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How far were domestic policies in Germany controlled by the Chancellors in the years 1894-1914?
(24 marks)
During this period of German history, the Kaiser had ultimate political authority and had the powers
of patronage
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After the fall of Caprivi in 1894, Wilhelm II appointed Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingwurst: a 75 year
old Bavarian aristocrat as chancellor
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Many historians believe that Hohenlohe was specifically chosen by the Kaiser because he posed
little political threat to Wilhelm II and would always aim to receive the support of the Kaiser when
implementing domestic policies
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As a result, it would
be much easier for the Kaiser to push through his own political agenda
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Although
Hohenlohe remained the German Chancellor, the Kaiser worked ever closer with his preferred chosen
ministers and began to work towards a policy of Weltpolitik: world power and colonial expansion
without discussions with Hohenlohe
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This means that Hohenlohe had very little control
over Germany’s domestic policies
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Whilst Hohenlohe was chancellor, Wilhelm and his close advisors such as Eulenburg had already
chosen Bernhard von Bulow as his replacement with the Kaiser often referring to Bulow as his
‘Bismarck’
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The anti-socialist
focus of Sammlungspolitik was repealed by Bulow and replaced with a much greater emphasis on
using patriotism and nationalistic feeling to counter the threats posed by socialists
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Despite a close relationship between the
two leaders, Bulow led the tariff reforms which involved undoing the work of Caprivi
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This had done little to
appease the socialists who criticised Bulow for causing a rise in food prices
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These
included the 1901 compulsory arbitration courts for towns with a greater population than 20,000 and
the 1903 health insurance extension to control child labour
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Therefore, Bulow
demonstrated much greater control over domestic policy during his chancellorship in comparison to
Hohenlohe
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The Reichstag also created difficulties for Bulow to implement domestic
policies
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This was demonstrated after
the attempts to introduce policies that would increase property and inheritance taxes in order to
appease the socialists and the Liberals were blocked
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As a
consequence, the ability of Bulow to control the domestic policies of Germany greatly depended on
his support from the members of the Reichstag as well as the approval of the Kaiser, thus giving him
little personal control over them
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Hollweg was different to his predecessors as he had little experience in
leading military and foreign policy
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In 1910, Hollweg tried to introduce reforms to the electoral systems to the Reichstag in
order to create fairer elections that would favour the ever growing middle class
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This provides evidence that the parties of the Reichstag had huge influence over the
domestic policies that the chancellor implemented
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Other issues that arose during Hollweg’s chancellorship was the
problems surrounding national debt and the essential increase in the military budget
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Despite
the high levels of national debt, Hollweg was able to gain the support of the Reichstag needed to
increase the military’s budget
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The Kaiser wanted less involvement with domestic policy
and therefore the significance of Wilhelm’s support for domestic policies was less than that needed
by Hollweg’s predecessors providing him with greater freedom to control domestic policies
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There are two significant factors that prevented them from having sufficient
control over these policies: the relationship and approval of the Kaiser and the relationship and
approval of the Reichstag
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As a result, the policies could only be introduced
if they had the approval of the Kaiser
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On the contrary, the
relationship with the Reichstag was the most significant factor in Hollweg’s control over domestic
policies as the end of Bulow’s chancellorship also marked the end of Wilhelm II’s ‘personal rule’ giving
him greater freedom to control domestic policies
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This led to increasing tensions between him and the Reichstag and therefore greater
opposition from them to Hollweg’s policies

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