The Slow Decline Of The Land Owning Elite

Question 1

Bismarck Germany

Answer 1

Retained power;

• they challenged the rise of the SPD and working classes by forming an alliance with the national liberals (DVP)
• Bismarck’s constitution meant junkers in the Bundesrat could veto legislation
• chancellor was chosen by the king who was often a junker

Loss of power:

• the changes being made to Germany towards a federal republic meant junkers had to work harder to retain the power that they had enjoyed in Prussia
• the alliance with the middle classes owed to their slow decline because they had to make big compromises with ‘big business’ that saw government policy favour the industrialists over the junkers
• industrialisation saw the loss of control over agrarian Germany as it shifted towards mAnufacturing, further undermining the power of the junkers as the upper middle classes became more important

Question 2

Weimar Germany

Answer 2

Retention of power:

• silent dictatorship saw Germany controlled in war time by two junkers, strong enough to render the kaiser useless as he was not called upon to direct the war
• Eberts response to revolution meant that the power of the junkers was kept up, eg the Ebert Groener pact meant the leadership of the army was not reformed and Von Seeckt remained as commander in chief of the army for 6 years
• the judiciary was unreformed under Weimar, allowing the junkers to remain in charge of prosecution and could be biased towards the right wing eg Hitler V Fechenbach

Loss of power/decline
-Prince Max’s reforms added to the decline of the junkers by abolishing the 3 class voting system 

Overall despite the increase democracy of Weimar and the rise of the working classes, Ebert abandoned many of his socialist values to stabilise politics by making deals with the junkers to stabilise the army and judiciary

Question 3

Nazi Germany to 1990

Answer 3

Retained power: very short term

• Hitler managed to manipulate the junkers throughout nazi Germany to stop any early challenges from them against his power; also Hindenburg was a Junker so Hitler needed to support them until his death
• the night of the long knives where the SA were purged by the SS gained the support of military leadership, as the SA were previously getting too reckless and powerful under Roehm

Loss of power-turning point=Hindenburg’s death

• Hitler now undeniable Fuhrer of Germany and the land owning elite decline massively
• powerful junkers eg Von Paper was removed from the cabinet, and Junkers Blomberg and Fritsch were replaced by Hitler as head of the armed forces after they opposed his foreign policy
• After Stauffenberg attempted to kill Hitler, 5000 people were killed by Hitler, with many being Junkers that Hitler wanted to kill to remove links to imperial Germany
• the split of east and west Germany completed the decline as most junker land was in the east when it split
• Junkers in the east saw their land split up and redistributed, and by 1952 Junkers had effectively been ended

Question 4

Judgement/ criteria

Answer 4

Throughout the period there was a clear slow decline of peasantry as Germany became more democratic and more representative of the lower classes; therefore it undermined the power of the junkers. There were some parts where Junker power was retained eg Eberts lack of reform in some areas of Weimar, but once Hitler became in control, he effectively suppressed most Junker activity and it was ended by 1952