1.

1: The constitution of the Second Reich

German unification
1. Bismarck unified German states in 1871 under Kaiser Wilhelm I
2. These 25 states had previously been tied through the Zollverein
3. Prussia had 62% of German population
The Constitution
1. Bismarck sought to protect power of Junkers and ruling elite
2. Allowed some popular democracy
Kaiser
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Commander-in-Chief of army
In charge of foreign policy
Could appoint and dismiss Chancellor
Could dissolve Reichstag
President of Bundesrat
Kaiser Wilhelm II ruled from 1888-1918

Chancellor
1. Presented legislation to Reichstag
2. Implemented laws
3. Only accountable to Kaiser
4. Junkers normally held this role
Reichstag
1. Democracy: members were elected
2. All men over 25 could vote
3. Could vote to accept, reject or amend legislation
4. Could not create legislation
Bundesrat
1. 58 representatives from all of the states
2. Prussia had 17
3. Could make changes to the constitution
4. Could ratify legislation
5. Able to veto military or constitutional issue with 14 votes
6. Dealt with health care, education and local policing and politics
7. Built in a way which protected Junker dominance
Army
1. Accountable only to the Kaiser
2. Swore an oath of allegiance to the Kaiser
Problems with the Constitution
1. Reichstag had no real power
2. Uneasy mix between monarchy and democracy
3. Reichstag allowed more democratic parties to increase
4. Chancellor and Kaiser had to agree with one another
5. Prussia dominant in constitution through ability to veto legislation by itself in Bundesrat,
Bismarck and Kaiser being Prussian, Prussia owning 2/3 land

1.2: Economic and social developments

Economic developments
Economic growth
1. 1890-1914 economy expanded 4.5%/year on average
2. Coal and iron production doubled
3. 1914, Germany = Britain in share of world trade
4. Steel production exceeded that of Britain by 1900
5. Agricultural output also increased, 1888-1913 = 42% increase

New Industries
1. Excelled in chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electrics and motor manufacture.
2. Daimler and Diesel = cars
3. AEG and Siemens = electrics
4. 1913, Germany produced 50% of worlds electrical goods

An industrial economy
1. Economic developments = growth in industrial and service sectors
2. Industrys contribution to GNP rose from 33% to 42%

Improved transport infrastructure

1. Trains, tramways and trolley buses increase for travel and industrial development

Why was Germany successful?

1. Population growth = labour force and market
2. Independence from imports due to abundance of raw materials
3. Education, 1890-1914 university enrolment doubled
4. Protection, Tariff Law of 1879 stimulated growth of large internal market
5. Cartels and syndicates, 1905 = 366 cartels, 1885 = 90 cartels
6. Government ownership = nationalisation of railways, ownership of post service and
telephones

Social consequences
Urbanisation
1. Population boom and new jobs in industry = urbanisation
2. 1910, 60% population in urban areas, highest in Europe
3. 1910, Berlin over 2M inhabitants
4. Negative effects = homelessness and overcrowding

Poor standards of living

1. Low unemployment and increase in wages
2. But conditions of work poor
3. Created boom in trade union membership, 3M in 1913

Class tensions
1. Working class in conflict with factory owners over pay and conditions
2. Junkers concerned with conserving power
3. Both Junkers and industrialists concerned with rise of Socialism
4. Mittelstand discontent due to living standard being threatened by new industries
5. Competition with USA and Canada in countryside squeezed peasantry and farmers

1.3: Political developments

The Left
1. Urbanisation = expansion of left-wing organisations
2. 1900, trade union movement largest in the world
3. SPD vote percentage 1890 = 0.9% to 1912 = 28% (largest party in Reichstag)
4. This growth challenged the conservative elite
The Right
1. Nationalist politics rise
2. DKP had elements of extreme right
3. NLP represented the new business elite, which became conservative
4. Right-wing pressure groups sought to protect social elite from free market policies and
promote nationalism and colonial and military expansion
Political parties and pressure groups
DKP (German Conservative Party)
1. Junkers
2. Strong in Prussia
3. 1890s+ more extreme and anti-Semitic

FKP (Free Conservative Party)

1. Industrialists and landowners
2. Broad geographical support

NLP (National Liberal Party)

1. Bankers and industrialists
2. Economic and political liberalism
3. Became more conservative

The Zentrum Party (The Centre Party)

1. German Catholics (1/3 Germans)
2. votes consistently
3. Usually worked with conservatives
4. Sometimes sided with SPD (budget 1906)

SPD (Social Democratic Party)

1. De jure revolutionary
2. De facto reformist and moderate

The Agrarian League

1. Formed by Junkers in 1893
2. Protectionist against competition
3. Nationalistic and anti-Semitic
4. Links with DKP

The Central Association of German Industrialists

1. Wanted tariffs to protect German industry from foreign competition
2. Gave funding to conservatives

The Navy League

1. Wanted naval expansion
2. Very popular at membership of 1M

The German Colonial League and the Pan German League

1. Both supported colonial expansion
2. PGL (mostly from NLP) also sought for Germany to be dominant in Europe

1.4: The Kaiser and his Chancellors

The Kaisers Childhood
1. Born in 1859 with a withered arm
2. Difficult relationship with parents
3. Megalomaniac, psychologically damaged by disability
1890s
1. Rhl said Wilhelm had a system of autocratic personal rule:
a. Appointed Chancellors who would further his conservative political agenda
b. The Kaiser sought a dominant role by moving against Bismarck in 1890
c. Caprivi said he was interfering and difficult to work with
d. Hohenlohe was aging and aristocratic, he was controlled by the Kaiser
e. 1896-97 the Kaiser removed progressive ministers and replaced them with more
conservative figures such as von Blow and von Tirpitz
Chancellor von Blow, 1900-1909
1. Kaiser appointed Blow in the hope of winning support in the Reichstag for his imperial and
military plans
2. Blow was mostly co-operative, but sometimes side-lined the Kaiser such as in Tariff Law of
1902
3. Kaiser re-asserted his dominance by making ministerial appointments in 1905-6
4. Blow hoped to bring together conservative and centrist political forces through
Sammlungspolitik
5. He had success with winning the support of the Reichstag through the Blow Bloc
6. He also tried to appease socialism by issuing social reforms:
a. Sickness insurance 1903
b. Child labour 1908
7. He faced challenge by the Reichstag in the budgetary crisis of 1906 and the Hottentot
election of 1907
8. Blow resigned in 1909 having lost the Kaisers support after the Daily Telegraph Affair of
1908
Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg, 1909-1916
1. Bethmann illustrates the Reichstags lack of control over the government
2. 1913, after the Zabern Affair, Bethmanns vote-of-no-confidence was ignored
3. Had success with the Army Bill 1913 by winning over SPD in support for army expansion
through funding from progressive taxation

1.5: The de facto political system

Tensions in the German political system
1. Kaiser appointed the government = conservative, upper-class, Junker-dominated
2. Largest part in the Reichstag 1912+ was the SPD which represented socialism and the
working class
3. = struggle for government and Reichstag to co-operate
The budgetary crisis 1906 and the Hottentot election 1907
1. 1906 SPD and Centre Party joined forces to vote against the government budget in protest
to colonial policies
2. Kaiser dissolved the Reichstag
3. New election in 1907: the Hottentot election
4. Conservative imperialist parties strengthened after the election
5. The event demonstrated:
a. The Reichstag was trying to oppose the Kaiser, government and the army
b. The tensions between left Reichstag and right government
c. Kaiser had the power to dissolve the Reichstag
d. The German public supported a brutal imperialist agenda
The Daily Telegraph Affair, 1908
1. 1908, the Kaiser spoke to the British newspaper about the motives of naval expansion
2. The Reichstag and the press criticised the Kaiser for his conduct and dominance in foreign
affairs
3. The Kaiser promised he would not politically intervene in this way again
4. The Kaiser pressurised von Blow to resign as he felt the Chancellor was too supportive of
the Reichstags criticism
5. The event demonstrated:
a. The Reichstag and German press were prepared to criticise the Kaiser
b. The Reichstag could sway the Kaiser
c. The Kaiser was not always autocratic
d. The Kaiser could remove his Chancellors
The Zabern Affair, 1913
1. A German soldier was acquitted from the military court after njuring a local in Alsace who
jeered at him
2. The Kaiser backed the military
3. The Reichstag criticised the conduct of the army and Bethmann, by giving a vote of no
confidence
4. Scheidemann of the SPD called for him to resign but he refused, saying only the Kaiser could
force him to do that
5. The event demonstrated:
a. The army was only accountable to the Kaiser, who was supportive of them
b. The Reichstag did not have any power over the Chancellor
c. The Reichstag could be ignored by the Kaiser and the Chancellor
d. Tensions between the army and the Reichstag

1.6: The Second Reich by 1914

Historians
John Rhl
1. The Kaiser built an autocratic semi-absolutist system
2. His militaristic and conservative agenda dominated
3. The Reichstag was side-lined and the liberal and democratic forces were weakened

Hans-Ulrich Wehler
1. It was a failing system which struggled against the social and political changes
brought about by the modernising economy
2. Germany was dominated by powerful conservative forces like the army which were
not accountable to democracy

Christopher Clark
1. The Kaiser could not have had a personal rule as he was to erratic and the system
was to fluid
2. Positive view on the liberal elements in Germany

Geoff Eley and David Blackbourn

1. Emphasised the scale and range of political participation
2. Focused on impact of politics from below rather than above

Evidence that Germany was an autocracy

1. The Kaiser had the power to appoint and dismiss the Chancellor and to dissolve the
Reichstag
2. The Kaiser shaped the government in 1896-7 and 1905-6, and dissolved the Reichstag in
1906
3. The Kaiser forced von Blow to resign following the Daily Telegraph Affair
4. The Chancellor was not accountable to the Reichstag; Bethmanns vote of no confidence was
ignored
5. The army was only accountable to the Kaiser; was not affected by the Reichstags criticisms
following the Zabern Affair in 1913
6. The German public followed the Kaisers political agenda (e.g. Weltpolitik)
Evidence that Germany was dominated by a conservative elite
1. The agenda of the conservative elite was followed in naval, militaristic and colonial
expansion which was reflected in the Naval Bill of 1906
2. Conservative pressure groups (the Agrarian League, Central Association of German
Industrialists) successfully lobbied for increased agricultural tariffs in 1902
3. Bundesrat meant government was dominated by conservatives
4. A conservative Prussian elite dominated the army, judiciary, civil service and the government
Evidence of democracy and liberalism in Germany
1. Reichstag was democratic as men from all classes could vote
2. The Reichstag was able to reject legislation (1906 colonial policy)
3. The Reichstag became increasingly assertive (1906 budget, criticism of the Kaiser after the
Daily Telegraph Affair in 1908, the censure of Bethmann in 1913)
4. The ruling elite had to respond to pressure from below through von Blows social reforms
5. The press criticised the Kaiser following the Daily Telegraph Affair

6. Political participation was high: trade union membership, influential pressure groups, female
participation despite no vote
7. Plurality of interests in the state: Catholics and the Centre Party, workers and the SPD,
farmers and the Agrarian League.