Editing Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg (section)

== Early life and career ==

=== Family and education ===

Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg was born at [[Hohenfinow]] in [[Province of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]], then part of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]], the largest state within the [[German Empire]]. He was the son of Prussian official Felix von Bethmann Hollweg. His grandfather [[August von Bethmann-Hollweg]] had been a prominent law scholar, president of [[Humboldt University|Frederick William University]] in Berlin and Prussian minister of culture. His great-grandfather Johann Jakob Hollweg had married a daughter of the wealthy [[Frankfurt am Main]] banking family of [[Bethmann family|Bethmann]].<ref name="EB1922">{{Cite EB1922 |wstitle= Bethmann Hollweg, Theobald von |volume = 30 |last1= Saunders |first1= George |author1-link= George Saunders | page= |short=1 }}</ref> His mother, Isabella de Rougemont, was a French Swiss and his grandmother Auguste Wilhelmine Gebser came from the Prussian noble family of [[Gebesee]].

He was educated at the [[Pforta|Schulpforta]] boarding school in the Prussian province of [[Province of Saxony|Saxony]] and studied law at the [[University of Strasbourg|Universities of Strasbourg]] and [[University of Leipzig|Leipzig]] and at the [[Humboldt University of Berlin]] from 1875 to 1879.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frauendienst |first=Werner |url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd118510320.html#ndbcontent |title=Neue Deutsche Biographie 2 |year=1955 |pages=188–193 [Online-Version] |language=de |chapter=Bethmann Hollweg, Theobald von}}</ref> He then served as a [[one-year volunteer]] in the military before entering on his career path.
[[File:Martha von Bethmann Hollweg 1909.jpg|left|thumb|252x252px|Martha von Bethmann Hollweg in 1909]]
On 17 June 1889 Bethmann Hollweg married Martha von Pfuel, the niece of Prussian Minister President [[Ernst von Pfuel]]. The marriage produced four children, one of whom died young. Their oldest son August Friedrich was killed on the eastern front on 9 December 1914.

=== District administrator and provincial governor ===

Bethmann Hollweg began his career as a royal government assessor in December 1884.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 September 2014 |title=Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg 1856–1921 |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/biografie/theobald-von-bethmann-hollweg.html |website=Deutsches historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref> The next year, after his father expressed the wish to give up his post as district administrator ({{Lang|de|Landrat}}), Theobald took over the office on an interim basis and in January 1886 secured it by official appointment. At the age of 29, he became the youngest district administrator in the province of Brandenburg.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lerman |first=Katharine Anne |date=28 September 2016 |title=Bethmann Hollweg, Theobald von |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/bethmann_hollweg_theobald_von |website=1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin}}</ref>

While Bethmann Hollweg's father had conducted his office in the more autocratic style of the Prussian landed [[Junker (Prussia)|Junkers]], Theobald drove to the villages and spoke with both landlords and workers. His work was based on the principle of voluntary participation by the bourgeoisie rather than on authoritarian instructions. The approach made him one of the most progressive district administrators of his time.<ref>{{Cite book |last=von Vietsch  |first=Eberhard |title=Bethmann Hollweg. Staatsmann zwischen Macht und Ethos  |publisher=Boldt |year=1969 |location=Boppard |pages=52 ff |language=de |trans-title=Bethmann Hollweg. Statesman Between Power and Ethos}}</ref>

A coalition of three parties put Bethmann Hollweg forward as a joint candidate for the [[1890 German federal election|1890 Reichstag election]]. He won by a majority of one vote, but protests by opposing candidates over alleged irregularities led to a new election in which Bethmann Hollweg did not participate. It was the end of his brief career both as a member of the Reichstag for the [[Free Conservative Party]] and as a party politician. For the remainder of his life he was an independent and unsympathetic to the party system.

In 1896, after ten years as a district administrator, he received two rapid promotions and then in 1899, at the age of 43, became the youngest provincial governor ({{Lang|de|Oberpräsident}}) in Prussia as the head the province of Brandenburg. His rapid professional success had been made possible by his talent for statesmanship, his grandfather's prestige, and by the intercession of Reich Chancellor [[Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst]], who had been watching his rise for some time.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Denkwürdigkeiten des Fürsten Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst   |publisher=Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt |year=1907 |editor-last=Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst |editor-first=A. |volume=2 |location=Munich |pages=264 |language=de |trans-title=Memorabilia of Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst  |editor-last2=Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst |editor-first2=C. K. V. |editor-last3=Curtius |editor-first3=F.}}</ref>

=== Prussian minister of the interior ===
On 21 March 1905 Bethmann Hollweg was appointed Prussian minister of the interior. He accepted the task only reluctantly,<ref>{{Cite book |last=von Spitzemberg |first=Hildegard |title=Das Tagebuch der Baronin Spitzemberg, geb. Freiin v. Varnbüler. Aufzeichnungen aus der Hofgesellschaft des Hohenzollernreiches   |publisher=Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht |year=1960 |isbn=9783525358115     |editor-last=Vierhaus  |editor-first=Rudolf |location=Göttingen |pages=446 |trans-title=The Diary of Baroness Spitzemberg, née Freiin v. Varnbüler. Records from the Court Society of the Hohenzollern Empire  }}</ref> as he held views that "did not fit into Prussian schematism". Noting early on the slow drifting apart of Wilhelmine society into an increasingly nationalistic, militaristic right and an increasingly radical republican left, he tried to steer a conciliatory course in domestic policy. He wanted, as he himself often said, to find a "policy of the diagonal" between Germany's conservative and liberal-radical currents.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stern  |first=Fritz |title= Bethmann Hollweg und der Krieg. Die Grenzen der Verantwortung  |publisher=Mohr Siebeck   |year=1968 |isbn=978-3166288314 |location=Tübingen |pages=10 |language=de |trans-title=Bethmann Hollweg and the War. The Limits of Responsibility  }}</ref> To the newly appointed Chief of the Reich Chancellery he wrote:<blockquote>The elements to be reconciled no longer have any inner relationship on which to base mutual political views. They stand with respect to each other like members of different worlds. Hopefully you will succeed in having a balancing effect, for without gradual assimilation we will arrive at conditions that are quite untenable.</blockquote>His focus early on was directed at the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party's]] commitment to the existing state structure. In his inaugural speech in the [[Prussian House of Representatives]] on 6 April 1905, on the subject of the left's proposal for the creation of a people's welfare office, he described public welfare as "the most important and serious task of the present day". Bethmann Hollweg promised to consider the application thoroughly and sympathetically, pointing out that "liberation from bureaucratic fetters is only possible with the free participation of all circles of the people".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Stenographische Berichte des Deutschen Reichstags und des Preußischen Hauses der Abgeordneten. 1905, I. Session 1904/1905 |year=1905 |volume=8 |pages=1253 ff |language=de |trans-title=Stenographic Reports of the German Reichstag and the Prussian House of Representatives. 1905, First Session 1904/1905}}</ref> When the House dealt with the question of [[Prussian three-class franchise|Prussia's three-class franchise]] that weighted votes by amount of taxes paid, Bethmann Hollweg opposed Prussia's adoption of the [[Reichstag (German Empire)|national Reichstag's]] universal manhood suffrage. He warned against "democratic egalitarianism" but praised the "tremendous aspirations of our working class".

In the same year, Polish-speaking schoolchildren in the [[Province of Posen]], supported by the Catholic clergy, went on strike demanding that religion lessons be given in Polish again.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Korth |first=Rudolf |title=Die preußische Schulpolitik und die polnischen Schulstreiks. Ein Beitrag zur preußischen Polenpolitik der Ära Bülow |publisher=Holzner |year=1963 |location=Würzburg |pages=145 |language=de |trans-title=Prussian School Policy and the Polish School Strikes. A Contribution to Prussian Polish Policy in the Bülow Era}}</ref> The conservatives wanted to increase military presence in the province but Bethmann Hollweg rejected the idea. Instead he authorized that in the future religious instruction be given in Polish.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kötschke |first=Hermann |title=Unser Reichskanzler. Sein Leben und Wirken |publisher=Augustin |year=1916 |location=Berlin |page=32 |language=de |trans-title=Our Chancellor. His Life and Work}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Otto |first=Grete |date=1 August 2019 |title=Was geschah im August 1909? |trans-title=What happened in August 1909? |url=https://www.buergerleben.com/was-geschah-vor-110-jahren-im-august09/ |access-date=8 November 2024 |website=Bürgerleben |language=de}}</ref>

=== Reich state secretary of the interior ===
Bethmann Hollweg was appointed state secretary of the interior by Chancellor [[Bernhard von Bülow]] immediately after the [[1907 German federal election|1907 Reichstag elections]]. Bethmann Hollweg was again reluctant to take on the post, but since he viewed the appointment as an imperial order, he ultimately saw no alternative but to accept.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zmarzlik    |first=Hans G. |title=Bethmann Hollweg als Reichskanzler, 1909–1914. Studien zu Möglichkeiten und Grenzen seiner innerpolitischen Machtstellung   |publisher=Droste   |year=1957 |location=Düsseldorf |pages=11 ff |language=de |trans-title=Bethmann Hollweg as Reich Chancellor, 1909–1914. Studies on the Possibilities and Limits of his Domestic Power Position  }}</ref>

In October 1907 he attended the German Workers' Congress, a general meeting of Christian trade unions, where the appearance of an imperial state secretary was seen as a major step forward.

In December he opposed the creation of a Reich labor office but rejected the claim that in sociopolitical matters the government would not act. "I have never discovered even a trace of tired skepticism in this activity; in it, albeit far removed from the parliamentary arena, our present-day Germany has been formed."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reichstagsprotokolle, 2 December 1907 |url=https://www.reichstagsprotokolle.de/Blatt_k12_bsb00002839_00276.html |website=Verhandlungen des Reichstags |language=de}}</ref> He felt that the "searching and groping for the new takes place among the people themselves, not among the people's representatives".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Born    |first=Karl Erich |title=Staat und Sozialpolitik seit Bismarcks Sturz    |publisher=Steiner    |year=1957 |location=Wiesbaden |pages=211 f |trans-title=State and Social Politics after Bismarck's Fall  }}</ref> It was therefore necessary to "make room for the new views that have emerged from the changed economic and social conditions".

On Bethmann Hollweg's advice, the Emperor announced electoral reform in the Kingdom of Prussia in his speech from the throne of 20 October 1908. (The Prussian electoral system was in fact not finally reformed until 12 November 1918.) Wilhelm II promised "organic further development", which he described as one of the "most important tasks of the present". Reichstag deputy [[Friedrich Naumann]], who liked the state secretary's style, later particularly emphasized Bethmann Hollweg's positive influence on the Emperor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heuss |first=Theodor |title=Friedrich Naumann |publisher=Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt |year=1937 |location=Stuttgart |pages=280 |language=de |author-link=Theodor Heuss}}</ref>