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HI136, History of Germany Lecture 4

HI136, History of Germany Lecture 4. Wilhelmine Germany. 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.

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HI136, History of Germany Lecture 4

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  1. HI136, History of GermanyLecture 4 Wilhelmine Germany

  2. 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.

  3. Military: background facts • 120,000 reserve officer corps • regular officers rising from 17,000 to 30,000 • Mass army of conscripts: 400,000 in 1870s; 600,000 by 1900; 800,000 by 1913 • Professionalism, drill, quick transportation, proficiency, modern weapons • Different world from civilians, breaking in of newcomers, plummeting rates of suicides. • Modernizing of the new-coming peasants, created a male-bonding culture, proving men’s status and appropriate gender.

  4. 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.

  5. 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. However, “better” barracks largely inhabited with nobility • Contemporary critics of the German Army • Criticism in the left-wing press • Satirical novels criticising the behaviour of the officer corps • The Zabern Affair (1913) – public outcry over military behaviour • This 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.

  6. The Zabern Affair (1913) Simplicissimus, 1913

  7. 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.

  8. Hauptmann von Köpenick (Helmut Käutner 1956) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YeJLPIFXAI

  9. 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.

  10. ‘Structuralist’ Interpretations • Interpretation suggested by Wehler et al explaining developments by an 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 Prussian elites – the Junkers, the officer corps, the industrialists, and ring ring lobby groups – to dominate state affairs (rather than the Kaiser). • 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’).

  11. Democratization and Party Politics Political Parties • DeutschkonservativePartei(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. • NationalliberalePartei (National Liberal Party) – The party of the liberal Protestant upper-middle-classes. • Deutsche FreisinnigePartei(German Free Thought Party) – The party of more radical liberals. Split in 1893 & reunited in 1910 as the FortschrittlicheVolkspartei(Progressive People’s Party) • SozialdemokratischeParteiDeutschlands(Social Democratic Party) – Representing the working classes. The state opening of the Reichstag, December 1894

  12. Workers' living conditions

  13. Heinrich Zille, Working class family home

  14. Population growth • 1872, 40 mill. people at the first census, 56 mill by 1900, 67 mill by 1913 • By 1913 ca 1,3 mill foreigners • The largest percentage of young people just before the war, largest in modern German history • Improved life expectation, from 37 y in 1870s to 45m/48w years in 1900s • Berlin grew from 412,000 inhabitants in 1850 to ca 1,100,000 in 1880 to just over 2 mill in 1910 • Population growth correlated with industry (cities such as Cologne, Chemnitz, Duisburg, Essen) • Pomerania and East Prussia (parts of West Prussia too) very thinly populated, people moving to cities • Growth of white collar jobs (3,3 mill in 1910)

  15. Education • Volksschuleprovided 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. • TechnischeHochschulen (‘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)

  16. 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 DeutscherFrauenverbände (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

  17. Cultural Change • Heinrich Mann (1871-1950), Professor Unrat (1905), Der Untertan (1918). • FreieVolksbühne (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 Brücke(1905) • Der BlaueReiter (1911-14) August Macke, Woman in Front of a Hat Shop (c. 1914)

  18. Sexuality The Kaiser’s favourite: Prince Phillip zuEulenburg (1847-1921) The sexologist Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935)

  19. Mass Culture/Entertainment Front covers of Pan, Jugend and Simplicissimus

  20. Mass Culture • 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 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. Footbal, however, remained a thing of working classes

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