HI 224 Raffael Scheck Colby College

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HI 224Raffael ScheckColby College
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Overview
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My Home Page

• http//www.colby.edu/personal/rmscheck/

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German Unity as a Flaw

• There are, it appears, some creations of the
  human hand, the establishment of states among
  them, upon which a curse weighs from the very
  beginning. The gods turn away and relinquish
  their place to the lesser demons. The Reich of
  1871, the German national state, belonged to
  these creations. . . . It was too big and too
  mighty in achievement to fit reliably into the
  European balance of power and too limited to be a
  real world power. That was one part of the curse.
  And the attempt to base self-confidence of a
  nation on domination and hierarchy instead of
  freedom and equality, an experiment that
  contradicted European civilization, that was the
  second part.
• Christian Graf von Krokow (1990)

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Debates on German Unity

• German peculiarities Hans-Ulrich Wehler
• Critique Geoff Eley and David Blackbourn

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Why did Germany Remain Divided for so Long?
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Historical Background

• Who are the Germans?
• The Germanic tribes
• Conquest and Destruction of the Western Roman
  Empire (4th to 5th century CE)

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The Kingdom/Empire of the Franks

• Consolidated in the 6th century CE
• Division of Charlemagnes empire in 843

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The Holy Roman Empire (of the German Nation)

• Very powerful around 900-1000
• But weakness of the medieval emperor (elective
  monarchy) challenged by the princes and the Pope
• The rise of Habsburg Austria (14th-15th century)
• The Reformation Religious division
• The Thirty Years War (1618-1648)
• The Rise of Prussia (18th century)

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German Cultural Awakening

• Luthers Bible translation
• The cultural bloom of the eighteenth century
  (Goethe, Schiller, Kant)
• High literacy (particularly in Prussia)

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The Impact of the French Revolution and Napoleon

• The French Conquest of Germany, 1793-1806
• Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, 1806
• Mediation middle-sized states annex small and
  smallest territories
• Standard weights and measurements
• But Growing German resentment (draft, taxes,
  trade embargo)
• Upshot A German National Revolt, 1813

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The Congress of Vienna 1814-15

• Dynastic principle
• Fear of revolution
• Nationalism seen as democratic, hence as
  revolutionary and dangerous
• The German Confederation - a poor substitute
• Repression of nationalist feeling

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How to Define a German Nation

• Absence of a state
• Reference to the people (Volk)
• Definition on cultural-linguistic terms
• Anti-French bias

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Unification through War
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Obstacles to Unification

• The German Confederation, 1814-1866
• The Princes
• The Nobility
• Prussian-Austrian Dualism
• Foreign Influences

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Failed Unification from Below 1848-49

• Hopes of creating a liberal Germany through
  revolution
• What to do with Austria? Or großdeutsch versus
  kleindeutsch
• The Prussian army breaks the revolution

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Economic Pressures

• Small states bad for trade
• Division of Prussia (Map)
• Customs Union (Zollverein), 1834
• Industrial Take-Off After 1850

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Bismarck

• A conservative Prussian Junker
• Opponent of the liberals
• A critical monarchist
• The Prussian constitutional conflict 1862
• German unification under Prussian and
  conservative leadership?

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The Wars of Unification

• The German War Against Denmark (1864) Prussia as
  an Agent of the German Cause
• Prussia Defeats Austria (1866)
• The North German Confederation (1867)
• A German War With France (1870-71)

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Germany under Bismarck
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The Constitution

• Democratic elements
• Universal manhood suffrage
• Budget right of the Reichstag
• Conservative safeguards
• Supreme power of the emperor/Prussian king
• The Bundesrat
• Persistence of undemocratic state constitutions
  and separate rights for the states
• The status of the army

The Constitution is a princely insurance
institute against democracy. (W. Liebknecht)
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The Territory and the People

• Relative territories of the German states
• Germans outside the Second Empire
• Non-Germans inside the Second Empire
• Regional disparities

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Domestic Politics

• Kulturkampf Fighting the Catholics (Center
  Party) alliance with the liberals
• Estrangement between Bismarck and the
  conservatives
• The shift in 1879 high tariffs break with the
  liberals rapprochement with the conservatives
  and Center Party
• Repression of the Socialists and social insurance

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Bismarcks Foreign Policy

• Germany as a saturated state
• Danger of geographic position
• French hostility
• Tactics 1) balance of interests 2) deflection of
  expansion 3) threat of war

And domestic politics as a motivator?? A
conservative foreign policy! Your socialist
critic!
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Europe after 1871
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Bismarcks Alliances

• Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary, 1879
• Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy,
  1882
• Alliance with Russia together with
  Austria-Hungary, 1881-87 separately 1887-90

See what I mean??
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The Dismissal of Bismarck End of an Era?
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The Pessimistic View Dropping the Pilot

• Loss of experienced leadership
• Collapse of Bismarcks alliance system hence
  growing isolation and danger
• Impulsive and inconsistent policy of Wilhelm II
• A powerful state in full speed but without a
  rudder?

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The Power Issues

• Constitutional problems (Germany and Prussia)
• The political education of Wilhelm II
• Temperaments

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The Substantial Issues in 1890

• Renewing anti-Socialist legislation
• Renewing the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia
• Bismarcks dwindling power base in the Reichstag

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The New Course Weltpolitik
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Germany after Bismarck

• Chancellor Leo von Caprivi (1890-94)
• Reversion to free trade
• Failure of German-British alliance
• Chancellor Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst
  (1894-1900)
• Foundation of the Bismarck cult
• Sum more freedom, less press control, less
  manipulation of parliament, but failures in
  policy and crisis of monarchic authority
  (inability of Kaiser Wilhelm II to rule
  effectively)

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Motives for Weltpolitik

• The rapid spread of news
• The changing character of public opinion
• Rise or decline the influence of Darwinism
• Massive industrial progress
• Prestige

This is social imperialism. Governments want
success abroad to prevent the inevitable
socialist revolution!!! Another form of opium for
the masses!
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Signals and Policies

• Max Webers inaugural lecture (1895)
• Bernhard von Bülow (foreign minister 1897-1900,
  chancellor 1900-1909)
• Alfred von Tirpitz (naval minister 1897-1916)
• Powerful affirmation by Wilhelm II

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The Effects of Weltpolitik

• More confrontational diplomacy. Germany turns
  from honest broker to assertive claimant for a
  place in the sun
• Strengthening of anti-German alliances
  (France-Britain in 1904 and Britain-Russia in
  1907)
• Futile attempts to split the anti-German
  alliances (Morocco, 1905 and 1911)
• Increasing isolation stereotype of the ugly
  German
• Was Weltpolitik morally wrong?

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The Tirpitz Plan
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The Situation Before Fleet Building

• Geographic situation good for defense but not
  good for an offensive navy. Vulnerability to
  naval blockade
• No chain of overseas coaling stations and trade
  posts to support a global naval presence
• The Reichstag the Left and the Conservatives
  against fleet-building
• Priority of the army
• YET Growing dependence on imports of raw
  materials and food

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Tirpitzs Plan

• Commitment to large battleships concentrated in
  the North Sea rather than overseas cruisers
• Focus on conflict with Britain
• Strategic expectations
• Large-scale battle to win sea power (Mahan)
• Close blockade near the German coast
• The battlefleet as a lever and deterrent
• Risk theory
• Alliance Value
• Danger Zone

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Building the Fleet

• Naval propaganda (Navy League)
• Building a supportive coalition in the Reichstag
• The Navy Laws (1898, 1900)
• Did fleet building benefit heavy industry?
• Domestic motives?

Hey class dont believe what Scheck is saying!
Fleet building was a panacea against Social
Democracy. Tirpitz said so!!! Yes, he did. But it
was also a protection against the Kaiser
(although Tirpitz did not say that)!
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The Failure of the Tirpitz Plan

• Arms race with Britain Dreadnought building
• Increasing German isolation (failure of the risk
  theory no alliance value of the fleet)
• Cost explosion and growing deficit higher taxes
  threaten to split the pro-navy coalition
• Growth of Social Democracy (SPD)
• Neglect of the army
• Lessons of World War I (Battle of Jutland
  submarines)

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Naval Strength in 1914
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Tradition vs. Modernity Politics, Culture, and
Society before 1914
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Politics

• The parties
• The rise of the social democrats
• The decline of the conservatives
• Center party, Liberals (Progressives), National
  Liberals
• Chancellors between Kaiser and Reichstag

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The Rise of the Social Democrats
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The Big Political Issues

• Taxes and tariffs (conservatives for tariffs and
  against property taxes)
• Suffrage reform in Prussia and other states
• Role of the army (military justice)
• Demand for accountability of the government to
  the Reichstag, not the Kaiser
• Crisis of monarchism
• The emergence of a radical right (anti-Semites,
  Pan-German League, Agrarian League)

Vote of no confidence against the chancellor in
1913!
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In sum

• Old-fashioned structures of authority based on
  conservative institutions and old social classes
• versus
• New, democratically legitimated, claims,
  represented by the more modern groups

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Culture and Society

• Rapid industrialization and technological
  progress
• A highly advanced university system and high
  literacy
• Large white-collar sector
• Large womens movements (socialist and bourgeois)
• Crisis of traditional religious beliefs
• State-sponsored counter-measures

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The Pessimistic View (Wehler)

• Bismarcks constitutional settlement remained
  unstable and could only be preserved by
  manipulative politics
• Democracy is the modern norm, but Germany
  cannot democratize because of the dependence on
  pre-modern groups (Junkers)
• By 1914 pre-revolutionary situation and escape
  into war
• Long-term trend call for a new Bismarck, a
  powerful charismatic leader

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The Optimistic View (Eley)

• Stress on the modern aspects of late Wilhelmine
  society
• Latent parliamentarization?
• Thriving economy and culture
• Reformist Social Democrats
• No need for revolution
• Foreign policy problems were not the outcome of a
  domestic crisis. Hence no escape into war