Germany: The German Empire and the Weimar Republic

The German Empire and the Weimar Republic

The new German empire was consolidated under Bismarck's autocratic rule and a constitution that favored conservative interests. The Reichstag (the lower house of parliament) had some power over money bills but only slight influence in military matters or foreign policy; autocratic Prussia dominated the Bundesrat (the upper house of parliament). Bismarck's rule was complicated by far-reaching internal changes. The Industrial Revolution, which came late in Germany, transformed the country into Europe's foremost manufacturing nation and also accelerated the pace of urbanization.

Economic factors in turn affected politics. The National Liberal party and the Progressives, both representing the middle class, became important, as did German socialism and the Social Democrats, guided by August Bebel and Karl Kautsky. The strong Center party represented Roman Catholic interests.

Bismarck's only certain ally was the Conservative party, a Protestant faction particularly strong in agrarian and semifeudal Prussia. Bismarck ruled chiefly through force of will, prestige, and the steadfast support of the emperor. He attempted to vitiate German Catholicism in the Kulturkampf (1872–79). Both paternalism and an effort to lessen the appeal of the Socialists and the Liberals motivated his social security laws, which became models of welfare legislation throughout the world.

A master of foreign policy, Bismarck secured Germany against France by maintaining alliances in the east. Reconciliation with Austria led to an alliance (1879), joined in 1882 by Italy (see Triple Alliance and Triple Entente). Simultaneously, Bismarck kept alive the Three Emperors' League of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. He weathered the Liberal opposition and retained his chancellorship during the brief reign (1888) of Frederick III, but he was dismissed in 1890 by William II. Bismarck was succeeded as chancellor by von Caprivi, Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (1894), and Bernhard von Bülow (1900).

By the mid-1880s, Germans had acquired some African territories, but it was only under William II that German colonial expansion began to collide seriously with British and French interests. (For a list of former German colonies, see mandates.) Equally serious threats to peace were Germany's increasing commercial rivalry with England, heightened by the naval expansion under Tirpitz, German influence in Ottoman affairs (e.g., in the construction of the Baghdad Railway), and German support of Austria's Balkan policy, which clashed with Russian interests (see Eastern Question). Two crises (1905–6 and 1911) over Morocco helped to create and strengthen the Triple Entente of France, Russia, and England, which faced Germany and its allies (see Central Powers) in World War I (1914–18). In 1909, von Bethmann-Hollweg had replaced von Bülow as chancellor of Germany; Bethmann was overthrown (1917) by Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and Chief of Staff Erich Ludendorff, who together controlled Germany until late 1918.

Exhausted to the point of collapse but with no enemy troops on its soil, Germany was obliged to accept the Allied armistice terms (Nov., 1918) and, in 1919, the harsh peace terms of Versailles (see Versailles, Treaty of). William abdicated and fled (Nov., 1918) after national and international demands for his abdication (led by Chancellor Maximilian, prince of Baden) and after the outbreak of a left-wing revolution, started at Kiel, which swept the rulers of the German states from their thrones.

Sections in this article:

Introduction
Reunification of Germany
West Germany
East Germany
Postwar Germany
The Third Reich
The Weimar Republic
The German Empire and the Weimar Republic
The German Confederation and the Rise of Prussia
The Holy Roman Empire
History to the Early Middle AgesGermany to 1871
History
Government
Economy
Land and People
Bibliography

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