Chapter 1: German Peculiarities Flashcards
This man is known for bringing about the founding of the Germain Empire in 1871. Often seen as an extreme representation of Prussian nobility having come from the Junker class of aristocratic nobility.
Otto von Bismarck
The period of discontent in Germany during the 1840s was nicknamed this; and provided an emerging generation of intellectuals, students, lawyers and local politicians with grounds for revolution.
Hungry Forties
Following the establishment of the German Constitution along classic liberal lines in 1848, this occurred.
Parliament was unable to control Austrian and Prussian militaries.
State monarchs pushed back and crushed revolution in Autumn of 1848.
German Confederation was re-established and leaders of revolution were silenced.
FAMOUS PHRASE in response to German aristocracy crushing liberal revolution: “German history had reached its turning point…
… and it had failed to turn.”
In response to pressure of liberals in Germany the following changes were made…
Trial by jury in an open court
Equality before the law
Freedom of business enterprise
Abolition of most forms of state censorship of literature and press
The right to assembly and association
Power to elect legislative assembly with some power to create legislation and generate funding
Bismarck’s appointment as Foreign Minister by Wilhelm I was for this reason …
Power of legislative assembly was being used to block Prussian military funding.
Following their defeat of France, the German Empire was proclaimed at this site in France…
Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles
Bismarck engineered the Second Reich by …
Allying with Austria in the annexation of Denmark territory.
Creating subsequent conflict with Austria by disputing the administration of this annexed territory.
Defeating Austria decisively in military conflict that followed.
Declaring the Northern German Confederation void of Austrian participation.
The word “reich” was important to educated Germans because …
They saw themselves as successors of the Roman Empire and as the vision of God’s empire on earth.
This was absent from the German Empire’s constitution…
A declaration of human rights and civic freedoms.
The titular head of the German Empire derived from the latin word ‘Caesar’.
Kaiser
German word for parliament…
Reichstag
The following powers were reserved for the Monarch and not the reichstag…
Ability to dismiss government and its ministers
Matters of war and peace
Administration of the army
The Reich Chancellor was sworn not to the ________ but to the _______.
Reichstag - Monarchy
WHO SAID IT: The Bismarckian Reich can be described as a ‘bureaucratically constructed military despotism, dressed up with parliamentary forms, mixed in with an element of feudalism yet at the same time already influenced by the bourgeoisie.’
Karl Marx
One of the main areas of power in German society during were these feudalistic land owners …
The Junkers
These two events led to the diminishment of Junker and military power in Germany during the 19th century…
End of serfdom
Defeat of Prussian military in Napoleonic Wars
Bismarck’s Austro-Prussian war of 1866 brought this territory into Germany and expelled which …
Kingdom of Hanover (assimilated); Austria and Bohemia (expelled)
Bismarck’s defeat of France brought this territory into the German Empire…
Alsace-Lorraine
While Bismarck is known for his aggressive campaigns during the 1860s, his tenure as Chancellor saw…
Two decades of peace within Europe and the consolidation of German power.
In response to papal efforts to assert further control over the Catholic population, Bismarck did the following…
Instituted measures to require clergymen to undergo training at state institutions and submit their clergical appointments.
Arrested those who disobeyed these rules resulting in many parishes being without representation.
This party formed due to Bismarck’s persecution of the Catholics within Germany…
Catholic Centre Party
In response to two assassination attempts on Wilhelm I, Bismarck did the following…
Implemented the Anti-Socialist law which effectively robbed those possessing socialist views of their rights and freedoms.
In response to the Anti-Socialist laws and the industrialization of the late 19th and early 20th century, this party became the most prominent in Germany prior to WW I …
Social Democratic Party
