Wilhelmine Germany: key events, policies and acts Flashcards

Question

how widespread were anti-modernist attitudes | 5 point

Answer 1

* It has often been argued that these ‘anti-modernist’ attitudes were widespread in Wilhelmine Germany, and that in these attitudes lay the cultural roots of Nazism. * Modernity did have its critics – many disliked ‘Americanisation’ and the growth of the modern city. This was often linked to a dislike of the proletariat. * Those in rural Germany feared the changing nature of society. * There were also political groups that exploited prejudices in society – socialism, those with a ‘deviant’ sexuality, avant-garde artists and Jews. - However, it’s not a case of right vs left. Many on the left celebrated rural, traditional life. Many right-wing Germans admired modern science and technology.

Answer 2

- The Italian president was assassinated by an anarchist in 1894 - By 1912, the SPD was the most powerful party in the Reichstag - the electoral success of social democracy destroyed the conservative 'Bulow bloc' of parties and replaced it with a bloc effectively able to resist any unpopular government legislation - Wolfgang Mommsen wrote the 1912 election created the 'stalemate of the party system', massive anti-government feeling could now be mobilised within that assembly - the SPD did posses an active left wing that maintained an orthodox Marxist line and was to show its revolutionary potential in 1918

Answer 3

- Many felt the working class had to much to lose to risk a direct confrontation with the state so despite provocation they acted with great caution, encouraging workers to be more compliant with the current social order - There was less hostility between the working class and state due to them deriving social benefits from social legislation and thanks to trade unions, living standards were slowly rising - By refusing to work with the Bourgeoise and uttering the old revolutionary incantations, socialists alienated the middle class and could thus not hope to secure a majority - Many had respect for the monarchy so had no desire to force the pace of what seemed an inevitable movement towards parliamentary government - By 1912, the German socialist movement was committed to the 'revisionism' proposed by Eduard Bernstein in 1898 opposed to Marx's mistaken belief of the approaching crisis of capitalism and that improving living standards should not be sought through the active promotion of capitalism - Willing to compromise in the interest of improving social standards in some way: from 1906 onwards leading social democrats were willing to make electoral pacts with the Liberals to forward desireable social policies, they were willing in general to subscribe to an imperial foreign policy as they interpreted it as primarily opposed to reactionary Tsardom, even supported the financial provisions of the army bill in 1913 because of the gov's promise these should be paid for via property tax

Answer 4

- Journalist Maximillian Harden published a series of articles between April and November 1907 which accused Wilhelm and his inner circle of pacifist tendencies that weakened Germany's international standing - To lend his accusations weight, he went on to accuse a number of Wilhelm's inner circle including Eulenberg and Bulow of homosexual acts, equating same sex attraction with moral weakness - Harden became more and more explicit in his accusations and when Wilhelm found out about the accusations, with his sensitivity to public commentary in mind, he demanded it be settled in court - At this time homosexuality was a crime under Article 175 - The rumours then became a public spectacle of five seperate cases that lasted over the next two years

Answer 5

- To save his reputation, Wilhelm tried to cut ties with all those accused, he asked Bulow to resign and cut ties with his long time friend Eulenberg - Political impact - lost entire political and personal support but his reputation remained intact. - He found new advisors from the military circles that surrounded him at court - Prussian military hawks who insisted a world war was inevitable

Answer 6

- The British newspaper published an article on the 28th October 1908. - His conversation with Edward Montagu-Stuart Wortley a year previously whilst staying in Dorset England had been written up in interview style and since the Kaiser left the matter to Chancellor Bulow who was on holiday, as was press officer Otto Hamann, when the document was passed to the desk of a junior clerk, he didn't feel he had the authority to change the Kaiser's words and thus approved the text as it was - Raw unfiltered words in a private context whilst on holiday were released to the public that portrayed Wilhelm as a member of the Anglophile minority in Germany which was a dangerous claim in the context of Flottenpolitik

Answer 7

- led Bulow to lose the public's trust, particularly after the Eulenberg Scandal - the Kaiser's claims about his foreign policy successes was offensive to most European nations and their rulers, Japan, the German political class and public itself as he presented them as largely Anglophobic

Answer 8

- On a hunting trip, Hulsen-Haseler thought he could lighten the Kaiser's mood by dressing up as a ballerina and he danced daintily in his little pink tutu for them - As everyone was laughing at the spectacle, he had a sudden heart attack and died on the spot - His body was stripped of the ballerina outfit to avoid scandal and the matter was hushed up

Answer 9

- Wilhelm suffered a nervous breakdown - upon returning to strength, he found he had lost a lot of the public's trust and any additional incidents would be a major blow to the German monarchy - thus he kept his head down and was not seen or heard in public for months - His first official speech did not occur until the summer of 1910 and even from then on his public appearances took on a muted and formal tone - This hugely dented his confidence and he allowed himself to be gagged and dominated by his new circle of advisors

Answer 10

- Zabern, a town in Alsace was garrisoned (to provide a place with a group of troops) by German soldiers with the help of some Alsatian recruits - A young German officer responded to some teasing by calling the Alsatian recruits 'Wackes' a hated nickname meaning 'square heads' - The officer was duly punished with several days' confinement in a military prison - When locals read of the incident in the local press they demonstrated against German arrogance - German soldiers were ordered to disperse a demonstration in November 1913 and charged wildly at the crowds - fifteen were arrested, including the president, two judges and the state attorney of the Zabern Supreme Court who were caught up in the chaos after just exiting the court building - Despite a liberal press outcry - Wilhelm condoned the military action

Answer 11

- showed how the military could overide civilian authority with impunity - liberal press outcry - Wilhelm condoned the military action

Answer 12

They would invade the poorly defended Belgium to take Paris, take France out of the war and then send all troops to focus on Russia. It was believed that any continental war thought by Germany would be against France and Russia, since they are separated a war on two-fronts against them is possible

Answer 13

- Belgium is poorly defended - Britain doesn't get involved - They are able to start as soon as Russia mobilises and do it within the small timeframe

Answer 14

- Agreed between all political parties - Laws for necessary loans to finance the war were passed unanimously - Even SPD promised to support war - Public were confident and lulled into a false sense of security - Burgfriede lasted well over the first two years of the war with no real opposition - Only after Verdun and the Somme (1916) did doubts begin to be expressed publicly

Answer 15

- The trade unions refrained from striking, the SPD voted for war credits in the Reichstag and the parties agreed not to criticise the government and the war - There were several reasons for the Burgfriede politics. The social democrats believed it was their patriotic duty to support the war; they were afraid of government repression should they protest against the war and they hoped to achieve political reforms after the war by cooperating with the government. - The only SPD member of parliament to vote against war credits, initially, was Karl Liebknecht, joined on March 20 1915, by Otto Ruhle. Over the course of the war the number of SPD politicians opposed to the war steadily increased. - Their resistance against the Burgfriede politics led to the expulsion of Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg and others from the SPD. These went on to found the Spartacist League, the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) - The only trade union to refuse the Burgfriede was the Free Association of German Trade and Unions (FVdG)