Gettin’ Down to Bis(marck)ness

1. Gettin’ Down to Bis(marck)ness A review of things you should have a general idea of by now, and, of course, some extension and source work!

2. Some “Pre-flection” thoughts • How do you define Socialism? What are its good and bad points? • What, in your opinion, should be the relationship between church and state? • What is a good versus bad Foreign Policy? How can countries work to achieve peace during hostile times? • What are the benefits of multi-cultural societies? What are the weaknesses? • Do you think societal minorities should be integrated into a society or left to their own devices?

3. The general outline of his stuff: • Domestic/Political Policies • The Socialists • Kulturkampf • The Liberals • Foreign Policies • German Unification & Future fears • Dreikaiserbund (The Three Emperors League) • The Re-Insurance Treaty • Domestic/Social Policies • Negative integration

4. Political / Domestic Policy • The Socialists: • Bismarck worked by using what has been described as a “Stick and Carrot” Policy • Example of ‘The Stick’: He outlawed many Socialst newspapers • Example of ‘The Carrot’: He created a Welfare Program Note: In general at the time, there were two ways of dealing with the rise in workers’ rights and the fear of Communism. Many leaders were forceful, others worked to appease and ‘woo’ them. Either way, there was obvious fear.

5. Political / Domestic Policy • Kulturkampf – Bismarck’s dealings with the Church structure in the newly formed Germany “It is not a matter of struggle between belief and unbelief; it is a matter of the conflict between the monarchy and the priesthood” – Bismarck.

6. Political / Domestic Policy • The Liberals • Bismarck had a large falling out with this group. Use the worksheet and subsequent opinion table to make decisions about his policy. • Use the source work for homework to make decisions about this concept. You will b

7. Foreign Policies • Unification • The Three Wars: • War with Denmark 1864 • 7 Weeks War • 7 Days (Delicious and affordable products) • Franco Prussian War – The Ems Telegram • Desire for Peace in the Balkans • Desire for Isolation of France

8. Foreign Policy • The Driekaiserbund (Three Emperors League) • Designed to protect conservatism in the growing liberal world • Fall out over & results of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 • The Congress of Berlin

9. Foreign Policy • The Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy • According to Bismarck, this alliance: • would secure Germany’s southern frontier in the event of a war with Russia • would frighten Russia into seeking a closer relationship with Germany. • Russia eventually looked to re-establish the Dreikaiserbund – However she was also funding her industrialization through French Loans (more on this later)

10. Foreign Policy • The Re-Insurance Treaty • New Bulgarian Crisis sought to disrupt Russian v Austro-Hungarian Relations • It was a defensive alliance: Germany promised to stay neutral if Russia was attacked by Austria & Russia would stay neutral if France attacked Germany.

11. Foreign Policy • Colonies • In 1882 the German Colonial League was formed • 884 and 1885 Germany acquired Togo, the Cameroons, German East Africa (Tanzania) and South West Africa (Namibia) • The Berlin Conference of 1884 hosted by Bismarck settled many colonial disputes especially over the Congo that was awarded to Belgium. • During the same period Bismarck encouraged French colonial expansion. He hoped that this would weaken French desire for revenge over Alsace and Lorraine and get them involved in disputes with other countries.

12. Foreign Policy • By 1886 the process of colonialism was ended as Bismarck, the reluctant Imperialist, turned his attention back to Europe. Famously he said to an African explorer “my map of Africa lies in Europe. Here is Russia and here is France with Germany in the middle; that is my map of Africa.”

13. Assessments of F.P. • D.G . Williamson “In the immediate post war years Bismarck was primarily concerned to prolong French isolation” • J. Joll “In the years between 1870 and 1890 it was German foreign policy that dominated the international scene.” • W. Carr “Germany faced the real danger of war on two fronts if she was on bad terms with France and Russia simultaneously.” • W. Carr “Bismarck was a past master in the diplomatic arts.” • W. Carr "As long as William I lived, German foreign policy was conducted by Bismarck alone." • M. Sturmer “Bismarck cultivated alliances with both Russia and Austria, but due to the stirrings of the Balkan Slavs against their Turkish overlords, this became increasingly difficult.”

14. Domestic Policy – Negative Integration • The Danes of Schleswig-Holstein, the province Prussia had occupied in 1864. • Feared because they formed their own party in the Reichstag but resented being governed by Berlin. • Bismarck refused to hold a plebiscite on Schleswig-Holstein’s future. • Many say he should have, although this would have reduced Germany’s borders, it would have resulted in a more homogenous society within Germany.

15. Domestic Policy – Negative Integration • The French of Alsace Lorraine, the territory won by Germany from France in 1871. • Feared because Some inhabitants of spoke French, and even those who spoke German often considered themselves French rather than German. • Alsace-Lorraine was administered by the Reich government and, until 1911, was without representation in the Federal Council. • The Zabern affair of 1913 (in which German soldiers attacked Alsatian citizens) clearly indicates that the people of Germany were not fully united. • When the area became French again in 1918 the local population drove out the German troops in triumph.

16. Domestic Policy – Negative Integration • The Poles of East Prussia acquired by the dismemberment of Poland in the 18th Century. • Feared because they spoke Polish and increasingly felt a common bond with each other and their relatives under Russian and Austrian rule. • They constituted by far the largest non-German minority in the Reich. • An independent Polish national state would claim many Prussian territories and make Germans living there a foreign minority. • Bismarck tried to "Germanize" the Poles in Prussia by encouraging internal colonization by Germans of the Polish areas • The comment of Max Weber, "we have turned the Poles into human beings," in 1896 illustrates that the although Germanising of the Poles had been seen to have some effect, there was still discrimination as the Poles within Germany were still seen as a separate and lesser people.

17. The end of Bismarck • Who knows what happened and why? • Is the issue Political? Economic? Social? Military? Next up??? Kaiser Wilhelm II !!!