Editing History of Germany (section)

===Bismarck era===
Bismarck was the dominant personality not just in Germany but in all of Europe and indeed the entire diplomatic world 1870–1890. Historians continue to debate his goals. [[Lothar Gall]] and [[Ernst Engelberg]] consider Bismarck was a future-oriented modernizer. In sharp contrast, [[Jonathan Steinberg (historian)|Jonathan Steinberg]] decided he was basically a traditional Prussian whose highest priorities were to reinforce the monarchy, the Army, and the social and economic dominance of his own Junker class, thereby being responsible for a tragic history after his removal in 1890.<ref>Jonathan Sperber, "Review," ''Journal of Modern History'' 85#3 (2012), pp. 768–769.</ref>

====The new empire====
[[File:Wernerprokla.jpg|thumb|On 18 January 1871, the German Empire was proclaimed in the [[Hall of Mirrors]] of the [[Palace of Versailles]]. Bismarck in the center in white.]]
In 1868, the Spanish queen [[Isabella II]] was deposed in the [[Glorious Revolution (Spain)|Glorious Revolution]], leaving the country's throne vacant. When Prussia suggested the Hohenzollern candidate, [[Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen|Prince Leopold]] as successor, France vehemently objected. The matter evolved into a [[Ems Dispatch|diplomatic scandal]] and in July 1870, France resolved to end it in a [[Franco-Prussian War|full-scale war]]. The conflict was quickly decided as Prussia, joined by forces of a pan-German alliance never gave up the tactical initiative. A series of victories in north-eastern France followed and another French army group was simultaneously encircled at Metz. A few weeks later, the French army contingent under Emperor [[Napoleon III]]'s personal command was finally forced to capitulate in the [[Battle of Sedan|fortress of Sedan]].<ref name="Rüstow1872">{{Cite book |first=Wilhelm |last=Rüstow |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9cBVAAAAYAAJ |title=The War for the Rhine Frontier, 1870: Its Political and Military History |publisher=Blackwood |date=1872}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |first=James D. |last=McCabe |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=miun.acj5737.0001.001;view=1up;seq=11 |title=History of the war between Germany and France |publisher=HathiTrust Digital Library |date=1871 |access-date=23 March 2019}}</ref> Napoleon was taken prisoner and a [[Government of National Defence|provisional government]] hastily proclaimed in Paris. The new government resolved to fight on and tried to reorganize the remaining armies while the Germans settled down to besiege Paris. The starving city surrendered in January 1871 and Jules Favre signed the surrender at Versailles. France was forced to pay indemnities of 5&nbsp;billion francs and cede [[Alsace-Lorraine]] to Germany. This conclusion left the French national psyche deeply humiliated and further aggravated the [[French–German enmity]].

During the [[Siege of Paris (1870–1871)|Siege of Paris]], the German princes assembled in the [[Hall of Mirrors]] of the [[Palace of Versailles]] on 18 January 1871 and announced the establishment of the [[German Empire]] and proclaimed the Prussian King [[Wilhelm I of Germany|Wilhelm I]] as [[German Emperor]]. The act [[Unification of Germany|unified all ethnic German states]] with the exception of Austria in the [[Lesser Germany|Little German solution]] of a federal economic, political and administrative unit. Bismarck, was appointed to serve as Chancellor.
[[File:AHW Bau Voelkerschlachtdenkmal Leipzig 1912.jpg|thumb|upright|The {{Convert|91 |m|ft|abbr=on}} high [[Monument to the Battle of the Nations]] under construction, [[Leipzig]], 1912]]

====A federal empire====
[[File:Berlin Nationaldenkmal Kaiser Wilhelm mit Schloss 1900.jpg|thumb|right|[[Berlin Palace]], the main residence of the House of Hohenzollern]]
The new empire was a [[Federation|federal]] union of 25 states that varied considerably in size, demography, constitution, economy, culture, religion and socio-political development. However, even Prussia itself, which accounted for two-thirds of the territory as well as of the population, had emerged from the empire's periphery as a newcomer. It also faced colossal cultural and economic internal divisions. The Prussian provinces of Westphalia and the Rhineland for example had been under French control [[Confederation of the Rhine|during the previous decades]]. The local people, who had benefited from the liberal, civil reforms, that were derived from the ideas of the French Revolution, had only little in common with predominantly rural communities in authoritarian and disjointed [[Junker]] estates of [[Pommerania]].<ref>{{Cite web |first=Stephen |last=Tonge |date=11 November 2013 |title=Bismarck's Domestic Polices 1871 -1890 |url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/europe/bisdom.htm |access-date=22 March 2019 |publisher=History Home}}</ref>
The inhabitants of the smaller territorial lands, especially in central and southern Germany greatly rejected the Prussianized concept of the nation and preferred to associate such terms with their individual home state. The Hanseatic port cities of Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck ranked among the most ferocious opponents of the ''so-called contract with Prussia''. As advocates of free trade, they objected to Prussian ideas of economic integration and refused to sign the renewed [[Zollverein]] (Custom Union) treaties until 1888.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Keller |first1=Wolfgang |last2=Shiue |first2=Carol H. |title=Endogenous Formation of Free Trade Agreements: Evidence from the Zollverein's Impact on Market Integration |journal=The Journal of Economic History |date=December 2014 |volume=74 |issue=4 |pages=1168–1204 |doi=10.1017/S0022050714000898 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |s2cid=154596279 }}</ref> The [[Hanseatic (class)|Hanseatic]] merchants' overseas economic success corresponded with their globalist mindset. The citizen of Hamburg, whom Bismark characterized as ''extremely irritating'' and the German ambassador in London as ''the worst Germans we have'', were particularly appalled by Prussian militarism and its unopposed growing influence.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Guenther |first1=Jack Harrold |title='Gateway to the World': Hamburg and the Global German Empire, 1881-1914 |date=2018 |doi=10.14418/wes01.1.1723 |doi-access=free }}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=November 2022}}

The Prusso-German authorities were aware of necessary integration concepts as the results and the 52% [[voter turnout]] of the [[1871 German federal election|first imperial elections]] had clearly demonstrated. Historians increasingly argue, that the nation-state was ''forged through empire''.<ref name=build/> National identity was expressed in bombastic imperial [[Emperor William monuments|stone iconography]] and was to be achieved as an imperial people, with ''an emperor as head of state and it was to develop imperial ambitions'' – domestic, European and global.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Patrick |last=Wright |date=9 September 2006 |title=A fistful of Fredericks – He considers the "invention of tradition" in Prussia, and the importance of memorials and ceremonies of remembrance in shaping patriotic identity. |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/sep/09/featuresreviews.guardianreview10 |access-date=23 March 2019}}</ref><ref name="build">{{cite book |doi=10.1515/9789633860175-007 |chapter=Building the Nation Among Visions of German Empire |title=Nationalizing Empires |date=2015 |last1=Berger |first1=Stefan |pages=247–308 |isbn=978-963-386-017-5 }}</ref>

Bismarck's domestic policies as Chancellor of Germany were based on his effort to universally adopt the idea of the Protestant Prussian state and achieve the clear separation of church and state in all imperial principalities. In the [[Kulturkampf]] (lit.: culture struggle) from 1871 to 1878, he tried to minimize the influence of the Roman Catholic Church and its political arm, the [[Catholic Centre Party]], via secularization of all education and introduction of civil marriage, but without success. The Kulturkampf antagonised many Protestants as well as Catholics and was eventually abandoned. The millions of non-German imperial subjects, like the Polish, Danish and French minorities, were left with no choice but to endure discrimination or accept<ref>{{Cite web |title=A German Voice of Opposition to Germanization (1914) |url=http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=772 |access-date=18 May 2019 |website=German History in Documents and Images |publisher=German Historical Institute}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Germanization Policy: Speech by Ludwik Jazdzewski in a Session of the Prussian House of Representatives (January 15, 1901) |url=http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=771 |access-date=18 May 2019 |website=German History in Documents and Images |publisher=German Historical Institute}}</ref> the policies of [[Germanisation]].

==== A three-class system: Aristocracy, middle class, and working class ====

The new Empire provided attractive top level career opportunities for the national nobility in the various branches of the consular and civil services and the army. As a consequence the aristocratic near total control of the civil sector guaranteed a dominant voice in the decision making in the universities and the churches. The 1914 German diplomatic corps consisted of 8 princes, 29 counts, 20 barons, 54 representants of the lower nobility and a mere 11 commoners. These commoners were indiscriminately recruited from elite industrialist and banking families. The consular corps employed numerous commoners, that however, occupied positions of little to no executive power.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=J. C. G. |last=Röhl |date=1967 |title=Higher Civil Servants in Germany, 1890–1900 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-contemporary-history_1967-07_2_3/page/101 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |publisher=Sage Publications, Ltd. |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=101–121 |doi=10.1177/002200946700200306 |jstor=259809 |s2cid=160827181}}</ref> The Prussian tradition to reserve the highest military ranks for young aristocrats was adopted and the new [[Constitution of the German Empire|constitution]] put all military affairs under the direct control of the Emperor and beyond control of the [[Reichstag (German Empire)|Reichstag]].{{Sfn|Clark|2006|pp=158, 603–623}} With its large corps of reserve officers across Germany, the military strengthened its role as ''"The estate which upheld the nation"'', and historian [[Hans-Ulrich Wehler]] added: ''"it became an almost separate, self-perpetuating caste".''<ref>{{Cite web |first=Hans-Ulrich |last=Wehler |title=Hans Ulrich Wehler-The German Empire 1871-1918-Berg (1985) |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/371706306/Hans-Ulrich-Wehler-The-German-Empire-1871-1918-Berg-1985 |access-date=31 March 2019 |via=Scribd |page=157}}</ref>

Power increasingly was centralized among the 7000 aristocrats, who resided in the national capital of [[Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region|Berlin and neighboring Potsdam]]. Berlin's rapidly increasing rich middle-class copied the aristocracy and tried to marry into it. A peerage could permanently boost a rich industrial family into the upper reaches of the establishment.{{Sfn|Richie|1998|p=207}} However, the process tended to work in the other direction as the nobility became industrialists. For example, 221 of the 243 mines in Silesia were owned by nobles or by the King of Prussia himself.{{Sfn|Blackbourn|1998|p=32}}

The [[middle class]] in the cities grew exponentially, although it never acquired the powerful parliamentary representation and legislative rights as in France, Britain or the United States. The [[Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine|Association of German Women's Organizations]] or BDF was established in 1894 to encompass the proliferating women's organizations that had emerged since the 1860s. From the beginning the BDF was a [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] organization, its members working toward equality with men in such areas as education, financial opportunities, and political life. Working-class women were not welcome and were organized by the Socialists.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |last=Mazón |first=Patricia M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_SKPLZtwulQC&pg=PA53 |title=Gender and the Modern Research University: The Admission of Women to German Higher Education, 1865–1914 |publisher=Stanford U.P. |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-8047-4641-0 |page=53}}</ref>

The rise of the Socialist Workers' Party (later known as the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]], SPD), aimed to peacefully establish a socialist order through the transformation of the existing political and social conditions. From 1878, Bismarck tried to oppose the growing social democratic movement by [[Anti-Socialist Laws|outlawing the party's organisation]], its assemblies and most of its newspapers. Nonetheless, the Social Democrats grew stronger and Bismarck initiated his [[State Socialism (Germany)|social welfare program]] in 1883 in order to appease the working class.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moses |first=John Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yy6oSv2N_iIC&pg=PA149 |title=Trade Unionism in Germany from Bismarck to Hitler, 1869–1933 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |date=1982 |isbn=978-0-8604-3450-4 |page=149}}</ref>

Bismarck built on a tradition of welfare programs in Prussia and Saxony that began as early as the 1840s. In the 1880s he introduced old age pensions, accident insurance, medical care, and unemployment insurance that formed the basis of the modern [[European welfare state]]. His paternalistic programs won the support of German industry because its goals were to win the support of the working classes for the Empire and reduce the outflow of immigrants to America, where wages were higher but welfare did not exist.<ref>{{Citation |last=Hennock |first=E. P. |title=The Origin of the Welfare State in England and Germany, 1850–1914: Social Policies Compared |date=2007}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Beck |first=Hermann |title=Origins of the Authoritarian Welfare State in Prussia, 1815–1870 |date=1995}}</ref> Bismarck further won the support of both industry and skilled workers by his high tariff policies, which protected profits and wages from American competition, although they alienated the liberal intellectuals who wanted free trade.<ref>{{Citation |last=Spencer |first=Elaine Glovka |title=Rules of the Ruhr: Leadership and Authority in German Big Business Before 1914 |date=Spring 1979 |journal=Business History Review |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=40–64 |publisher=[President and Fellows of Harvard College, Cambridge University Press] |doi=10.2307/3114686 |jstor=3114686 |s2cid=154458964}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Lambi |first=Ivo N. |title=The Protectionist Interests of the German Iron and Steel Industry, 1873–1879 |date=March 1962 |journal=Journal of Economic History |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=59–70 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/S0022050700102347 |jstor=2114256|s2cid=154067344 }}</ref>

====Kulturkampf====
{{Main|Kulturkampf}}
[[File:Kladderadatsch 1875 - Zwischen Berlin und Rom.png|thumb|''Between Berlin and Rome'', Bismarck (left) confronts Pope Pius IX, 1875.]]

Bismarck would not tolerate any power outside Germany—as in Rome—having a say in domestic affairs. He launched the [[Kulturkampf]] ("culture war") against the power of the pope and the Catholic Church in 1873, but only in the state of Prussia. This gained strong support from German liberals, who saw the Catholic Church as the bastion of reaction and their greatest enemy. The Catholic element, in turn, saw in the [[National Liberal Party (Germany)|National-Liberals]] the worst enemy and formed the [[Centre Party (Germany)|Center Party]].<ref>Douglas W. Hatfield, "Kulturkampf: The Relationship of Church and State and the Failure of German Political Reform", ''Journal of Church and State'' (1981) 23#3 pp. 465–484 {{JSTOR|23916757}}</ref>

Catholics, although nearly a third of the national population, were seldom allowed to hold major positions in the Imperial government, or the Prussian government. After 1871, there was a systematic purge of the remaining Catholics; in the powerful interior ministry, which handled all police affairs, the only Catholic was a messenger boy. Jews were likewise heavily discriminated against.<ref>John C.G. Roehl, "Higher civil servants in Germany, 1890–1900" in James J. Sheehan, ed., ''Imperial Germany'' (1976) pp. 128–151</ref><ref>Margaret Lavinia Anderson, and Kenneth Barkin. "The myth of the Puttkamer purge and the reality of the Kulturkampf: Some reflections on the historiography of Imperial Germany". ''Journal of Modern History'' (1982): 647–686. esp. pp. 657–662 {{JSTOR|1906016}}</ref>

Most of the Kulturkampf was fought out in Prussia, but Imperial Germany passed the [[Pulpit Law]] which made it a crime for any cleric to discuss public issues in a way that displeased the government. Nearly all Catholic bishops, clergy, and laymen rejected the legality of the new laws and defiantly faced the increasingly heavy penalties and imprisonments imposed by Bismarck's government. Historian Anthony Steinhoff reports the casualty totals:

<blockquote>As of 1878, only three of eight Prussian dioceses still had bishops, some 1,125 of 4,600 parishes were vacant, and nearly 1,800 priests ended up in jail or in exile&nbsp;... Finally, between 1872 and 1878, numerous Catholic newspapers were confiscated, Catholic associations and assemblies were dissolved, and Catholic civil servants were dismissed merely on the pretence of having Ultramontane sympathies.<ref>Anthony J. Steinhoff, "Christianity and the creation of Germany", in Sheridan Gilley and Brian Stanley, eds., ''Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 8: 1814–1914'' (2008) p. 295</ref></blockquote>

Bismarck underestimated the resolve of the Catholic Church and did not foresee the extremes that this struggle would attain.<ref>John K. Zeender in ''The Catholic Historical Review'', Vol. 43, No. 3 (Oct. 1957), pp. 328–330.</ref><ref>Rebecca Ayako Bennette, ''Fighting for the Soul of Germany: The Catholic Struggle for Inclusion after Unification'' (Harvard U.P. 2012)</ref> The Catholic Church denounced the harsh new laws as anti-Catholic and mustered the support of its rank and file voters across Germany. In the following elections, the Center Party won a quarter of the seats in the Imperial Diet.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blackbourn |first=David |date=Dec 1975 |title=The Political Alignment of the Centre Party in Wilhelmine Germany: A Study of the Party's Emergence in Nineteenth-Century Württemberg |url=https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3629315/blackbourn_polalignment.pdf?sequence=1 |journal=Historical Journal |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=821–850 |doi=10.1017/s0018246x00008906 |jstor=2638516 |s2cid=39447688}}</ref> The conflict ended after 1879 because Pope Pius IX died in 1878 and Bismarck broke with the Liberals to put his main emphasis on tariffs, foreign policy, and [[Anti-Socialist Laws|attacking socialists]]. Bismarck negotiated with the conciliatory new pope [[Pope Leo XIII|Leo XIII]].{{Sfn|Clark|2006|pp=568–576}} Peace was restored, the bishops returned and the jailed clerics were released. Laws were toned down or taken back, but the laws concerning education, civil registry of marriages and religious disaffiliation remained in place. The Center Party gained strength and became an ally of Bismarck, especially when he attacked socialism.<ref>Ronald J. Ross, ''The failure of Bismarck's Kulturkampf: Catholicism and state power in imperial Germany, 1871–1887'' (1998).</ref>

Historians have cited the campaign against the Catholic church, as well as a similar campaign against the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]], as leaving a lasting influence on the German consciousness, whereby national unity can be encouraged by excluding or persecuting a minority. This strategy, later referred to as "negative integration", set a tone of either being loyal to the government or an enemy of the state, which directly influenced German nationalist sentiment and the later Nazi movement.<ref name="Childers negative integration">{{Cite episode |title=The First World War and Its Legacy |url=https://www.wondrium.com/a-history-of-hitlers-empire-2nd-edition |access-date=27 March 2023 |series=A History of Hitler's Empire, 2nd Edition |last=Childers |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Childers |date=2001 |number=2 |time=06:37-11:02 |language=English |publisher=[[The Great Courses]]}}</ref>

====Foreign policies and relations====
[[Image:Triple Alliance.png|thumb|The [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]] of Germany, Austria and Italy in 1913]]
Chancellor Bismarck's imperial foreign policy basically aimed at security and the prevention of a Franco-Russian alliance, in order to avoid a likely [[Two-front war]]. The [[League of Three Emperors]] was signed in 1873 by Russia, Austria, and Germany. It stated that [[republicanism]] and [[socialism]] were common enemies and that the three powers would discuss any matters concerning foreign policy. Bismarck needed good relations with Russia in order to keep France isolated. Russia fought a victorious [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)|war against the Ottoman Empire]] from 1877 to 1878 and attempted to [[Treaty of San Stefano|establish]] the [[Principality of Bulgaria]], that was strongly opposed by France and Britain in particular, as they were long concerned with the preservation of the [[Ottoman Empire]] and Russian containment at the [[Bosphorus Strait]] and the Black Sea. Germany hosted the [[Congress of Berlin]] in 1878, where a more moderate peace settlement was agreed upon.

In 1879, Germany formed the [[Dual Alliance (1879)|Dual Alliance]] with Austria-Hungary, an agreement of mutual military assistance in the case of an attack from Russia, which was not satisfied with the agreement of the Congress of Berlin. The establishment of the Dual Alliance led Russia to take a more conciliatory stance and in 1887, the so-called [[Reinsurance Treaty]] was signed between Germany and Russia. In it, the two powers agreed on mutual military support in the case that France attacked Germany or an Austrian attack on Russia. Russia turned its attention eastward to Asia and remained largely inactive in European politics for the next 25 years. In 1882, Italy, seeking supporters for its interests in [[North Africa]] against France's colonial policy, joined the Dual Alliance, which became the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]]. In return for German and Austrian support, Italy committed itself to assisting Germany in the case of a French attack.<ref>{{Citation |last=Weitsman |first=Patricia A. |title=Dangerous alliances: proponents of peace, weapons of war |page=79 |date=2004}}</ref>

Bismarck had always argued that the acquisition of overseas colonies was impractical and the burden of administration and maintenance would outweigh the benefits. Eventually, Bismarck gave way, and a number of colonies were established in Africa ([[Togo]], the [[Kamerun|Cameroons]], [[German South-West Africa]], and [[German East Africa]]) and in [[Oceania]] ([[German New Guinea]], the [[Bismarck Archipelago]], and the [[Marshall Islands]]). Consequently, Bismarck initiated the [[Berlin Conference]] of 1885, a formal meeting of the European colonial powers, who sought to "established international guidelines for the acquisition of African territory" (see [[Colonisation of Africa]]). Its outcome, the ''General Act of the Berlin Conference'', can be seen as the formalisation of the "Scramble for Africa" and "[[New Imperialism]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Belgum |first=Kirsten |title=Popularizing the Nation: Audience, Representation, and the Production of Identity in "Die Gartenlaube", 1853–1900 |date=1998 |page=149}}</ref>