Kulturkampf was introduced by Bismarck, it was an attack on the Catholic Church. It wasalso know as “struggle for civilization”.
Identify Bismarck. Bismarck was a chancellor who refused to be bound by a parliamentary majority. Bismarck wanted economic and legal unification of the country. Bismarck led an attackon the Catholic church called the Kulturkampf.
Bismarck was always looking for a way toincrease taxes and raise more money for the government, to do this, the raised tariffs. Bismarck was a person who tried to stop socialism. He greatly feared its growth inGermany. Identify William II. William II was a new emperor in 1890 who was young, idealistic, and unstable.
Williamopposed Bismarck’s attempt to renew the law outlawing the Social Democratic party. Due to his eagerness to run his own empire, William II fired Bismarck. But William wasno any more successful as Bismarck in getting the workers to renounce socialism. Identify “dropping of the pilot”.
“Dropping of the pilot” was the phrase used to describe the dismissal of Bismarck. Because of this, German foreign policy changed profoundly and mostly for the worse, butnew laws were passed to aid workers and to legalize the socialist political activity. Identify Dreyfus affair. Alfred Dreyfus was a Jewish captain in the French army who was falsely accused andconvicted of treason. After being sent to prison, in 1898 to 1899, the case split Franceapart.
One side was the army, who established evidence against Dreyfus. The other sidewere the civil libertarians. Finally, Dreyfus was declared innocent, and this revivedrepublican feeling against the church. The government had no ties with the church,anybody working for the church was no longer paid by the government.
And the Catholicschools received no funding. Identify Adolphe Thiers. Adolphe Thiers was the leader of the National Assembly. He hated the ideas of the ParisCommune, who were trying to govern Paris. He ordered the French army into Paris andbrutally crushed the Commune. Because of this, 20,000 men died, and there was a type ofcivil war going on in France, French verses French.
For what reasons did Bismarck oppose Socialism?Bismarck opposed Socialism because he feared its revolutionary language and allegianceto a movement transcending the nation-state. How did the Dreyfus affair divide France? What was the outcome for Dreyfus? ForFrance?The Dreyfus affair divided France into two groups, the group who said he was guilty, andthe group that said he was innocent. The first group was made up of the army,anti-Semites, and the Catholic establishment. This group manufactured evidence againstDreyfus. The other group was made of civil libertarians who fought for his innocence.
After Dreyfus’ family, along with Emile Zola, the case was reopened, and Dreyfus wasfound innocent. Because of this, the republican government revived its feeling against theCatholic Church. The government severed all ties it had with the church. Church workerswere no longer paid by the government, and Catholic schools no longer got funds from thegovernment
