To what extent were socialists the greatest threat to German unity in the years 1871-79?? Flashcards
Factor 1- socialists
Facts- In 1878 he used two assassination attempts on the Kaiser to highlight socialism as a threat to nationalism Germany, later passed anti socialist legislation in Oct and imprisoned 1500 socialists. Socialists were against unification and Bismarck saw them to be affiliated to communism, and therefore didn’t share the same ideology and goals as Bismarck with his united Germany. Bismarck tried to reduce divisions by reducing the number of opponents to his new Germany. In the short run their threat to unity was reduced as following the anti socialist laws their vote fell from 493,000 to 312,000 but in the long run the new SPD party gained millions of votes by 1890, with 35 reichstag seats, reviving their threat to German unity.
HOWEVER the SAPD only formed in 1875 and couldn’t have produced a mass threat to Bismarck by 1878 when he banned them, and they only attracted 7% of the vote by 1878.
Explanation-The idea of socialism was more of a threat to Bismarck than the actual party of the socialists because they were small in size and weren’t as extreme as the communists in Russia anyway. The two attempts to kill the Kaiser weren’t even socialist members; Bismarck only exploited them because the socialists provided an alternative to Bismarcks unifying agenda, which threatened German unity in Bismarcks eyes.
Factor 2- catholics
Facts- following papal infallibility (pope has control of state teachings) and syllabus of errors that publicly states the church were against the unification of Germany in 1864 Bismarck introduced the Kulturkampf laws; includes withdrawing funds from priests, seizing 16 million marks of church land and exiling 1800 priests, attempt to reduce divisions once again by reducing number of opposers to his Germany. 30% of the country was catholic and the pope had lots of power across Europe over his supporters; they had 28% of the vote in 1874.
Explanation- Bigger threat than socialists because they had a very powerful and well respected leader who declared he was against unification, and so his German followers were likely to adhere to this, undermining Bismarcks attempt at German unity.
Factor 3- failure of nationalism
Facts; Bismarck’s intent for nationalism was to unite people all across Germany by breaking down pre existing state loyalties, but in the long term he divided the north and south. Sedentag day (military celebration of German success over France in 1870) was a national holiday, but was not well accepted in South because they weren’t involved in win, and many socialists saw it as celebration of Prussia Militarism rather than German victory. South’s state loyalties too strong to be proud and loyal to PRUSSIAN kaiser. Also, no national flag or anthem until 1890.
Explanation- Bismarck’s plan for nationalism had the opposite effect because he lacked empathy for differing political feelings in the South, so his plans to unite the country weren’t suitable everywhere and as a result he threatened division especially in the long term by increasing this north south divide. The failure of nationalism was tied in to the socialists, as Bismarck used the assassination attempt on the kaiser to call out socialists as opponents to nationalists, who grew in size in the long term and therefore increased long term divisions again.
Factor 4- the constitution/ kaiser dominance
Facts- The reichstag had the potential to be a unifying factor by providing democracy to men over 25 who voted for members of the Reichstag, and therefore expected their representatives to present laws that would benefit the majority of the country. However, the reichstag could agree/ or reject laws, but the extent of their power was limited; they were supposed to have control over the army budget but the Kaiser could dissolve the reichstag if the army lacked funding (80% of budget spent on army). Bismarck also fixed the army budget for 7 years at a time and allowed automatic funding for armies over 400,000.
Explanation- As a result, people would’ve been more loyal to their Länder parliaments that had more control over education, taxes etc in their respective states, instead of the new Bismarck constitution that prevented any chance of political power for the people of Germany, prohibiting national loyalty from developing.
line of argument/ judgement
Overall, it was the lack of democracy in the new constitution that threatened unification the most, because people had a lack of political freedom, and those with differing ideologies to Bismarck were oppressed and punished for it; which increased divisions in the long term. Bismarck’s new system did not cater for everyone, so in his mind if you opposed it then you had to be removed. This only drove political divisions deeper between himself, and the catholics and socialists, who both subsequently grew in support after attacks from Bismarck, highlighting the weakness of the constitution and proving why unification was not achieved under Bismarck.
