Kaiserreich: 4 economic developments

Question 1

what provided easy credit for industrial growth in 1871?

Answer 1

• prompt payment of a French indemnity (fine payable following wartime defeat)
• currency reform of 1871
• lots of ironworks and machine-manufacturing companies were set up 1871-5

economy grew 3% annually from 1871-3

Question 2

when was the Great Depression?

Answer 2

between 1873-1896
hit German industry - affected particularly from 1876 as demand fell particularly for textiles and engineering products

Question 3

what happened to the economy in the final years of the 19th century?

Answer 3

huge expansion
emerged stronger in 1895 than 1873

Question 4

what industries accounted for the GNP in the 1880s?

Answer 4

35-40% agriculture
30-35% industry
by 1914 balance had swung
25% agriculture
45% industry - grew 4.5% annually
30% commercial and services sector

Germany stood alongside Britain and the USA

Question 5

what caused economical growth?

Answer 5

• huge growth in German pop -increase in younger pop who were more willing to adapt to new skills
• availability of raw materials e.g. coal in the Ruhr, iron in Alsace-Lorraine
• geographical advantages - rivers like the Rhine, broad, flat plain ideal for railways, canal, river and railway proved invaluable for the transport of raw materials and manufactured goods
• highly developed education system e.g. more science graduates from Munich than all English unis combined
• German banking system - free from state control and heavily invested in industrial research, trade and economic development e.g. 49 new banks founded in Prussia in 1872
• development of larger businesses and organisations e.g. Siemens, AEG, etc 90% of Germany’s total output
• as well as cartels - 600 1911 compared to 8 1875
• supportive government: industrial development supported through Bismarck’s tariffs and Caprivi’s trade treaties

Question 6

what was Germany’s ‘first industrial revolution’?

Answer 6

taken place before 1871 - textiles, coal. iron, steel and railways

Question 7

what was Germany’s second stage of industrial revolution?

Answer 7

1890 - development of ‘new’ industries that used more advanced technology such as electricals, chemicals, machinery and the motor car industry

Question 8

how did Germany’s production of coal, pig iron and steel grow from 1890 to 1910?

Answer 8

coal - 89 to 222 million tonnes
pig iron - 4.1 to 9.5 million tonnes
steel - 2.3 to 13.8 million tonnes

Question 9

by how much did Germany’s railway network grow?

Answer 9

1890 - 41,820 km
1913 - 63,000 km

Question 10

how did Germany’s navy grow in comparison to the US and Britain?

Answer 10

3x the US
but only 1/4 of Britain’s

Question 11

how much of the world’s chemical dyes was Germany producing?

Answer 11

more than 3/4 - establishing a virtual monopoly

Question 12

how much sulphuric acid was Germany producing in contrast to the world?

Answer 12

1907 Germany 1,402,000 tonnes
1878 world 1,000,000 tonnes

Germany’s ammonia production also rose from 84,000 tonnes to 287,000 tonnes

Question 13

what other industries did Germany lead the way in?

Answer 13

pharmaceuticals
artificial fibres
photographic materials
plastics
new explosives

electrical grew most quickly in the Rhine

Question 14

how did production of electrical energy grow?

Answer 14

by 150% between 1901 and 1915
exported £11 million worth of electrical goods compared to the US and Britain’s 8 million combined

Question 15

leading motor companies?

Answer 15

Daimler, Diesel, Benz and Mercedes
aviation - Zeppelin

Question 16

what was most of Germany’s industrial development a result of?

Answer 16

driven by the Kaiser’s desire for prestige and glory of Weltpolitik

Question 17

was agriculture still an important industry for Germany?

Answer 17

yes - 35% of pop still employed in the sector
large Junker estates produced rye and beet whilst small peasant farmers produced cereals. fruit, vegetables, wine, livestock and dairy products
4 million acres of virgin land was tilled
number of horses, cattle, pigs and poultry increased
producing 40 million tonnes of potatoes a year in early 20th century enough for 1 tonne per adult

Question 18

was agriculture heavily tariffed?

Answer 18

yes
although lowered by Caprivi they rose again under Bulow in 1902
tariffs helped prevent cheap Russian and American grain imports from flooding the German market but kept food prices artificially high for German consumers

Question 19

what challenges did farmers face?

Answer 19

synthetic foods such as margarine and new processes and refrigeration challenged traditional farming practices
costs rose and rural labour supply fell as fertilisers and machinery became more essential
rural debt increased

Question 20

what evidence supports that agriculture declined?

Answer 20

• prices fell, despite production
• series of bad harvests in the late 1870s led to import of cheap grain from the USA
• building of new railways and roads exposed farmers to competition outside formerly isolated communities
• increasing numbers of landowners ran into financial difficulties and were forced to sell up and mortgage farms
• many peasants abandoned agriculture and moved to the industrial towns
• percentage of pop employed in agriculture fell from 50% 1871 to 35% 1907
• share of agriculture making up GNP fell from 35-40% to 25%

Question 21

what evidence suggests agriculture did not decline?

Answer 21

• growth of towns and protection given to German grain-growers after 1879 created opportunities for more enterprising farmers
• farm machinery and chemical fertilisers became cheaper and more widely available
• more than 4 million acres of land brought under cultivation between 1880 and 1900
• cultivators of rootcrops did well
• cultivation of the land became better organised

Question 22

by 1913 Imperial Germany was a major trading and exporting nation, what volume had exports and imports grown?

Answer 22

4 fold between 1880 and 1913
1890 buying nearly £200 million worth of foreign goods and selling £153 million worth
1913 imports risen to £526 million and exports £495 million
although there was a ‘trade gap’ the difference was easily made up by the ‘invisibles’.

Question 23

where did the majority of German exports go?

Answer 23

60% to Britain, France and Russia
remainder went to Latin America, South Africa and the Ottoman Empire
showing Germany to truly be a world power

Question 24

what policy did Bismarck adopt in the 1870s when the economy appeared strong enough to withstand foreign competition?

Answer 24

free trade
however after several years of slower growth there were demands for protection
tariffs were later introduced in 1879 in response to the ‘alliance of steel and rye’

Question 25

what did caprivi negotiate which temporarily ruptured the alliance of farmers and manufacturers?

Answer 25

1890s (maybe 1893?)
trade treaties with Russia, Austria and Romania
agreed to lower agricultural tariffs in return for a reduction of those countries’ tariffs on imported goods
caprivi’s dismissal in 1894 healed the rift and high tariffs remained until 1914

Question 26

examples of economic pressure groups emerging in the late 19th and early 20th century…

Answer 26

1895 Industrialists’ League
1904 Imperial League
1909 Hansabund
1911 Imperial German Mittelsand Confederation