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| 1870–80 |
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| Economic unification began almost immediately with the introduction of the mark as the German unit of currency (Dec. 1871), the gradual abolition of trade treaties (1873–77) within Germany, and the creation of a new commercial code and imperial bank (1875). | 1 |
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| 1872, Dec. 12 |
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| Kreisordnung provided for the reorganization of local and county governments within Prussia. The brainchild of minister of interior Count Friedrich Eulenburg, the new law took the police out of the hands of local manor lords and placed them in the hands of the provincial high president. It also removed the hereditary right of noble families to representation on the county diet. Nonetheless, the Junkers continued to maintain a majority on those diets and often continued to control the police. | 2 |
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| 1873–78 |
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| The Kulturkampf can be dated from the May Laws of 1873. | 3 |
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| 1873, May 11–14 |
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| The May Laws were introduced by Adalbert Falk, Prussian minister of ecclesiastical affairs. The May Laws allowed only priests who attended German high schools and universities to be appointed to German parishes and eliminated papal jurisdiction over the Catholic Church in Prussia. The purpose of such actions was to eliminate the threat to the government posed by the Catholic Center Party, which had been formed in 1870. | 4 |
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| 1875 |
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| Civil marriage became obligatory; most Catholic religious orders were dissolved. Bismarck's efforts failed because they turned into a battle against the church rather than the Catholic Center Party. The Catholic Church and its lay associations continued to support the church. The Kulturkampf had only limited impact outside of Prussia and led to deep resentment among Catholics within Prussia. It never weakened the Catholic Center, which remained a force to be reckoned with whenever the government tried to obtain a majority in the Prussian Reichstag. It came to an end when Pope Leo XIII negotiated the problem in 1878–79; by 1883, some May Laws had been rescinded and the others were ignored. | 5 |
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| 1878, May 11 |
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| An attempt on William I's life gave Bismarck the opportunity to push for antisocialist legislation (Oct. 18, 1878) in an effort to neutralize another threat to his government. The perpetrator, Max Hödel, had no clear link with the SPD, but Bismarck succeeded in identifying that party as the origin of the threat. He forced the liberals to support an antisocialist law that outlawed meetings, organizations, and publications of socialists, communists, and democrats. It did not, however, demand the removal from office of the socialists within the government, and it had to be renewed every two and a half years. Results: The overt socialist organizations and newspapers were destroyed in Germany, but the SPD maintained a clandestine presence in numerous cultural organizations. Socialist journalists printed newspapers in Switzerland and had them smuggled into Germany, using a network of socialist workers that included a large number of railroad workers. As a result, when the Reichstag refused to renew the law in 1890, the SPD emerged stronger than it had been in 1878. | 6 |
| Growth of anti-Semitism. Discrimination and prejudice against the Jews has been a persistent theme in Christian Europe, but a modern, racist attack on Jews developed in the 1870s and 1880s. While anti-Semitic writings spread in several countries, including France (See 1894–1906), a number of organizations targeting the Jews developed in Germany during the last quarter of the 19th century. William Marr's The Victory of Judaism over Teutonism (1873) introduced the term “anti-Semitism” into the German language and identified the “Jewish problem” with race rather than religious differences. Otto Glagau's The Stock Exchange and Founding Swindle in Berlin claimed links among Manchester liberalism, capitalism, and Jewish efforts at taking over Germany. In 1878, Adolf Stöcker organized the Christian-Social Party, which combined anti-Semitism with Christian doctrine; the anti-Semitic League of German Students was founded in 1881. | 7 |
| German intellectual life involved growing nationalism. Heinrich von Treitschke provided Germany with a strong image of its own history infused with the notion of destiny and the triumph of the German spirit. Friedrich Nietzsche indicted the Judeo-Christian tradition for creating weak-willed individuals who refused to take charge of their own destinies. He introduced the concept of the Übermensch (superman) whose will triumphs over all emotion and obstacles. The imagery of this “triumph of the will” later became central in the philosophy of Nazism, but it did not represent mere anti-Semitism but a repudiation by Nietzsche of all religious “weakness.” Richard Wagner's anti-Semitism is well documented, but his music reflected less his personal convictions than the inner torment and struggle within everyone. | 8 |
| Social legislation. In 1883, Bismarck introduced a health insurance bill, which provided health care for a large number of wage workers. An accident insurance bill followed in 1884, which provided medical coverage and a pension of two-thirds the worker's earnings in the event of full disability. In 1889, the government completed this legislation with old-age and disability insurance, which provided modest benefits to workers in most sectors. The purpose of such legislation was to alleviate the suffering of many workers while undermining support for socialism. However, it proved unable to stop the increase in such support. | 9 |
| Foreign policy proved to be Bismarck's genius. Bismarck initially established himself as an “honest broker” by convening the Congress of Berlin (1878) (See June 13–July 13) to settle the disputes surrounding the conflict in the Balkans. Aiming at isolating France and preventing attacks on the 1871 settlement, Bismarck restored the Alliance of the Three Emperors (See Oct. 7) among Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia (Jan. 18, 1881). The Triple Alliance (May 20, 1882) established a defensive treaty among Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. He organized the Congo Conference of Berlin (1884–85) to establish some limitations on British imperial power but also to reach an equitable means of partitioning Africa. Bismarck also negotiated the Reinsurance Treaty. | 10 |
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| 1887, June 18 |
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| The Reinsurance Treaty guaranteed friendly neutrality between Russia and Germany in the event that either country went to war with any country other than France or Austria-Hungary. | 11 |
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| 1888 |
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| William II succeeded to the throne. Unlike his father, William II entertained the notion of being his own first minister and so clashed with Bismarck. | 12 |
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| 1889, May |
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| A miners' strike in the Ruhr was ended through the mediation of William II. | 13 |
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| 1890, Jan. 25 |
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| The Anti-Socialist Law was eliminated. Bismarck had attempted to make this law permanent, but he faced opposition from the Liberals as well as from William II. He also lost support in the election of 1890 as the National Liberals lost seats to the Progressives, and the Social Democratic Party gained more of the popular vote than the resultant 35 seats indicated. | 14 |
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| March 18 |
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| Bismarck accepted his dismissal and left the government. He was replaced by Gen. Leo von Caprivi, whom William hoped would follow the emperor's lead. | 15 |
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