"Germany from 1871 to the Present"

Dr. Marcel Jesenský

Learning in Retirement, Carleton University

1 March - 5 April 2017

Imperial Germany (1871-1918)

Unification

Wilhelminian Germany

Foreign Policy

World War I

The ‘pre-March,’ 1848 and the Unification

Vormärz : Customs Union (Zollverein), 1834

1848-49 : ‘small Germany’ (Kleindeutschland)

Otto von Bismarck, 1862

the N. German Confederation, 1866

the Empire (Reich), 18 Jan 1871

The Kaiserreich (the German Empire)

Reichsverfassung (imperial constitution)

Kaiser, Reichskanzler (chancellor)

Bundesrat, Reichstag

25 States

Prussia, the Landtag (three class)

The Kulturkampf (Cultural Struggle)

consolidation

the Zentrum (the Centre Party)

state authority

enemy within

new faultlines

The Sozialistengesetz (anti-Socialist Law)

the SPD

the socialist ‘anarchists’

monarchy

Staatssozialismus (state socialism)

health, accident, disabled

Tightrope Walk

‘saturated’ Germany

‘cauchemar des coalitions’ (nightmare scenario)

two fronts (Zweifrontenkrieg)

Russia, Austria, Italy

The Dreibund (Triple Alliance) (1879, 1882)

‘Kaiser Bill’

Wilhelm II (1888-1918)

Wilhelmine Germany

Weltpolitik (Platz an der Sonne)(place in the sun)

the Navy, von Tirpitz

1907, The Triple Entente (the Einkreisung)

Short-war illusion

Schlieffen Plan

patriotism

trenches

home front

November 1918