Germany HI136 History of Germany Lecture 4 The Army and German Society The garrison was the centre of social life in Imperial Germany The German Army was made up of conscripts every male between the ages of 17 and 45 was eligible for military service ID: 242446
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Slide1
Wilhelmine Germany
HI136, History of Germany
Lecture 4Slide2
The Army and German SocietyThe garrison was the centre of social life in Imperial Germany.
The German Army was made up of conscripts – every male between the ages of 17 and 45 was eligible for military service.
The Army therefore touched the lives of the majority of the German population.
The Army an important unifying institution and focus for patriotic feeling.A uniform entitled the wearer to the respect of his fellow Germans.Slide3
120,000 reserve officer corpsregular officers rising from 17,000 to 30,000Mass army of conscripts: 400,000 in 1870s; 600,000 by 1900; 800,000 by 1913Professionalism, drill, quick transportation, proficiency, modern weapons
Different world from civilians, breaking in of newcomers, plummeting rates of suicides.
Modernizing of the new-coming peasants, created a male-bonding culture, proving men’s status and appropriate gender.
Military: background factsSlide4
The Officer CorpsThe higher ranks still dominated by the aristocracy.
Freedom from parliamentary oversight gave the military virtual political autonomy.
Direct access to the Kaiser.
Contempt for civilians and politicians.David Stone: the lack of a war to fight after 1871 led the officer corps to focus its energies on preserving the social status and political influence of the Army.Slide5
A Military Society?
Social make-up of the officer corps – in 1913, 70% of officers and 50% of colonels and generals were from non-noble families
. However, “better” barracks largely inhabited with nobility
Contemporary critics of the German ArmyCriticism in the left-wing pressSatirical novels criticising the behaviour of the officer corps
The
Zabern
Affair (1913) – public outcry over military behaviour
This more of a Prussian than a German phenomenon – the Bavarians routinely mocked Prussian militarism.
Germany not the only nation in Europe where the army and navy were held in high esteem.Slide6
The Zabern Affair (1913)
Simplicissimus
, 1913Slide7
The Captain of Köpenick
On 16 October 1906 an unemployed shoemaker named Wilhelm Voigt dressed as a captain in the German Army.
Collecting together a small group of soldiers off the streets he went to the small town of K
ö
penick
outside Berlin, occupied the town hall, arrested mayor and demanded 4000 marks.
Such was the authority that his uniform gave him, all of Voigt’s orders were obeyed without question.
He absconded with the money, only to be picked up by the police and sentenced to four years in prison.Slide8
Hauptmann von Köpenick (Helmut Käutner 1956)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=4YeJLPIFXAISlide9
Kaiser and his Court
The power of the Kaiser made the court an important place in Imperial politics and society.
The court provided access to the monarch and opportunities to gain political/social influence.
John Röhl
– Wilhelm II presided over a political system in which the imperial court successfully established a primacy over other sources of power.
However, Wilhelm II more of a playboy than an omnipotent autocrat – he lacked the self-discipline necessary for effective government and administration.Slide10
‘Structuralist’
Interpretations
Interpretation suggested by
Wehler
et al explaining
developments
by an
examination of social,
political,
and economic factors.
Argued
that after Bismarck there was a power vacuum that created “a permanent crisis of the state behind its façade of high-handed leadership.”
This power vacuum allowed
Prussian
elites – the
Junkers
, the officer corps, the
industrialists,
and
ring ring lobby groups
– to dominate
state affairs (rather than the Kaiser).
Faced by the social and economic changes wrought by industrialization, these elites banded together to preserve their power and
influence (
Sammlungspolitik
, ‘policy
of concentration
’)
and sought to distract attention from domestic political and social inequalities through foreign policy adventures (‘Social Imperialism’).Slide11
Deutschkonservative
Partei
(German Conservative Party) – Representing farmers and Prussian landowners.Reichspartei (Free Conservative Party) - Representing industrialists and landowners.
Zentrumspartei
(Centre Party) – Formed in 1871 to uphold the interests of the Catholic Church, its support came from Catholics of all classes.
Nationalliberale
Partei
(National Liberal Party) – The party of the liberal Protestant upper-middle-classes.
Deutsche
Freisinnige
Partei
(German Free Thought Party) – The party of more radical liberals. Split in 1893 & reunited in 1910 as the
Fortschrittliche
Volkspartei
(Progressive People’s Party)
Sozialdemokratische
Partei
Deutschlands
(Social Democratic Party) – Representing the working classes.
Democratization and Party Politics
The state opening of the Reichstag, December 1894Slide12
1872, 40 mill. people at the first census, 56 mill by 1900, 67 mill by 1913By 1913 ca 1,3 mill foreignersThe largest percentage of young people just before the war, largest in modern German historyImproved life expectation, from 37
y
in 1870s to 45m/48w years in 1900s
Berlin grew from 412,000 inhabitants in 1850 to ca 1,100,000 in 1880 to just over 2 mill in 1910Population growth correlated with industry (cities such as Cologne, Chemnitz, Duisburg, Essen)Pomerania and East Prussia (parts of West Prussia too) very thinly populated, people moving to cities
Growth of white collar jobs (3,3 mill in 1910)
Population growthSlide13
Workers' living conditionsSlide14
Heinrich Zille, Working class family home Slide15
The ‘New Woman’
Traditionally women seen as fundamentally unsuited to public life and politics, being naturally predisposed towards a domestic and caring role.
1865:
The Allgemeiner
Deutsche
Frauenverein
(General Association of German Women) founded.
1894: The ADF replaced by the
Bund
Deutscher
Frauenverb
ände
(Federation of German Women’s Associations).
Increasing demand from the middle classes for more educational and employment opportunities for single women.
1880s: Secondary Education extended to middle class girls.
New Civil Legal Code (1900) allows women to hold wealth and property independent of their husbands.
1900-1909: Women permitted to attend German universities.
Poster advertising a demonstration in favour of women’s suffrage, 8 March 1914Slide16
Cultural Change
Heinrich
Mann (1871-1950),
Professor
Unrat
(1905),
Der
Untertan
(1918).
Freie
Volksbühne
(free people’s theatre) – established 1889 and staged plays with a social message such as Gerhard Hauptmann’s Die Weber.
Scientific Discoveries
X-rays (1895)
Radioactivity (1896)
The electron (1897)
Quantum theory (1900)
Special theory of relativity (1905)
Munich Secession (1892).
Berlin Secession (1898
).
Die
Brücke
(1905)
Der
Blaue
Reiter
(1911-14)
August Macke, Woman in Front of a Hat Shop (c. 1914) Slide17
The sexologist
Dr.
Magnus
Hirschfeld
(1868-1935)
The Kaiser’s favourite: Prince Phillip
zu
Eulenburg
(1847-1921)
SexualitySlide18
Front covers of
Pan
,
Jugend
and
Simplicissimus
Mass Culture/Entertainment Slide19
Mass Culture
Publishing explosion after 1880 to service the new literate mass market for printed matter.
Popular literary, arts and satirical magazines such as
Pan (1895-1900),
Jugend
(founded 1896) and
Simplicissimus
(1896-1967) had wide circulations.
Electric lighting led to the proliferation of dance halls and cabarets.
The first ‘moving pictures’ shown in Berlin in 1895 – by 1914
3,000 throughout
Germany.
Sport – riding, golf and tennis for the upper and middle classes, cycling and boxing for the working classes.
Sport was encouraged by the SPD and was an important feature of many working-men’s clubs and
associations.
Footbal
, however, remained a thing of working classes