Map of Prussia and German Empire 1871-1918 |
The term German Empire (the translation from German of Deutsches Reich) commonly refers to Germany, from its
consolidation as a unified national state on 18. January 1871, until the abdication of
Kaiser (Emperor) Wilhelm II on 9. November 1918.
Deutsches Reich was the state's official name both in this period
and until the occupation of Nazi Germany in 1945 that ended World War II in Europe.
The Way to the Unification
Under the guise of idealism giving way to realism, German nationalism rapidly shifted from its liberal and
democratic character in 1848 to Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck's
authoritarian Realpolitik. Bismarck wanted unification to achieve his aim of a conservative, Prussian-dominated
German state. He accomplished this through three military successes:
- He first allied with Austria in order to defeat Denmark in a short war (the Second war of Schleswig) fought
during 1864, thus acquiring Schleswig-Holstein.
- In 1866, in concert with Italy, he virtually created the
Austro-Prussian War and won a decisive victory, which allowed
him to exclude long-time rival Austria when forming the North German Confederation with the states that had
supported Prussia in the Austro-Prussian War. The Confederation was the direct precursor to the 1871 Empire.
- Finally, France was defeated in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71).
The Confederation was transformed into the Empire with the crowning of Prussian King Wilhelm I as German Emperor at the
Palace of Versailles, to the humiliation of the French.
Bismarck himself prepared in broad outline the 1866 North German Constitution, to become the 1871 Constitution
of the German Empire with some adjustments. Germany,acquired some democratic features: notably the Reichstag,
a parliament with limited powers elected by direct manhood suffrage.
However, legislation also required the
consent of the Bundesrat, the federal council of deputies from the states, in which Prussia dominated. Prussia
exercised predominant influence in both bodies with executive power vested in the Kaiser, who appointed the
federal chancellor – Otto von Bismarck. While the minor
states retained their own governments, the military forces were controlled by the federal government, in fact,
Prussia. Although authoritarian in many respects, the empire permitted the development of political parties.
The unification of Germany meant also absorption the whole Kingdom of Prussia into it. The 3 new provinces: East
Prussia, West Prussia, and Provinz Posen, that before was outside German Confederation were incorporated into
would-be national Germany. Another province Silesia, was part of the Holy Roman Empire together with Bohemia.
One factor, but only one, in the social anatomy of these governments had been the retention of a very substantial
share in political power by the rural gentry, due to the absence of a revolutionary breakthrough by the peasants
in combination with urban areas.
Conservative modernization
Bismarck's domestic policies played a great role in forging the authoritarian political culture of the German Empire.
Less preoccupied by continental power politics following unification in 1871, Germany's semi-parliamentary government
carried out a relatively smooth economic and political revolution from above that pushed them along the way towards
becoming the world's leading industrial power of the time.
Coronation of German Emperor Wilhelm I |
After achieving formal unification in 1871, Bismarck devoted much of his attention to the cause of national unity and
achieving this under the ideology of Prussianism. Catholic conservatism, conceptualized by the reactionary turn of the
Vatican under Pope Pius IX and its dogma of Papal Infallibility, and working class radicalism, represented by the
emerging Social Democratic Party, in many ways both reacted to concerns of dislocation by very different segments of
German society, brought by a rapid shift from an agrarian-based economy to modern industrial capitalism under reactionary
tutelage. While out and out suppression failed to contain both socialists and Catholics, Bismarck's "carrot and stick"
approach significantly mollified opposition from both groups.
One can summarize Bismarck's objectives under three keywords: Kulturkampf, Social reform, and national unification:
- Kulturkampf ("battle of cultures")
Following the incorporation of the Catholic states in the south, Catholicism, represented by the Catholic
Centre Party, was seemingly the principal threat to Bismarck's military-aristocratic Prussian nationalism. Southern Catholics,
more often than their Protestant counterparts in the North, initially had trouble competing with industrial efficiency and the
opening of outside trade by the free trade zone "Zollverein". After 1878, the struggle against socialism
would unite Bismarck with the Catholic Centre Party, bringing an end to the Kulturkampf, which had led to far greater
Catholic unrest than existed beforehand and had rather strengthened than weakened Catholicism in Germany.
- Social reform
To contain the working class and to weaken socialism, Bismarck's reluctant creation of a remarkably advanced
welfare state would give the working class a stake in German nationalism as well. The social security systems installed by
Bismarck (health care in 1883, accidents insurance in 1884, invalidity and old-age insurance in 1889) at the time were the
most advanced in the world and, to a degree, still exist in Germany today.
The Kulturkampf and the suppression of socialism greatly paralleled each other under the autocratic state. The reactionary
turn against many Catholics in the South, such as in the Silesian weavers revolt of 1844, paralleled those put forward by
the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which reacted to the appalling working conditions of industrial capitalism and the
further squeezing of the working class brought by the Long Depression after 1873. Many of the structures established by
Bismarck's reforms are still in existence in today's Germany.
- Unification
Bismarck's efforts also initiated the levelling of the enormous differences between the German states, which
had been independent in their evolution for centuries, especially with legislation.
The completely different legal histories and judicial systems posed enormous complications, especially for national trade.
While a common trade code had already been introduced by the Confederation in 1861 (which was adapted for the Empire and,
with great modifications, is still in effect today), there was little similarity in laws otherwise.
After many other basic legal work, in 1881, a first commission was established to produce a common Civil Code for all of the Empire, an
enormous effort that would produce the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB), possibly one of the most impressive legal works of
the world. It was eventually put into effect on 1. January 1900. It speaks volumes for the conceptual quality of these
codifications that they all, albeit with many amendments, have been in effect until today and were they basis for similiar
legislation in many countries.
Carrying out many of the same tasks that would have been brought to fruition with the help of a revolution from below,
the ultimate effects of conservative modernization are distinct. With real political power still in the hands of the
aristocracy, Germany's semi-parliamentary sought to preserve as much of the original social framework as they could,
even as the economic base of the landowners rapidly diminished in comparison to industry, fitting large sections into
the building wherever possible.
The German Empire was followed by a prolonged period of conservative and even authoritarian
government. The leadership had to have at hand or be able to construct a sufficiently powerful bureaucratic apparatus,
including the agencies of repression, the military and the police.
Militarism
One of the by-products of conservative modernization was militarism. To unite the upper classes—both the military-aristocracy
and industrialists—militarism proved necessary to continue modernization without changing socio-political structures. Each
of the elites in the ruling coalition of the Second Reich found some advantages in formal, overseas expansion.
Prussia managed to create a sufficiently powerful military machine not only able of challenging rivals on the continent such
as Austria and France, but to make its presence known in the arena of international politics. And Prussia, of course, unlike
the powers to its West, had little power outside the continent in the past, lacking an overseas colonial history completely.
Bismarck, once openly uninterested in overseas adventurism, was eventually brought to realize the value of colonies for
securing (in his words) "new markets for German industry, the expansion of trade, and a new field for German activity,
civilization, and capital". The absolutist Central Powers, led by a newly unified, dynamically industrializing Germany,
with its expanding navy, doubling in size between the
Franco-Prussian War and the
Great War, were strategic threats to
the markets and security more established Allied powers and Russia. German colonial efforts from 1884 brought only a small
overseas empire compared to those of Britain and France, although in the Herero Wars it shared the with those empires the
phenomenon of armed conflict between natives and colonials.
Subsequent German foreign policy initiatives (notably the initiation of a large battle fleet under the naval laws of 1898
and 1900) drove Britain into diplomatic alignment (the Entente) with a Franco-Russian alliance already in the offing at
the time of Bismarck's fall.
After Bismarck
The Empire flourished under Bismarck's guidance until the Kaiser's death (March 1888). In this so-called Dreikaiserjahr
(Year of Three Emperors), Friedrich III, his son and successor, only lived 99 days, leaving the crown to a young and
impetuous Wilhelm II, who forced Bismarck out of office in March 1890.
Within Germany, the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) rose to become for a time the strongest socialist party
in the world, winning a third of the votes in the January 1912 elections to the Reichstag (imperial parliament).
Government nevertheless remained in the hands of a succession of conservative coalitions supported by right-wing
liberals or Catholic clericals and heavily dependent on the Kaiser's favour.
When Bismarck resigned in 1890, Wilhelm II had declared that he would continue the foreign policy of the old
chancellor. But soon, a new course was taken, with the aim of increasing Germany's influence in the world
(Weltpolitik). The Reinsurance Treaty with Russia was not renewed. Instead, France formed an alliance with
Russia, against the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
From 1898, German colonial expansion in East Asia (Jiaozhou Bay, the Marianas, the Caroline Islands, Samoa)
led to frictions with the United Kingdom, Russia, Japan and the United States. The construction of the Baghdad
Railway, financed by German banks and heavy industry, and aimed at connecting the North Sea with the Persian
Gulf via the Bosporus, also collided with British and Russian political and economic interests.
To protect Germany's overseas trade and colonies, Admiral von Tirpitz started a programme of warship construction
(from 1898). This posed a direct threat to British hegemony on the seas, with the result that negotiations for an
alliance between Germany and Britain broke down. Germany was increasingly isolated.
The shaky European balance of power broke down when Austria-Hungary, Germany's ally since 1879, declared war on Serbia
(July 1914) after the assassination in Sarajevo of the heir to the Austrian throne. This was the beginning of
World War I. Despite early successes, Germany and its allies suffered
military defeat in the face of an enemy strengthened after 1917 by the intervention of the United States. The
Kaiser Wilhelm II was driven into exile (November 1918) by a revolution
led by elements of the opposition SPD and communist groups, who later organised their own abortive bid for power (January 1919).
In June 1919, the Treaty of Versailles formally ended the war. It was signed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles,
the same place where the German Empire had been proclaimed nearly half a century before. Germany lost territories to
France, Belgium, and the reinstated nation of Poland, and elsewhere, and was required to pay reparations for its
responsibility for the war.
Please have a look at some sample banknotes from the imperial period .
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