ruling the second reich 1871 - 79 bits

what happened at the congress of vienna in 1815?

the previous 360 German states had been consolidated into 38 sovereign states that were loosely connected through the German Confederation.

what did a long history of separate states mean in terms of regional identity?

the connection to regional identity and the ruling families of the differing areas remained very strong.

what did the main concept of ‘German’ put forward by nationalist writers in the early 19th century consist of?

they focused on language as the key definer of national identity.

why was this way of categorising people weak?

it was a vague way of unifying national identity, as other countries like Britain and France were unified by their shared citizenship; linguistic unity wasn’t strong enough to overcome the historical and religious divisions. 

what did Austria view German unification as?

a threat to both its royal family and its powerful position in the German Confederation. 

was the unification of germany an equal process?

no, it was mainly driven by Prussia, under its military and political dominance 

what was the unification of Germany driven by?

a combination of the massive industrial growth experienced by the German states in the 1850s, the inspiration of Italy’s wars for unification and the coming to power of the more liberal Prince Wilhelm in Prussia in 1858

how much of the german state is Catholic?

one third of German state

what were the two main aims of Bismarck with the constitution of Germany?

• two enshrine Prussian power

• overcoming some of the key divisions within Germany

how was the potential for dynastic rivalry between Germany’s royal families overcome?

allowing the 22 different royal rulers to maintain substantial power under the Prussian king, also the German empire

why was it clear that although the constitution proclaimed that all German sovereigns were equal, this was not the case?

the emperor controlled both the civil service and the military, proving that this was not the case.  

under the constitution, how did the Emperor take precedence over the separate states?

his ability to proclaim imperial law, which superseded state powers

what was the key parlimentary body that the constitution established?

the Reichstag

what were several things that helped create a greater sense of a unified nation?

universal suffrage for all German men over 25, the creation of a single currency, sole measurements and weights, a national legal system, a national civil service, a German military and the linking up of Germany’s railway systems

when was the German flag created?

1892

how did Kaiser Wilhelm I play a key role in the unification of germany?

his dignified but restrained leadership helped him bring the emotional respect of all Germans which created a unifying figure in both the Kaiser and the German Empire he represented

what was the German army made up of?

four separate armies: Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Wurttemberg

what would happen in a time of war in regard to the military?

the emperor would be in charge of the entire military, and the Prussian command would thus take the lead over the army.

how many states were there which retained certain powers under the establishment of Germany?

25

what was the name referred to the 25 states in Germany?

Lander

what were Lander allowed to do?

retain its own constitution - meaning that many of the states were quite different in the way that they were governed.

what else did the states retain control over?

education, transport, direct taxation, policing and health

why did the southern states enjoy more privileges than the northern states?

Bismarck made deals with the southern states to encourage them to join with the Northern confederation in 1871.

what were some of the privileges that the southern states had that the northern ones didn’t?

• the formation of a unified military through four separate armies that were still controlled by the sovereigns of Bavaria, Saxony and Wurttemberg, along with the Prussian ruler

• southern states were also allowed to retain their own railway and postal systems

• they were exempt from taxes on beer and spirits that the northern states had to pay

what aspects did the federal government control of the southern states?

they were able to set national tariffs, control the banking system and set the direction of German foreign and economic policy

what was the power of the Lander centred on?

the upper house of Parliament, known as the Bundesrat

what was the Bundesrat made up of?

delegates of the state governments

how were the delegates of the state government selected to the Bundesrat?

they were selected according to the constitutions of the separate Lander

what did the number of representatives for each state in the Bundesrat depend on?

the size of the state

how many seats did Prussia take up in the Bundesrat?

17

how many seats were there in the Bundesrat?

58

what did the Bundesrat have the power to do?

veto legislation passed by the Reichstag and also held some advisory powers over German foreign policy

how many votes were needed to veto legislation?

fourteen votes were needed

could states work together to undermine Prussian power?

they could in theory, but this never happened in practice. smaller states were afraid of challenging Prussian power. 

what did the Bundesrat proclaim to uphold?

it proclaimed to uphold a federalist state in Germany and allow the Lander a say in national policy

did the Bundesrat truly give the Lander a fair say in national policy?

in reality, the constitution was set up in a manner that ensured Prussia’s position.

how did the Bundesrat ensure Prussian dominance?

• it had 17 members of the Bundesrat whilst only needing 14 votes to veto, meaning that it always had the ability to veto legislation it found unfavourable.

• the Prussian Parliament (Landtag) was elected through a restricted franchise based on three-class system.

how were people able to vote in the Landtag?

the voters were separated into three classes based on how much tax they paid: the highest taxpayers, the middle taxpayers and the lowest taxpayers. although the lowest taxpayers made up 85% of the population and the top only 5%, each section of taxpayers elected exactly one third of the parliament. in some areas, this meant one wealthy person made up a third of the votes on their own.

how much of the population did the lowest taxpayers make up?

85%

how did the Landtag ensure even further that the right type of Prussians made up the parliament?

the voters did not even vote directly for their members, instead they voted for an electoral college which then chose whom the members of the Prussian Landtag would be. 

what did this system of voting for the Landtag mean for the 14 delegates from Prussia on the Bundesrat?

14 delegates to the Bundesrat from Prussia always represented the interests of the wealthiest in Prussian society, mainly the Junkers. they could therefore block any legislation from the Reichstag that they found unfavourable to their position.

how did the constitution itself enshrine Prussian dominance?

the Kaiser would always be the Prussian king, he had supreme control over the German military and government appointments, thus ensuring that policy would remain favourable to the interests of the Prussian elite.

how was even Prussia not immune from the changes brought about by its integration with a united Germany?

Prussia could not be governed without consideration of all the desires of other states, and the Prussians could not dominate all aspects of government. 

by the 1890s, who had the Kaiser appointed to key positions within the Reich government, which proves that the Prussians did have to take into account the other states in Germany?

the Kaiser had appointed several non-Prussians to key positions within the Reich government and the Chancellor of Germany from 1894 - 1900 was a Bavarian.

why did Bismarck allow for a democratic vote despite being sceptical of democracy?

Bismarck believed that allowing Germans a democratic vote would help to minimise more liberal influences and encourage continued support for the monarchy.

what did Bismarck’s view on democracy mean for the Reichstag?

it was a superficial form of democracy

how did Bismarck make the Reichstag a superficial form of democracy?

• Reichstag members would receive no payment, meaning that it was very difficult for those of the less privileged classes to run for election

• the Reichstag did have to pass all legislation, but it had restricted powers to initiate legislation

• the Bundesrat could veto all legislation it did pass, and neither the Chancellor, nor the military chiefs nor the Kaiser had any responsibility to the Reichstag

• if the Reichstag rejected legislation that the government wanted to pass, the Kaiser could dissolve the Reichstag and call new elections.

how did regional divisions largely impact the political parties within the Reichstag?

the National Liberal Party (supporting the German empire) was mainly based in the north, while the German People’s Party (opposing the creation of a unified Germany) was based in the south. the Centre Party’s support was stronger in the south as there were more Catholics there.

how did the Reichstag serve a crucial role in creating a unified German nation?

the elections constituted unifying a national political process whereby Germans from across the country could exercise their voice on how the country should be run. within the Reichstag, the right to debate allowed objections to at least be voiced in an open forum. 

how did the fact that Germany was a mulitnational Reich impact on the Reichstag?

a lot of the discriminated groups (like Poles, Danes and French people) created their own nationalist or separatist parties and ran in the Reichstag elections.

how did social divisions impact on the Reichstag?

the popular National Liberals represented the educated and wealthy middle class of Germany and were best represented in Saxony, Hanover, Baden and industrial areas of the Rhineland. the rise of the SPD best showcased the growing social divisions.

what factors encouraged the appeal of socialism in this decade?

the rapid urbanisation of German society, the depression of the 1870s all made socialism appeal to many Germans. 

what demonstrates divisions in the German political scene?

parties hostile to the new German nation were doing well in Reichstag elections, particularly in 1874.

how does the Reichstag voting over time demonstrate that minorities in Germany like the Polish Danish and French became more assimilated within Germany?

they moved from voting for nationalist and separatist parties to predominantly voting for the Centre Party

what was the most popular Reichstag party in the first decade after German unification?

the National Liberal Party

who formed the party in 1867?

politicians who supported Bismarck’s creation of a unified German nation

who led the National Liberal Party?

Rudolf von Benningsen

what interests did the National Liberal Party represent?

The interests of the industrial and professional middle classes

what two key ideas did the National Liberal Part’s ideology focus on?

national unity and the promotion of civil liberties

what were the Liberals strong advocates of?

free trade, as they believed that a truly united Germany with a single economic system and no protectionist policies was the best means of expanding middle class and industrial wealth as well as building a unified nation

in the first German election in 1871, what did the National Liberals achieve?

30.1% of the vote

what did the Centre Party achieve in the vote?

18.6% of the vote

in the 1874 elections what did the Liberals’ vote drop to?

29.7%

what laws did Bismarck remove when working with the National Liberals?

• movement restrictions were removed, so Germans could travel freely to look for work

• Laws restricting the charging of interest on loans were removed

• weights and measurements were standardised across Germany

• import duties on certain metal products were removed

what became the sole legal currency of Germany?

the Reichsmark

how did Germany change as a result of these policies?

Germany moved towards an economic integration that broke down the barriers between the previously independent German states and helped to unify their economic system

what were the two reasons that Bismarck was prepared to work with the National Liberals?

• Bismarck hoped that the middle classes who voted for the National Liberals would be happy with the German system and the economic benefits it was providing and be less concerned about the fact that Bismarck was resisting the liberal push for greater democracy - he hoped to trade off economic concessions in place of political concessions.

• both Bismarck and the National Liberals feared the Catholic support for the Centre Party, as they saw it as a threat to national unity. The National Liberals supported Kulturkampf.

what key ideology of the Liberals did Bismarck oppose?

the push for greater democratic change

by the mid 1870s what tension was growing within the National Liberal Party?

Bismarck’s refusal to extend parliamentary power was growing tension between the Chancellor and the National Liberals, particularly with those who were more further left. 

what did Bismarck decide to do as a result of this tension?

he decided to find a means of splitting the National Liberals and then work with the more right-wing faction of it

who supported tariff reform?

the Conservative Party strongly supported tariff reform, which represented Junker interests along with small farmers and peasants 

what happened in the 1878 campaign?

the strong message put out by Bismarck on tariff reform and the portrayal of those who supported free trade as traitors against the German state all served to undermine the National Liberals

what did the National Liberals vote decline to in 1878?

23.1%

what was the defining split in the National Liberals and when did it come?

the defining split in the National Liberals came in 1879 over the vote concerning the introduction of protective tariffs - the more conservative members supported protectionist policies. 

by August 1880, what had happened to the National Liberals?

the party had officially split between those on the more conservative right who remained with the National Liberal Party and those on the left who formed the Liberal Union

what was the negative impact for Bismarck on splitting the National Liberals?

it actually made his task of governing Germany more difficult. the Centre Party became the largest party in the Reichstag which made the Reichstag much more difficult for Bismarck to manage. 

how did splitting up the National Liberals weaken the Reichstag’s overall support for Bismarck’s policies?

it was no longer possible for a coalition between the National Liberals and the Conservative party to hold a majority in the Reichstag, weakening the Reichstag’s overall support for Bismarck’s policies.

what percentage of the votes did the Progressive Party and the new Liberal Union Party win in the 1881 election?

21.1% of the votes between them in the 1881 elections.

what did the Progressive Party and the new Liberal Union Party merge to become?

the German Free Minded Party

in 1884 what was the second most popular party in Germany after the Centre Party?

the German Free Minded Party

between 1881 and 1886, what happened to Bismarck’s ability to manage the Reichstag?

it became severely weakened and he found himself politically isolated.

what did Kulturkampf stand for?

struggle for civilisation

in 1864 what did the Catholic Church in Rome do?

denounced the values of liberalism and secularism in the Syllabus of Errors

in 1870, what declaration was made by the Catholic church and what did this include?

the Declaration of the Papal Infallibility which declared that the pope’s spiritual powers had authority over secular power in respect to the political allegiance of Catholics

why did the National Liberals oppose the declarations made by the Catholic Church?

• firstly, the Catholic Church opposed the very ideology that the party was built on

• secondly because the pope’s declaration in 1870 would undermine the hoped-for unity of the German nation

when had the centre party been formed?

1870

what was the Centre Party’s aim?

protect the rights of the Catholic minority in Germany as they believed they could be under threat from the Protestant majority. 

what constitution of Germany protected the rights of Germans?

the constitution of 1850