BOOKLET 1, Ruling the Second Reich Flashcards

Question

(The Federal Government and the Länder parliaments, POWER OF LANDER) - Power of the L was centered on the upper house of Parliament, known as the B___________. - It represented the will of the G states, having the power to __________ legislation, so in theory states could work... - The Bundesrat was made up of delegates of the ..., the number of reps depended on the... e.g. Prussia took up ___ of the ____ B seats, while Bavaria only had __.

Answer 1

- Bundesrat. - It represented the will of the G states, having the power to VETO legislation, so in theory states could work together to undermine Prussian dominance, however this rarely happened as smaller states were afraid of challenging P. - B made up of delegates of the state governments, the number of reps for each state depended on the state's size, e.g. Prussia took up 17 of the 58 B seats while Bavaria only 6.

Answer 2

- Encourage political opposition (as had been seen in Russia).

Answer 3

- Would receive no payment, making it difficult for the less privileged classes to run for election. - They couldn't initiate legislation. - Allowed the Bundesrat to VETO all legislation from the R and neither the chancellor, military cheif nor Kaiser were accountable to the R (BUNDESRAT MORE POWERFUL THAN R, THIS SWITCHES IN WEIMAR21/2/25 20:38). - The Kaiser could dissolve the R and call for new elections.

Answer 4

- Needed a vast number of new laws and so the R was frequently voting on legislation (no bill could become law without a R vote) : it would have been difficult to dissolve the R every time they disagreed with him and so B made concessions. - R's main power was control of budget, could make life difficult for B if he was too confrontational. - Debates widely reported in the press, chancellor and ministers could be questioned and embarrassed. - Bismarck considered changing the constitution in the 1880's because of the growing power of the Reichstag, a sign it had some influence.

Answer 5

- Supported the creation of a German empire. - Mainly based in the North. - 1878. - Represented the educated and wealthy middle class of Germany.

Answer 6

- Opposed the creation of a unified Germany. - Mainly based in the South.

Answer 7

- Catholic interests. - Strongest support in South. - They were supported by the minorities e.g. Polish population in the eastern side of Prussia.

Answer 8

- German Junkers (landowners). - Disliked Unification, only backes Bismarck after 1878.

Answer 9

- Poles, Danes and French that lived in Germany. - Groups faced discrimination, were treated with suspicion because of their questionable loyalties to Germany. - Won 10% of the vote in 1784, but, over time, P, D and F became more assimilated within Germany as new generations attended G schools and were conscripted into the army.

Answer 10

- Formed in 1875 after the merging of two workers' parties due to rapid urbanisation, the economic depression of the 1870's and the appeal of socialism. - Attracted about 7% of the vote during the 1870's.

Answer 11

- 4 states' armies : Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Wuttemberg, with P soldiers being the dominant group. - Under control of the Kaiser. - Conscription 2-3 years, enabled officers to instil Prussian values of discipline, loyalty, pride in the military etc. - Army budget wasn't renewed annually, the army was virtually independent from the Reichstag (and its budgetary controls), many officers were hard-lined conservatives. - As concerned about dealing with internal threats (as they saw them) as about external threats from foreign nations.

Answer 12

- 1874, B presented a law that said an army over 400,000 men would automatically be financed by federal expenditure. - Given that 80% of all federal expenditure was spent on the army, this was a serious threat to the monetary powers of the Riechstag. - National Liberals opposed this suggestion and B accused them of trying to undermine German military strength and threatened to call for new elections. - Compromise : military budgets fixed for 7 years at a time.

Answer 13

- Most populat Reichstag party in 1870s. - They were formed in 1867 because they supported Bismarck's idea for a united Germany. - NL represented the interests of the industrial and professional middle classes. - Two main aims : national unity and the promotion of civil liberties (e.g. freedom of speech). - Believed in free trade, wanted the new Germany to be a single economic system with no protectionist policies which would lead to the growth of a successful middle class and industrial wealth. - In 1871 election, they gained 30.1% of the vote, far higher than the second largest party.

Answer 14

- Free trade was passed in the early 1870's. - Freedom of movement restrictions were removed so that Germans could travel freely to find work. - Standard legal system was introduced. - Weights and measurements standardised across the country : makes it feel more united. - Reichsmark became the sole legal currency in Germany, all with the Kaiser's face, unity. - Policies developed G's economic integration which broke down the barriers between the previously independent states and helped unify the economic system.

Answer 15

- Believed in free trade, economic unity and support for constitutional change towards greater democracy and civil liberties for all Germans. - Largest party, couldn't be ignored, despite B's contempt for their democratic ideals. - B hoped to keep the educated, middle class voters happy and distracted from his resistance to greater democracy. - Both feared Catholic support for the Centre Party, which they believed was a threat to national unity. Since the Catholic's put the Pope and what he said before anything else. - B's actions towards the Catholic Church, known as Kulturkampf.

Answer 16

- Increased tension between B & NL because he refused to extend parliamentary power in the Reichstag. - B decided to try and split the NL and then work with the more right-wing members of the party. - He was able to do this following an economic crash in 1873. - He demanded the introduction of tariffs to protect German farmers and I industry which contrasted with the NL free trade ideology. (They eventually split in 1880).

Answer 17

- 1878, B's pro-tariff message was seen as patriotic and many voters (e.g. peasants and small farmers) switched their votes from the NL to the Conservative Party. - The NL vote slumped to 23.1%. - Further tariff bill a year later led to a split in the NL party with the more conservative members voting with B. - By August 1880, the NL's had split into the now conservative National Liberal Party and the more left-leaning Liberal Union.

Answer 18

+ Achieved his goal of splitting the NL and pushing the party he was to work with in a more conservative direction. + In he next few years NL became even more conservative in its outlook.

Answer 19

- Decline of the NL meant that the Catholic Center Party became the largest party in the Reichstag (not good as they were his biggest opponent). This made the Reichstag difficult to control. - Division of NL into 2 parties (...) also split their vote, made a coalition between the NL and the Conservative Party impossible to win an overall majority which weakened the R's support for B's policies. - The new left-leaning Liberals won support in the R and in the 1881 election, the Liberal Union and the Progressive Party won 21.1% of the vote between them. - These two parties ↑ merged to form the German Free-Minded Party in 1884 and became the second most popular party after the Center Party. - The 2 biggest parties in the R by 1884 were generally opposed to B's political goals. - Between 1881-86, B's ability to manage the R was severely weakened and he found himself increasingly isolated there.

Answer 20

- Name given to the anti-Catholic Legislation pursued by Bismarck and the NL in the 1870's. - SOE (1864) : Set out CC stance on various political questions. Was seen at the time as a reaction against modernism and the general European movement away from Catholic monarchies to secular democracy. - DOPI (1870) : Asserted the Pope's moral teachings were to be the guiding principle for all Catholics and took precedence over the values and education put forward by the state. - (This called Catholic loyalty into question, worried B and the NL).

Answer 21

- The Pope's declaration was a challenge to German unity as it meant Catholics first allegiance was to the Pope. - CC opposed the very ideology that the NL party was build upon and that the DOPI would undermine the hoped-for unity of the German nation. - If 1/3 of the population (Catholics) were more loyal to the Pope than to the German Nation, this was a clear threat to the national unity that NL + B wanted.

Answer 22

- Represented German Catholic's interests, opposed the constitution of the German state when it was founded in 1871. - Aimed to protect the rights of the Catholic minority, who they believed could be under threat due to the considerable Protestant majority in the new Germany. - Called for continuing independence of church institutions and opposed any form of secularism in areas such as education and marriage. - Rights of Catholics had been protected in Prussia by the constitution of 1850, the CP fought to ensure those rights weren't undermined. - Old German confederation, over half the population had been Catholic (Austria had been a part of it). However, after exclusion of Austria after it's defeat by Prussia in 1866, Catholics were now minority.

Answer 23

- Also Non-German ethnic groups within Germany e.g. Catholic Polish. - Bismarck already suspicious of Catholic popuation since most of had sided with Austria against Prussia in the War of 1866. - Church supported Polish language speaking + calling for a war against G's ally Italy in order to help the Pope regain lost lands. - This enforced B's view that Catholics were an outside group, antagonistic to Prussia and the formation of the new German Reich.

Answer 24

- Speaking of Polish (which the CC supported) meant that this ethnic group retained a separate identity + maintained a Polish nationalism that was disconnected from German nationalism (which was being promoted in school). - For B, it was crucial for Polish youth to be 'Germanized'. - CP viewed by non-Catholic minorities as the main political voice for those who opposed the manner in which Germany had been unified under Prussian dominance.

Answer 25

- Initially attempted to persuade the Vatican to withdraw its support for the CP, this was denied so the K happened. - Campaign launched against Catholic institutions and powers within Germany. - Establishment of laws allowing state authorities to inspect Catholic schools and banning the Jesuit priestly order from Germany. - 1873 'Prussia May' Laws set out a range of laws establishing state control over the Catholic Church. The state would have power over education and appointment over priests.

Answer 26

- PML failed to achieve their goals so a further wave of even more repressive measures was carried out. - Church property seized, clergy not appointed by the German state were expelled from Germany and introduction of the 'Bread-Basket Law'. - B-BL withdrew financial support from any priest who didn't publicly declare his support for the German state. - By 1879, 1,800 priests had been either jailed or exiled from Germany. - By 1879, the German state had seized church property worth 16 million Reichsmarks. - Violence erupted, army was called upon to break Catholic protests against the Kulturkampf measures.

Answer 27

- Failed to achieve it's goals, instead actually reinforcing Catholic separation from the German state. - The attack only strengthened Catholic support for the Center party, which they felt was the best means of defending their rights. - CP became one of the few parties to draw voters from across Germany's divided classes, gaining votes from landowners, peasants etc, drawn together by their Catholic faith. - During K, the CP vote increased from 18.6% in 1871 to 27.9% in 1874, and by 1878 they were the qual biggest party in the Reirchstag, with the same share of votes as the NL. - GC population became more defensive and removed from wider German culture. - Being Catholic became a issue in terms of finding employment, particularly in the civil service. - Protestant males 50% more likely to go to uni than Catholics.

Answer 28

- B no longer found it politically helpful. - By the late 1870's, B was moving against the NL and thus needed support from the CP to push through protectionist policies in the Reichstag. - Pope Pius IX (who had strongly supported the CP) died in 1878 and was replaced by Leo XII, who was much more willing to talk with the G gov and find areas of compromise between church and state. - Prussian conservatives and the royal family also opposed the Kulturkampf. - For the Kaiser, the Church's opposition to the secularisation of society and the weakening of religion's influence was something he supported. - Many Junkers & Kaiser believed that religion was an important force against the values of liberalism they opposed, whether that religion was C or P, they didn't particularly mind. - Ending of the K and the push for protectionist policies was B's attempt to regain the support of the Kaiser and Junkers.

Answer 29

- There was no national flag (until 1890) or national anthem. - There was a national holiday (which celebrated G's defeat of France at the Battle of Sedan (Sedantag) but was opposed by many as many of southern G hadn't played a large role. - Many socialist politicians viewed the national holiday as a celebration of Prussian militarism and refused to recognise it.

Answer 30

+ Focused on trying to create German nationalism to unite the states and people, was known as the 'Reichsdeutche identity'. - Primary/High schools & Universities were required to teach nationalism as a subject, school curriculum focused on instilling the values of loyalty to the Kaiser. - Pupils encouraged to see 1871 as the fulfilment of a historical destiny (Sonderwag) that led to the formation of a great, unified G. - Regular street processions celebrating nation victories were held and student textbooks proclaimed the glory of the Kaiser.

Answer 31

- Policy of cultural nationalism towards minority groups (e.g. Poles and French) to 'Germanise' them. - Schools enforced the teaching of German over Polish or French. - B believed that G's cultural identity needed to be enforced in order to consolidate their new nation, empire and reduce the threat from external enemies.

Answer 32

- Late 1870's, B expelled foreign Poles and Jews from G and used education and the military to enforce a German identity on ethnic minority areas, particularly against German poles. - He used Nationalism to mobilise public opinion in favour of the government, e.g. he referred to the threat of Reichsfeinde (enemies of the empire e.g. French or Catholics) to rally support of the German people. - This targeting of enemies was intended to achieve : Greater national integration of G people, united by their patriotic hatred and fear of the enemies & divert attention away from the call for greater democratic reform in G.

Answer 33

- In 1878, Bismarck used 2 assassination attempts on Wilhelm I to declare that socialism was a threat to the German nation. - The would-be assassins had no connection to socialism or the SADP. - B dissolved the Reichstag (because they had refused his anti-socialist laws) and succeeded in reducing the votes of the NL (lost 130,000 votes and 29 seats) and the SADP (votes fell from 439,000 to 312,000).

Answer 34

- Bismarck then passed anti-socialist legislation called the 'Law for Combating the Criminal Aims of Social Democracy' (October 1878) which prohibited Socialist meetings and gave the police power to randomly search, arrest and exile socialist politicians. - Between 1878-90 1,500 socialists were imprisoned and many more emigrated. - He wanted to bind the middle classes together in their support for the conservative institutions of the G state by making them fear an internal enemy, hell bent on pursuing a revolution.

Answer 35

- Sponsoring Europe's first Social Welfare Programmes and setting up redistribution of wealth on a small scale. - Introduced things like Old Age Pensions (1889), Accident Insurance (1884) and Health Insurance. - By doing this, people will become happier, meaning the socialists won't have a leg to stand on. Bismarck employed their 'program' in his own way.

Answer 36

- Through these policies, Catholics were seen as loyal to the Pope and socialists were seen as more loyal to the ideology of communism. - Seen as threats to the unity of there G nation because they did not share the common, nationalist goals and loyalty to the K and G nation. - By banning SADP, however, merely pushed the movement underground and the party still retained considerable support. - By 1890 the newly named 'SPD' had 1 million votes and 35 seats in the Reichstag.

Answer 37

- B was successful, to an extent, in encouraging national unity by appealing to G nationalism and managed to use this for political gain. - National identity based on militaristic ideals, fear of external and internal enemies and strongly promoted superiority of German culture over others was worrying. - Became more aggressive, fuelled German military aggression in the early 20th Century.

Answer 38

- Peaceful Republican government had been replaced by a more aggressive Royalist one. - B feared that since the French were Catholic, they might encourage Catholic opposition in Germany. - French had done nothing to stop the F Catholic Bishops attacking the Kulturkampf and in 1874 B told the F that there would be a threat to peace if they sided with the Pope against German domestic policy.

Answer 39

- G military also concerned about the 'French Army Organisational Law' (1873) which increased the number of F infantry battalions from 3 to 4. - G estimated that F would have 800,000 trained men to use, an increase of 80,000. - Challenge F by building up pressure of its government to solve the situation - April 1875, 'Kölnische Zeitung' (encouraged by B) published an article which painted a fearful picture of Catholic conspiracy which claimed the French + Austrians were uniting against the Germans. - Followed on the 9th April with an article in the 'Berlin Post' which asked 'is war in sight?', this put pressure on the French.

Answer 40

- Articles republished all over Europe in different languages, alarmed the Germans. - Von Moltke's report on French military expansion was sent to the British and a German diplomat in Berlin told the F ambassador in Berlin that many Reichstag politicians were seriously considering a preventative war. - Alarmed at the prospect of another European war.

Answer 41

- Tsar Alexander II visited G with the support of Queen Victoria for private talks with the Kaiser (highlights severity, monarchs have gone above gov, big effect on Bismarck). - Alexander Gorchakov told the press that he felt peace was assured. - Pressure forced Bismarck to back down on his attacks on France. - B furious with Gorchakov, believed that R and B interference had undermined his policy against France. - Felt humiliated by the fact that it seemed the discussions between the Tsar and Kaiser had determined the direction of G policy, which he had been excluded from.

Answer 42

- Illustrated the power of G military and B's use of the press to mount political campaigns. - B became more cautious in his rhetoric against the French, stopped speaking about Catholic conspiracies and focused on diplomacy. - The 'Three Emperors League' between Germany, Austro-Hungary and Russia had been signed in 1873 but was weakened by the poor relations between Germany and Russia. - Increasing unease in Europe about the diplomatic goals of the new German nation. (Bismarck now looks very weak).

Answer 43

- Constitution (Reichstag no pay, controlled budgets, Lander, Bundesrat could VETO...) - Catholics, Z party gained votes from minorities, SOE & PI, Kulturkampf... - Political parties, NL, Socialists. (Constitution, Catholics not a big threat as B didn't ban them, but he did ban SPD).

Answer 44

- Socialists. - Catholics (33% of G). - Political Parties, e.g. NL, Kulturkampf strengthened Z. - Bismarck's actions & German states, army, Reichstag's power, constitution.

BOOKLET 1, Ruling the Second Reich Flashcards

(68 cards)