Zusammenfassung der Ressource
The Second Reich,
1900-1919
- Constitution
- Chancellor and
the ministers
- Responsible for presenting
legislation to Parliament
- Not accountable to
Parliament, only to the Kaiser
- Kaiser Wilhelm II tended
to appoint Prussian
aristocracy, Junkers
- The Reichstag
- Democractic element
of German constitution
- Members were elected
- All men over the age of
25 had the right to vote
- The Bundestrat
(Federal council)
- The federal state
- The army
- Accountable only to the Kaiser,
swore oath of allegiance to him
and not the government
- Economics
- Economic growth
- Economy expanded
by 4.5% a year
- Coal and Iron
production
almost doubled
- New industries
- New innovative
technologies
- Chemicals,
pharmaceuticals, electrics
and motor manufacture
- Germany produced over 50%
of the worlds electrical goods
- An industrial
economy
- Improved transport
infrastructure
- Social
consequences
- Urbanisation
- 1900, 60% population
lived in urban areas
- Overcrowding and
homelessness
- Poor standards of living
- Discontent saw boom in
membership of trade unions
- Over 3 million were
members by 1913
- Class tensions
- Political developments
- First World
War, 1914-18
- Economic impact
- War bonds
- Money was printed
- Inflation
- The mark
- Declined in value by 75%
between 1913 and 1918
- Social impact
- 2 million killed,
6.3 million injured
- Living standards
fell by 20-30%
- Turnip winter
of 1917
- Spanish flu
pandemic in 1918
- Political impact
- Initial unity
- Growing disunity
- The 'silent dictatorship'
- Kaiser sidelined
by military
- 1916, Hiddenburg
and Ludendorff
- 'Stab in the back myth'
- German Revolution,
1918-1919
- German
unification, 1971
- Following Prussia's victory in
the Franco-Prussian war 1870
- The Kaiser
- Had to be a
Prussian monarch
- Sovereign in the
Second Reich
- Commander-in-Chief
of the army
- In charge of
foreign policy
- Could dismiss and
appoint Chancellors
- Could dissolve
the Reichstag
- President of
the Bundesrat
- Kaiser Wilhelm II
from 1888 to 1918