the constitution and political system

Question 1

Explore the individualist approach in answeing to what extent was Wilhelm II a dictator?

Answer 1

• Wilhelm II’s power was more extensive than his predecessors because he was determined to rule as well as to reign
• only Bulow was able to exert any real influence and even he was forced to resign over his clash with the kaiser concerning the Daily Telegraph Affair (1908)
• WIlhelm underpinned his poltical authority in two ways:

1. established a close link between th epoltical administration and the army; most government departments developped parallel military channel of decision making
2. Wilhelm controlled the development of public opinion

Question 2

Explore the individualist approach in answering the question what evidence is there to demonstrate to what extent was WIlhelm II a dictator?

Answer 2

• The extent to which he was prepared to uphold and defend the military can be seen in the Zabern Crisis 1913 ( refused to take action against the soldiers who had taken violent measures against civilians in Alsace)
• according to Mommsen all WIlhelm wanted to do was “to gratify public opinion…win the plaudits of the middle class and the inelligentsia” with extensive use of propaganda

Question 3

Explore the structuralist approach to the poltical system in the second reich?

Question 4

Who was Von Bulow?

Answer 4

Foreign minister 1897 to 1900

chancellor 1900 to 1909

in that time he deivsed strategies to protect the interest of the ruling classes

Question 5

What was Sammlungpolitik?

Answer 5

means the poltics of concentration. It was von Bulow’s aim to build an alliance of conservative interests in the reich between conservatives and liberals junker and industrialists which would present a broad front against the threat of socialism.

essentially a deal is made where the junkers would get the support of the industrialists to keep their tariffs high and the junkers would support the industrialists by commissioning the manufacture of battleships etc.

Question 6

How would Sammlungspolitik be enacted?

Answer 6

• by the creation of a policy of protectionism and the rallying of germans from all sections of society through the following of a nationalist foreign and colonial policy= weltpolitik

Question 7

What was Weltpolitik?

Answer 7

the creation of a policy of protectionism and the rallying of germans from all sections of society through the following of a nationalist foreign and colonial policy

Question 8

How would Weltpolitik be achieved?

Answer 8

the building up of german armed forces

Question 9

What was Flottenpolitik?

Answer 9

with the secretary to the navy, alfred von tirpitz, von bulow encouraged the development of a flottenpolitik, the building of a large ocean going navy

Question 10

What was the Navy Law, 1898?

Answer 10

• in 1898, von Tirpitz steered his first navy law through the reichstag
• supporters of the law were able to argue that a larger fleet was necessary for the protection of germany’s growing number of colonies and for germany to be taken seriously as a ‘great power’
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Question 11

What was von Tirpitz’s ‘risk theory’?

Answer 11

it was unrealistic to aim to build a fleet to match the roayl navy.

in 1896 the royal navy had 33 battleships, the german navy just six,

However it was Tirpitz’s strategy to build a navy of suvh strength that it would make any other naval power think twice before attacking it

Question 12

How was there a synthesis of popular pressure and government policy for folottenpoltik?

Answer 12

• the momentum for flottenpolitik was maintained by the naval league
• it held countless meetings nd demonstrations to support germany’s right to build a navy
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Question 13

What was the second Navy Law, 1900?

Answer 13

• Inn 1900, the second navy law sailed through the reichstag
• it proposed to build 38 battleships over the next 20 years
• this building programme was one of the main reason for the leap in production in steel
• it pleased the members of the Naval League and industrialist who profitted from the commissioning of som many new ships

Question 14

What was the weakness of the Samlungspolitik?

Answer 14

• it aimed to buy off the working class
• but it wouldnt satisfy the workers because they continued to strive for poltical power and better representation
• flottenpoltik is incredibly expensive- rising indirect taxes causing poltical confrontation
• weltpoltik has costs such as the lives of herero people
• it demmands the people’s ideological commtiment to the game of empire