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Y314: The Challenge of German Nationalism 1789–1919

The extent of Unification: the Reich of 1871, its divisions and national unity

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on the constitution of 1871 and Prussian dominance, the southern states, religion and particularism, Poles, Danes, Alsace-Lorraine and Zabern, Jews, the parties, the wars as unifying and divisive, and unity by 1914.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Process

Outline the constitution of 1871.

Key term

Describe the treatment of the Poles of Prussia.

Numbers

What was the position of the Danes of North Schleswig?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What kind of state was created in 1871?

    Model answer

    A federal empire of twenty-five states and the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine, in which the member states kept their monarchs, governments and many domestic powers, while the King of Prussia held the new title of German Emperor.

  2. 2

    Outline the constitution of 1871.

    Model answer

    The Kaiser appointed and dismissed the Chancellor, commanded the armed forces and controlled foreign policy; the Chancellor answered to the Kaiser and not to parliament; the Bundesrat of state delegates had to consent to legislation; and the Reichstag, elected by universal male suffrage, could pass or reject laws and budgets but could not appoint or remove a government.

  3. 3

    How was Prussian dominance built into the new Reich?

    Model answer

    The Prussian king was Kaiser and the Prussian minister-president was usually Chancellor, Prussia held seventeen of fifty-eight votes in the Bundesrat which was enough to block constitutional change, Prussia contained about three-fifths of the population and supplied the core of the army, and its own parliament was elected on a tax-weighted three-class franchise that guaranteed conservative control.

  4. 4

    State the special rights retained by the southern states.

    Model answer

    Bavaria and Württemberg kept their own armies in peacetime and their own postal and railway administrations, Bavaria retained the taxation of beer and spirits and a right of diplomatic representation, and Bavaria chaired a committee on foreign affairs in the Bundesrat.

  5. 5

    How did religion divide the new Germany?

    Model answer

    About a third of Germans were Catholic, concentrated in the south, the Rhineland and Polish areas, and they faced a Protestant Prussian monarchy; the Kulturkampf turned this into political conflict and produced a permanent Catholic party voting as a confessional bloc.

  6. 6

    Give examples of continuing regional particularism.

    Model answer

    Bavarians, Saxons and Hanoverians retained strong local loyalties, dialects and dynastic attachments; the Guelph party continued to reject the annexation of Hanover, and separate state citizenships and administrations persisted.

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