Germany: The Dominant Power in Europe The Dominant Power in Europe meelis_kitsing@uml.edu Source: Palmer 2004
Source: Palmer 2004
Population: 82,431,390 (July 2005 est.) Life expectancy at birth: 78.65 years (total population) 75.66 years (men) 81.81 years (women) (2005 est.) Literacy: 99 percent of people age 15 and over can read and write (1999 estimate) Capital: Berlin Per capita income: $28,700 (2004 est.) Source: Palmer 2004
Germany in Historical Perspective Perspective Source: Palmer 2004
The First Reich (936-1870) • Germany emerged upon the breakup of Charlemagne’s empire around 843 A.D. when Otto the Great (936-973) became the ruler of many German-speaking areas in Central Europe. This became known as the Holy Roman Empire and The First Reich , or empire, a “loose confederation of tribes and principalities.” By the end of the 13th century, Otto’s empire had fragmented into hundreds of city-states and principalities. Germany remained city-states and principalities. Germany remained fragmented, agrarian and non-industrialized well into the 18th century. It developed no large, politically – conscious middle class or national institutions. Napoleon’s invasion in 1806 forced smaller German city-states to merge with larger neighbors, but Germany did not completely unify until after the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 when Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and a confederation of German states defeated France. Prussia’s dominance left its smaller allies no choice but to integrate into a German state thus creating The Second Reich . Source: Palmer 2004
The Second Reich • During the Second Reich (1871-1918), Germany rapidly industrialized closing the gap with Britain and France. Industrialization caused urbanization and greatly expanded the middle and working classes. The landed nobility, industrialists and generals continued to dominate Germany’s politics. German nationalism swept the middle class – whose fortunes had grown along with industrialization – and most workers. World War I, a war launched by Kaiser Wilhelm II to establish German supremacy in Europe, resulted in a German defeat. The Kaiser supremacy in Europe, resulted in a German defeat. The Kaiser abdicated and proclaimed a republic so that Germany would be in a stronger position to negotiate a “just peace.” The peace treaty was anything but just and its terms were so harsh it sowed the seeds for World War II. Germany surrendered the French provinces of Alsace-Lorraine that it had seized in 1871 – a loss of 15 percent of its arable land and ten percent of its population. Germany lost all of its foreign colonies, much of its merchant navy and railway stock as well as was forced to pay the victors billions of dollars in reparations. Politics was characterized by accusations and recriminations between liberal politicians and the military. Meanwhile, terrible labor conditions fed the rise of Source: Palmer 2004 Communist movements.
“Offering Germany little, and offering even that too late.” – Allan Nevins, in Current History , May 1935, p. 178 Source: Palmer 2004
The Weimar Republic (1919-1933) • The 1919 Constitution, drafted by delegates whose goal was to preclude a return to power of Germany’s military-industrial elite. The structure they created resulted in gridlock between the president and prime minister. The bicameral legislature – whose lower house (Reichstag) was elected by proportional representation – giving all political groups a voice. This produced a government unable to make decisions in a crisis and a lower house – whose members elected the prime minister – subject to extremist takeover. The world depression resulted in subject to extremist takeover. The world depression resulted in a Germany hit with a near 50 percent unemployment rate, hyperinflation and the increasing popularity of two extremist parties – the Nazis and the Communists. By 1932, the center had caved in. The Nazis had become the largest party in the Reichstag with the Communists their largest opponents. Pitched battles between the two groups pushed Germany to the brink of civil war. The Weimar experience suggests that without a population dedicated to democratic principles, written documents cannot guarantee the practice of democracy . Weimar also tells us that governments must be Source: Palmer 2004 able to rule.
Hitler and the Third Reich (1933-1945) • This section highlights major reasons for Hitler’s rise to power. The Nazi, or National Socialist party, founded in Munich in 1919 was just one of a multitude of fringe parties appealing to those on the margins of society. Without the 1930 economic collapse, it probably would have remained so. German social and economic institutions were disintegrating and the government losing its ability to rule. Germans sought a government losing its ability to rule. Germans sought a charismatic ruler – a leader whose personality exhibits superhuman qualities, or at least exceptional powers or qualities (Max Weber) – to lead them to salvation. Although the Hitler of 1920 bore little resemblance to Weber’s above definition, the Nazi party became increasingly attractive especially to the “old and new” middle classes as Germany’s economic situation grew worse. Hitler also appealed to those who feared a Communist revolution or civil war – members of the middle class and the old aristocratic political elite who wrongly thought they could use Hitler but then get rid of him Source: Palmer 2004 when the crisis was over.
Hitler and the Third Reich (1933-1945) • In 1933, Hitler won the elections with 51% of the vote and was declared chancellor. The Communists were destroyed, the Third Reich born, and Hitler transformed Germany into an aggressive military power that sought to conquer the world. Nazism or Fascism became a to conquer the world. Nazism or Fascism became a dominant, modern political philosophy. Fascism, based dominant, modern political philosophy. Fascism, based on the “survival of the fittest,” was a “fanatical blend of racism, extreme nationalism and paranoia.” The Germans were the master race created for world domination. Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany’s economic decline. For Germany to recover, Hitler preached, the Jews and anyone else who might pollute the genes of the master race must be eliminated. Source: Palmer 2004
“ Charisma ” is “a certain quality of an individual’s personality by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities.” – Max Weber, 1947 Source: Palmer 2004
“ Fascism ” is a “fanatical blend of racism, nationalism and paranoia.” paranoia.” Source: Palmer 2004
The Two Germany’s (1945-1989) • Upon Germany’s military defeat in 1945, the state was divided into four sectors: American, British, French and Russian - each occupied by a victorious army. Allied wartime unity soon collapsed. In 1948 Germany was divided into two separate countries: the German Democratic Republic in the East and the Federal Republic of Germany in the West. A constitutional Republic of Germany in the West. A constitutional convention merged the American, British and French convention merged the American, British and French zones into a single West Germany. The delegates decided they would draft a “Basic Law” rather than a formal constitution, a document that did not recognize the divided state. The Basic Law was founded on democratic principles – in line with views of the three western occupying powers. West Germany was demilitarized, the Nazis allowed no influence, and the small town of Bonn – far away from imperial, regal and symbolic Berlin – was selected as the temporary capital. Source: Palmer 2004
The Two Germany’s (1945-1989) • West Germany became democratic and wealthy. East Germany under Communism remained poor. Even though East and West Germany had been divided into two separate countries, the western allies continued to occupy their sectors of Berlin deep in East Germany’s heart. In 1961 to stem increasing East German defections to the West, the Communists erected the Berlin Wall a giant brick fence around the western Berlin Wall a giant brick fence around the western enclave. In 1989 as the Soviet Union began to crumble, East Berliners smashed the wall en masse and the East German regime collapsed. For the Soviet Union it symbolized the end to Communism in Europe. For the West and West Germany it meant a whole new Europe as the rapid reunification of the two parts become inevitable. The agreement was signed October 3, 1990 and the East –agreeing to the Basic Law and all West German social and economic legislation - was absorbed into the West. Source: Palmer 2004
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