670 Ch. 17 • The Era of National Unification
William I and Bismarck celebrate the proclamation of the German Empire in the
Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
state—for example, Bavaria, which had a relatively liberal constitution—
retained considerable administrative autonomy, as well as in some cases
its own prince, the nature of the German imperial government remained
authoritarian. Germany’s growing economic power was therefore unaccom
panied by the evolution toward effective parliamentary government that
characterized Britain and then France, as well as to some extent Italy.
Junkers dominated the army and civil service. In exchange for loyalty,
they were exempt from most taxation, receiving what amounted to state
subsidies for their immense estates. Inevitably, as in England, noble eco
nomic clout declined with the agricultural depression and with the remark
ably rapid industrialization of Germany, but Prussian Junkers retained their
full measure of political power.
Unlike their counterparts in Victorian England and France, the German
middle class largely remained outside political life in the German Empire,
as they had been in Prussia before unification. Most middle-class Ger
mans willingly acquiesced to imperial authority and noble influence. The
subsequent rise of the German Social Democratic Party, founded in 1875
(see Chapter 20), was, in most cases, enough to keep the German middle
class loyal to the empire.