Essay Writing

History

Germany in 1890

Bismarck in the year 1894

Source: Bismarck. Des eisernen Kanzlers Leben in annähernd 200 seltenen Bildern nebst einer Einführung. Herausgegeben von Walter Stein. Im Jahre des 100. Geburtstags Bismarcks und des großen Krieges 1915. Hermann Montanus, Verlagsbuchhandlung Siegen und Leipzig             

  1. How did the Germans get the Empire they wanted by 1890?

Germany appeared as an Empire after the Franco-Prussian war in 1871. Otto Van Bismarck, Prussian Chancellor since 1862, knew that to unify an Empire, several aspects had to be organized. He became German Chancellor in 1871 and set up a constitution on the same year. With this, powers were separated into three different branches: The Kaiser, The Chancellor and the two Chambers. He also sought to control opposition. The Church was controlled with the May Laws (Falk) and the Kulturkampf. For socialists he passed the enabling law (1878) to control them, and several insurances to favour them. Bismarck also believed that an Empire ought to have colonies for industrial development. In 1789, he had to bring tariffs so as to raise money for his foreign policy.

By passing the constitution, Bismarck was successful in separating the powers. The most powerful one was the Kaiser. The first Kaiser was William I (former King of Prussia). He was the maximum authority in Germany. He had full control of the army and navy and decided whether the country was at war or made peace treaties with other countries. He also appointed all the Ministers in the Empire. This was helpful for Bismarck since he was appointed Chief Minister (Chancellor) of the German Empire. He was very influential with the Kaiser, he controlled him. As he could do as he liked, it later allowed him to dominate the German Empire. The German parliament consisted of two Chambers: The Bundesrat and the Reichstag. The first one mentioned, was conformed of 58 delegates appointed by State’s representatives. As 14 votes were needed to reject measures and 17 delegates were Prussian, this house was controlled by her. The Reichstag was elected by the universal manhood suffrage. It was a much more democratic system than the Bundersrat and represented citizens. However, it was controlled by the Bundersrat. This house was also controlled by Prussian superiority, since half of its members were Prussian.

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Controlling the opposition was certainly something that Bismarck intended to do. Bismarck followed a centripetal (centralizing) policy. He thought that people had to work in things related to the Empire. On the other hand, the Catholic Church followed a centrifugal (going away from the centre) policy. The Church looked for foreign countries, so Bismarck decided to attack it. Bismarck supported the German Catholic teachers who didn’t agree (Old Catholics) with the idea of Papal Infallibity (1870). The Church intended to promote actions of the New Catholics, who followed the new doctrine. To solve this problem, Bismarck organized a campaign by ...

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