Chapter 2: Government and opposition

Question 1

Which party was most successful in the 1871 elections and how many seats did they have?

Answer 1

national liberals (125 seats)

Question 2

Who was Rudolf von Bennigsen?

Answer 2

• founder and chairman of the national liberals
• initially cooperated with Bismark to achieve German unification and economic development
• later resigned over the anti-socialist laws

Question 3

What laws were introduced by the Reichstag to bring economic unity to Germany?

How much did the railyway network grow by between 1871 and 1873?

Answer 3

• Reichbank (1876) - controlled the mark (new currency backed by gold)
• national post and telegraph system
• single court system - central supreme court for appeals
• support for an extension of the railway network across the whole empire

27%

Question 4

What was Kulturkampf?

When was it ?

Answer 4

culture struggle - attack on the catholic church

1871

Question 5

Why did Bismark support Kulturkampf?

Answer 5

• catholic church is financially independant and has political influence via the zentrum (second largest party in Reichstag by 1871 - 63 deputies) - Bismark feels threatened
• Bismark hopes an attack on the church will gain support from protestant Germans

Question 6

Why did the National liberals support Kulturkampf?

Answer 6

• clash of values (Pope declared the church to be opposed to liberalism and nationalism - liberals want reform)
• liberals also want non-religious educational control

Question 7

What were the main aspects of Kulturkampf?

Answer 7

• clergy are fordidden from mentioning politics when preaching
• catholic section of the prussian ministry of religion and education was abolished
• press campaign against the Zentrum

Question 8

What was Bismarks Reichsfeinde?

Answer 8

Bismark labelled certain groups as enemies of the state - catholics (from 1871), social democrats (after 1878), progressive left wing liberals (early to mid 1880’s)

Question 9

What were the 1873 May laws and who did they impact?

Answer 9

only applies to PRUSSIA
* catholic** education under state supervision**
* clergy were appointed by the state (not the pope)
* state financial aid to the church was ended
* prussian** catholics were deprived of some legal and civil rights **

Question 10

What was the impact of the Kulturkampf for the catholics?
How many seats did they get in the 1874 election?

Answer 10

• politician** Ludwig Windhorst** - organises meetings and national reistance tours to attack the kulturkampf - increased unity
• election success - Ludwig called upon catholics to make the election a “great plebicite” - won 91 seats

Question 11

What was the impact of the Kulturkampf for Bismark?
Why does he decide to end the policy?

Answer 11

• bismark** increased division** - increased critisism from protestants and jews who believed he was limiting religious freedoms
  Decides to end the policy…
• 1870’s economic depressions - wants to abandon free trade - knows he will lose liberal support so needs centre party backing
• protestant conservatives are increasingly hostile - Bismark can’t lose their support
• socialism was a greater threat - church is also in opposition so Bismark wants to form an alliance against the “new threat”

Question 12

What was economic protection?

Who supported/opposed it?

Answer 12

putting tarifs on goods coming into the country to protect home industries - opposite of free trade
- there were increased calls for protectionism after the 1873 great depression
- pressure from east elbian Junkers - competition from american and russian grain threatened them with bankrupcy
- appealed to nationalist sentiment - said Germany needed to be self-sufficient incase of war

supported by conservatives and opposed by the national liberals

Question 13

What was Bismarks attitude towards protective tariffs - did he support or oppose them?

Answer 13

Generally supports them because…
* wants germany to be more self-sufficient
* wants to work more closely with the zentrum and conservatives (who support tariffs) to combat socialism

Question 14

What was the 1874 army budget and what was the impact of this?

Answer 14

• Bismark wants permanent funding for the army (would remove military matters from Reichstag control
• opposed by the liberals - compromise - they introduced the septennial law instead (Reichstag vote on military spending every seven years)
• this is a defeat for Bismark

Question 15

What were the results of the 1877-1878 elections?
Why did these results occur?

Answer 15

1877 - national liberals lose seats and pro-protection parties do better
1878 - liberals lose 29 seats - resulted in the party losing influence - those who still believed in free trade broke away and joined the progressives

Question 16

When was the tariff legislation introduced ?

Who supported this?

Answer 16

1879

conservatives and zentrum - beginning of the alliance of steel and Rye

Question 17

When was the SPD created?

Answer 17

1875

Question 18

What was Bismarks attitude to socialism ?
What events allowed him to change public attitudes?

Answer 18

threat to traditional society
1878 - there **were two attempted assassinations **on the Kaisers life ( one was a former SPD member) - Bismark persuaded the Reichstag that the SPD were disloyal and needed to be supressed

Max Hodel was the first man to try and assassinate the Kaiser

Question 19

When was the first anti-socialist law and what were its main aspects?

Answer 19

passed** october 1878**
* socialist organisations, meetings and publications were banned
* police powers increased - could break up meetings and censor publications
* This law was renewed four times - socialism was essentially illegal

Question 20

What were the impacts of the anti-socialist laws?
What happens to the number of SPD votes and seats?

Answer 20

Bismark was not successful in limiting the influence of socialism
* more **industrial workers **turn to socialism
* votes double between 1878 and 1890
* seats rose from 9 to 15

Question 21

What and when was Bismarks state socialism policy?
What were peoples reactions to this policy

Answer 21

Bismark tries to make socialism less appealing by making changes which benefit workers
* 1883 - medical insurance
* 1889 - old age pensions

• some workers were pleased by the benefits - opposed by national liberals as it extended the role of the state and limited individual freedom

Question 22

What was the result of the 1881 election and why was this an issue for Bismark?

Answer 22

75% of the Reichstag are hostile to Bismark
- Bismark has to create a majority from various groups - legislation is slowed down

Question 23

What was the war scare crisis?
What was the impact?

When was it ?

Answer 23

• Bismark wants a 10% tax increase to fund the military
• creates a war scare crisis (suggests war with france is imminent after Boulanger makes some war-like threats)
• election is held and Bismark is able to get his increase in taxation - Shows the influence of Bismark (although the government is still very unstable)

1886

Question 24

What was the permanent anti-socialism bill?
What was the impact?

When was it ?

Answer 24

rejected by the Reichstag (liberals no longer support the policy) - a general election is held and SPD representation actually increases which poses a threat to Bismark

1890

Question 25

What was the influence of the national liberals between 1871 and 1888?

Answer 25

• dominant until 1887 - 1878 - election is held and they lose seats
• split over tariff reform and the anti-socialist laws
• right wing continued to support Bismark while the left wing broke away and joined the progressives

Question 26

What was the influence of the zentrum between 1871 and 1888?

Answer 26

• weakened during the Kulturkampf
• later start to support Bismarks anti-liberal and anti-socialist measures (not fully reliable)

Question 27

What was the influence of the SPD between 1871 and 1888?

Answer 27

• formed in 1875
• reduced influence for a time due to a anti-socialist laws
• from 1878 support for the party grew - oppose Bismarks policies

Question 28

What was the influence of the conservatives between 1871 and 1888?

Answer 28

• backed by elites and Junkers so maintain a lot of influence - also Bismarks biggest supporters after 1878 (once the national liberals split)

Question 29

What was Sammlungspolitik?

Answer 29

aimed to bring together right wing political parties (mostly national liberals and zentrum) in support of the state - in opposition to socialism