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 Otto von Bismarck, Babelsberg Castle (Wilhelm I's favorite summer residence), the Emperor, Crown Prince Friedrich III                 

Imperial Germany | I. Bismarck Era (1871-1888)

World

 1877-1881, USA
Rutherford Hayes
19th President

The new Germany was not the democracy the 1848ers had struggled for. The constitution of 1871 gave  the Emperor (in German: Kaiser) and his Chancellor extensive powers. The Chancellor was responsible solely to the Emperor, not to the parliament, the Reichstag. Bismarck himself made no secret of the fact that parliamentarism did not count much for him. Yet, he masterly used the political parties for his policy and played them off against each other.  For the time being, the old elites, that is the nobility, the owners of large estates, the high-ranking civil servants and also the new business tycoons, stood strong. 

Kulturkampf - Bismarck's struggle against the Catholic Church

After the exclusion of Austria, the Catholic power, the Protestants dominated in the Empire. Moreover, the Hohenzollern dynasty and most members of the government were Protestants.  In the mainly Catholic Rhineland, the already existing tensions aggravated, the number of confessional schools increased, and the Catholic Center Party won more and more followers.  Our county, the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis, was always  represented by a member of the Catholic Center Party in the Reichstag and in the parliament of the Prussian State. 

 1881, USA
James Garfield
20th President

 1881-1885, USA
Chester Arthur
21st President

 1885-1889, USA
Grover Cleveland
22nd President

While Bismarck's foreign policy concentrated on securing the German Empire on the European continent, England, France and Russia obtained and expanded colonies in Africa, Asia, South America and the Pacific (Imperialism, 1850-1914), to gain natural resources and markets for their economies.  For a long time Bismarck hesitated, but in 1884/85  also Germany established colonies in Togo, Cameroon, Southwest and East Africa,  Kaiser-Wilhelm-Land on New Guinea, the Bismarck-Archipelago and the  Marshall Islands. At the same time, upon Bismarck's initiative, major European nations and the United States convened in Berlin to settle questions of colonial expansion in Central Africa. 

1888, Berlin

The Year of three emperors

On March 9, 1888, Emperor Wilhelm I  died shortly before his 91st birthday in Berlin, greatly mourned by his country. His son Friedrich III (Frederick III, 1888) could not join the funeral procession through Berlin because he was already terminally ill, suffering from incurable laryngeal cancer. 

During all the years as Crown Prince, he had been the hope of the Liberals. Friedrich,  a moderate liberal,  was married to Princess Royal Victoria, the eldest daughter of  Queen Victoria of Great Britain. But he was also a loyal son and crown prince, and besides Emperor Wilhelm I and chancellor Bismarck there seemed to be no room for the less assertive  Crown Prince. Friedrich III died only 99 later, on June 15, 1888,  in his beloved New Palais in Park Sanssouci in Potsdam, leaving his son Wilhelm II as new Emperor. 

Emperor Wilhelm I had died on March 9, 1888, his son and heir Friedrich III had outlived him for only 99 days, he died on June 15, leaving his son Wilhelm II (William II, 1888-1918) as new Emperor. 

Wilhelm II

The last German Emperor is a controversial figure. We remember his speeches, loud and blowing his own trumpets, that created the ugly image of the aggressive German  Emperor. Yet, he was very insecure and suffered from emotional instability and depressions.  

 1893-97, USA
Grover Cleveland
24th President

 1897-1901, USA
William McKinley
25th President

1898, USA 
Spanish-American War

At the beginning of his reign, Wilhelm wanted to be a good Emperor for all his subjects, also and especially for the poor people. When coal miners in Silesia went on strike, Wilhelm received a delegation instead of sending troops to crush the strike, as Bismarck had suggested. "I  do not wish to stain my reign with the blood of my subjects," he said.  When Bismarck suggested a new, even tightened Anti Socialist-Law, Wilhelm turned him down. He wanted an even better social policy to reconcile the working class with this state. Only later, when the Social Democrats voted against all his social laws, he cursed, resigned and angry at the same time, at the "unpatriotic bunch" (in German: vaterlandslose Gesellen) and fought them with might and main. 

Bismarck's dismissal 

In  spite of all his achievements, Bismarck’s time was over when Wilhelm  wanted to rule by himself. Above all, the young Emperor did not want to stand in the shadow of the far too powerful Chancellor, he wanted to be "his own chancellor". Bismarck, for his part, who had been the second-to mightiest, if not  the mightiest man in the Empire for almost thirty years, felt downgraded and did not intend to cede power to Wilhelm. Finally, on March 20, 1890,  Bismarck was dismissed. He spent the last years of his life on his Gut Friedrichsruh close to Hamburg, with his family and his beloved great Dane dogs, until he died on  July 30, 1898.

The modern industry state 

Wilhelm II felt he was the representative of a new generation, a modern and progressive ruler who enjoyed  living in a time of tremendous technical progress, on the edge of a new century  in which things would get better and better  - "Glorious times" (in German: herrliche Zeiten), as he put it. In turn, many people considered Wilhelm to be the perfect monarch for them. 

Wilhelmine Germany was a modern industry state, a "High Tech location" as we would say today, and one of the worlds leading economic powers. Not only the the iron and coal industry of the Ruhr area, in the Saarland and in Upper Silesia, also the industries relevant for the future chemistry -  pharmacy, electrical engineering and optics - contributed to the economic boom, and many Nobel Prizes went to Germany.  In Berlin and other big cities one could see motor cars, trams and electric light. 

1900, China
Boxer Rebellion

1901-1909, USA 
 Theodor Roosevelt
26th President 

1902, South Africa 
Boer War 
between England 
and Dutch settlers

1904, Southwest Africa
Herrero Uprising

1909-1913, USA 
 William Taft
27th President

Germany's "Place in the Sun"

Wilhelm II wanted Germany to have her  "Place in the Sun",  just as Britain and France, and behaved like the emperor of a World Power, relying on Germany’s military and economic strength.  In spite of the tense political situation in the world,  he proclaimed Germany's claims loud and saber-rattling. Still today, his pithy, often overstepping speeches mark our image of him. Back then, they created the ugly image of the aggressive German  Emperor, and Germany was rejected as ally. 

The German foreign policy got the country more and more in isolation. Great Britain was considered Germany's "natural" ally, because Great Britain was in conflict with both Russia and France over colonies. But at the same time, a program of warship construction under Admiral von Tirpitz began, and the Foreign Office did not see how threatening that was to Great Britain. Finally, Great Britain and France compromised over their colonies in Africa and formed the "Entente cordiale" in 1904.  In 1907, after setting aside differences  with Great Britain over territories in Asia, Russia joined them and the "Triple Entente" was formed.  In 1907, two blocks all armed to a maximum stood against each other:  England, France and Russia ("Triple Entente") on one side, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy ("Dreibund") on the other. 

1913-1921, USA 
 Woodrow Wilson
28th President

1916, UK/Ireland
Easter Rising in Dublin

1917, Russia
February  Revolution 

1917, Russia
October Revolution

The assassination of the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo (Bosnia) by a Serbian Nationalist led to the outbreak of a war. The following World War I was the most terrible war the Europe had seen so far. It was devastating and millions of people lost their lives. 

The assassination of the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo (Bosnia) by a Serbian Nationalist led to the outbreak of a war. Also in Germany, patriotism rose above all other feelings, and all parties. The following World War I was the most terrible war the Europe had seen so far. It was devastating and millions of people lost their lives. 

1914-1916, Europe

After a quick march through Belgium into France, German troops were halted on the Marne River, north of Paris. The frontlines in France changed little until the end of the war. The two friends August Macke and Franz Marc had volunteered to the front. Macke died in September 1914 in Champagne, Marc was killed during the battle of Verdun in March 1916. 

At that time, Emperor Wilhelm II was no longer in control. All decisions were de facto taken by the German High Command leaders, General Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff.  They convinced Wilhelm to declare unrestricted submarine warfare against all foreign ship. In vain, Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg warned that in that case the USA would enter the war on the Allies' side.  

1917, Europe

When Germany took up unrestricted submarine warfare and US merchant ships were attacked and sank, the USA declared war on Germany. Still the German war propaganda continued promising victory, and the High Command as well as right wing parties kept pursuing expansionist and offensive war goals.

The longer the war lasted and  the more victims it claimed, the more people at home suffered, social tensions broke out again and general strikes in armament factories occurred . People had to work very hard 12 hours a day, for minimal wages, and they had almost nothing to eat due to a British naval blockade in the North Sea. 

The Social Democrat faction in the Reichstag split over  the question of further credits to finance the war. Those who were against them were excluded and shortly after formed the Independent Social Democratic Party.  Politicians around Matthias Erzberger of the Catholic Center Party demanded a truce of understanding, and with the votes of Social Democrats, the Center Party and the  Progressive People's Party the Reichstag passed a peace resolution in July 1917. 

The High Command considered it an admission of weakness and enforced Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg's dismission. From now on, General Ludendorff dictated German policy. 

In the east, Hindenburg and Ludendorff had defeated the Russian army. After the October Revolution in Russia, Lenin offered peace in November 1917. For month the High Command and the Bolsheviks negotiated while fighting continued until the very hard "peace through victory" was imposed upon Russia in March 1918 at Brest-Litowsk. 

1918, Germany

After the victory in the east, the High Command ordered a new offensive in the west  to bring about a decisive turn in favor of Germany. They outright rejected the "Fourteen Points" set out by the American President Woodrow Wilson on January 8, 1918. Wilson wanted peace on the basis of "self-determination of peoples" without victors or conquered. 

In July 1918, the last reserves were burnt up, military defeat of Germany was inevitable. At the same time, the multi-ethnic state of Austria-Hungary was falling apart and had to ask for armistice. On August 8, 1918, Canadian, Australian and French tanks broke through the German lines. In October, the High Command informed Wilhelm II that there was no more hope, and that Germany had to ask for an armistice on the basis of Wilson's "Fourteen Points".  

However, it was clear that President Wilson would not negotiate with the Imperial authorities, so the  High Command suggested that the Government should be democratized from above, and that the democratic political parties should participate in the new government.  That was nothing but cynical political calculation, because that way the democratic parties would have to face  the disastrous consequences of the defeat, whereas nobody would hold the Imperial authorities and  the High Command responsible. Later, Ludendorff and Hindenburg would pretend that the army had been undefeated in combat, but "stabbed in the back" by revolutionists and strikers at home.  

By the "October reforms", Germany became a constitutional monarchy whose Chancellor, Max von Baden, was responsible to the Reichstag. For the first time, Social Democrats got into the government. Only now did the High Command reveal the full truth to the Government: the situation was hopeless, armistice had to be made at any conditions. On November 11,  1918, armistice was signed in Compiègne, France.

November 1918, Rhineland

In November 1918, allied troops occupied the left bank of the Rhine river and  bridge heads at Cologne, Koblenz and Mainz, a 50 km wide strip on  the right bank was declared a demilitarized zone. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the occupation would be continued. 

November 1918, Germany

At the end of October 1918, the military commanders ordered, by their own authority,  the navy in Kiel to set sail for a last battle against the British Royal Navy.  The war was already lost, and the sailors considered it a voyage into certain death, and refused to follow this order. Revolts broke out in the cities of Kiel and Wilhelmshaven. At the beginning of November, the revolt spread to other cities and states of the country, in many of which so-called workers' and soldiers' councils were established. All German ruling princes abdicated. 

On November 9, 1918, the revolution reached Berlin. Emperor Wilhelm II had left the capital days before, he was at the High Command headquarters in Spa, Belgium. Chancellor Max von Baden saw he could not control the situation any more, and that Wilhelm could no longer be maintained. He urged him to abdicate in favor of a regent, to save at least the monarchy, but Wilhelm could not make up his mind.  Finally,  Max von Baden acted on his own judgement: without authorization, he declared that Emperor Wilhelm II had abdicated. Shortly after, he resigned and made Friedrich Ebert of the SPD Chancellor. 

Yet, it was too late, and could not calm down the demonstrating crowds. About 2 p.m.  that day, the Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the German Republic from a balcony of the Reichstag. He had no legal authority to do so, but he  wanted to be faster than Karl Liebknecht of the Spartacist League who, about the same time, proclaimed the Socialist Republic.  On November 10, a Provisional Government was formed, the "Rat der Volksbeauftragten" (Council of People's Deputies), with Ebert at the top. 

But  what would the republican Germany be? The democratic parties in the political center and the majority of the Social Democrats  wanted a parliamentarian democracy, whereas the left-wing parties claimed a Council System. Ebert must have hated being at the top of a revolutionary government, he distrusted the workers' and solders' councils and struggled to prevent a social revolution that might led to a Bolshevik overthrow as in Russia. Today, historians agree that the danger of a Boshevik revolution was over-estimated, but back  people were in a state of shock. Yet, a congress of the German workers' and soldiers' councils hold in December in Berlin voted against the council system and in favor of elections to a national assembly that should decide about the future state system. 

After that, political enmity become hatred.  On the other side, Ebert could not win the old elites for the new, democratic regime. To them, he was a traitor, too, because he taken over the lead of  revolution in order to control it.