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The difficulties of ruling germany - Coggle Diagram
The difficulties of ruling germany
Growth of parliamentary government
even though the Kaiser could dismiss the reichstag whenever he wanted he did need it to pass legislation and could not directly influence elections :
during his reign, political parties continued to develop and some held widely different views from the Kaiser especially the SPD
although the Kaiser usually got what he wanted, the growth of parliamentary government did see legislation delayed and sometimes amended as well as influencing public opinion, which the Kaiser has to pay some attention to
Navy laws
the Kaiser pushed for the navy to be expanded and was an enthusiastic supporter of the Navy Laws but they still caused him some difficulties:
some members of the reichstag and others in society were very opposed because of the huge sums of money needed to enact them
army leaders disapproved of the navy laws because they believed the navy was growing at the expense of the army which brought them into conflict with the Kaiser
socialism
the Kaiser and middle classes and ruling greatly feared socialism and the potential rise of workers to overthrow the existing social, economic and political system.
its growth led to major difficulty for the Kaiser as socialists formed their own political party-SPD-which attracted increasing support, gaining more seats in the reichstag
the SPD frequently made it difficult for the Kaiser to get the legislation he wanted
industrialisation
industrialisation brought wealth to Germany but also caused the Kaiser some problems:
social problems: poor living, poor working conditions and the conflict between workers due to immigration which the Kaiser and the governement were expected to solve
industrialisation led to the working classes taking a greater interest in politics which led to a growth in socialism
Prussian militarism
the Kaiser was a keen supporter of militarism and this caused conflict with other major European powers
it also caused him problems domestically:
leaders in the armed forces (especially army generals) played a role in government as advisors to the king. Wilhelm listened to their advice which caused him problems. His dependance on army leaders fir advice increased during WW1 is they were effectively ruling Germany by 1918
maintaining and growing the size of the army were very expensive and the Kaiser needed the reichstag's approval for military spending