Nation-States Key Terms

Chancellor

Name given to German prime ministers, Bismarck, a senior state or legal official, the head of the govt. in Germany. (German national ruler in govt. Bismarck became _______ by insisting an election of a constituent assembly by universal suffrage)

Reichstag

The popularly elected lower house of government of the new German empire after 1871.

Kulturkampf

National Liberals supported this, Bismarck’s attack of the Catholic church, means cultural struggle, made in response to Pius IX’s declaration of papal infallibility (dependence) in 1870, aimed to make Catholic church subject to govt. control, only had limited success in protestant Prussia. (reduces influence of Catholic Church, Bismarck doesn’t care about the church)                             

German Social Democratic Party

(SPD), a German working-class political party founded in the 1870’s, the SPD championed Marxism but in practice turned away from Marxist revolution and worked instead in the German parliament for social benefits and workplace reforms.

William (Wilhelm) II

Young, idealistic, unstable, opposed Bismarck’s attempts to renew Anti-Socialist Laws, forced Bismarck to resign, old-school, Prussian king, wants to pursue a more aggressive foreign policy (before he fired Bismarck) but laws were passed to aid workers and legalize socialist political activity.

Third Republic

The name of the French government established in 1871, established because of loss in Franco-Prussian war (as a term of the treaty of Frankfurt, later increase public schools to promote nationalism)

Paris Commune

proclaimed by Parisians in March 1871, after the surrender of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany. Radical municipal government of Paris that wanted to govern Paris without interference from the conservative countryside. (revolutionary govt that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871)

Adolphe Thiers

aging politician that ran French National assembly during the 3rd republic, ordered the French army into Paris to destroy the Paris commune. 20,000 people died fighting, crushed radical influence to stabilize the situation in France after Franco-Prussian war. Became president of France during the 3rd republic. (vocal opponent of Napoleon III)

Dreyfus Affair

A divisive case in which Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in the French army, was falsely accused and convicted of treason. The Catholic Church sided with the anti-Smites against Dreyfus; after Dreyfus was declared innocent, the French government severed all ties between the state and the Church.

Emile Zola

republican intellectual and novelist, French novelist who was a leader in the realism movement of the 19th century, socialism sympathizer, his works revealed the real experiences faced by people in the working class. (major figure of the liberalization of France helped prove Dreyfus was wrongly convicted)

Second Reform Bill

Benjamin Disraeli and the conservative party extended the vote to all middle-class males and the best-paid workers to broaden their base of support past the landowning mass. Continuation of the British reform Movement, 1867.(called the leap of the dark)

Benjamin Disraeli

conservative British prime minister who dominated British politics during the 19th century from 1874-1889, known for his role in the Second Reform Bill and imperial policies

Third Reform Bill

1884, introduced by Liberal Prime minister William Gladstone, gave the right to vote to almost every adult male, part of the British reform movement, universal male suffrage in England.

David Lloyd George

inspired liberal party, Welsh, liberal Prime Minister from 1916-1922, last of the old Liberal party to be prime minister before the creation of the Labour Party. British statesman who served as prime minister during WWI, known for his domestic reform and leadership during war. (raised taxes on the rich, luxury, tobacco, liquor, land, to raise money for war.)

William Gladstone

Liberal prime minister of England introduced the Third Reform Bill, revisionist socialist policies and Irish Home Rule support pushed many classical liberals to the conservative party, begins the split of the liberal party that will eventually become the Labour party. (divided English political party into English and Irish section to give Irish more power, was a mostly unsuccessful

Demagogue

political leaders who whip masses up in order to build extreme nationalist movements by whipping up racist animosity towards imaginary enemies, like Jewish people. (appeal to people’s prejudices and emotions, manipulate public sentiments)

anti-Semitism

prejudice against Jews, reappeared with force in central and eastern Europe after the stock market crash of 1873.

Zionism

A movement dedicated to combatting anti-Semitism in Europe by building a Jewish national homeland in Palestine, started by Theodor Herzl.