12. GLORY

THE LAST DAYS OF THE GILDED AGE

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GERMANY

But not all went smoothly at first for Bismarck or the German people with respect to their new domestic politics.  The Roman Church had been humiliated in the loss of its lands to the new Italian state ... and sought to recover some its stature with the new declaration (1870) of the infallibility of the pope.  The Church proclaimed that in all matters of faith and morals the pope’s pronouncements were totally infallible ... thus not subject to change or even question within the church.  Not all German Catholics were happy about this new dogma and their protests were heard in Rome ... and met by a demand from the pope to the Prussian government to remove these individuals from all positions of authority in schools and universities, and even in the German churches.  This was something that Bismarck was not about to do, seeing in it the revival of the old investiture controversy.  He informed Rome that the German emperor had no intentions whatsoever to ever again "go to Canossa"1 physically or spiritually.  A church- state battle of sorts was now on in Germany. But there were numerous German Catholics willing to join with the pope and Vatican in their support of the views of the Catholic Church.  In the Reichstag a large group of such Catholic representatives formed themselves into the Center Party (very conservative, but seated at the center of the array of representatives in the Reichstag). Their support of Rome Bismarck interpreted as a challenge to the German nation itself.  He thus led the German parliament to pass a number of laws putting various restrictions on religious education, on the selection and functioning of the clergy, and on marriages (requiring a civil ceremony).  The net result for Bismarck was not what he was hoping for ... because in the next elections the Center Party increased its seating in the Reichstag significantly.  Bismarck, being ever the intuitive politician, recognized his loss in this matter and began to back down on the various restrictions ... and the Kulturkampf gradually died away. 1In reference to the event of 1077 when Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV went barefoot in the snow to Canossa Castle to ask forgiveness of the Roman Pope Gregory VII ... for Henry's earlier political challenge to the papacy. Pope Pius IX  - 1875 (Pope:  1846-1878) "Between Berlin and Rome" Pope Pius:  "The last move was for me certainly unpleasant; but the game is not yet lost.  I have one more very excellent hidden move!" Bismarck:  "It will also be the last, and then you will find yourself checkmated in a few moves ... at least for Germany." BISMARCK AND THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS (MARXISTS) Germany’s move into the industrial age was phenomenal. In short order during the last quarter of the 1800s Germany moved from being a mostly agricultural society to being the largest industrial society on the European continent.  Industrial towns exploded with growth and activity ... changing the demographic character of the German society just as quickly.  And with that rapid change went all sorts of issues, economic, social and political.  One of these was the rapid growth of Socialist political parties representing the interests of the fast-growing industrial working class.  From such groupings would eventually emerge the rapidly growing Social Democratic Party. Bismarck decided to meet the Socialist challenge by clamping down on their party's ability to meet and organize ... and at the same time trying to steal their thunder by sponsoring a number of state programs similar to those advocated by the working class parties: workers' compensation for sickness and injury on the job, insurance for surviving relatives of a worker killed on the job, and old age pension.  Bismarck blended funding from the state, from the industrial companies and from the workers themselves to finance these programs. But whereas Bismarck’s own social programs were well received by the workers, they did little to undercut the popularity of the Social Democrats.  Just as with his struggle with the Catholics, Bismarck, realizing that his strategy had gained him little, backed away from his program ... at least with respect to the clamping down on the politics of the workers' organizations.  But when this easing up on the oppression yielded no positive results, he then reversed course a second time and came back hard on those organizations.  This would ultimately become part of what would create a political distancing between him and the young German emperor Wilhelm II.   Bismarck addressing the German Reichstag BISMARCK AND WILHELM II In 1888 a 29-year-old Wilhelm took command of Prussia and the German Reich when his grandfather died ... and then his father also died only three months later.  Wilhelm was physically very energetic and had a very quick mind.  Unfortunately, this would prove to be a major disability because Wilhelm trusted himself to be quicker than others in understanding a situation ... and thus did not tend to check things out deeply before acting. Bismarck, who was long used to Wilhelm I allowing him to govern Germany, found himself up against the young emperor who intended to rule Germany directly.  Wilhelm did not want the strong-willed Bismarck to get in his way.  They disagreed sharply over how to handle the Socialists (Wilhelm at first wanting to take a much softer approach to them) and whether the cabinet ministers were to report directly to Bismarck or Wilhelm.  Bismarck used to get his way with the old emperor by threatening to resign, backing down the emperor every time.  But this tactic backfired on Bismarck when such an event in 1890 ended up with Wilhelm accepting his resignation!  The Bismarck era in Germany thus came to an abrupt end.  A new one under Wilhelm II was about to unfold.   German Emperor (Kaiser) Wilhelm II Wilhelm posing as a naval officer The Battleship Kaiser Wilhelm (1897-1921) WILHELM AND THE SHIFT IN GERMAN FOREIGN POLICY Wilhelm and the shift in German foreign policy.  On two other accounts Bismarck and Wilhelm II had disagreed sharply.  Wilhelm was very interested in getting Germany involved in the game of European imperialism.  Bismarck had thought such imperialism to be unnecessary and needlessly very expensive ... costing Germany vastly more than it yielded in benefits (Bismarck proved ultimately to be absolutely correct on this point).  Of course to play the overseas game, a player needed a top-rate navy ... another matter for which Bismarck could see no particular benefits, especially given the cost involved.  Wilhelm had disagreed vehemently and with Bismarck gone he proceeded to create a German navy that was second in size only to the British navy.   As for the British, their navy was considered vital to their nation’s survival.  They could see no similar need for such a huge German navy and became ever more suspicious of Wilhelm’s goals. Wilhelm also took the attitude that the German military needed to be strengthened even more than it had been under Bismarck ... claiming that this was the only way to guarantee Germany would never be attacked.  Bismarck had been careful about how he sized German power, aware that too much buildup would merely lead other European nations to do the same ... leading to the greater possibility of an unplanned diplomatic catastrophe.  Bismarck relied more on diplomatic skill than brute power.  For Wilhelm, however, things were exactly reversed: Wilhelm was uninterested in diplomacy and keen on a buildup and demonstration of brute German power.       Here too, Bismarck would soon prove to have been the wiser in the design and use of German power.  France immediately sensed a major threat coming again from Germany ... and began to react accordingly. GERMANY ... AROUND THE YEAR 1900 Berlin - The Berlin Cathedral and the City Palace Berlin - The Hallesches Tor at the Landwehr Canal The Berlin boulevard Unter den Linden and the Victoria Hotel The Berlin boulevard Unter den Linden and the Cafe Bauer Stuttgart Frankfurt Wernigerode and its Town Hall The German beach at Westerland The Krupp Works in Essen Go on to the next section:  Austria-Hungary   Miles H. Hodges