German Empire

The term German Empire commonly refers to Germany, from its consolidation as a unified nation-state on January 18 1871, until the abdication of Kaiser (Emperor) Wilhelm II on November 9 1918. Germans, when referring to the Reich in this period under the Kaisers, typically use the term Kaiserreich and this term has often been used by non-German historians.

Bismarck's founding of the Empire

Under the guise of idealism giving way to realism, German nationalism rapidly shifted from its liberal and democratic character in 1848 to Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarck's authoritarian Realpolitik. Bismarck wanted unification to achieve his aim of a conservative, Prussian-dominated German state. He accomplished this through three military successes:

Related Topics:
1848 - Prussian - Otto von Bismarck - Realpolitik

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• He first allied with Austria in order to defeat Denmark in a short war (the Second war of Schleswig) fought during 1864, thus acquiring Schleswig-Holstein.
• In 1866, in concert with Italy, he virtually created the Austro-Prussian War and won a decisive victory at the Battle of Königgrätz, which, in the same year, allowed him to exclude long-time rival Austria when forming the North German Confederation with the states that had supported Prussia in the Austro-Prussian War. The Confederation was the direct precursor to the 1871 Empire.
• Finally, France was defeated in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71); the Confederation was transformed into the Empire with the proclamation of Prussian King Wilhelm I as German Emperor at the Palace of Versailles, to the humiliation of the French.

Bismarck himself prepared in broad outline the 1866 North German Constitution, to become the 1871 with some adjustments. Germany acquired some democratic features: notably the Reichstag, that in contrast to the parliament of Prussia was elected by direct and equal manhood suffrage. However, legislation also required the consent of the Bundesrat, the federal council of deputies from the states, in which Prussia had a large influence. Behind a constitutional façade, Prussia thus exercised predominant influence in both bodies with executive power vested in the Kaiser, who appointed the federal chancellor – Otto von Bismarck. While the minor states retained their own governments, the military forces were coordinated along Prussian principles and would in war times be controlled by the federal government. Although authoritarian in many respects, the empire permitted the development of political parties.

Related Topics:
North German Constitution - Reichstag - Prussia

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The evolution of the authoritarian German Empire is somewhat in line with parallel developments in Italy and Japan. Similarly to Bismarck, Count Camillo Benso di Cavour in Italy used diplomacy and war to achieve his objectives: he allied with France before attacking Austria, securing the unification of Italy except for Venice and the Papal States by 1861. In the interests of Piedmont-Sardinia, Cavour, hostile to the more revolutionary nationalism of liberal republicans such as Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini, sought the unification of Italy along conservative lines. Similarly, Japan would follow a course of conservative modernization from the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Meiji Restoration to 1918 along with Cavour's Italy. In fact, Japan issued a commission in 1882 to study various governmental structures throughout the world and were particularly impressed by Bismarck's Germany, issuing a constitution in 1889 that formed a premiership with powers analogous to Bismarck's position as chancellor with a cabinet responsible to the emperor alone.

Related Topics:
Count Camillo Benso di Cavour - Italy - Unification of Italy - Venice - Papal States - 1861 - Giuseppe Garibaldi - Giuseppe Mazzini - Japan - Tokugawa Shogunate - Meiji Restoration - 1918 - 1889

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The unification of Germany also meant absorbing the entire Kingdom of Prussia into it. The 3 provinces of East Prussia (75% German, 19% Polish/Mazurian, 5% Lithuanian), West Prussia (66% German, 33% Polish, including roughly 100.000 Kashubians), and Provinz Posen (62% Polish, 38% German), which before were outside the German Confederation, were incorporated into the new nation-state. Another province, Silesia (75% German, 25% Polish), historically part of the Holy Roman Empire together with Bohemia and unlike East Prussia, West Prussia and Provinz Posen part of the German Confederation had a large Polish population. Integration of these 4 provinces put Germany into conflict with the Poles. Since the Polish population was growing more rapidly, and Germans were migrating from eastern to western Germany in the Ostflucht, eastern provinces gradually become more and more Polish in character.

Related Topics:
Kingdom of Prussia - East Prussia - West Prussia - Provinz Posen - German Confederation - Silesia - Holy Roman Empire - Bohemia - Polish - Ostflucht

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One factor, but only one, in the social anatomy of these governments had been the retention of a very substantial share in political power by the landed elite, the Junkers, due to the absence of a revolutionary breakthrough by the peasants in combination with urban areas.

Related Topics:
Landed elite - Junker

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