Bismarck German Society

Question 1

How were the Upper class identified?

Answer 1

• Land owning (hereditary)
  
  • Titles (lords, ladys, earl, baron, viscount)
  • Size of House
  • Different connections, dominate higher ranks of army, dominate politics
  • Upper class don’t have to work (earn money from rent)
  • Tend to intermarry within the upper class
  • Well educated
  • Ladies are typically good at singing, playing instruments
• German Society Tiles: Von,

Question 2

How can someone rise from the middle to upper class?

Answer 2

Can only rise to the Upper class by marrying into it
- Not easy as it is frowned upon in the upper class/Junker elite/aristocracy

Question 3

How were the middle class identified?

Answer 3

• Quite small: increased after industrialisation
  
  • Level of education
  • White collar workers
  • Broad spectrum of society
    Mittelstand (lower middle class)

Question 4

How were the working class divided?

Answer 4

Agricultural labouring class
Industrial working class
Unskilled Working Class
Semiskilled working class:
Skilled working class:

Question 5

How can the working class rise to the middle class?

Answer 5

Education= tool for social progression
- Can rise through classes

Question 6

How was the Agricultural labour class identified?

Answer 6

• Little formal education
  
  • Poorer, due to seasonal work
  • Work in the fields, rural works, domestic crafts (spinning), ploughing
  • Live as tenants
    Lack of aspiration, work in the same places their family works

Question 7

How were the Industrial working class identified?

Answer 7

• Blue collar workers
• Moved into larger towns from the country

Question 8

How were the Unskilled working class identified?

Answer 8

ie Night soil person

Question 9

How were the Semi skilled working class identified?

Answer 9

• work 1 piece of machienery in the factory
  
  • Very knowledgeable on the one piece of equipment

Question 10

How were the skilled working class identified?

Answer 10

• Artisan: highly skilled at their job
  
  • Ie watchmaker, locksmith
  • Very skilled in 1 craft, still working with their hands
  • Can earn more than the lower middle class
• Still working class due to the manual job and a lower education

Question 11

Who are Junkers?

Answer 11

Prussian Aristocratic Landowners

Question 12

What are the successes/improvements of the Junkers due to Industrialisation?

Answer 12

They remained dominant in the political and military sectors.

Question 13

What were the problems/potential problems for the Junkers due to Industrialisation?

Answer 13

Their wealth would have been at risk if they had not modernised their farms - the amount of people moving to cities to join the industrial labouring class was growing. Agricultural prices were a bit out-of-control pre-protectionism thanks to cheap Russian and American grain imports.
Falling income from agriculture, landowners who failed to modernise production methods + adapt were likely find their financial positions under threat

Question 14

How much did life improve for the Junkers?

Answer 14

Strengthened economic and political position with help from the state
Some diversified to new crops and made fortunes

Question 15

What are the successes/improvements of the Upper Middle Class? due to Industrialisation?

Answer 15

Quite comfortable - many middle class households would employ servants. They would not have to work the long hours that the industrial working class (or even the mittelstand) would have to work.
Business and demands became more complex- expansion of industry for lawyers, white collar workers, teachers, civil servants

Question 16

How much did life improve for the Upper Middle Class due to Industrialisation?

Answer 16

Very much so - as the demand for lawyers and university lecturers (among other academic jobs) increases, there are more opportunities and the size of the upper middle class grows.

Question 17

What are the successes/improvements of the Mittelstand due to Industrialisation?

Answer 17

The Mittelstand devotion to the extreme right parties provided not a solution but a reassurance that they would be safe.
- initially benefitted as the market for their products and services increased

Question 18

What were the problems/potential problems for the Mittelstand due to Industrialisation?

Answer 18

The position of the Mittelstand was typically at risk; they were squeezed between trade unions from the labouring classes and big industrialists from the upper middle class. This led to many members of the class viewing the pre-Industrial times as a golden era.
- also increased competition from larger corporations and the appearance of early department stores threatened their independence

Question 19

How much did life improve for the Mittelstand due to Industrialisation?

Answer 19

A little bit. With the increase in demand for manufactured goods, some more members of the mittelstand were needed; but they were always at risk of falling back into the industrial labouring class.

Question 20

What are the successes/improvements of the Industrial working class due to Industrialisation?

Answer 20

The average wage increased by 25% by 1913.
Employment up 3% in one year between 1900-14

Question 21

What were the problems/potential problems for the Industrial working class due to Industrialisation?

Answer 21

Many people lived below the poverty line - 10,000 homeless in Berlin. 6-day work weeks with up to 10 hour days. Living and working conditions were very poor, and life expectancy dropped to 40 (and infant mortality rose to 35%).
Labourers were expected to work long days, sometimes 10-12 hour days a week

Variation in wages, meaning people were below the poverty lines, leading to 10,000 people homeless in Berlin

The working and living conditions were extremely poor and many male workers lived in barrack stle housing or shared

Mortality rate dropped to 40 years and infant mortality was 30%

Question 22

How much did life improve for the Industrial Working Class due to Industrialisation?

Answer 22

Bismarck’s state socialism- workers had opportunities to advance with education and job opportunities

But there was wide variation in pay, ie Coal miners were paid more and lots of families fell below the poverty line

Long hours in industrial areas, unhealthy and dangerous conditions

Overall, people were given more opportunities that were otherwise unavailable to them before, allowing them to progress in society. However, working conditions remained horrible, and due to pay inconsistencies, many workers were left below the poverty line

Question 23

What are the successes/improvements of the Agricultural Labouring Class due to Industrialisation?

Answer 23

Some people benefited from certain agricultural industries such as dairy.

Question 24

What were the problems/potential problems for the Industrial working class due to Industrialisation?

Answer 24

Suffered most from economic changes of the period

Many reduced to dependence on seasonal labour and faced increased competitions from cheap imported labour

Overpopulation drove living standards down further, forcing more and more peasants to work in cities

Question 25

How much did life improve for the Agricultural Labouring Class due to Industrialisation?

Answer 25

It didn’t really improve. A lot of people from this group abandoned the countryside for a city towards the end of the 19th century.