BISMARCK’S ERA
DOMESTIC SITUATION
1. PARLIAMENT AND POLICIAL PARTIES IN THE REICH
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Shape of the German Reich as a voluntary association of German States
o Prussia
 60% of land and population
 More powerful
o Bavaria
o Wurttemberg
o Saxony
o 18 lesser states
o 3 free cities
o Imperial territory (Reichland) of Alsace-Lorraine
 Only one not autonomous in domestic administration
Reichstag, imperial assembly
o Elected by universal manhood suffrage
o Subjected to limitations
o Power to question the Chancellor (Bismark)
 In truth it didn’t hold any real power
Bundesrat, upper house of the Reichstag
o Power to initiate legislation
o Authority to declare war and settle disputes (with assent of the Emperor)
o Represented the individual interests of the states
o Majority of the seats to Prussia
Wilhelm, Emperor
o Full control over ministers
o Foreign affairs
o Right to the final say in any dispute
Political parties
o Conservatives
 Mostly Prussians, Protestant, aristocratic landowners
 Hostile with Bismarck’s opening to liberalism and nationalism
o Reichspartei
 Landowners and industrials
 Supporting Bismarck
o Centre Party
 Roman Catholic minority
 Defense of the interests of the Catholic Church
o Liberals
 Bismarck supporters
 1871-1878 – liberal area
 Dominant party – needed by Bismarck for support
 Economic progress through administrative and financial consolidation
 Gold standard
 Customs abolished
 National currency
o The Left
 Modest force
 General Workers’ Association
2. DOMESTIC ISSUES
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Problem of minorities
o Alsace-Lorraine (French)
o Poland
o Schleswig (Danes)
 Suppression
 Problems not solved till WWI
Kulturkampf and Catholic Church
o The Catholic Church represented danger for the authority of the German State
o May Laws
 Cutting of the relationships with the Vatican
 Expulsion of the Jesuits from German soil
 Church school brought under state control
 Most religious orders dissolved
 Civil marriage compulsory
 Excommunication invalid
o Loss of support
 Liberals distrust this policy
 Centrum is essentially Catholic
o New Pope Leo XIII more conciliatory
 End of the Kulturkampf
 Kulturkampf is sacrificed to other “more important issues”
 Parties become more religious
3. ECONOMY
The economic impact of unification:
 Growth and development
o Iron ore in Alsace-Lorraine
o French indemnity payments from 1871 to 1873
o Building and railway industry development
o Burst of legislation designed to unify further the economic life of the Reich
o Coal and steel production soared
o German merchant marine became the second largest in the world
o Stimulus to Germany banking industry
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 Finance capitalism
 Subventions to the military campaigns
o Growth of cartels
 Demand of protective tariffs
 Campaigns for naval and colonial development
 Safe home markets enabled to dump goods cheaply on foreign markets
 Increasing demands and ambitions of German financiers and industrialists
 Future cause of problems
Depression and economic recession
o End of liberalism as main economic policy
o Protectionism and conservatism
 High import duties placed upon foreign goods
 More economic independence
 Defense against cheap grain imported from the US
 End of the liberal era
FOREIGN POLICIES
1. FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN
With France
 Treaty of Frankfurt, 10th May 1871
 Outcome of the Franco-Prussian war
o Indemnity of 5 billion francs
o Alsace-Lorraine to the Germans
 Revanchist movements in France
 Tensions between France and Germany accumulates
 Encourages France imperialism
o Let it fight with the UK and Italy in Africa and Asia
o Weakens its power
With Great Britain
 Bismarck pursued co-operation
o Few potential sources of conflict
o Genuine cooperation between world’s biggest army and navy
o Great Britain needs a strong Germany to balance power of France
o Germany to not build a big navy
2. AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND RUSSIA
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Bismarck is the “Honest Broker”
o Keeps peace in Europe through various treaties with Russia and Austria
Dreikaiserbund
o Alliance with Russia and the Austrian Empire
 Unity of conservative powers
 Neither Russia nor Austria are free to ally with France
 Prevented conflicts between Austria and Germany over the crumbling
Ottoman Empire
o Weak alliance
 When war seems in sight between France and Germany, Russia backs
France up
 Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro rebel to the Ottoman Empire
and become client states to Russia
 Prospect of a clash between Russian and Austria over
 Conference of Berlin, led by Bismarck, assured peace
 Highpoint in Bismarck’s diplomatic career
 Preserved peace and confirmed Berlin as the center of
European diplomacy
 Russia lost the territory
 Occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria without people’s consent
Dual alliance
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o Germany reinforces its alliance with Austria and then Italy, which binds them to:
 Defense of the other country if Russians attack
 Neutrality if any other power attacks
Russia renews the Dreikaiserbund
o Fears to remain isolated
Secret Reinsurance Treaty with Russia
o Neutrality if a third power attacks
o Germany is safe and can decide to back up either Austria or Russia in case of war
3. IMPERIALISM
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Imperialist policies from 1884 to 1889
o Bismark now seeks Germany’s place in the international picture through
colonialism
o Togoland, Cameroons and (current Namibia) South-West Africa, (current
Tanzania) East Africa, New Guinea, Samoan Island
o Maybe Bismarck had always been waiting for imperial greatness
o Bismarck had to conform to dominating trends in German society, and economic
interest
o He might have been influenced by the arguments or conservatives, who saw
foreign adventures as a distraction from domestic tensions
o The policy was generally sterile
 Bismarck wanted to relegate colonization to private enterprises
 Only wanted to protect commercial establishments
 It turned out to be an immense cost for taxpayers
 Only Togoland and Samoa had proved to be self-supporting
 Imperialism was a disappointment
 Only South-West Africa, with its diamonds, fulfilled Bismarck’s hopes
 The native populations were unable to play the role of consumers
 Basis for German pretensions to a world policy in the next decade –
causes of WWI