Wilhelmine Germany

HI136, History of GermanyLecture 3

The Captain of Köpenick On 16 October 1906 an

unemployed shoemaker named Wilhelm Voigt dressed as a captain in the German Army.

Collecting together a small group of soldiers off the streets he went to the small town of Köpenick outside Berlin, occupied the town hall, arrested mayor and demanded 4000 marks.

Such was the authority that his uniform gave him, all of Voigt’s orders were obeyed without question.

He absconded with the money, only to be picked up by the police and sentenced to four years in prison.

The Army and German Society The garrison was the

centre of social life in Imperial Germany.

The German Army was made up of conscripts – every male between the ages of 17 and 45 was eligible for military service.

The Army therefore touched the lives of the majority of the German population.

The Army an important unifying institution and focus for patriotic feeling.

A uniform entitled the wearer to the respect of his fellow Germans.

The Officer Corps The higher ranks still

dominated by the aristocracy.

Freedom from parliamentary oversight gave the military virtual political autonomy.

Direct access to the Kaiser. Contempt for civilians and

politicians. David Stone: the lack of a

war to fight after 1871 led the officer corps to focus its energies on preserving the social status and political influence of the Army.

A Military Society?Social make-up of the officer corps – in 1913,

70% of officers and 50% of colonels and generals were from non-noble families.

Contemporary critics of the German ArmyCriticism in the left-wing pressSatirical novels criticising the behaviour of the officer corpsThe Zabern Affair (1913) – public outcry over military

behaviourThis more of a Prussian than a German

phenomenon – the Bavarians routinely mocked Prussian militarism.

Germany not the only nation in Europe where the army and navy were held in high esteem.

The Kaiser and his Court The power of the Kaiser made

the court an important place in Imperial politics and society.

The court provided access to the monarch and opportunities to gain political/social influence.

John Röhl – Wilhelm II presided over a political system in which the imperial court successfully established a primacy over other sources of power.

However, Wilhelm II more of a playboy than an omnipotent autocrat – he lacked the self-discipline necessary for effective government and administration.

‘Structuralist’ InterpretationsAn attempt to explain developments through a detailed

examination of social, political and economic factors.Argued that after Bismarck there was a power vacuum

that created “a permanent crisis of the state behind its façade of high-handed leadership.”

This power vacuum allowed traditional Prussian elites – the Junkers, the officer corps, the judiciary and senior bureaucrats – to dominate the nation’s affairs.

Faced by the social and economic changes wrought by industrialization, these elites banded together to preserve their power and influence (Sammlungspolitik, ‘policy of concentration’) and sought to distract attention from domestic political and social inequalities through foreign policy adventures (‘Social Imperialism’).

Deutschkonservative Partei (German Conservative Party) – Representing farmers and Prussian landowners.

Reichspartei (Free Conservative Party) - Representing industrialists and landowners.

Zentrumspartei (Centre Party) – Formed in 1871 to uphold the interests of the Catholic Church, its support came from Catholics of all classes.

Nationalliberale Partei (National Liberal Party) – The party of the liberal Protestant upper-middle-classes.

Deutsche Freisinnige Partei (German Free Thought Party) – The party of more radical liberals. Split in 1893 & reunited in 1910 as the Fortschrittliche Volkspartei (Progressive People’s Party)

Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic Party) – Representing the working classes.

Democratisation and Party Politics

Political Parties

The state opening of the Reichstag, December 1894

Dealing with Modernity

Education Volksschule provided primary

education for a literate, mobile, industrial society.

Realgymnasian and Oberrealschulen begin to replace the old Gymnasian.

New emphasis on the natural sciences and technical subjects instead of Latin and Greek.

Expansion of Higher Education 28,000 students in 1890;

over 60,000 in 1914. Technische Hochschulen

(‘Technical Colleges’) focus on vocational subjects such as engineering.

Contrasting images of the education system: a cartoon satirising militarism in the class room

(above), and pupils at a girls’ secondary school (c.1896)

The ‘New Woman’? Traditionally women seen as

fundamentally unsuited to public life and politics, being naturally predisposed towards a domestic and caring role.

1865: The Allgemeiner Deutsche Frauenverein (General Association of German Women) founded.

1894: The ADF replaced by the Bund Deutscher Frauenverbände (Federation of German Women’s Associations).

Increasing demand from the middle classes for more educational and employment opportunities for single women.

1880s: Secondary Education extended to middle class girls.

New Civil Legal Code (1900) allows women to hold wealth and property independent of their husbands.

1900-1909: Women permitted to attend German universities.

Poster advertising a demonstration in favour of women’s suffrage, 8

March 1914

Cultural PessimismRichard Wagner (1813-83)• Gesamtkunstwerk (‘total

work of art’)• Anti-Industrialism• Anti-Semitism• Teutonic myth

Paul Anton de Langarde (1827-91)• Critical of liberalism &

materialism• Anti-Semitism• Volk culture

Stefan George (1868-1933)• Aesthete and Symbolist• Poetry stresses aristocracy and self-

sacrifice• Cultural and social renewal through a

strong leader

Sin (1893) by Franz von Stuck Judith I (1901) by Gustav Klimt

The sexologist Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935)

The Kaiser’s favourite: Prince Phillip zu

Eulenburg (1847-1921)

Sexuality

Cultural Change Thomas Mann (1875-1955),

Buddenbrocks (1901). Heinrich Mann (1871-1950),

Professor Unrat (1905), Der Untertan (1918).

Freie Volksbühne (free people’s theatre) – established 1889 and staged plays with a social message such as Gerhard Hauptmann’s Die Weber.

Scientific Discoveries X-rays (1895) Radioactivity (1896) The electron (1897) Quantum theory (1900) Special theory of relativity (1905)

Munich Secession (1892). Berlin Secession (1898). Die Brucke (1905) Der Blaue Reiter (1911-14)August Macke,

Woman in Front of a Hat Shop (c. 1914)

Front covers of Pan, Jugend and Simplicissimus

Mass Culture/Entertainment

Mass Culture/Entertainment Publishing explosion after 1880 to service the new literate

mass market for printed matter. Popular literary, arts and satirical magazines such as Pan

(1895-1900), Jugend (founded 1896) and Simplicissimus (1896-1967) had wide circulations.

Electric lighting led to the proliferation of dance halls and cabarets.

The first ‘moving pictures’ shown in Berlin in 1895 – by 1914 there were 300 cinemas in Berlin and over 3,000 throughout Germany.

Sport – riding, golf and tennis for the upper and middle classes, cycling and boxing for the working classes.

Sport was encouraged by the SPD and was an important feature of many working-men’s clubs and associations.