The German Empire, 1867-1914, and the Unity Movement

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XIV (1871-1888) SOCIAL ADJUSTMENTS The foremost episodes in the domestic history of Germany during the period of Bismarck's Chancellorship having been related in detail, other notable events and tendencies incidental to the new epoch may be reviewed more summarily. The domi- nant mark of this epoch...
More Description

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XIV (1871-1888) SOCIAL ADJUSTMENTS The foremost episodes in the domestic history of Germany during the period of Bismarck's Chancellorship having been related in detail, other notable events and tendencies incidental to the new epoch may be reviewed more summarily. The domi- nant mark of this epoch was expansion, in the form of greater political influence abroad and in the development of the na- tion's material resources at home. The war of 1870?1871 had not been attended in Germany by any of the violent economic and social disturbances which had convulsed France. No German territory was .invaded, no systematic blockade of the German coasts was attempted, and the temporary dislocation of labour, large though it was, caused no serious set-back to industry. The conclusion of a victorious peace was the signal for a great outburst of activity throughout the entire country, and the nation was carried forward on a wave of patriotic enthusiasm into new spheres of material enterprise and conquest. The foundations of German industrial and commercial prosperity had been laid long before; now the fabric itself sprang suddenly into sight, beneath the busy hands of her myriad builders. Seldom has a nation so rapidly bridged the gulf between a position of relative poverty and one of positive well-being. 1 For the first half of the century Germany still ranked as an impoverished country. Wages everywhere were low, being seldom much above and often below the subsistence level; local dearth was frequent; in many of the districts dependent upon home industries hunger typhus periodically decimated the population; the rising manufacturers of the factory towns had hardly begun to talk of fortunes; the successful business man was the man who had just enough, and he was usually w...