A HISTORY OF

MODERN GERMANY

S E C O N D E D I T I O N

A HISTORY OF

MODERN GERMANY

1800 TO THE PRESENT

M A R T I N K I T C H E N

A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication

This edition fi rst published 2012© 2012 Martin Kitchen

Edition History: Blackwell Publishing Ltd (1e, 2006)

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataKitchen, Martin. A history of modern Germany, 1800 to the present / Martin Kitchen. – 2nd ed. p. cm. Rev. ed. of A history of modern Germany, 1800 to 2000. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-470-65581-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Germany–History–1789–1900. 2. Germany–History–20th century. 3. Germany–History–1990– I. Kitchen, Martin. History of modern Germany, 1800 to 2000. II. Title. DD203.K58 2012 943.087–dc22 2010043502

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This book is published in the following electronic formats: ePDFs [ISBN 9781444396881]; ePub [ISBN 9781444396898]

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1 2012

Contents

List of Illustrations x

Maps xii

Introduction 1

1 Germany Under Napoleon 8

The Continental System 10 Resistance to Napoleon 11 The Prussian Reform Movement 13 Prussian Military Reforms 17 Educational Reform 18 The Confederation of the Rhine 20 Germany and the Defeat of Napoleon 21 The Congress of Vienna 23

2 German Society in Transition 25

Women and Children 29 The Household 31 Town and Country 32 Agriculture 33 Industrialization 36 Class Structure 39 Jews 43 Social Change 44

3 Restoration and Reform: 1815–1840 47

Demagogues and Radicals 49 Bourgeois Discontent 52 Nationalism 53 The Zollverein 56 Germany Under Metternich 57 Catholicism 61 Liberalism 63 Radicalism 63

4 The Revolutions of 1848 65

Revolution 68

vi CONTENTS

The Frankfurt Parliament 71 Olmütz 78

5 The Struggle for Mastery: 1850–1866 80

Austro-Prussian Rivalry 81 The “New Era” 83 Changes in the Social Structure 84 Liberalism and Conservatism 87 Social Democracy 88 Prussian Army Reforms 92 Bismarck 94 The German Question 95 The Schleswig-Holstein Question 97 The Austro-Prussian War 99

6 The Unifi cation Of Germany: 1866–1871 101

Liberalism, Nationalism, and Particularism 104 The Franco-Prussian War 105 The German Empire 108 Bonapartism 111 The Military and Militarism 113 Nationalism 116 The German Jewish Community 117

7 Bismarck’s Germany 124

The Kulturkampf 125 Bismarck and the Liberals 128 Social Democracy 129 From Free Trade to Protectionism 130 The Anti-Socialist Laws 132 Bismarck’s New Course 133 Social Policy 134 The Social Structure of Imperial Germany 136 Food and Drink 138 Fashion 140 Women 140 Attitudes Towards Sexuality 143

8 Germany and Europe: 1871–1890 147

The Congress of Berlin 149 The Dual and Triple Alliances 150 Colonialism 152 The Collapse of Bismarck’s System of Alliances 153

9 Wilhelmine Germany: 1890–1914 156

William II’s System of Government 159

CONTENTS vii

The Reichstag 161 Caprivi and the “New Course” 162 Hohenlohe 165 Tirpitz, the Navy, and “World Politics” 166 Navalism and Imperialism 168 Criticisms of the Naval Building Program 168 Bülow 169 Anglo-German Rivalry 170 The Bülow Bloc 171 Scandals and Crises 172 Bethmann Hollweg 174 The Challenge from Social Democracy 175 Armaments 177 The Balkan Crisis of 1912 177

10 The First World War 180

Attitudes towards the War 182 War Aims 183 German Society in Wartime 184 Women 187 Mounting Opposition to the War 189 The Peace Resolution 190 The Impact of Bolshevik Revolution 192 The Failure of the March Offensive 193 Armistice Negotiations 195

11 The Weimar Republic: 1919–1933 197

The Treaty of Versailles 198 The Weimar Constitution 201 The Kapp Putsch 201 Reparations 203 Rapallo 204 Hyperinfl ation and the “Struggle for the Ruhr” 206 Hindenburg Elected President 210 Locarno 211 The Depression 212 The Middle Class 213 The Working Class 217 Rural Society 221 The Demise of Parliamentary Democracy 221 Brüning 223 Papen 227 Schleicher 228 Hitler Appointed Chancellor 230

12 The Nazi Dictatorship 233

The Reichstag Fire 235

viii CONTENTS

Gleichschaltung 237 The Persecution of the Jews: The First Phase 240 The SA and the Röhm Putsch 241 Hitler Becomes Head of State 244 The National Socialist Dictatorship 246 The SS 250 The Persecution of the Jews: The Second Phase 253

13 Nazi Germany: 1933–1945 256

German Society in The Third Reich 260 Labor 262 Peasants 264 Small Business 267 Women 268 National Socialism and Modernity 271 First Steps in Foreign Policy 276 The Anschluss 280 Munich 281 War 282 Poland 284 The War in the West 285 Barbarossa 287 The Final Solution 290 The Turn of the Tide 296 The Shortage of Labor 297 The End 298

14 The Adenauer Era: 1945–1963 302

The Occupation Zones 304 From Bizonia to Trizonia 306 The Formation of the Federal Republic of Germany 309 Rearmament 313 From the “Economic Miracle” to “Eurosclerosis” 316 The Heyday of Adenauer’s Germany 320 The Berlin Wall 322 The End of the Adenauer Era 323

15 The German Democratic Republic 327

“The First Workers’ and Peasants’ State on German Soil” 333 June 17, 1953 336 The GDR after Stalin 338 The Berlin Wall 340 The New Economic System 341 The GDR and Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik 343 The Honecker Era 344

CONTENTS ix

Social Structure of the GDR 346 Dissent 349 Relations between the Two Germanys 350 The Collapse of the GDR 352

16 The Federal Republic: 1963–1982 358

The Great Coalition: 1966–1969 359 Confrontations with the Past 362 The Extra-Parliamentary Opposition (Apo) 363 The Chancellorship of Willy Brandt 364 Terrorism 367 Willy Brandt’s Second Term: 1972–1974 367 Helmut Schmidt’s First Term: 1974–1976 369 Helmut Schmidt’s Second Term: 1976–1980 371 Terrorism and the Changing Nature of Dissent 371 The Debate on Atomic Weapons 373 Helmut Schmidt’s Third Term: 1980–1982 374 The Transformation of West German Society 376

17 The Reunifi cation of Germany 385

Debates over Germany’s Past 387 The United States, The Soviet Union, and the German Question 388 The New Germany 390 9/11 400 The Iraq War 401 Gerhard Schröder’s Second Term 403 Angela Merkel’s Two Coalition Governments 405 Problems and Perspectives 406

Bibliography 408

Index 417

Illustrations

Plates

1 A Biedermeier interior 26

2 The Biedermeier family 27

3 The suffering of the Silesian weavers 40

4 Burschenschaftler attending the Wartburg Festival 1817 50

5 Student representatives burning reactionary books and symbols 51

6 Street fi ghting in Berlin on the Night of March 18/19, 1848 70

7 A meeting of the National Assembly in the Paul ’ s Church in Frankfurt, September 16, 1848 72

8 German industrial might: a rolling mill in Saarbr ü cken c. 1870 85

9 The founders of German Social Democracy 90

10 August Bebel 91

11 The Battle of Sedan 107

12 The Berlin Stock Exchange 121

13 Bismarck by Franz von Lembach, c. 1880 127

14 William II “ The Kaiser ” 158

15 Bismarck dead and surrounded by the ghosts of the past 163

16 The German delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference 199

17 Mass protest in Berlin against the Treaty of Versailles 200

18 Homeless men, December 1930 220

19 Homeless women, December 1930 220

20 Nazi Party rally 1934 245

21 G ö ring and Hitler 259

22 Hitler and Goebbels 288

23 Dresden after the raid 300

24 Red Army troops hoisting the Soviet fl ag on the Reichstag, May 5, 1945 301

ILLUSTRATIONS xi

25 Ludwig Ehrhard 308

26 The Berlin Airlift 309

27 East German Communist poster 312

28 No experiments! 321

29 Adenauer and De Gaulle 323

30 Willy Brandt in Warsaw 344

31 Monday demonstration in Leipzig in 1989 354

32 The Berlin Wall, November 10, 1989 355

Maps

1 Germany, 1815 xii

2 Prussia before and after the Austro - Prussian War xiii

3 Germany, 1871 xiv

4 The Versailles Settlement, 1919 xv

5 The division of Germany at Potsdam, 1945 xvi

6 Germany, 1993 xvii

Figures

1 Offi ce organization of the SS (September 1939) 251

MAP 1 Germany, 1815

DENMARK

NETHERLANDS

FRANCE

SWITZERLAND

AUSTRIA

HUNGARY

RUSSIANPOLAND

SWEDEN

POMERANIA

PIEDMONTSARDINIA

SCHLESWIG

OLDENBURGHOLSTEIN

MECKLENBURG-STRELITZ

MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN

BRUNSWICK

BRANDENBURGWESTPHALIA

HESSE-CASSEL

ANHALT

HESSE-DARMSTADT

THURINGIALUX.

COLOGNE

NASSAU

BAD

EN BAVARIA

SILESIA

E. PRUSSIA

W. P

RUSSIA

POSEN

HANOVER

SAXONY

German Confederation border

Prussia

Habsburg Empire

N o r t h S e a

B a l t i c S e a

WÜRTTEMBERG

PALATINATEBAV.

MAP 2 Prussia before and after the Austro - Prussian War

DENMAR K

N o r t h S e a B a l t i c S e a

Bremen

Hamburg

R H

IN ELA

N D

HANO VER

BRANDENBURG

POMERANI A

SAX

ON

Y

POSEN

SILESIA

E. PRUSSIA

WESTPHALIA

Lübeck

Schleswig- Holstein

Prussia after the Congress of V ienna, 1815

Prussia after the Austro-Prussian Wa r, 1866