Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm

Question 1

Kaiser ignored advice from hid chancellors and ministers. He didn’t need Reichstag to approve laws.

Answer 1

Became too influenced by the Junker, Military and industrial cities. Had full control of military. Too aggressive to other ountries.

Question 2

Rapid industrialisation so population moved to cities and agriculture declined leading to food shortages

Answer 2

Little done to help worker and they now relied on imports of food.

Question 3

Terrible living and working conditions for German workers. Many joined trade unions and support for SPD increased

Answer 3

Tried to pass anti-socialist laws but they were not approved by the Reichstag. Agreed to pass some reforms for the workers.

Question 4

Weltpolitik- Kaiser wanted Germany to be a great power. To achieve this, he wanted Germany to have a large navy and gain an empire.

Answer 4

Naval laws passed by Reichstag but sent Germany into debt. Opposition from SPD caused rivalry with Britain and France- led to WW1

Question 5

Industrialisation

Answer 5

Process of building up a country’s industry

Question 6

Industrial elite

Answer 6

Wealthy factory owners

Question 7

Military Elite

Answer 7

The army leadership, who had a role in German government.

Question 8

Reichstag

Answer 8

The German parliament

Question 9

Chancellor

Answer 9

Similar to the Prime minister in the UK government today.

Question 10

Socialism

Answer 10

A belief that the working class were oppressed and should rise up in a revolution, making a new society with more equality.

Question 11

SPD

Answer 11

The German socialist party

Question 12

Trade unions

Answer 12

Worker organisations which campaign for better working conditions

Question 13

Prussia

Answer 13

The largest and most powerful state in Germany.

Question 14

Social reform

Answer 14

Laws passes to improve ordinary people’s lives.

Question 15

Agriculture as a problem

Answer 15

Everybody had moved to the cities to make more money so less food is being produced. Kaiser didn’t address this and continued to focus on industrialisation so Germany had to rely on food imports from other countries. During the war, they cant import food so 750,000 people died from starvation.

Question 16

Workers as a problem

Answer 16

living and working conditions in cities are awful to accommodate all the people. Houses are badly constructed and diseases like cholera were common. Due to the influence of the industrialites, he did little to address this situation and living and working conditions got worse. Workers don’t like conditions which could lead to strikes and riots. Growing support for the SPD. Ill workers also couldn’t work as well, much less productive and so German economy and industry profits decreased.

Question 17

Socialist Party as a problem

Answer 17

many workers start to support the SPD, the SPD is the biggest party in the Reichstag by 1912. Kaiser tried to pass anti-socialist laws, but Reichstag refused to approve them. Passed reforms like health insurance & limiting working hours to reduce SPD support but it doesn’t work

Question 18

Weltpolitik “world politic”

Answer 18

One of the Kaiser’s most important policies. Began in 1897 and were designed to turn Germany into a major world power. The elements to this plan were:
-to build a German navy
- to build an oversees empire
-to build international trade.

Question 19

How did the Kaiser build up the navy?

Answer 19

The building up of a navy would help Germans take over more countries, would protect the countries already in the German Empire, help increases traditional trade, wanted a rival navy to Britain’s. A series of naval laws were passed between 1898 and 1912. Huge sums of money were spent on this, especially on this, especially on the creation of a fleet of huge new warships, called “Dreadnoughts”. Taxes had to be raised and money borrowed in order to pay for this. Germany was plunged into debt. The SPD were very unhappy about this, and fought against the naval laws in the Reichstag. Furthermore, the British grew very alarmed about Germany’s new navy. They saw it as Germany being aggressive and began building their own warships. This caused a “ Naval Race” - one cause of WW1

Question 20

How did the Kaiser build up an empire?

Answer 20

At this time many other European countries had large overseas empires. The Kaiser wanted Germany to have an empire too. The Kaiser referred to this as wanting a “Place in the sun”. Germany’s empire remained very small compared to Britain’s, yet the British saw Germany’s empire building as a sign of aggression.