Starter

Drawing time

Show me what Weltpolitik looks like.

Show me what Socialism looks like.

Show me what Establishment looks

like.
 The Zabern Affair

An incident of military indiscipline

took place in 1913 that escalated
into political crisis that
encapsulated all of the
contradictions and tensions of the
Second Reich.
Learning Objectives: To understand
how the Zabern affair emphasised
the problems inherent in the
constitution of Germany.

Success Criteria: To give an overview

of the Zabern affair & comment upon
the problems within the German
constitution.
 What is being
depicted in this
image?
 Background
Annexed by Was ruled by an In 1872, residents
Germany in 1871. imperial governor were given the
Called Reichsland known as a option of emigration
Elsass Lothringen. Stathaler. or taking German
Nationality.

All the good work Around 200,000

carried out by French speakers left
Bethmann-Hollweg the area for France
was undone by the Zabern Affair or colonies .
events in Zabern 10% of the
inDecember 1913. population that
remained were
French speakers
It was granted a In 1911, the Authorities tolerated
constitution. Was government of the use of French in
given some regional Bethmann-Hollweg areas where it was in
autonomy, a flag & promoted greater the majority.
even an anthem. assimilation of the
 Events
Nov 1913. Lieutenant Governor of Alscace When Forstner
von Forstner made Lorraine, von Wedel, appeared on the streets
derogatory remarks wanted Forstner he was jeered at. Von
about the locals to his transferred but garrison Reuter’s response was
troops which were commander Colonel von to imprison some of the
printed by the local Reuter refused. townsfolk.
press.
The Chancellor & the
War Minister simply The Kaiser was
defended the military. unmoved by reports of
Vote of no confidence Zabern Affair a possible state of siege
against the Chancellor and ordered military
293-54. reinforcements to the
Kaiser diffused protests area.
in the region with
Themilitary threat.
Kaiser saw it as a Wedel continually asked for Forstner was accused of
military matter & an audience with the assaulting a
forbade Hollweg to Kaiser but was refused. shoemaker. He was
inform the Reichstag. The Kaiser was hunting. with 5 officers & the
On 3&4 December he The Kaiser accepted the accuser was alone. The
faced a barrage of explanation of events from case was dismissed as
questions from critical the local commader in self defence.
 Impact:
The Zabern Affair highlighted the limits of the Reichstag’s
influence.

The Reichstag’s vote of In the light of events,

no confidence was von Wedel resigned as
simply ignored by the Governor to be
Chancellor, who was replaced by someone
responsible to the far more reactionary
Kaiser & not to the and opposed to the
Reichstag. 1911 constitution to
integrate Alsace
Lorraine into Germany.
Zabern Affair

In January 1914 the Reichstag Political parties showed

set up a commission to discuss
the boundary line between
military and civilian authority,
but it disbanded after a month.
themselves to be far too timid. It
took 1 week after the vote for a
politician to ask for the
Chancellors resignation. When
SPD member Phillip
Scheidemann did this he was
ignored by the other politicians
 Extent of Constitutional
Change
1900-1914
Despite the emergence of the SPD and
the growing influence of the
Reichstag, there was still no great
move by 1914 toward parliamentary
democracy. On the eve of WWI the
Chancellor stil operated
independently of party politics and
the central points of the constitution
remained unreformed.
 The Kaiser
Afraid of being tarnished as unpatriotic by one or all
of the nationalist pressure groups, no political
party was prepared to challenge the power of the
monarchy. Many socialists were bound to the
institution of the monarchy by strong bonds of
loyalty meaning they were unwilling to argue in
favour of constitutional reform. In 1907, the right
wing SPD leader Gustav Noske made a speech
stressing the loyalty of the SPD to the Fatherland,
thereby stressing the deep-seated sense of
patriotism that was felt by the majority of German
politicians.
Parties as interest groups
During this period parties acted as interest
groups. They looked after the interests of the
people who voted for them.
Conservatives – landowners
SPD – workers
This made collaboration difficult. Fear of the
revolutionary image of the SPD meant few
politicians from other parties would consider
any form of political understanding. The parties
did not trust each other.
 Unit Summary
What have you learned?
German constitution.
How German political system operated in
practice from 1900 – 1914.
Lack of change in the constitution despite
increasing tensions.
Industrialisation and how this had an impact
on German society & politics.
Divisions at that start of the period still
existed in 1914.