2.2 German Political Developments

Question 1

Leo von Caprivi

Answer 1

. Aristocratic background “von”
. Served in wars of German unification
. Intelligent, mildly progressive
. Talked of a ‘new course’ that involved a more consultative approach to govt and a conciliatory attitude to previously hostile forces

Question 2

Caprivi - Social Reform

Answer 2

. Concessions made to socialists, Poles, Centrists
. Work prohibited on Sunday, anti-socialist laws lapsed
. Polish schools allowed to use Polish lang
. Reduced working hours for women
. Reforms generally welcomed by left, opposed by Conservative landowners and aristocrats

Question 3

Caprivi - Tariff Reform

Answer 3

. Reformed 1879 Tariff Act, prompted by wheat shortages that led to rise in food prices
. Negotiated treaties w Austria, Italy, Russia, + smaller states from 1891-1894
. Tariff Act won widespread support in Eastern Prussia: Germany agreed to reduce tariffs on agricultural imports in return for favourable rates for German manufactured goods

Question 4

Caprivi - The Army Bill

Answer 4

. Reduced period of military service from 3 to 2 years
. Alienated the Left: intro army bill that increased peacetime army strength by 84,000 men
. Angered the Right: army bill defeated
. Caprivi dissolved Reichstag
. 1893 elections: Conservatives+NLs passed army bill

Question 5

Caprivi - The Agrarian League

Answer 5

. Formed 1893, soon had 300,000 members
. Effective pressure group, anti-Semitic
. Rabble rousing movement
. Mounted anti-Caprivi campaign: called him a socialist
. Widespread support in Eastern Europe

Question 6

Caprivi - Caprivi’s Fall

Answer 6

. Conservative opposition to ‘new course’
. W pressed C to draw up new anti-socialist measures, bc of SPD success in 1893, C refused
. W + Prussian PM made a plan to increase Kaiser’s power + crush socialism
. C talked W out of it but resigned in Oct 1894

Question 7

Why did Caprivi fail?

Answer 7

. C found Wilhelm hard to work with
. W interfered too much; 1893 elections, SPD won 44 seats + C refused to draw up anti-socialist measures
. Opposition to ‘new course’ from left and right
. Kaiser lost confidence in C and forced him to resign

Question 8

Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurt

Answer 8

. Bavarian aristocrat, mildly liberal views
. Became little more than a figurehead
. Catholic but anti-Zentrum party
. 'straw doll' for the Kaiser
. Prepared to combat 'socialist threat'

Question 9

Re-organisation of Government

Answer 9

• 1897: three new govt appointees,
  . Admiral Tirpitz became Navy Secretary
  . Count Posadowsky-Wehner became Interior Minister
  . Bernhard Bulow became Foreign Minister
• The emergence of this new team came with a new policy, ‘Weltpolitik’

Question 10

Key Dates: Prince Hohenlohe, 1894-1900

Answer 10

1894: Hohenlohe became Chancellor
1897: Germany began to pursue Weltpolitik
1898: Naval expansion began with passing of a major Naval Bill
1900: Second Naval Bill, more battleships built

Question 11

Hohenlohe - Reactionary Rule

Answer 11

. 1894+95: govts took action against political revolutionaries.
. SPD offices in Berlin ransacked, party leaders on trial
. Prussians suspected of sympathising lost their jobs
. Wilhelm advocated forcible repression of SPD

Question 12

Success of Reactionary Rule

Answer 12

. Reichstag rejected efforts to pass anti-socialist law
. By 1897, deadlock between govt and Reichstag
. Govt wouldn’t intro legis. acceptable to Reichstag
. The Crown was exposed to criticism, without protection of ‘ministerial clothes’ as Bismarck warned

Question 13

Success of Weltpolitik

Answer 13

. Wilhelm II’s support may have come from love-hate relationship with Britain
. Obsessed with avenging himself on his mother’s land
. ‘The English will be brought low someday’
. W said that no major colonial issue must be decided without Germany having a say

Question 14

Hohenlohe - German Navy Expansion

Answer 14

. Tirpitz built the army to challenge Britain’s
. W + T didn’t think that: Germany needed British support against Russian + French threat or Britain might look for support elsewhere
. T needed Reichstag to give money to build ships
. He created the Navy League, 1898, supported by Alfred Krupp, membership >500,000

Question 15

Naval Bills

Answer 15

. First bill: 1898, building 16 major ships, carried by 212 votes to 139
. Opposed by right: thought money should go to army
. Left opposed increase in military spending
. Second bill: 1900, build 3 battleships a year for next 6 years
. Passed by a larger majority than first naval bill

Question 16

Success of German Navy Expansion

Answer 16

. Britain felt threatened, their navy + colonies were the basis of its commercial power + security, wouldn’t allow Germany to be equal
. The League drummed up popular support for naval expansion, putting pressure on the Reichstag

Question 17

Hohenlohe - Continued Reaction

Answer 17

. 1898: W speech insisting while he was on army maneuvers: anyone who called a strike/prevented someone from working had to be imprisoned with penal servitude
. When Berlin tram workers went on strike in 1900, W: “I expect at least 500 ppl to be shot”, didn’t happen

Question 18

Sammlungspolitik

Answer 18

. W’s circle favoured a policy of concentration: ‘alliance of steel and rye’
. Nationalist sympathies in opposition to socialism
. Led by elites with wealth + contacts, and supported by members of the middle class
. Shows right wing elites had more influence over W and policies than Hohenlohe himself

Question 19

Industrialist’s League

Answer 19

. 1895: members from manufacturing and export industries, favoured high tariffs to promote exports
. Aims: to promote manufacturing interests and exports

Question 20

Forces contributing to Weltpolitik

Answer 20

. Industrialisation created economic demands for getting raw materials and markets beyond Europe
. German nationalists believed Germany’s survival as a leading nation needed a more active world policy
. Pressure groups (Pan German and Navy League) popularised it and pressured govt to pursue policy to the full

Question 21

Why was Weltpolitik pursued?

Answer 21

. Attempt to put Germany on a par with Britain
. This meant: expanding Germany’s navy;
- Creating a large colonial empire;
- Supporting Germany’s economic interests across the globe

Question 22

Territory gained by German overseas expansion

Answer 22

. Togoland
. Cameroons
. German South West Africa
. German East Africa
. North East New Guinea

Question 23

Count Bernhard von Bulow

Answer 23

. Aristocratic junker, civil servant, diplomat
. Foreign secretary (1897-1900), favouring adventurous policy and colonial expansion
. Nicknamed the ‘eel’ sucked up to Wilhelm
. The first Chancellor that the Kaiser really trusted

Question 24

Bulow - Social Reform

Answer 24

. Interior Minister Posadowsky resumed ‘new course’
. Measures designed to win working class support:
- Extension of accident insurance (1900)
- A law making industrial courts compulsory in all large towns (1901). These courts adjudicated in disputes between employers and employees
- Extension of prohibition on child labour (1903)

Question 25

Bulow - Tariffs

Answer 25

. Agrarian League demanded higher tariffs . By a huge majority, the Reichstag restored tariffs to the pre 1892 level . The Centre Party remained the largest party and continued to hold the power in Reichstag

Question 26

Bulow - Success of the Tariffs

Answer 26

. Left wing parties called for lower tariffs to reduce price of bread . Bulow worked successfully for a compromise . Popular opposition to higher tariffs helped the SPD to win nearly a mil extra votes and 26 extra seats in 1903

Question 27

Bulow - Financial problems

Answer 27

. Mounting costs of maintaining the army, expanding the navy and running the empire resulted in a large budget deficit . 1905: Bulow proposed a 2 pronged attack on the deficit by proposing an increase in indirect taxes and an inheritance tax

Question 28

Bulow - Success of Financial Problems

Answer 28

. Centre Party and SPD voted down the indirect taxes, which would have hit ordinary Germans hard . Conservatives + Centre Party weakened inheritance tax so as to make it financially insignificant

Question 29

Bulow - 1907 Hottentot Election

Answer 29

. Hottentots + Heroes revolt in German SW Africa (1904 -5) was dealt with poorly, leading the Centre Party to ally with the SPD + others in Dec 1906 to vote against govt's proposal to provide extra £ for colonial administration. 1907: Bulow dissolved Reichstag . Conservatives, Free Conservatives, National Libs, Left Liberals formed 'Bulow Bloc' coalition

Question 30

Bulow - Success of 1907 Hottentot Election

Answer 30

. Pro-govt parties did well: campaigning on nationalism, anti-socialism, anti-Catholic . SPD: disastrous. Centre Party made modest gains . Bloc was fragile: Bulow removed ministers objectionable to it . Most Conservatives preferred to co-operate with the Centre Party than ally with Left Lib: nothing in common

Question 31

Bulow - The Eulenburg Affair

Answer 31

. 1906: Journalist Maximilian Harden published articles exposing many gays high up in German army . 1907: Harden insinuated W's bestie/main advisor Prince Phillip zu Eulenberg. Series of trials . Ring of homosexuals in the German court

Question 32

Bulow - Success of the Eulenburg Affair

Answer 32

. Bulow was a homosexual and was at risk of being drawn in but managed to avoid it . Wilhelm's rep was ruined

Question 33

Bulow - The Daily Telegraph Affair

Answer 33

. Autumn 1908: article in Daily Telegraph, Wilhelm expressing wishes for closer relations with Britain . Poor tone, Bulow had given it to an underling in the Foreign Office to check it instead of himself . Kaiser attacked in press. Harden for his abdication . Reichstag deputies questioned Wilhelm's right to make such important statements. Clamours for constitutional changes to reduce Kaiser's power

Question 34

Bulow - Success of Daily Telegraph Affair

Answer 34

. Bulow distanced himself from views expressed in article: caught between loyalty to Wilhelm and demands of the Reichstag. He secured a promise from the Kaiser that constitutional formalities would in future be properly respected. Wilhelm's declaration mollified Reichstag opposition and crisis ended without constitutional change

Question 35

Bulow - Bulow's Fall

Answer 35

. W's trust in him fatally weakened by Telegraph Affair . Determined to be rid of B . Naval + colonial expenditure rose, budget deficit rose . To overcome it, B intro'd finance bill increasing indirect taxation and inheritance tax . Centre Party supported the Conservative stand to have its revenge on Bulow for his actions in 1906-7

Question 36

Bulow - Success of Bulow's Fall

Answer 36

. Indirect taxation increase opposed by the SPD . Inheritance tax increase opposed by Conservatives . When the budget proposals were rejected by the Reichstag in 1909, W secured Bulow's resignation

Question 37

Count Dietrich von Hulsen Haeseler

Answer 37

. The Chief of the Civil Cabinet . Died of a heart attack while dancing in a tutu for the Kaiser during hunting during the Telegraph Affair . News of this further damaged W's reputation

Question 38

Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg

Answer 38

. Aristocrat, Secretary for Internal Affairs 1907-1909 . Intelligent Conservative, allowed Kaiser to take personal control over military and foreign affairs . Faced impossible task of reconciling a budget deficit with demands for increased military expenditure . Presided over July Crisis that led Germany into WWI . Resigned in 1917

Question 39

Hollweg - Political Problems

Answer 39

. Had little support in Reichstag: aligned with right . 1912 election: distinct shift to left with SPD + growth of Left Liberals winning 110 and 42 seats respectively . SPD became largest party in the Reichstag . Had to rely on backroom deals and compromises to get support for govt bills

Question 40

Hollweg - Success of Political Problems

Answer 40

. His attempts to broaden his Reichstag support only alienated his natural supporters . Conservative parties denounced him for his weakness while the SPD demanded more reform

Question 41

Hollweg - Budgetary Problems

Answer 41

. 1912-13: army + navy submitted major expenditure plans as problems of imperial finance + defense came to a head . New tax solved fiscal crisis . By 1914 the Reich debt reached 5 bil marks

Question 42

Hollweg - Success of Budgetary Problems

Answer 42

. Inheritance tax finally accepted . Tax still opposed by Conservatives who supported military measures + supported by the Socialists who were keen to set the precedent of a property based tax, but disliked military spending

Question 43

Hollweg - SPD

Answer 43

. SPD deputies remained divided between orthodox Marxists, who maintained revolutionary agenda . Moderates who believed that the Party's role was to fight for the improvements of conditions peacefully within capitalist system

Question 44

Hollweg - Success of SPD

Answer 44

. 1913: SPD deputies supported chancellor's new taxes, intro'd to cover increase defend expenditure . SPD deputies were aware that most SPD voters were patriotic and concerned about the perceived threat from Russia, France, and Britain

Question 45

Hollweg - Nationalist Associations

Answer 45

. After 1912 became more vocal in criticism of German govt for its 'weakness' at home and abroad . By 1914 many extreme nationalists were anti-socialist, anti-Semitic, anti-parliamentarian . Many believed in Aryan superiority + dreamed of new Bismarck who'd be ruthless, unafraid to pursue aggressive policies against enemies at home/abroad

Question 46

Hollweg - Success of Nationalist Associations

Answer 46

. "The political maelstrom of radical ideologies out of which Nazism would eventually emerge was already swirling powerfully well before WWI" - historian Richard Evans

Question 47

Hollweg - The Zabern Affair

Answer 47

. Poor relations between Alsace-Lorraine + Germany . Friction between local populace and garrison troops . Zabern: a young officer made remarks about Alsatian troops that were rude + led to demonstrations . Nov 1913: during 1 disturbance, commanding officer ordered his men to clear the streets. 28 citizens were held overnight in barracks, led to public + official protests: the army was acting above the law

Question 48

Hollweg - Success of The Zabern Affair

Answer 48

. W ordered soldiers involved be sent on manoeuvres . Minister of War + H rejected criticism of army on grounds that commanding officers were only responsible to the Kaiser and not the Reichstag . Vote of no confidence in H, Dec 1913, he dismissed it . The affair underlined W's power + showed he couldn't completely ignore public opinion

Question 49

Hollweg - Prussian Constitution

Answer 49

``` . Conservative's position in Prussian Landtag was unassailable . Controlled upper chamber + usually had majority in lower house, which was still elected by outmoded 3 class system ```

Question 50

Hollweg - Success of Prussian Constitution

Answer 50

. 1908: SPD won 23% of vote in Prussian election but won only 7 seats . Conservatives with 16% of vote won 212 seats . Injustice within the constitution led to increasing demands for reform

Question 51

Authoritarian Monarchy

Answer 51

. Chancellors less powerful than Bismarck after 1890s . Bulow knew his position depended on flattering W . When Chancellors lost W's confidence had to go . 1871 constitution placed final authority with Kaiser . Middle class sided with Establishment even by 1914 . W exerted v personal involvement in govt

Question 52

Parliamentary Democracy

Answer 52

. W forced to moderate conduct after Telegraph affair . German govts couldn't ignore the Reichstag . After 1890 more debate of govt policy + rise of SPD . All W's oppressive schemes stopped by Reichstag . Reichstag deputies wanted constitutional change . W wanted to crush SPD but never would in reality

Question 53

Was Germany at crisis point by 1914? Yes:

Answer 53

. The left believed that time was right for revolution . 1912 elections showed SPD on rise, scaring right . Nationalists wanted military coup to smash socialists . Country divided between left and right . Strikes on rise, minority groups rebelling . Germany's rulers, particularly Bethmann-Hollweg, were pessimistic about the country's future

Question 54

Was Germany at crisis point by 1914? No:

Answer 54

. Divisions in 1914 no greater than previously seen: signs that middle parties were willing to work together by 1913 + SPD had given support to a govt finance bill (inheritance tax) . Talk of military coups in past but nothing happened . Germany's economy remained strong . Elites didn't pursue war to deflect political opposition