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Kaiser Wilhelm II - Coggle Diagram
Kaiser Wilhelm II
personal information
the chancellors that followed were there to administer policies the Kaiser wanted rather than to create there own- this was known as an era of personal rule
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he held a great desire to be more popular than he predecessors, he declared himself the peoples kaisers
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Prussian Militarism
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A French statesmen had observed in the late 18th century that "Prussia is not a country with an army it is an army with a country."
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Naval Policies
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1st Naval Law: Passed in 1898 added an additional 7 battleships to be built each year. Brought the total to 19 battleships each year. Enough to match both the British and French. It was opposed by the socialist party and the conservative party.
2nd Naval Law: Passed in 1900 during the second Boer war. Doubled the number of battleships to be built each year . This was a turning point as it became clear they were trying to outdo the British
Additional naval laws passed in the early 1900s altered the number of battleships to be built slightly and emphasized their importance
Socialism
1890-94: improvments to peoples lives were made, e.g. children under 13 could not work, nobody had to work on Sunday. These were socialist ideas
1894-1900: Kaiser Wilhelm II took control of socialism e.g. SPD leaders where put on trial and people accused of supporting socialism lost their jobs. The Kaiser wanted total smashing of the SPD but the Reichstag would not pass the law to let him do this. He wanted anyone who went on strike to go to prison with hard labour and he expected striking tram workers to be shot.
1900-1909: Chacellor Bullow took charge and introduced new laws to try and get people to support him and the Kaiser, e.g. accident insurance for workers, increased banning of child labour, law courts to settle disputes between workers and their employers.
He had to do this because Wilhelm's harsh treatment of socialists had helped socialism to become more popular.
The German Constitution
The Kaiser- The emperor of Germany, he had considerable powers, including the ability to appoint and dismiss the Chancellor, dissolve the Reichstag, direct Germanys foreign policies and command of the armed forces
The Reichstag - The German Parliament, elected by universal male suffrage (all males of the age of 25 could vote). It was the most advanced form of parliament in Europe, they voted on Federal Budget and their consent was needed for all legislation
The Bundesrat - The Federal Council which was represented by the different states of the empire. It had fifty eight members. Seventeen were from Prussia, six from Bavaria, four from Saxony. It had the power to change the constitution. However, no change could be made to the constitution if fourteen delegates objected. This meant Prussia could always stop change.