegraph affair
Evidence/examples of democracy and liberalism in Germany, in regards to:
- political participation
- Political participation high –> trade union movement large, pressure groups influential , women participated in political movements
Evidence/examples of democracy and liberalism in Germany, in regards to:
- interests in the state
- plurality of interests in the state –> Catholics - Centre Party, workers - SPD, farmers - Agrarian League
Which 2 other industries expanded as a result of the growth in steel production?
Armaments
Railway
By 1914 how many KM of railways were there in Germany?
37,000km
Give 3 positive aspects to the urbanisation that took place
- Better hygiene and medicine –> improved infant mortality rates
- tramways –> people could work in the city without living there
- urban workforce saw real wages increase
By 1910 what percentage of the population lived in urban areas?
60%
Give 2 negative aspects of urbanisation
- overcrowding and homelessness
2. Cycle of economy dictated cycle of unemployment
After 1900, how many men a year did the Berlin Homeless Shelter Association accommodate?
200,000 per year
in 1907 how many were unemployed
3.45mil
By 1907 how many white collar workers were there?
3.3mil
How was agriculture affected by the introduction of large refrigerated ships?
Cheaper to import meat from USA
How was agriculture affected by the population boom?
Increasing demand for agricultural products
How did urbanisation affect political participation?
Increased
By 1913 how many people were members of trade unions?
3mil
In 1913 how many people went on strike?
400,000
How did the elites PERCEIVE the SPD
What were they actually?
revolutionary
Reformist
What was the most powerful pressure group?
What did they do in the 1912 election
the Central Association of German Industrialists
Funded 120 conservative and liberal candidates
What does the existence of pressure groups highlight in German politics?
tensions and divisions
What was sammlungspolitik?
Policy of concentration made up of liberals and conservatives
What did sammlungspolitik aim to do?
Flottenpolitik –> focus of popular patriotism soaked up pressures/tensions
Name 2 laws that demonstrate the influence of the Navy League
What did each of them propose
1900 2nd Navy Law
build 38 warships over next 20 years
1906 3rd Navy Law
expanded previous programme including adding 6 battlecruisers
How did the 1903 election results demonstrate the influence of the SPD?
Increase in votes for SPD in reaction to the 1902 Tarriff Law that increased food prices
How did Weltpolitik increase tensions?
lack of opportunities –> most territories had already been seized
Pressure for expansion –> created tension
In 1911 what was the Herero population? what had it been previously?
15,000 (from 80,000)
Why and when did the Bulow Bloc break up?
1908
Bulow proposed property tax or increasing inheritance tax to fund increasing military expenditure
What did Bethmann do to try and appease conservatives ?
Seized estates in the east that belonged to the poles –> to redistribute to the peasantry
What law did Bethamnn pass to appease the socialists?
1911 Imperial Insurance Code
In 1910 what did Bethmann try and fail to do?
reform the Prussian voting system –> make it more democratic
What did Bethmann do for Alsace-Lorraine? why?
Introduced a constitution (1911) to try and integrate it
Even though the SPD was the largest party by 1912, why was its influence limited?
Other parties refused to form alliance w/ them
By how much was the vote of no confidence against Bethmann passed?
293:54
How were the constituency boundaries unfairly drawn?
Urban seats that had grown significantly remained the same despite population boom
Did the Kaiser face any serious threats to his authority 1900-14?
no
How did political parties acting as interest groups affect the extent of constitutional change 1900-14? (2 things)
made collaboration between parties difficult as they represented different interests
Parties didn’t trust each other
