GKRMANY 



185 



By the jieace of Frankfort (May 10, 187!) Fran. 

 was condemned to pay a war indemnity >f ."> mil 

 liards of francs, or L''J<M),(K)(),000 ; ami tlic province 

 of Alsace, along witli tin- German part of Lorraine, 

 WM ceded to (lei-many. 



A \ery im|Mirtant result of the war was to com- 

 plete the fusion of the northern and southern st.-ite> 

 of Germany. The southern statoM joined ai once 

 in I lie war against 1-Yance; in Novonl)er of IS70, 

 li.-clen ami Hesse leading the way, they all lx>came 

 nil-Hi I iers of the Co-man Confederation ; and next 

 month the re -establishment of tlie German empire 

 ilmost unanimously resolved, with the king 

 of l'ru>siu as hereditary em|>eror. It was at 

 Versailles, on 18th .lanuary 1871, that the king 

 was proclaimed einjieror of Germany. 



The new German empire set vigorously to work 

 to organise itself as a united federation, under the 

 skilful leadership of Prince Bismarck, who was 

 appointed Reichskanzler or Imperial Chancellor. 

 Almost at once it found itself involved in the 

 ecclesiastical contest with the Church of Rome, 

 known as the ' Kulturkampf,' which had previously 

 bc u un in 1'iussio. The origin of the struggle was 

 an effort to vindicate the riglit of the state to inter- 

 fere, somewhat intimately, with the behaviour, 

 appointments, and even educational affairs of all 

 religious societies in the country. The Jesuits 

 were expelled in 1872, and Pope Pius IX. retorted 

 by declining to receive the German ambassador. 

 The famous Falk or May Laws were passed in 

 Prussia in 1873-4-5, and some of their provisions 

 were extended to the empire. Several German 

 prelates, refusing obedience, were expelled from 

 Germany ; and the disorganisation in ecclesiastical 

 affairs became so serious that the Reichstag passed 

 a law in 1874 making marriage a civil rite. The 

 pope issued an encyclical declaring the Falk laws 

 invalid, and matters seemed for a time to be 

 at a deadlock. On the election of a new pope, 

 Leo XIII., in 1878, attempts were made to .arrange 

 a compromise between the empire and the papal 

 see. Falk, the Prussian ' Kultus '-minister, re- 

 signed in 1879, and certain modifications were made 

 in the obnoxious laws in 1881 ami 1888. Bismarck 

 took a further step towards Canossa in 1885 when 

 he proposed the pope as arbiter between Germany 

 ana Spain in the dispute as to the possession of the 

 Caroline Islands ; and he practically owned him- 

 self beaten in the concessions which he granted in 

 revisions of the politico-ecclesiastical legislation in 

 1886 and 1887. Another semi- religious difficulty 

 which demanded government interference was the 

 social persecution of the Jews (Judenhetze), which 

 reached a climax in 1880-81. 



In more strictly political affairs the rapid spread 

 of socialism excited the alarm of the government. 

 Two attempts on the life of the emperor (in 

 May and June 1878) were attributed more or less 

 directly to the Social Democrat organisation, and 

 gave the signal for legislative measures conferring 

 very extensive powers upon the administration to 

 be used in suppressing the influence of socialism. 

 These socialist laws, though limited in duration, 

 have invariably been renewed (sometimes with 

 added stringency) lie fore their validity expired : 

 in 1889 several of the most important towns of 

 the empire were in what is called ' the minor state 

 of eiege' for police purposes, and a new socialist 

 l.-iw was carried, which remained in force till 

 October 1890. A plot, ham.ily futile, to blow- 

 blow up the en.peror and other German rulers at 

 the inauguration of the National Monument in the 

 Niederwald in 188:5 was considered by government 

 to justify its repressive measures. Prince Bismarck, 

 however, was not content with repressive measures ; 

 he endeavoured by improving the condition of the 

 working-classes to cut the ground from beneath 



the feet of the nocialbttic propagandist*. The 

 acknowledgment in tin- emperor H {netware to the 

 Reichstag in 1881, that the working-claw*?* have a 

 right to IK- con-idcred by the -tale, wax followed 

 by lnwh coiii|idling employr* to iiiMire their work- 

 men in ease of HickncMH and of accident, and by 

 the in trod net ion ( 1888) of compulitory iimurance for 

 workmen against death and olu age measures that 

 have been by some called 'state-socialism.' 



Tin- energetic commercial jiolicy of government 

 also, which since 1879 haslieen strongly protection- 

 ist, has its springs in similar considerations ; and the 

 recent colonial policy, which began in 1884 with the 

 acquisition of Angra Peouena, may lie considered 

 to In; stimulated partly oy the desire to gratify 

 the national self-respect, and partly to provide new 

 outlets under the German flag for the surplus |Mpu- 

 l.-it ion. and new markets for the home manufactures. 

 None of the German colonies as yet, however, either 

 in Africa or the Pacific Ocean, have proved of any 

 great commercial value. The assembling of the 

 Congo Congress at Berlin in 1885 fitly marked 

 Germany's admission to the list of colonial powers. 

 On the maintenance and improvement of the army 

 and navy the German government has Ixwtowed 

 the most unremitting care, urged especially by the 

 attitude of the * Revanche ' party in France, though 

 hitherto the imperial policy has l>een entirely pacific. 



Considerable parliamentary friction has l*een 

 caused more than once by the unwillingness of 

 the Reichstag to vote military supplies to the 

 amount and in the manner demanded by the 

 emperor and chancellor. The latter desire to have 

 practically a free hand in military matters, while 

 the national parliament seeks to exercise a consti- 

 tutional control over the army resembling that 

 illustrated in Great Britain by the annual Mutiny 

 Act. A compromise was effected in 1874 in virtue 

 of which the military strength was fixed and the 

 supplies granted for periods of seven years at a 

 time. Tn 1886 the government proposed to ter- 

 minate the current ticjttciniat in 1887 instead of 

 in 1888, and to immediately add largely to the 

 peace strength of the army. On the rejection of 

 the bill the Reichstag was dissolved (January 

 1887) by the emperor and an appeal made to the 

 country. The Iron Chancellor still possessed the 

 confidence and the gratitude of the people, and 

 the new elections in February 1887 resulted in a 

 crashing defeat for the opponents of the govern- 

 ment, notably the Freisinnige and the Social 

 Democrats. One of the most remarkable features 

 of this election was a letter written by the pope 

 in favour of the army bill, for whiclli he subse- 

 quently received a quid pro quo in a further 

 modification of the May laws. The Military 

 Septennate Bill was immediately passed, and was 

 followed in 1888 by a Military Organisation Bill, 

 which made several changes in the conditions of 

 service in the landwehr. The subsequent budgets 

 show an enormous increase in the extraordinary 

 military expenditure. While thus seeking peace 

 by preparing for war, Germany has not failed to 

 use diplomacy for the same end. 



A personal meeting of the emperors of Germany, 

 Austria, and Russia in 1872 was considered a proof 

 of a political alliance (Dreikaiscrbinul) ; ami, when 

 Russia drifted somewhat apart from Germany in 

 1878, an offensive and defensive alliance was formed 

 between Austria and Cermanv in 1879. Italy 

 afterward* entered this Triple Alliance. Germany s 

 influence on the Eastern (Question was recognised 

 in 1878, when the plenipotentiaries of the powers 

 met at the Congress of Kerlin. 



< >n !>th Man-ii isss the Emperor William I. died. 

 His son Frederick, at that time suffering from a 

 cancerous affection of the throat, immediately issued 

 a proclamation, in which he promix/d to om.-ider 



