Wilhelmine Germany

Lesson Plan

 Economic, Social, and Political Developments

 Germany in International Affairs
 World War One
 The Treaty of Versailles

 IDs: the Anti-Socialist Law, Maji-Maji rebellion, the Pan-German

League, the Treaty of Versailles
 Imperial Germany

 1871, Unification of Germany

under King Wilhelm I of Prussia
 The power was in the hands of
the emperor, the chancellor,
ministers, senior officials, and
leading figures in the army.
 Two houses: the Reichstag, to
represent the people, and the
Bundesrat, to represent the 25
states.
 Emperor Wilhelm II (reign: 1888-
1918)
 Economic Developments

 1871 – 41 million people; 1891 – 49,7 million; 1911 – 65,3 million

 1871 – 49% worked in agriculture; 1907 – 35%
 Intensified productivity of the countryside
 A greater concentration of businesses
 1870-1914, industrial production increased fivefold
 The new branches of industry: coal, steel, chemicals
 Conveniences – from automobiles and small electric-powered machinery to aspirin –
become standard features of modern life.
 Social Developments

 Urbanization
 Depopulation of the countryside
 A rise in the number of workers in large-scale
production
 An increase in the number of "white collar" workers
 Large inequalities in wealth, education, housing, and
health bred social conflict
 1878, Bismarck issued an Anti-Socialist Law:
• Bann of all Social Democratic associations, meetings,
newspapers
• Parliamentary caucus was permitted
• 1,500 people imprisoned
 September 30, 1890, the Anti-Socialist Law expired
Political Developments

 The Catholic Center Party, 23-26%

of the popular vote (1874-1912)
 The Socialist Democratic Party, the
largest party in the Reichstag in
1912
• Eduard Bernstein, revisionist of
Marxism
• Rosa Luxemburg, defender of
orthodox Marxism
 The German Navy League (1898),
mobilized popular sentiment in
favor of the German navy
 Germany in
International Affairs

 “New Course” - towards achieving a "place in the

sun“ (Bernhard von Bülow)
 Germany as a colonial power in Africa and Asia
 1898, German control over Tanganyika (Tanzania)
 1905, Maji Maji rebellion:
• A prophet Kinjikitile Ngwale
• 20 ethnic groups
• At Mahenge, a failed attack to overrun a German
stronghold
• October 21, German attack on unsuspecting Ngoni
people
• Purposely organized famine
• 75,000-300,000 Maji Maji warriors dead by 1907
 World War One

 Major reasons for German

involvement:
• Imperialism
• Alliances: The “Triple Alliance”
(Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy),
the “Triple Entente” (France, Russia,
Britain)
• Arms race
• Radical nationalist groups: the Pan-
German League, the Central League
of German Industrialists
 “The Pan-German League advocated:
1. the preservation of the German ethnicity [Volkstum] in Europe and
overseas, and support for the same in threatened areas;
2. the resolution of questions regarding education, upbringing, and
schooling in keeping with the German ethnicity;
3. the fight against all forces that impede our national development;
4. an active policy of pursuing German interests throughout the world,
especially a continuation of the German colonial movement to the point
where it produces practical results.”
 World War One

 1,773,700 Germans were dead; 4,216,058

wounded; 1,152,800 prisoners
 “Patriotic instruction”
 From 1915, food riots
 From 1917, major strikes
 In the summer of 1917, the right-wing German
Fatherland Party was founded, supporting the army
leadership (Anton Drexler, one of the members)
 Nationalists blamed Jews and Marxists for a long-
lasting war; a “stab in the back” legend
 March 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with
Russia
 Effective propaganda machine which covered
German disparity in the war from the German
public
The Treaty of Versailles

 June 28, 1919

 It required Germany to surrender:
• 13% of its territory
• all colonies
• 26% of its coal reserves
• 75% of its iron ore
 Reparations - $33 billion ($825 billion
in today’s currency)
 “War guilt” clause
 It reduced the German army to 100,000
men
 All Germans were equally convinced
that it was an instrument to suppress,
exploit, and permanently humiliate
Germany.