Western Civilization - History Of European Society

506Chapter 26

contained four kingdoms (Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and
Württemberg), six grand duchies, five duchies, seven
principalities, and three free cities. All states retained
some sovereignty, with separate constitutions, taxes,
and laws. The Bavarians even obtained “special rights”
and kept their own postal service and diplomatic corps.
An enlarged Prussia, however, encompassed 65 percent
of all German territory, 62 percent of the population,
and the richest economic areas (the Saar, the Ruhr, and
Upper Silesia). The Prussian-dominated imperial gov-
ernment controlled the army, decisions of war or peace,
and such central economic institutions as banking and
the railroads.
The emperor of Germany (the king of Prussia,
William I) held genuine power under the new constitu-
tion, which was significantly less democratic than the
regimes in Britain and France. The emperor named a
chancellor—the architect of unification, Prince Bis-
marck—to direct the government. The chancellor

never needed to be elected; he remained responsible to

the emperor (who could dismiss him at any time) and

could govern without the support of a legislative major-

ity. Bismarck held office without leading any political

party and without a parliamentary majority. He frankly

admitted that his primary job was to preserve the

monarchy: “The Prussian crown must not allow itself to

be thrust into the powerless position of the English

crown.” The German legislature contained a lower

house (the Reichstag), elected by universal manhood suf-

frage (at age twenty-five), and an upper house repre-

senting the states. The Reichstag’s approval was needed

for new legislation or a new budget, but the chancellor

could perpetuate an old budget indefinitely and ignore

the Reichstag. This constitution was a compromise be-

tween eighteenth-century absolutism and nineteenth-

century popular sovereignty, a fact underscored by the

absence of any German bill of rights.

During the “founding years” of the 1870s and

1880s, Bismarck built an alliance of conservative inter-

ests to support his government and battle its enemies.

By 1879 he had gained the backing of the landowning

aristocracy, the growing class of wealthy industrialists,

and the supporters of militarism and nationalism—an

alliance that set the direction of German history. The

support of this coalition enabled Bismarck to fight the

Reichsfeinde(enemies of the empire), whom he thought

threatened the new empire. His target during the 1870s

was the Catholic Church. The battle with the Catholic

Church is known as the Kulturkampf(the struggle for

civilization). The roots of the Kulturkampflay in the

confessional division of Germany and in the reinvigora-

tion of the papacy under Pope Pius IX. The new empire

held a Protestant (mostly Lutheran) majority, domi-

nated by a Protestant state and monarch, but included a

large Catholic minority. Pius IX made religion a major

issue in Germany when he wrote the militant Syllabus

of Errors and led the Vatican Council (1869–70) to

state the doctrine of papal infallibility. The syllabus op-

posed cooperation with Protestantism and resisted the

power of the state. Bismarck insisted that all Germans

must accept the primacy of the German state, not of

the church. Between 1872 and 1875, Prussia adopted a

series of “May laws” increasing state control in matters

previously left to churches and expelling clerics who

lacked state certification. By 1876 no Catholic bishops

were left in Prussia (outside of prison) and fourteen

hundred parishes were vacant.

Bismarck ended the Kulturkampfin the late 1870s to

shift his attention to socialism after Pius IX was suc-

ceeded by the more conciliatory Leo XIII and elections

CHART 26.1

Anglo-German Industrial

Competition, 1880–1909

Source: J. Ellis Baker, Modern Germany(New York: 1919), re-

produced in Louis L. Snyder, ed., Documents of German His-

tory(New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1958),

pp. 306–307.

200

Millions of tons

50

1880

(129)

(153)

(179)

(150)

(57) (91)

(206)

(198)

1909

Britain

Germany

1890 1900

Consumption of Coal and Lignite

150

100

14

Millions of tons

0

1880

(6.2) (6.8) (7.7)

(8.5)

(2.8) (4.9)

(12.6)

(8.5)

1909

Britain

Germany

1890 1900

Consumption of Pig Iron

12

10

8

6

4

2