1.
Lower house
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A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position below the house, in many legislatures worldwide. A legislature composed of one house is described as unicameral. In comparison with the house, lower houses frequently display certain characteristics, Powers In a parliamentary system, Much more power. Able to override the upper house in some ways, can vote a motion of no confidence against the government. In a presidential system, Somewhat less power, as the house alone gives advice. Given the sole power to impeach the executive Status Always elected directly, while the house may be elected directly, indirectly. Its members may be elected with a different voting system to the upper house, most populated administrative divisions are better represented than in the upper house, representation is usually proportional to population. Elected all at once, not by staggered terms, in a parliamentary system, can be dissolved by the executive. Has total or original control over budget and monetary laws, lower age of candidacy than the upper house. Many lower houses are named in the manner, House/Chamber of Representatives/the People/Commons/Deputies
2.
Prussian estates
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They were at first composed of officials of six big cities of the region, Braunsberg, Culm, Elbing, Danzig, Königsberg and Thorn. Later, representatives of towns as well as nobility were also included. The estates met on four times per year, and discussed issues such as commerce. Obligations would be changed if new coins, too plentifully issued. Thus a law was passed by the Diet of Teutonic Prussia in 1418, thus creditors and recipients of nominally fixed revenues were not to lose by debasement-induced inflation. The Estates drifted towards the Kingdom of Poland in their political alignment, norman Housley noted that The alienation of the Prussian Estates represented a massive political failure on the part of the Order. The estates eventually became governed by Kingdom of Poland, on 10 December 1525 at their session in Königsberg the Prussian estates established the Lutheran Church in Ducal Prussia by deciding the Church Order. Nicolaus Copernicus, then canon of the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia, addressed the Prussian estates with three memoranda, in fact little essays, on currency reform, debasements continued to ruin Prussian finances, the groat had been debased by 1/5 to 1/6 of its prior bullion content. In 1517,1519 and again in 1526 he suggested to return to the law passed in 1418, however, especially the cities refused that. At least the estates refused to peg the Prussian currency to the Polish, under the Hohenzollerns absolutist rule the power of the Estates increasingly diminished. The West and East Prussian Estates, separately, again played a role in the transformation from feudal traditional agriculture to agricultural business, the Silesian Wars of 1740-1763 had required high taxes, such that many Prussian tax-payers went into debt. Feudal manor estates were not free property sellable at the will of their holders or – in case of over-indebtedness – by way of execution prompted by the creditors of the holders, so the holders of feudal manor estates found it difficult to borrow against their estates. Members of the Estates, then by status mostly noble landed manor holders, in order to overcome the restrictions on selling manor estates to fulfil outstanding debts, the manor estate holders formed a corporation of mutually liable debtors. So solvent manor estate holders had to step in for over-indebted borrowers, coovering over-indebted borrowers imposed hardship for the solvent manor-estate holders. This affected many opinions and even aroused appeals to abolish the system of manor estate holding. In the Napoleonic era the East Prussian Estates gained some political influence again, in return the Estates reached a wider representation of further parts of the population. The last excepted group - the Jews - became citizens in 1812, on 23 January Count Friedrich Ferdinand Alexander zu Dohna-Schlobitten, president of the Estates assembly, called its members for 5 February 1813. The hesitant king could not stop this anymore, but only approve it, only in the wake of the Revolutions of 1848 did Prussia receive its first constitution providing for the Prussian Landtag as the parliament of the kingdom
3.
Landtag of Prussia
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After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–19 the Landtag diet continued as the parliament of the Free State of Prussia between 1921 and 1933. The Prussian National Assembly however was dismissed by royal decree of 5 December 1848, both houses and the King of Prussia had the right to introduce bills. The assembly raised a blistering protest and over the following years Bismarcks cabinet had to govern without a government budget passed by the legislature. In September 1866 the prime minister, at a peak of his power after the Battle of Königgrätz, the balloting led to the split-off of the National Liberal Party which became a loyal supporter of Bismarcks policies. During the German Revolution of 1918–19 the new Prussian government of Social Democrats, a constitutional convention was elected on 26 January 1919, after the introduction of equal franchise for all men and women. After the failed Kapp Putsch of 1920, the confirmed the first cabinet of Minister-president Otto Braun. The Preußischer Landtag was re-established as the parliament of the Free State of Prussia in 1921, the provinces were represented in the Prussian State Council, which succeeded the former Herrenhaus as a kind of upper house. The Cologne mayor Konrad Adenauer served as its president until 1933, a legislative period lasted for no longer than four years. The parliament could be dissolved early by joint resolution of the minister and the presidents of the Landtag. In 1931 just such a referendum took place on the initiative of the Stahlhelm veterans association with the support of the Nazi Party, Landtag elections took place on 20 February 1921, on 7 December 1924, on 20 May 1928 on 24 April 1932 and on 5 March 1933. In 1899, the House of Representatives moved into a building on Prinz-Albrecht-Straße No,5, close to Potsdamer Platz and situated opposite to the Martin Gropius Bau. During the German Revolution of 1918–19 the Reichsrätekongress held its assemblies here from 16 to 20 December 1918, on 1 January 1919, the Communist Party of Germany was founded here. The seat of the Prussian House of Lords on Leipziger Straße was inaugurated in 1904, both buildings were built back-to-back according to plans designed by Friedrich Schulze, they intercommunicate via a common restaurant wing. Upon the Nazi Machtergreifung, the Herrenhaus building served as an annex of the neighbouring Ministry of Aviation, after World War II it housed several departments of the German Academy of Sciences and since 29 September 2000 is the seat of the German Bundesrat. Philo Fine Arts, Dresden 2001, ISBN 3-364-00378-5 Tabelle zur Geschichte des Preußischen Landtags Informationen zum Freistaat Preußen
4.
German language
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German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
5.
Prussian House of Lords
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The Prussian House of Lords in Berlin was the upper house of the Preußischer Landtag, the parliament of Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the house, the House of Representatives, it formed the Prussian bicameral legislature. A member of the House of Lords was known as a pair, the House consisted of hereditary peers, life peers appointed by the King of Prussia, peers by virtue of position, representatives of cities and universities, etc. The majority of members were nobles, although the House also had commoners as members, life members, Holders of the four great court appointments of the kingdom—these were the state steward, the chancellor, the lord marshal, and the lord burgrave. Members entrusted by the king—these were both nobles and commoners, and included select generals and admirals, senior government officials, business leaders, Members called by presentation—these were primarily holders of noble estates, the university representatives, and the lord mayors of cities given the right of presentation. According to the 1920 constitution of the Free State of Prussia it was replaced by the Staatsrat of representatives delegated by the Landtag assemblies of the Provinces, the Cologne mayor Konrad Adenauer served as president of the state council from 1921 until the Nazi Machtergreifung in 1933. Since 1856 the House of Lords met at a Baroque city palace on Leipziger Straße No,3, near Leipziger Platz, formerly owned by the merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky and seat of the Royal Porcelain Factory from 1763. It had been acquired by Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy, father of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, in summer 1826, young Felix Mendelssohn wrote his A Midsummer Nights Dream ouverture, which premiered at his fathers house. After the Prussian state had purchased the building in 1856, it served for the meetings of the Reichstag of the North German Federation from 1867 to 1870. No.3 and 4 buildings were demolished in 1898 to make space for a new building for the House of Lords, the Neo-Renaissance Herrenhaus building, designed by the architect Friedrich Schulze, was completed in 1904. Schulze had had built the adjacent Abgeordnetenhaus on Prinz-Albrecht-Straße from 1892 to 1898. Both structures were connected by a functional wing in the rear. Since 1993, the Abgeordnetenhaus building is the seat of the Berlin state parliament, seat of the Prussian state council from 1921 to 1933, the former Herrenhaus building from 1933 served for Hermann Görings Preußenhaus foundation. Heavily damaged by Allied bombing and the Battle of Berlin, the building was restored after the war, since 2000, it is again the site of the parliamentary sessions of the Federal Council of Germany. One of the characters in Fyodor Dostoevskys Crime and Punishment references the Prussian Upper House when talking about the characters sister. List of Presidents of the Prussian State Council Members of the Prussian House of Lords The Bundesrat building Preußisches Herrenhaus
6.
Kingdom of Prussia
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It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia. Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of Frederick II, more known as Frederick the Great. After the might of Prussia was revealed it was considered as a power among the German states. Throughout the next hundred years Prussia went on to win many battles and it was because of its power that Prussia continuously tried to unify all the German states under its rule. Attempts at creation of a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when war ensued between its two most powerful states, Prussia and Austria. The North German Confederation which lasted from 1867–1871, created a union between the Prussian-aligned states while Austria and most of Southern Germany remained independent. The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War, the German Empire lasted from 1871–1918 with the successful unification of all the German states under Prussian hegemony. This was due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, in 1871, Germany unified into a single country, minus Austria and Switzerland, with Prussia the dominant power. Prussia is considered the predecessor of the unified German Reich. The Kingdom left a significant cultural legacy, today notably promoted by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in 1415 a Hohenzollern Burgrave came from the south to the March of Brandenburg and took control of the area as elector. In 1417 the Hohenzollern was made an elector of the Holy Roman Empire, after the Polish wars, the newly established Baltic towns of the German states including Prussia, suffered many economic setbacks. Many of the Prussian towns could not even afford to attend political meetings outside of Prussia, the towns were poverty stricken, with even the largest town, Danzig, having to borrow money from elsewhere to pay for trade. Poverty in these towns was partly caused by Prussias neighbors, who had established and developed such a monopoly on trading that these new towns simply could not compete and these issues led to feuds, wars, trade competition and invasions. However, the fall of these gave rise to the nobility, separated the east and the west. It was clear in 1440 how different Brandenburg was from the other German territories, not only did it face partition from within but also the threat of its neighbors. It prevented the issue of partition by enacting the Dispositio Achillea which instilled the principle of primogeniture to both the Brandenburg and Franconian territories, the second issue was solved through expansion
7.
German Conservative Party
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The German Conservative Party was a right-wing political party of the German Empire, founded in 1876. It largely represented the wealthy landowning elite Prussian Junkers, the party was a response to German unification, universal and equal franchise in national elections, and rapid industrialization. It changed from a party of broad ideology into an interest party in Bismarckian Germany. In the early 1870s, Bismarck formed his majority with the base in the National Liberal party and they now became the main base of Bismarcks support, and successive chancellors down to 1918. The 1892 party program denounced a demoralizing Jewish influence, however, when this failed to halt the partys fall in the polls. Stoecker finally revoked the alliance in 1896, the party supported Emperor Wilhelm IIs naval policies and Germanys arms race with the United Kingdom, but initially kept its distance towards colonialism and the activists of the Pan-German League. The party was dissolved following the fall of the monarchy in November 1918, most of its supporters turned to the newly established German National Peoples Party. The Deutschkonservative Partei had no connection to the Deutsche Rechtspartei founded in 1946. Conservatism in Germany Berdahl, Robert M. Conservative Politics and aristocratic landholders in Bismarckian Germany, Journal of Modern History 44#1, 2-20. Conservatives contra Chancellor, Official Responses to the Spectre of Conservative Demagoguery from Bismarck to Bülow, canadian Journal of History/Annales Canadiennes dHistoire 20#2 pp 203-36. The Red Specter, Franchise Questions, and the Crisis of Conservative Hegemony in Saxony, the German Right, 1860-1920, Political Limits of the Authoritarian Imagination Retallack, James. Germanys Second Reich, Portraits and Pathways Konservatives Handbuch The Conservative Handbook, published by the party in 1898 Webpage from the German Historical Museum
8.
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
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Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was a small county in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the senior Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern, the senior Swabian branch is not as well known to history, as is the junior Franconian line which became Burgraves of Nuremberg and later ruled Brandenburg-Prussia and the German Empire. The County of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was created in 1576, upon the partition of the County of Hohenzollern, the principality became a sovereign state in 1815 after the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and an independent realm following the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. Its ruler, Charles, was deposed in the revolutions of 1848 and his son, Karl Anton, succeeded him, and turned to Prussia for aid. Prussian troops arrived in August 1849, and in a treaty signed in December Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was annexed by Prussia, the annexation of their state did not, however, mean the end of the importance of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. The last prince, Karl Anton, served as Minister President of Prussia from 1858-61, french opposition to the candidacy of Carols elder brother Prince Leopold for the throne of Spain triggered the Franco-Prussian War, which led to the founding of the German Empire in January 1871. From 1806 until 1813 the Hohenzollern lands were a realm of the Confederation of the Rhine, from 1815 until 1849 the principality was a sovereign country and a member of the German Confederation. In 1849 it lost its independence, and was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia as the Province of Hohenzollern, the German Confederation was succeeded in 1866 by the North German Confederation, which itself was succeeded by the German Empire in 1871. In 1918, the kingdom of Prussia became the Free State of Prussia, in 1933 the republic was replaced by the Third Reich. After the defeat of the Nazis the province of Hohenzollern was merged with other territories into the state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern and this state was part of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany until 1952. In that year, the state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern was merged into Baden-Württemberg, Prince Karl Eitel of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen reigned and, being childless, was succeeded by his nephew Ferdinand on the throne of Romania. The modern state of Romania was formed by merger of the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859 under the Moldavian domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza and he was replaced by Karl Eitel of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in 1866, who mounted the throne as Carol I, Prince of Romania. During the Russo-Turkish War, Romania fought on the Russian side, in the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, Romania was subsequently recognized as an independent state by the Great Powers. In return for reverting to the Russian Empire three southern Bessarabian districts that had been regained by Moldavia after the Crimean War in 1852, in 1881, the principality was raised to a kingdom and Prince Carol became King Carol I. He reigned until his death in 1914, and was succeeded by his nephew, shortly after taking the throne, Ferdinand, a Roman Catholic like his predecessor, agreed to have his children reared in the Romanian Orthodox Church. In 1918 Transylvania and Bessarabia were incorporated, in 1918-19, confirmed by the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 and the Treaty of Trianon of 1920, most of the Banat became part of Romania. Also, Bukovina was incorporated in 1918 and his eldest son, Crown Prince Carol, having renounced his rights, Carols only son Michael ascended the throne. In 1930, however, Carol reclaimed the throne and was crowned Carol II, Carol was forced to abdicate in 1940, and Michael re-mounted the throne
9.
Hohenzollern-Hechingen
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Hohenzollern-Hechingen was a small principality in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the Swabian branch of the Hohenzollern dynasty, the County of Hohenzollern-Hechingen was created in 1576, upon the partition of the County of Hohenzollern, a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. The County was raised to a principality in 1623, the principality joined the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806 and was a member state of the German Confederation between 1815 and 1850. The democratic Revolution of 1848 was relatively successful in Hohenzollern, and on 16 May 1848, however, the conflict between monarch and democrats continued, and on 6 August, Hohenzollern was occupied by Prussian forces. On 7 December 1849, Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Konstantin sold the country to his relative, on 12 March 1850, Hohenzollern-Hechingen officially became part of Prussia, and formed together with Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen the Province of Hohenzollern. After cession of territory to Prussia, the Prince continued to use his title, line became extinct 1869 at Prince Constantines death, and titles passed to the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen line. Almanach de Gotha info about Hohenzollern-Hechingen
10.
Austro-Prussian War
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This conflict also paralleled the Third Independence War of Italian unification. It saw the abolition of the German Confederation and its replacement by a North German Confederation that excluded Austria. The war also resulted in the Italian annexation of the Austrian province of Venetia, for centuries, Central Europe was split into a few large states and hundreds of tiny entities, each maintaining its independence with the assistance of outside powers, particularly France. After 1815, the German states were again reorganized into a loose confederation. When Austria brought the dispute before the German Diet and also decided to convene the Diet of Holstein, when the German Diet responded by voting for a partial mobilization against Prussia, Bismarck claimed that the German Confederation was ended. Crown Prince Frederick was the member of the Prussian Crown Council to uphold the rights of the Duke of Augustenberg. Although he supported unification and the restoration of the medieval empire, the ultimate aim of most German nationalists was the gathering of all Germans under one state. Two ideas of national unity eventually came to the fore – once including, US newspaper The New York Times summarized its views of German nationalism shortly after the outbreak of the war, There is, in political geography, no Germany proper to speak of. There are Kingdoms and Grand Duchies, and Duchies and Principalities, inhabited by Germans, yet there is a natural undercurrent tending to a national feeling and toward a union of the Germans into one great nation, ruled by one common head as a national unit. Bismarck maintained that he orchestrated the conflict in order to bring about the North German Confederation, the Franco-Prussian War, taylor thinks Bismarck manipulated events into the most beneficial solution possible for Prussia. On 22 February 1866, Count Karolyi, Austrian ambassador in Berlin, sent a dispatch to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, possible evidence can be found in Bismarcks orchestration of the Austrian alliance during the Second Schleswig War against Denmark, which can be seen as his diplomatic masterstroke. It was in the Prussian interest to gain an alliance with Austria to defeat Denmark and settle the issue of the duchies of Schleswig, the alliance can be regarded as an aid to Prussian expansion, rather than a provocation of war against Austria. Many historians believe that Bismarck was simply a Prussian expansionist, rather than a German nationalist and it was at the Gastein Convention that the Austrian alliance was set up to lure Austria into war. The timing of the declaration was perfect, because all other European powers were bound by alliances that forbade them from entering the conflict. Britain had no stake economically or politically in war between Prussia and Austria, the details of the discussion are unknown but many historians think Bismarck was guaranteed French neutrality in the event of a war. Italy was already allied with Prussia, which meant that Austria would be fighting both with no major allies of its own, Bismarck was aware of his numerical superiority but still he was not prepared to advise it immediately even though he gave a favourable account of the international situation. When the Prussian victory became clear, France attempted to extract concessions in the Palatinate. Naturally I was not doubtful of the answer for a second, I answered him, Good, then its war
11.
Otto von Bismarck
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Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg, known as Otto von Bismarck, was a conservative Prussian statesman who dominated German and European affairs from the 1860s until 1890. In the 1860s, he engineered a series of wars that unified the German states, significantly and deliberately excluding Austria, into a powerful German Empire under Prussian leadership. With that accomplished by 1871, he skillfully used balance of power diplomacy to maintain Germanys position in a Europe which, despite many disputes and war scares, in 1862, King Wilhelm I appointed Bismarck as Minister President of Prussia, a position he would hold until 1890. He provoked three short, decisive wars against Denmark, Austria, and France, aligning the smaller German states behind Prussia in its defeat of France, in 1871, he formed the German Empire with himself as Chancellor, while retaining control of Prussia. His diplomacy of realpolitik and powerful rule at home gained him the nickname the Iron Chancellor, German unification and its rapid economic growth was the foundation to his foreign policy. He disliked colonialism but reluctantly built an empire when it was demanded by both elite and mass opinion. A master of politics at home, Bismarck created the first welfare state in the modern world. In the 1870s, he allied himself with the Liberals and fought the Catholic Church in what was called the Kulturkampf and he lost that battle as the Catholics responded by forming a powerful Centre party and using universal male suffrage to gain a bloc of seats. Bismarck then reversed himself, ended the Kulturkampf, broke with the Liberals, imposed protective tariffs, a devout Lutheran, he was loyal to his king, who argued with Bismarck but in the end supported him against the advice of his wife and his heir. Under Wilhelm I, Bismarck largely controlled domestic and foreign affairs, until he was removed by the young Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1890, bismarck—a Junker himself—was strong-willed, outspoken and sometimes judged overbearing, but he could also be polite, charming and witty. Occasionally he displayed a violent temper, and he kept his power by threatening resignation time and again. He possessed not only a national and international vision but also the short-term ability to juggle complex developments. As the leader of what historians call revolutionary conservatism, Bismarck became a hero to German nationalists, many historians praise him as a visionary who was instrumental in uniting Germany and, once that had been accomplished, kept the peace in Europe through adroit diplomacy. Bismarck was born in Schönhausen, a family estate situated west of Berlin in the Prussian province of Saxony. He had two siblings, Bernhard and Malwine, the world saw Bismarck as a typical Prussian Junker, an image that he encouraged by wearing military uniforms. Bismarck was well educated and cosmopolitan with a gift for conversation, in addition to his native German, he was fluent in English, French, Italian, Polish and Russian. Bismarck was educated at Johann Ernst Plamanns elementary school, and the Friedrich-Wilhelm, from 1832 to 1833, he studied law at the University of Göttingen, where he was a member of the Corps Hannovera, and then enrolled at the University of Berlin. In 1838, while stationed as an army reservist in Greifswald, at Göttingen, Bismarck befriended the American student John Lothrop Motley
12.
National Liberal Party (Germany)
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The National Liberal Party was a liberal political party of the German Empire, which flourished between 1867 and 1918. During the unification of Germany, it became the strongest party in the Reichstag parliament, the National Liberal Party was founded in 1867, it advocated the interests of the Grand Burghers and business magnates. Its first chairman was Rudolf von Bennigsen, in the 1871 election the party reached 30. 1% of the votes, becoming the strongest group in the Reichstag parliament with 119 seats. The National Liberals period of dominance was between 1871 and 1879, when they were Bismarcks chief allies in the Reichstag, and were avid supporters of the Kulturkampf measures. Weights and measurements were standardized, a common German market and a bank, the Reichsbank, created. The liberal economic policies, although temporarily unpopular in the recession of the 1870s, when Bismarck broke with the National Liberals in 1879 and turned to protectionist policies, the shift was so important, that it has been characterized as Bismarck´s conservative turn. This meant a shift of the Chancellor to the right. One year later the NLPs left wing, the Liberal Union split off, as for the Kulturkampf, Bismarck deserted the liberals, came to terms with a new, less confrontational Pope, and started working politically with the Catholic Center Party. Historian Hajo Holborn examines the contradictions between the Kulturkampf and liberal values, only laws that separated state and church could be defended from a liberal point of view. Full state control over schools was a liberal ideal, German liberalism showed no loyalty to the ideas of lawful procedure or of political and cultural freedom which had formerly been its lifeblood. With few exceptions the German liberals were hypnotized by the national state and they were unable to recognize that the Kulturkampf was bound to undermine the belief in the Rechtsstaat and to divide the German people profoundly. David Blackbourn says the liberal attacks on the Catholic Church, left a legacy that was the opposite of what liberals wanted. It made them beholden to Bismarck, and helped consolidate political Catholicism in Germany, the National Liberals came to be closely associated with the interests of big business. Following the war, the party broke up, stresemann led the main body of the party, including most of its moderate and conservative elements, into the conservative liberal German Peoples Party. Its left wing merged with the left-liberal Progressives to form the German Democratic Party, the extreme right wing of the National Liberals joined the German National Peoples Party. Voter, Junker, Landrat, Priest, The Old Authorities, practicing democracy, Elections and political culture in Imperial Germany. Emperor Frederick III and the German Liberal Movement, American Historical Review 54#1 pp. 1–31 in JSTOR Gross, Kulturkampf and unification, German liberalism and the war against the Jesuits. The German Idea of Freedom, History of a Political Tradition, mork, Gordon R. Bismarck and the Capitulation of German Liberalism, Journal of Modern History 43#1 pp. 59–75 in JSTOR OBoyle, Lenore
13.
Centre Party (Germany)
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The German Centre Party is a lay Catholic political party in Germany, primarily influential during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. In English it is called the Catholic Centre Party. Formed in 1870, it successfully battled the Kulturkampf which Chancellor Otto von Bismarck launched in Prussia to reduce the power of the Catholic Church. It soon won a quarter of the seats in the Reichstag, after World War II, the party was refounded, but could not rise again to its former importance, as most of its members joined the new Christian Democratic Union. The Centre Party was represented in the German parliament until 1957 and it exists as a marginal party, mainly based in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Many Catholics found themselves in Protestant dominated states and this led to serious aggressions against the Catholic population of the Rhineland and Westphalia and culminated in the arrest of the Archbishop of Cologne. The conflict relaxed after 1840, with Frederick William IVs accession to the throne, the Revolution of 1848 brought new opportunities for German Catholics. In October, the bishops had their first meeting in 40 years in Würzburg, in the National Assembly, which was convened to draw up a German constitution, a Catholic club was formed. This was not yet a party, but a loose union aimed at protecting the Churchs liberties in a future Germany. The later demise of the National Assembly proved to be a setback for Political Catholicism. In reaction this led to a doubling of Catholic representatives in the subsequent elections, in 1858, when the New Era governments of Wilhelm I adopted more lenient policies, the club renamed itself Fraction of the Centre in order to open itself up to include non-Catholics. This name stemmed from the fact that in the Prussian Diet the Catholic representatives were seated in the centre, faced with military and constitutional issues, where there was no definite Church position, the group soon disintegrated and disappeared from parliament after 1867. The main points were, Preservation of the Churchs autonomy and rights, defense against any attack on the independence of Church bodies, on the development of religious life and on the practice of Christian charity. Effectual implementation of parity for recognised denominations, rejection of any attempt to de-Christianise marriage. Preservation or founding of denominational schools, with such a manifesto, the number of Catholic representatives in the Prussian Diet rose considerably. In December 1870, they formed a new Centre faction, also called the Constitution Party to emphasise its adherence to constitutional liberties, three months later, early in 1871, the Catholic representatives to the new national parliament, the Reichstag, also formed a Centre faction. In the age of nationalism, Protestant Germans, whether Conservative or Liberal, after the First Vatican Council, Bismarck launched the Kulturkampf or cultural struggle against the Catholic Church. But the Catholics fought back vigorously and with near-unanimity, the Centre party gained greater support from the Catholic population
14.
Social Democratic Party of Germany
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The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany. The party, led by Chairman Martin Schulz since 2017, has one of the two major contemporary political parties in Germany, along with the Christian Democratic Union. The SPD has governed at the level in Germany as part of a grand coalition with the CDU. The SPD participates in 14 state governments, nine of them governed by SPD Minister-Presidents, the SPD is a member of the Party of European Socialists and of the Socialist International, and became a founding member of the Progressive Alliance on 22 May 2013. Established in 1863, the SPD is the oldest extant political party represented in the German Parliament and was one of the first Marxist-influenced parties in the world. The General German Workers Association, founded in 1863, and the Social Democratic Workers Party, founded in 1869, merged in 1875, under the name Socialist Workers Party of Germany. From 1878 to 1890, any grouping or meeting that aimed at spreading socialist principles was banned under the Anti-Socialist Laws, in 1890, when the ban was lifted and it could again present electoral lists, the party adopted its current name. In the years leading up to World War I, the party remained ideologically radical in official principle, by 1912, the party claimed the most votes of any German party. Despite the agreement of the Second International to oppose the First World War, after 1918 the SPD played an important role in the political system of the Weimar Republic, although it took part in coalition governments only in few years. Adolf Hitler prohibited the party in 1933 under the Enabling Act – party officials were imprisoned, killed or went into exile, in exile, the party used the name Sopade. In the Soviet Zone of Occupation, the Soviets forced the Social Democrats to form a party with the Communists. In the Western zones, the Communist Party was later banned by West Germanys Federal Constitutional Court, since 1949, in the Federal Republic of Germany, the SPD has been one of the two major parties, with the other being the Christian Democratic Union. From 1969 to 1982 and 1998 to 2005 the Chancellors of Germany were Social Democrats whereas the other years the Chancellors were Christian Democrats, the SPD was established as a Marxist party in 1875. After World War II, under the leadership of Kurt Schumacher, the SPD re-established itself as a socialist party, representing the interests of the working class and the trade unions. With the Godesberg Program of 1959, however, the party evolved from a socialist working-class party to a modern social-democratic party working within capitalism. The current party platform of the SPD espouses the goal of social democracy, according to the party platform, freedom, justice, and social solidarity, form the basis of social democracy. The coordinated social market economy should be strengthened, and its output should be distributed fairly, the party sees that economic system as necessary in order to ensure the affluence of the entire population. The SPD also tries to protect the poor with a welfare state
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German Free-minded Party
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Richter aspired to build up a strong united liberal force in the Reichstag parliament, similar to the British Liberal Party under William Ewart Gladstone. The DFP supported the extension of parliamentarism in the German constitutional monarchy, separation of church, the main beneficiaries of this defection were the conservative forces, supporting the protectionist, colonist and anti-socialist policies of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. In the 1887 election, the DFP again lost half of their seats, though urged by his wife Princess Royal Victoria, Crown Prince Frederick William did not dare to meet trouble with Bismarck by openly taking the partys side. His early death in 1888 and the accession of his son William II terminated all liberal hopes, during the decay, the differences between Progressives and center-right liberals became inconsolable. Upon Bismarcks demission in 1890, the party members lost their common adversary, in 1893 the party split in conflict over Chancellor Caprivis policies into the Free-minded Peoples Party and the Free-minded Union. A re-union took place in 1910, when both further weakened liberal parties merged with the German Peoples Party to form the Progressive Peoples Party
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Max von Forckenbeck
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Maximilian Franz August von Forckenbeck was a German lawyer and politician and served as Mayor of Berlin from 1878 to 1892. His is considered one of the most important mayors of the city because of his prudent management style, Max Forckenbeck was born in Münster on October 23,1821. From 1838 to 1841 he studied law in Gießen where he joined the Corps Teutonia Gießen, from 1842 he worked first as a Referendar and from 1847 as an Assessor for the Glogau Municipal Court. In 1848 he acted as president of the Glogauer Konstitutioneller Verein, in 1859 he was elected a member of the liberal faction in the Prussian House of Representatives and quickly set to create a liberal party. On January 13,1861, he founded the German Progress Party, in 1861 Forckenbeck managed the Committee of the German National Association, which he had joined in 1859. During the Prussian Constitutional Conflict, from 1862 to 1866, he tried as leader of the Progressive Party to work out the conflict with Bismarck. Due to his prudent efforts toward an understanding he was made President of the Prussian House of Representatives from 1866 to 1873, during that time Forckenbeck, along with others, founded the National Liberal Party and on July 8,1872 became Mayor of Breslau. Beginning in 1873, Forckenbeck was a member of the Prussian House of Lords, in 1879, he dedicated his time exclusively to his new position, stepping down as President of the Reichstag. During his time in office, Forckenbeck devoted his time to reforming the education system, in his first term he improved the sewage system and expanded the citys water supply. Furthermore, he improved the citys hygiene by offering recreational opportunities like those at Viktoriapark in Kreuzberg, frockenbeck was heavily in favor of the privatization of the urban sector, pushing through laws allowing private companies to manage the citys street lights. Buoyed by high popularity, Forckenbeck was easily elected for a second term, during his second term he tried to improve the relationship between state and city governments. On May 26,1892 Max Forckenbeck died from pneumonia and his grave is found at the Protestant Nicolaikirchhof. Erich Angermann, Forckenbeck, Max von, Neue Deutsche Biographie,5, Berlin, Duncker & Humblot, pp. 296–298 Biography of Max Forckenbeck Another biography
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Rudolf von Bennigsen
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Rudolf von Bennigsen was a German politician descended from an old Hanoverian family. Bennigsen was born at Lüneburg on 10 of July 1824 and he was descended from an old Hanoverian family, his father, Karl von Bennigsen, was an officer in the Hanoverian army who rose to the rank of general and also held diplomatic appointments. The anthropologist Moritz von Leonhardi was his nephew, after studying at the University of Göttingen, where he became a member of the Corps Hannovera, Bennigsen entered the Hanoverian civil service. In 1855, he was elected a member of the second chamber, Bennigsen was also one of the founders of the Protestantenverein in 1863. In 1866 Bennigsen, then leader of the opposition in the second chamber of the Estates Assembly, used all his influence to keep Hanover neutral in the Austro-Prussian War. He took no part in the war, but his brother and he used his influence to procure as much autonomy as possible for the province of Hanover, but was a strong opponent of the Guelph Party. For the next thirty years Bennigsen was president of the party and it was chiefly owing to him that the building up of the internal institutions of the empire was carried on without the open breach between Bismarck and the parliament, which was often imminent. It was he who brought about the compromise on the bill in 1874. In 1877 he was offered the post of vice-chancellor with a seat in the Prussian ministry, from this time his relations with the government were less friendly, and in 1878 he brought about the rejection of the first Socialist Bill. One of the first acts of the Emperor Wilhelm II was to appoint him president of the Province of Hanover. In 1897 he resigned this post and retired from public life and he died on 7 August 1902. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Bennigsen
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Integrated Authority File
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The Integrated Authority File or GND is an international authority file for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from catalogues. It is used mainly for documentation in libraries and increasingly also by archives, the GND is managed by the German National Library in cooperation with various regional library networks in German-speaking Europe and other partners. The GND falls under the Creative Commons Zero license, the GND specification provides a hierarchy of high-level entities and sub-classes, useful in library classification, and an approach to unambiguous identification of single elements. It also comprises an ontology intended for knowledge representation in the semantic web, available in the RDF format
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Virtual International Authority File
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The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see also records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records
