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143-550: Burgfriedenspolitik ( German: [ˈbʊʁkfʁiːdn̩s.poliˌtiːk] , lit.   ' castle peace policy ' ) was a political truce between the German Empire 's parliamentary parties during World War I . They agreed not to criticise the government's handling of the war, to keep their disagreements out of public view and to postpone elections until after the end of the war. In addition, three major associations of trade unions promised not to strike. The informal agreement

286-461: A German chemical works. Bismarck stubbornly refused to listen to Georg Herbert Münster , ambassador to France, who reported back that the French were not seeking a revanchist war and were desperate for peace at all costs. Bismarck and most of his contemporaries were conservative-minded and focused their foreign policy attention on Germany's neighboring states. In 1914, 60% of German foreign investment

429-638: A besieged castle during the Middle Ages. Before the start of the First World War , many of Europe's social democratic parties adopted a policy of peace and anti-militarism which was formalised at international conferences of the Second International in 1907 and 1912. At the 1907 Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) congress, chairman August Bebel nevertheless declared that in the event of an attack on Germany, he would defend

572-767: A court judgment. In the 1912 Reichstag elections , 22.2% of the population (14.442 million men) were eligible to vote; by comparison the figures were 16% in Great Britain and 28% in the United States. The percentage eligible to vote in Reichstag elections was also significantly higher than in German state elections, such as in Prussia , Bavaria and Saxony , where the right to vote was subject to additional conditions. Elections were held in districts that elected

715-549: A decisive role. They chose members of the presidium that was responsible for routine administrative activities and decided on speakers and the composition of committees. The parliamentary groups in the Empire were generally associations of deputies from the same party. The parties elected an executive committee, usually from the respective party leadership. They financed themselves through contributions from members. Regular meetings were held to discuss parliamentary procedure. There

858-531: A degree, still exist in Germany today. Bismarck's paternalistic programs won the support of German industry because its goals were to win the support of the working classes for the Empire and reduce the outflow of immigrants to America, where wages were higher but welfare did not exist. Bismarck further won the support of both industry and skilled workers by his high tariff policies, which protected profits and wages from American competition, although they alienated

1001-399: A general debate on the principles of the draft was to take place. Not until the second reading were the individual articles allowed to be debated. At that point amendments could also be proposed. In the third reading, there was to be a synthesis of the results from the first and second readings. Newly proposed motions had to have the support of at least thirty deputies. Finally, the entire draft

1144-517: A government body controlled by Protestants. Nearly all German bishops, clergy, and laymen rejected the legality of the new laws, and were defiant in the face of heavier and heavier penalties and imprisonments imposed by Bismarck's government. By 1876, all the Prussian bishops were imprisoned or in exile, and a third of the Catholic parishes were without a priest. In the face of systematic defiance,

1287-525: A great hero to German conservatives, who erected many monuments to his memory and tried to emulate his policies. Bismarck's post-1871 foreign policy was conservative and sought to preserve the balance of power in Europe. British historian Eric Hobsbawm concludes that he "remained undisputed world champion at the game of multilateral diplomatic chess for almost twenty years after 1871, [devoting] himself exclusively, and successfully, to maintaining peace between

1430-475: A key position in the Reich's institutionalized decision-making structure. The Reichstag's position with respect to the government depended on its internal political makeup. The German multi-party system made it difficult to form parliamentary majorities. Bismarck played the parties against each other, relying on shifting majorities or compliant coalitions. After the turn to a more conservative Reichstag in 1878–79,

1573-539: A kind of salary from 1876 on. Numerous parliamentarians were also employed as party functionaries or journalists for the party press. In 1898 about 40% of Social Democratic deputies were party employees and another 15–20% were employed by the socialist free trade unions . In the conservative camp, the German Agrarian League ( Bund der Landwirte ) supported Reichstag members financially and expected political support in return. Industrial associations and

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1716-449: A member of parliament with their profession. Max Weber also counted Prussian Junkers , industrialists, pensioners and high officials among the group. The majority of businessmen, on the other hand, were rarely free because of the demands of their occupation. This was even more true for workers. Financial compensation could come through support from a member's party or an interest group. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) paid its deputies

1859-421: A multi-ethnic Empire with a considerable German-speaking population, would remain outside of the German nation state. Bismarck's policy was to pursue a solution diplomatically. The effective alliance between Germany and Austria played a major role in Germany's decision to enter World War I in 1914. Bismarck announced there would be no more territorial additions to Germany in Europe, and his diplomacy after 1871

2002-570: A mythical "August Experience" – the Spirit of 1914 – while in the political arena it was used as an accusation that the other side was failing to follow it. Disagreement over the Burgfrieden caused increasing divisions within the SPD, not just in the Reichstag but also in the party as a whole and the unions allied with it. In December 1915, after 44 SPD members voted against additional war credits in

2145-673: A party caucus, 20 went on to vote no in the full Reichstag. After the anti-war faction voted against an emergency budget in early 1916, it was excluded from the SPD's parliamentary membership and formed the Socialist Working Group ( Sozialistische Arbeitsgemeinschaft , SAG), which aggressively criticised the government's war policies. In 1917 the group formally established its own party, the Independent Social Democrats ( Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands , USPD). Many of them joined

2288-552: A pledge. The leaders who were present came forward and took the pledge, following which the parliamentary members enthusiastically sang Heil Dir im Siegerkranz , ("Hail to Thee in the Victor's Wreath"), the anthem of the German Empire. The Burgfrieden can be said to have begun with the Reichstag's unanimous vote on 4 August to approve the war credits for five billion marks that the government had requested. On 2 August,

2431-501: A relatively smooth economic and political revolution from above that pushed them along the way towards becoming the world's leading industrial power of the time. Bismarck's "revolutionary conservatism" was a conservative state-building strategy designed to make ordinary Germans—not just the Junker elite—more loyal to the throne and empire. According to Kees van Kersbergen and Barbara Vis, his strategy was: granting social rights to enhance

2574-441: A request for war credits. SPD co-chairman Hugo Haase , who had voted in the party caucus against approving the war credits, gave the reasons for the party's approval in front of the Reichstag. He cited imperialism and the arms race as the causes of the war, assigned responsibility to the "promoters of the policy" and emphasised that the SPD had warned against the coming war. He connected the SPD's vote of approval to its positions on

2717-502: A role in the change. There were few non-voters left for the government to win over. With the exception of the 1907 election , new elections no longer brought any changes that would have improved the government's position. On the other hand, the contrast between the political camps continued to intensify, making joint action against the government more difficult. In October 1918, with the prospect of imminent defeat in World War I and in

2860-549: A single member by absolute majority, which meant that – unlike under the proportional representation of the Weimar Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany – there were only directly elected deputies. If no candidate received an absolute majority in the first round, a runoff election was held between the two candidates with the highest number of votes. Runoff elections became increasingly important during

3003-453: A state secretary (minister) subordinate to him, or to a state government, had to resign his seat in the Reichstag. No allowances were paid because there were to be no professional politicians. In practice this meant that deputies had to have the time available and be able to afford the office financially. Candidates who were not wealthy or civil servants were thus at a disadvantage. Lawyers and journalists, for example, were able to combine being

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3146-563: A war of defence and Russian tsarism, seeing the liberal future of the people endangered by a victory of "bloodthirsty Russian despotism". He believed that the war was a war of conquest that had been imposed on Germany, and he emphasised the "right of a people to national independence and self-defence" in accordance with the resolutions of the Second International. He expressly reaffirmed the SPD's intention "not to abandon its own fatherland in its hour of danger". The SPD's yes vote

3289-488: Is imminent. A world war is threatening! The ruling classes, who enslave, despise and exploit you in peace, want to use you as cannon fodder. Everywhere the ears of those in power need to be ringing with: We don't want war! Down with war! Long live the international brotherhood of nations! During the July Crisis that led up to the German declaration of war against Russia on 1 August 1914 and against France and Belgium in

3432-456: The Bundesrat , the federal council of deputies from the 27 states. Executive power was vested in the emperor, or Kaiser , who was assisted by a chancellor responsible only to him. The emperor was given extensive powers by the constitution. He alone appointed and dismissed the chancellor (so in practice, the emperor ruled the empire through the chancellor), was supreme commander-in-chief of

3575-596: The Austrian Empire and its allies on one side and Prussia and its allies on the other. The war resulted in the partial replacement of the Confederation in 1867 by a North German Confederation , comprising the 22 states north of the river Main . The patriotic fervor generated by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 overwhelmed the remaining opposition to a unified Germany (aside from Austria) in

3718-625: The Communist Party of Germany when it was established in January 1919. In parallel to the war aims discussions was one about a "new orientation" of German domestic policies, which assumed a victorious end to the war. The Right saw it as support for the authoritarian state, while the reforms discussed by moderates and the Left centered on eliminating Prussia's three-class franchise , which weighted votes based on taxes paid and therefore favoured

3861-421: The Franco-Prussian War . The German Empire consisted of 25 states , each with its own nobility , four constituent kingdoms , six grand duchies , five duchies (six before 1876), seven principalities , three free Hanseatic cities , and one imperial territory . While Prussia was one of four kingdoms in the realm, it contained about two-thirds of the Empire's population and territory, and Prussian dominance

4004-672: The Great Depression , as well as humiliation and outrage experienced by the German population are considered leading factors in the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism . The German Confederation had been created by an act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars , after being alluded to in Article 6 of the 1814 Treaty of Paris . The liberal Revolutions of 1848 were crushed after

4147-591: The Reichstag of the Weimar Republic that met for the first time in June of 1920. The 1871 Constitution of the German Empire did not change the legal form of the parliament as it had been laid down for the Reichstag of the North German Confederation in its 1867 constitution . Members were elected by universal, equal and secret manhood suffrage, with the voting age set at 25. The suffrage

4290-574: The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk . The German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 contributed to bringing the United States into the war. In October 1918, after the failed Spring Offensive , the German armies were in retreat , allies Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, and Bulgaria had surrendered. The empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution with

4433-874: The Triple Alliance (1882) , would exist up until 1915, when Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary. Despite Germany, and especially Austria's, lack of faith in the Russian alliance, the Reinsurance Treaty would be first signed in 1887, and renewed up until 1890, when the Bismarckian system collapsed upon Bismarck's resignation. Meanwhile, the chancellor remained wary of any foreign policy developments that looked even remotely warlike. In 1886, he moved to stop an attempted sale of horses to France because they might be used for cavalry and also ordered an investigation into large Russian purchases of medicine from

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4576-630: The unification of Germany in 1871 until the November Revolution in 1918, when the German Reich changed its form of government from a monarchy to a republic . The empire was founded on 18 January 1871 at the Palace of Versailles , outside Paris , France , where the south German states, except for Austria and Liechtenstein , joined the North German Confederation and the new constitution came into force on 16 April, changing

4719-513: The welfare state . German workers enjoyed health, accident and maternity benefits, canteens, changing rooms, and a national pension scheme. Industrialisation progressed dynamically in Germany, and German manufacturers began to capture domestic markets from British imports, and also to compete with British industry abroad, particularly in the U.S. The German textile and metal industries had by 1870 surpassed those of Britain in organisation and technical efficiency and superseded British manufacturers in

4862-610: The " Spirit of 1914 " would eliminate the SPD because all Germans had become pan-German. Less than a year after the start of the Burgfrieden , by mid-1915, it was seldom mentioned. Discussions about the war tended to center on war aims. Plans for annexations to Germany in both the east and the west were talked about extensively. The government developed the Septemberprogramm with extensive annexation goals in September 1914 when it expected that Germany would quickly win

5005-512: The Baghdad Railway was resolved in June 1914. Many consider Bismarck's foreign policy as a coherent system and partly responsible for the preservation of Europe's stability. It was also marked by the need to balance circumspect defensiveness and the desire to be free from the constraints of its position as a major European power. Bismarck's successors did not pursue his foreign policy legacy. For instance, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who dismissed

5148-522: The Bismarck government increased the penalties and its attacks, and were challenged in 1875 when a papal encyclical declared the whole ecclesiastical legislation of Prussia was invalid, and threatened to excommunicate any Catholic who obeyed. There was no violence, but the Catholics mobilized their support, set up numerous civic organizations, raised money to pay fines, and rallied behind their church and

5291-542: The Catholic Church acted similarly. A government-funded expense allowance was made available in 1906, but the 3,000 marks per year was too little to live on. The makeup of the Reichstag showed that these types of financial provisions could not prevent something like professional political class from developing. The proceedings of the Reichstag were public (Article 22 of the Reich Constitution), and

5434-607: The Catholic section of the Prussian Ministry of ecclesiastical and educational affairs, depriving Catholics of their voice at the highest level. The system of strict government supervision of schools was applied only in Catholic areas; the Protestant schools were left alone. Much more serious were the May laws of 1873. One made the appointment of any priest dependent on his attendance at a German university, as opposed to

5577-599: The Centre Party showed signs of gaining support among dissident elements such as the Polish Catholics in Silesia . A powerful intellectual force of the time was anti-Catholicism , led by the liberal intellectuals who formed a vital part of Bismarck's coalition. They saw the Catholic Church as a powerful force of reaction and anti-modernity, especially after the proclamation of papal infallibility in 1870, and

5720-514: The Centre Party. The "Old Catholic Church", which rejected the First Vatican Council, attracted only a few thousand members. Bismarck, a devout pietistic Protestant, realized his Kulturkampf was backfiring when secular and socialist elements used the opportunity to attack all religion. In the long run, the most significant result was the mobilization of the Catholic voters, and their insistence on protecting their religious identity. In

5863-587: The Emperor would be speaking at the Palace rather than the Reichstag. The Emperor ended his speech with a personal postscript that echoed some of his words from 1 August: I repeat now that I no longer know any parties. I know only Germans. And in order to testify that you are firmly resolved without distinction of party to stand by my side through danger and death, I call upon the leaders of the different parties in this House to come forward and lay their hands in mine as

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6006-574: The French lacked the strength to defeat Germany by themselves, they sought an alliance with Russia, or perhaps even the newly reformed empire of Austria-Hungary, which would envelope Germany completely. Bismarck wanted to prevent this at all costs and maintain friendly relations with the Austrians and the Russians, signing the Dual Alliance (1879) with Austria-Hungary in 1879. The Dual Aliance

6149-493: The German Empire became an industrial, technological, and scientific power in Europe, and by 1913, Germany was the largest economy in continental Europe and the third-largest in the world. Germany also became a great power , building the longest railway network of Europe, the world's strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. Starting very small in 1871, in a decade, the navy became second only to Britain 's Royal Navy . From 1871 to 1890, Otto von Bismarck's tenure as

6292-506: The German steel and pig iron output reached one quarter of total global production. German factories were larger and more modern than their British and French counterparts. By 1913, the German electricity production was higher than the combined electricity production of Britain, France, Italy and Sweden. By 1900, the German chemical industry dominated the world market for synthetic dyes . The three major firms BASF , Bayer and Hoechst produced several hundred different dyes, along with

6435-440: The Left expected their sacrifices to be rewarded by social changes after the end of the war. Disagreements within the SPD led to a permanent split within the party when anti-war members formed their own more leftist party, the Independent Social Democrats (USPD), in 1917. The term Burgfrieden came into use more or less spontaneously. The situation in 1914 was seen to mirror the internal peace that by necessity prevailed inside

6578-893: The Pacific ( Jiaozhou Bay and Tianjin in China, the Marianas , the Caroline Islands , Samoa) led to frictions with the UK, Russia, Japan, and the US. The largest colonial enterprises were in Africa, where the Herero Wars in what is now Namibia in 1906–1907 resulted in the Herero and Nama genocide . By 1900, Germany became the largest economy in continental Europe and the third-largest in

6721-419: The Reichstag president did not come from a strong party, he had to follow the council to a greater extent than if he came from a strong one. Until 1884 members of the presidium were not members of the council of elders. After that, the first vice president was also head of the council. In 1899 the president assumed the function himself. Under Article 23 of the constitution, one of the Reichstag's central rights

6864-672: The Reichstag rather than the emperor, were implemented only after the Supreme Army Command admitted that the war was lost. Weeks later, the Empire was overthrown in the German Revolution of 1918–1919 . German Empire The German Empire (German: Deutsches Reich ), also referred to as Imperial Germany , the Second Reich or simply Germany , was the period of the German Reich from

7007-608: The Reichstag's legislative power to the Bundesrat . The act authorised the Bundesrat, chaired by the chancellor, "to order such legal measures during the period of war as prove necessary to remedy economic damage". The Reichstag nevertheless retained the power of the budget and therefore controlled the funding for the war. Its members, as part of the Burgfrieden , agreed to forego elections, including by-elections, and to keep their disagreements out of public view. The president of

7150-566: The Reichstag, Dr. Johannes Kaempf , ended the 4 August session with the statement: "The German people are united to the last man, to win or die on the battlefield for German honour and German unity". The General Commission of German Trade Unions , the umbrella organisation of the Free Trade Unions with close ties to the Social Democrats, had declared on 2 August that it would refrain from wage increases and strikes during

7293-421: The Russian nation, because of its climate, its desert, and its frugality, and having but one frontier to defend", and because it would leave Germany with another bitter, resentful neighbor. Despite this, another alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy would be signed in 1882, preying on the fears of the German and Austro-Hungarian militaries of the untrustworthiness of Russia itself. This alliance, named

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7436-483: The abdication of Wilhelm II, which left the post-war federal republic to govern a devastated populace. The Treaty of Versailles imposed post-war reparation costs of 132 billion gold marks (around US$ 269 billion or €240 billion in 2019, or roughly US$ 32 billion in 1921), as well as limiting the army to 100,000 men and disallowing conscription, armored vehicles, submarines, aircraft, and more than six battleships. The consequential economic devastation, later exacerbated by

7579-431: The administration that adjusted electoral boundaries to reflect population changes. The Reichstag was suspicious of the administration because it had regularly manipulated district boundaries in Prussian state elections. But in the following decades, the Bundesrat, as a part of parliament, prevented a legislative adjustment of electoral districts. Deputies were considered representatives of the entire German people and under

7722-608: The alliance and the Ottoman Empire formally allied with Germany . In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in the autumn of 1914 failed, and the war on the Western Front became a stalemate. The Allied naval blockade caused severe shortages of food and supplements. However, Imperial Germany had success on the Eastern Front ; it occupied a large amount of territory to its east following

7865-501: The armed forces, and final arbiter of all foreign affairs, and could also disband the Reichstag to call for new elections. Officially, the chancellor was a one-man cabinet and was responsible for the conduct of all state affairs; in practice, the State Secretaries (top bureaucratic officials in charge of such fields as finance, war, foreign affairs, etc.) functioned much like ministers in other monarchies. The Reichstag had

8008-559: The balcony of the Berlin Palace on 1 August announcing Germany's decision to go to war, Emperor Wilhelm II invoked national unity: "I no longer recognise parties or denominations; today we are all German brothers and only German brothers." On 4 August, the Emperor delivered his speech from the throne in the White Hall of the Palace, to which all Reichstag members had been invited. The SPD contingent alone did not attend because

8151-587: The basis for conservative modernization in Imperial Japan under Emperor Meiji and the preservation of an authoritarian political structure under the tsars in the Russian Empire . One factor in the social anatomy of these governments was the retention of a very substantial share in political power by the landed elite , the Junkers , resulting from the absence of a revolutionary breakthrough by

8294-399: The basis of the modern European welfare state . He came to realize that this sort of policy was very appealing, since it bound workers to the state, and also fit in very well with his authoritarian nature. The social security systems installed by Bismarck (health care in 1883, accident insurance in 1884, invalidity and old-age insurance in 1889) at the time were the largest in the world and, to

8437-441: The belief that it was a defensive war was critical to ensuring support, especially among Germany's socialists. The danger that they would call strikes or demonstrations during a war was seen as very real. At the end of July 1914, the SPD held mass demonstrations in favour of peace and called for resistance to the impending war. On 25 July, the executive committee published a call for peace in the party newspaper Vorwärts : Danger

8580-550: The big cities and industrial centers, large differences arose in the populations of the individual electoral districts. In 1912 there were twelve electoral districts with fewer than 75,000 inhabitants and twelve with more than 400,000, the largest of which, electoral district 10 in Potsdam , had 1,282,000. The layout of the electoral districts, which was based on the 1864 census and did not change afterwards, disadvantaged those political parties that had their constituencies primarily in

8723-446: The chancellor in 1890, let the treaty with Russia lapse in favor of Germany's alliance with Austria, which finally led to a stronger coalition-building between Russia and France. Germans had dreamed of colonial imperialism since 1848. Although Bismarck had little interest in acquiring overseas possessions, most Germans were enthusiastic, and by 1884 he had acquired German New Guinea . By the 1890s, German colonial expansion in Asia and

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8866-419: The cities. The small electoral districts that coincided with individual "dwarf" states continued to send one deputy to the Reichstag because the federal structure of the Reich required that each state have a seat regardless of population, as was notably the case in Schaumburg-Lippe , with a population of about 45,000 in 1912. An 1869 electoral law stipulated that it was parliament and not a statutory order by

9009-465: The constitution stated that additional revenues "shall be raised, as long as no taxes of the Empire shall have been established, by assessing the several States of the Empire according to their population, the amount of the assessment to be fixed by the chancellor of the Empire in accordance with the budget agreed upon." Also in the area of foreign policy, parliament's rights of participation were limited. Only in customs, trade, transport and similar areas

9152-423: The constitution were not bound by instructions. They enjoyed immunity from prosecution on the basis of their office and security against loss or other financial burden (indemnity), as well as protection from disciplinary sanctions resulting from their political actions as parliamentarians. Strong emphasis was placed on the separation between the executive and parliament. A deputy who was appointed Reich chancellor or

9295-526: The country's population. The imperial crown was hereditary in the ruling house of Prussia, the House of Hohenzollern . With the exception of 1872–1873 and 1892–1894, the chancellor was always simultaneously the prime minister of Prussia. With 17 out of 58 votes in the Bundesrat , Berlin needed only a few votes from the smaller states to exercise effective control. The other states retained their own governments but had only limited aspects of sovereignty. For example, both postage stamps and currency were issued for

9438-408: The day by demanding an explanation from a minister). An interpellation required the consent of 30 deputies. The chancellor was not obliged to appear in the Reichstag or to answer questions. In practice, however, chancellors did so in order to justify their positions. Control of the executive was further developed in the committees. A minor reform of the Reichstag's rules of procedure in 1912 introduced

9581-413: The domestic market. Germany became the dominant economic power on the continent and was the second-largest exporting nation after Britain. Technological progress during German industrialisation occurred in four waves: the railway wave (1877–1886), the dye wave (1887–1896), the chemical wave (1897–1902), and the wave of electrical engineering (1903–1918). Since Germany industrialised later than Britain, it

9724-448: The duties incumbent upon it as the guardian of the material and moral interests of the working classes of Germany, the question of standing by those whose intentions are in the sharpest contradiction to the provisions of the declaration of our Reichstag party membership of 4 August 1914, in which we stated that, in agreement with the International, we condemn any war of conquest. By the end of the war, Burgfrieden had become an appeal to

9867-498: The elections of 1874, the Centre party doubled its popular vote, and became the second-largest party in the national parliament—and remained a powerful force for the next 60 years, so that after Bismarck it became difficult to form a government without their support. Bismarck built on a tradition of welfare programs in Prussia and Saxony that began as early as in the 1840s. In the 1880s he introduced old-age pensions, accident insurance, medical care and unemployment insurance that formed

10010-403: The emerging Social Democratic Party . Prussia in 1871 included 16,000,000 Protestants, both Reformed and Lutheran, and 8,000,000 Catholics. Most people were generally segregated into their own religious worlds, living in rural districts or city neighbourhoods that were overwhelmingly of the same religion, and sending their children to separate public schools where their religion was taught. There

10153-417: The empire as a whole. Coins through one mark were also minted in the name of the empire, while higher-valued pieces were issued by the states. However, these larger gold and silver issues were virtually commemorative coins and had limited circulation. While the states issued their own decorations and some had their own armies, the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. Those of

10296-414: The end of the Empire. The expansion of parliamentary committees was halting. The number of members depended on the strength of the parliamentary parties. In the council of elders ( Seniorenkonvent ), generally made up of members of the parties' leadership, agreement was reached on committee chairmanships. Unlike the rules of procedure for the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic, there was no specification of

10439-511: The exception of eight small states that formed their own electoral districts even though they had fewer than 100,000 inhabitants. Since the electoral district boundaries were based on the borders of the individual German states, some electoral districts consisted of widely separated areas. The fragmentation was particularly pronounced in the Thuringian states . Due to differing rates of population growth caused primarily by internal migration to

10582-408: The fatherland, adding an explicit reference to an attack by the Russian Empire , which he described as the "enemy of all culture and all oppressed people". Russia under the rule of Tsar Nicholas II was a byword for oppression and reaction for the Social Democrats long before 1914. Karl Marx had called the tsarist empire a hotbed of reaction. In the weeks leading up to the outbreak of hostilities,

10725-515: The first and to this day longest-serving chancellor was marked by relative liberalism at its start, but in time grew more conservative. Broad reforms, the anti-Catholic Kulturkampf and systematic repression of Polish people marked his period in the office. Despite his hatred of liberalism and socialism – he called liberals and socialists "enemies of the Reich" – social programs introduced by Bismarck included old-age pensions, accident insurance, medical care and unemployment insurance, all aspects of

10868-582: The five smaller firms. Imperial Germany built up the world's largest chemical industry, the production of German chemical industry was 60% higher than that of the United States. In 1913, these eight firms produced almost 90% of the world supply of dyestuffs and sold about 80% of their production abroad. The three major firms had also integrated upstream into the production of essential raw materials and they began to expand into other areas of chemistry such as pharmaceuticals , photographic film , agricultural chemicals and electrochemicals . Top-level decision-making

11011-427: The following days, the German government was able to successfully portray its decisions as part of a necessary defensive war against Russia, which had declared a general mobilization on 30 July. Even after the German attack on France through neutral Belgium, German chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg continued to speak of Germany being forced into hostilities by the enemies that surrounded it. In his speech from

11154-540: The former "journeymen without a fatherland" into the nation, although he did not consider asking the SPD to join the government, as the socialists did in France as part of their union sacrée ( Sacred Union ), which was roughly comparable to Germany's Burgfrieden . The political right, on the other hand, thought that the perceived unity behind the Burgfrieden proved that there was no need to make political changes. The Pan-German League went so far as to claim that

11297-764: The four states south of the Main, and during November 1870, they joined the North German Confederation by treaty. On 10 December 1870, the North German Confederation Reichstag renamed the Confederation the "German Empire" and gave the title of German Emperor to William I , the King of Prussia , as Bundespräsidium of the Confederation. The new constitution ( Constitution of the German Confederation ) and

11440-491: The government for the duration of the war and practised self-censorship. In accordance with Article 68 of the German Constitution , the imposition of a state of war meant that freedom of the press was restricted by censorship measures anyway. The government nevertheless allowed the SPD's Vorwärts to be sold in Prussian train stations from the beginning of the war. As in the trade unions, the political parties on

11583-532: The hope of obtaining more favorable peace terms from the Allies , parliament enacted constitutional reforms that required the Reichstag's approval for declaring war and making peace and that made the chancellor dependent on the confidence of the Reichstag rather than the emperor. But the reforms were not enough for either the Allies or the people of Germany, and in the German Revolution of 1918–1919 , brought an end to

11726-582: The increasingly complex economy and society led to a further need for legal regulations. By at times voting down major proposals supported by both the government and the emperor, the Reichstag showed its growing importance in the law-making process. Universal manhood suffrage (one of the most liberal voting rights of its time) resulted in large-scale political mobilization. Voter turnout rose from 51% in 1871 to 85% in 1912. Parties and interest groups of all kinds formulated their interests and effectively brought them to bear in parliament. The Reichstag thus also held

11869-421: The integration of a hierarchical society, to forge a bond between workers and the state so as to strengthen the latter, to maintain traditional relations of authority between social and status groups, and to provide a countervailing power against the modernist forces of liberalism and socialism. Bismarck created the modern welfare state in Germany in the 1880s and enacted universal male suffrage in 1871. He became

12012-666: The interests of other European powers, especially the British Empire. During its colonial expansion, the German Empire committed the Herero and Nama genocide . After the resignation of Otto von Bismarck in 1890, and Wilhelm II 's refusal to recall him to office, the empire embarked on Weltpolitik ("world politics") – a bellicose new course that ultimately contributed to the outbreak of World War I. Bismarck's successors were incapable of maintaining their predecessor's complex, shifting, and overlapping alliances which had kept Germany from being diplomatically isolated. This period

12155-509: The larger states, such as the Kingdoms of Bavaria and Saxony, were coordinated along Prussian principles and would, in wartime, be controlled by the federal government. The evolution of the German Empire is somewhat in line with parallel developments in Italy, which became a united nation-state a decade earlier. Some key elements of the German Empire's authoritarian political structure were also

12298-541: The latest. The Reichstag was dissolved only four times: in 1878 , 1887 , 1893 , and 1906 . The initiative always came from the chancellor, who hoped that the Reichstag parties supporting him would gain seats. Such an outcome was uncertain, which was a main factor behind the low number of Reichstag dissolutions. The Reichstag based its internal organization on the rules of procedure of the Prussian House of Representatives . They remained in force until 1922, after

12441-428: The leaders of the SPD in the Reichstag had decided to support war credits by four votes to two. The following day, the SPD's Reichstag membership voted 78 to 14 to accept the credits and then, with 24 no votes, to enforce party discipline, which meant that on 4 August in the full Reichstag, the SPD voted as a bloc in favour. That included Karl Liebknecht , who on 2 December became the first Reichstag member to vote against

12584-403: The left expected their agreement to the Burgfrieden to provide payback at the end of the war. Eduard David of the SPD, looking ahead to potential social reforms said, "We expect democratic suffrage reform as the price of the working class's war effort." Others saw the need for the government to accept opinions from all sides on domestic matters. Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg wanted to integrate

12727-566: The liberal intellectuals who wanted free trade. As it was throughout Europe at the time, antisemitism was endemic in Germany during the period. Before Napoleon 's decrees ended the ghettos in Confederation of the Rhine , it had been religiously motivated, but by the 19th century, it was a factor in German nationalism . In the popular mind, Jews became a symbol of capitalism and wealth. On

12870-477: The life of the Empire. Whereas in the 1874 Reichstag election , runoffs had to be held in 46 of the 397 electoral districts (11.6%), in the 1890 election there were 147 (37%) and 190 in 1912 (47.9%). In 1871 the Reichstag consisted of 382 deputies. After the addition of fifteen electoral districts to Alsace–Lorraine in 1874, there were 397 until the end of the Empire in 1918. The electoral districts were initially drawn to include about 100,000 people each, with

13013-444: The long term against the will of the Reichstag because it had to pass the laws by a majority vote and approve the budget. The chancellor therefore needed the Reichstag's political support even if he did not have to resign in the event of a vote of no confidence. Although the chancellor was not accountable to parliament, he still depended on parliament's approval for laws and the budget. The newly formed Reich needed additional laws, and

13156-406: The major ports of Hamburg and Bremen . By 1880, Germany had 9,400 locomotives pulling 43,000 passengers and 30,000 tons of freight, and forged ahead of France. The total length of German railroad tracks expanded from 21,000 km (13,000 mi) in 1871 to 63,000 km (39,000 mi) by 1913, establishing the largest rail network in the world after the United States. The German rail network

13299-596: The modern European welfare state . Late in Bismarck's chancellorship and in spite of his earlier personal opposition, Germany became involved in colonialism . Claiming much of the leftover territory that was not yet conquered by Europeans in the Scramble for Africa , it managed to build the third-largest colonial empire at the time, after the British and the French ones. As a colonial state, it sometimes clashed with

13442-507: The most progressive electoral laws of its time: with only a few restrictions, all men 25 and older were allowed to vote, secretly and equally, in direct elections. The Reichstag met throughout the First World War, but was prevented from sitting during the German Revolution of 1918–1919 . Its last session took place on 26 October 1918. Its successors were the Weimar National Assembly (February 1919 to June 1920), followed by

13585-588: The name of the federal state to the German Empire and introducing the title of German Emperor for Wilhelm I , King of Prussia from the House of Hohenzollern . Berlin remained its capital, and Otto von Bismarck , Minister President of Prussia , became chancellor , the head of government. As these events occurred, the Prussian -led North German Confederation and its southern German allies, such as Baden , Bavaria , Württemberg , and Hesse , were still engaged in

13728-515: The now united Germany became predominantly urban. The success of German industrialization manifested itself in two ways in the early 20th century; German factories were often larger and more modern than many of their British and French counterparts, but the preindustrial sector was more backward. The success of the German Empire in the natural sciences, especially in physics and chemistry, was such that one-third of all Nobel Prizes went to German inventors and researchers. During its 47 years of existence,

13871-411: The numbers or tasks of committees. Reichstag members elected a president and his deputies. The president represented the parliament externally and had the task of maintaining internal order. He set the agenda, and members could reject it only by a majority vote. The president could call speakers to order, request that they be deprived of the floor if they disobeyed, or exclude them from the session. It

14014-409: The official rules of procedure. As the governing body of the Reichstag, leading representatives of the parties came together to vote on such matters as the agenda, committee appointments and procedural issues. The decisions of the council of elders were not subject to the majority principle, but were made unanimously. From around 1890, parties were represented in the body according to their strength. If

14157-489: The other hand, the constitution and legal system protected the rights of Jews as German citizens. Antisemitic parties were formed but soon collapsed. But after the Treaty of Versailles , and Adolf Hitler 's rise to power in Germany , antisemitism in Germany would increase. Reichstag (German Empire) Reichstag members were elected for three-year terms from 1871 to 1888 and following that for five years. It had one of

14300-418: The other parliamentary parties enthusiastically welcomed the SPD's unanimous vote in favor of war credits on 4 August 1914. The vote marked the start of the Burgfrieden . The political truce was relatively short-lived. By mid-1915, discussions about the war began to center around what were often annexationist war goals. The Right saw the Burgfrieden as a sign of support for the authoritarian state while

14443-505: The parties often confined themselves to either reacting to or obstructing government measures. The parties' limited willingness to compromise among themselves made it easier for the government to achieve its goals. It resorted if necessary to dissolving the Reichstag, the possibility of which always played a background role for parliamentary decisions. After the Bismarck era, the threat of dissolution became less and less important. The fact that fixed political electoral camps were forming played

14586-400: The peasants in combination with urban areas. Although authoritarian in many respects, the empire had some democratic features. Besides universal manhood suffrage, it permitted the development of political parties. Bismarck intended to create a constitutional façade that would mask the continuation of authoritarian policies. However, in the process, he created a system with a serious flaw. There

14729-435: The power to pass, amend, or reject bills and to initiate legislation. However, as mentioned above, in practice, the real power was vested in the emperor, who exercised it through his chancellor. Although nominally a federal empire and league of equals, in practice, the empire was dominated by the largest and most powerful state, Prussia. It stretched across the northern two-thirds of the new Reich and contained three-fifths of

14872-402: The powers". This was a departure from his adventurous foreign policy for Prussia, where he favored strength and expansion, punctuating this by saying, "The great questions of the age are not settled by speeches and majority votes – this was the error of 1848–49 – but by iron and blood." Bismarck's chief concern was that France would plot revenge after its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War . As

15015-427: The press reported widely on the debates. The electoral period was three years until 1888, then five. The Reichstag had no right of self-assembly but was convened annually by the emperor , an act that proved to be a formality. The Bundesrat was allowed to dissolve the Reichstag with the emperor's consent. New elections had to be held within sixty days, and the newly elected Reichstag had to be convened after 90 days at

15158-418: The relations between the educated, well-off middle-class liberals and the urban artisans broke down; Otto von Bismarck 's pragmatic Realpolitik , which appealed to peasants as well as the aristocracy, took its place. Bismarck sought to extend Hohenzollern hegemony throughout the German states; to do so meant unification of the German states and the exclusion of Prussia 's main German rival, Austria , from

15301-448: The right of each deputy to put a minor question to the Reich chancellor. The question was answered without subsequent debate. Furthermore, the right of interpellation was extended by allowing the question under discussion to be put to a vote. Under the constitution, the Reichstag had no direct influence on the appointment or dismissal of the chancellor, which was a matter for the emperor. In practice, however, no policy could be implemented in

15444-455: The same. The empire had a parliament called the Reichstag , which was elected by universal male suffrage . However, the original constituencies drawn in 1871 were never redrawn to reflect the growth of urban areas. As a result, by the time of the great expansion of German cities in the 1890s and 1900s, rural areas were grossly over-represented . The legislation also required the consent of

15587-516: The seminaries that the Catholics typically used. Furthermore, all candidates for the ministry had to pass an examination in German culture before a state board which weeded out intransigent Catholics. Another provision gave the government a veto power over most church activities. A second law abolished the jurisdiction of the Vatican over the Catholic Church in Prussia; its authority was transferred to

15730-581: The subsequent German Empire. He envisioned a conservative, Prussian-dominated Germany. The Second Schleswig War against Denmark in 1864, the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, and the Franco-Prussian War in 1870–1871 sparked a growing pan-German ideal and contributed to the formation of the German state. The German Confederation ended as a result of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 between the constituent Confederation entities of

15873-466: The synthesis of materials that were subject to import restrictions and for chemical weapons and war supplies. Lacking a technological base at first, the Germans imported their engineering and hardware from Britain but quickly learned the skills needed to operate and expand the railways. In many cities, the new railway shops were the centers of technological awareness and training, so that by 1850, Germany

16016-466: The tightening control of the Vatican over the local bishops. The Kulturkampf launched by Bismarck 1871–1880 affected Prussia; although there were similar movements in Baden and Hesse, the rest of Germany was not affected. According to the new imperial constitution, the states were in charge of religious and educational affairs; they funded the Protestant and Catholic schools. In July 1871 Bismarck abolished

16159-460: The title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871. During the siege of Paris on 18 January 1871, William was proclaimed Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles . The second German Constitution , adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April, was substantially based upon Bismarck's North German Constitution . The political system remained

16302-477: The total amount as Bismarck had originally envisaged; instead the expenditures were broken down in detail, and the Reichstag could discuss each item separately. In this context, the discussion of the budget became the central debate on the government's actions as a whole. Military budgets were set for a period of seven years, dropping later to five. It was very difficult to reduce the military budget, and even attempts to influence individual items met with problems. In

16445-634: The war, but Bethmann Hollweg never spoke of it publicly. The annexationist goals discussed among the political parties were contrary to the original justification for the war as defensive and were also not in the spirit of the Burgfrieden . Eduard Bernstein, Hugo Haase and Karl Kautsky , all in the left wing of the SPD, wrote in Das Gebot der Stunde ("The Need of the Day") in June 1915: In view of all these declarations, German Social Democracy must ask itself whether it can reconcile with its principles, and with

16588-612: The war. The liberal Hirsch-Dunckersche trade unions and the Christian trade unions made similar statements. All of the unions hoped that their support would lead to rewards in the form of social reforms after the war. Initially the number of strikes dropped precipitously, from a total of over four million work days spent on strike in 1913 to fewer than 5,000 in 1915. In January 1918, however, when war weariness and hunger were widespread, an estimated one million workers went on strike across Germany . The press also ceased public disputes with

16731-495: The wealthy. The reform of the electoral law that the Emperor announced in his Easter message of 1917 was, however, blocked by the Prussian House of Lords . In July 1917, the Reichstag parties of the center and left formed the Inter-party Committee ( Interfraktionelle Ausschuss ) to discuss war policy and the post-war new orientation. By bringing parties together in a form similar to a parliamentary coalition, it

16874-545: The world behind the United States and the British Empire , which were also its main economic rivals. Throughout its existence, it experienced economic growth and modernization led by heavy industry. In 1871, it had a largely rural population of 41 million, while by 1913, this had increased to a predominantly urban population of 68 million. For 30 years, Germany struggled against Britain to be Europe's leading industrial power. Representative of Germany's industry

17017-493: The years between the adoption of a new military budget, parliament had no say in what was by far the Reich's largest area of expenditure. There were also limits to parliamentary influence over revenue. Indirect taxes and customs duties were fixed for a longer period than the budget, which limited parliament's leeway, and contributions from the states were outside the Reichstag's competence. Parliament could reject new revenues, but it could not impose them on its own. Article 70 of

17160-668: Was a defensive alliance that was established against Russia, and by association France, in the event alliance did not work out with the state. However, an alliance with Russia would come not long after the signing of the Dual Alliance with Austria, the Dreikaiserbund (League of Three Emperors), in 1881. During this period, individuals within the German military were advocating a preemptive strike against Russia, but Bismarck knew that such ideas were foolhardy. He once wrote that "the most brilliant victories would not avail against

17303-555: Was a first step towards the parliamentarisation of the German Reichstag. The Committee's work led to the Reichstag Peace Resolution , a call for a negotiated peace without annexations. It marked an unprecedented attempt by the Reichstag rather than the imperial government to shape foreign policy. The German constitutional reforms of October 1918 , which made the chancellor dependent on the confidence of

17446-473: Was a significant disparity between the Prussian and German electoral systems. Prussia used a three-class voting system which weighted votes based on the amount of taxes paid, all but assuring a conservative majority. The king and (with two exceptions) the prime minister of Prussia were also the emperor and chancellor of the empire – meaning that the same rulers had to seek majorities from legislatures elected from completely different franchises. Universal suffrage

17589-436: Was able to make more efficient use of capital. Germany was not weighted down with an expensive worldwide empire that needed defense. Following Germany's annexation of Alsace-Lorraine in 1871, it absorbed parts of what had been France's industrial base. Germany overtook British steel production in 1893 and pig iron production in 1903. The German steel and pig iron production continued its rapid expansion: Between 1911 and 1913,

17732-556: Was able to model its factories after those of Britain, thus making more efficient use of its capital and avoiding legacy methods in its leap to the envelope of technology. Germany invested more heavily than the British in research, especially in chemistry, ICE engines and electricity. Germany's dominance in physics and chemistry was such that one-third of all Nobel Prizes went to German inventors and researchers. The German cartel system (known as Konzerne ), being significantly concentrated,

17875-539: Was also constitutionally established, since the King of Prussia was also the German Emperor ( Deutscher Kaiser ). After 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron (and later steel), chemicals, and railways. In 1871, Germany had a population of 41 million people; by 1913, this had increased to 68 million. A heavily rural collection of states in 1815,

18018-406: Was approval of international treaties required (Articles 4 and 11). In the making of alliances, agreements did not even need to be made known to parliament. Declarations of war or peace were a matter for the emperor. He needed the consent of the Bundesrat but not the Reichstag. For any area of government action, the Reichstag had the right of petition or interpellation (interruption of the order of

18161-570: Was focused on stabilizing the European system and preventing any wars. He succeeded, and only after his departure from office in 1890 did the diplomatic tensions start rising again. After achieving formal unification in 1871, Bismarck devoted much of his attention to the cause of national unity. He opposed Catholic civil rights and emancipation, especially the influence of the Vatican under Pope Pius IX , and working-class radicalism, represented by

18304-569: Was followed by Austria-Hungary (43,280 km; 26,890 mi), France (40,770 km; 25,330 mi), the United Kingdom (32,623 km; 20,271 mi), Italy (18,873 km; 11,727 mi) and Spain (15,088 km; 9,375 mi). The creation of the Empire under Prussian leadership was a victory for the concept of Kleindeutschland (Smaller Germany) over the Großdeutschland concept. This meant that Austria-Hungary,

18447-564: Was in Europe, as opposed to just 5% of British investment. Most of the money went to developing nations such as Russia that lacked the capital or technical knowledge to industrialize on their own. The construction of the Berlin–Baghdad railway , financed by German banks, was designed to eventually connect Germany with the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Gulf , but it also collided with British and Russian geopolitical interests. Conflict over

18590-468: Was in the hands of professional salaried managers; leading Chandler to call the German dye companies "the world's first truly managerial industrial enterprises". There were many spinoffs from research—such as the pharmaceutical industry, which emerged from chemical research. By the start of World War I (1914–1918), German industry switched to war production. The heaviest demands were on coal and steel for artillery and shell production, and on chemicals for

18733-486: Was inadmissible to enter into a debate about the emperor. If a member dared to do so, the president intervened. The members of the Bundesrat enjoyed a special position in parliament. They were not subject to the presidential power of order and had the right to be heard. The chancellor as such did not have the right to speak, but in practice he was almost always a member of the Bundesrat. Parliamentary parties were not mentioned in parliamentary rules, but they de facto played

18876-589: Was little interaction or intermarriage. On the whole, the Protestants had a higher social status, and the Catholics were more likely to be peasant farmers or unskilled or semiskilled industrial workers. In 1870, the Catholics formed their own political party, the Centre Party , which generally supported unification and most of Bismarck's policies. However, Bismarck distrusted parliamentary democracy in general and opposition parties in particular, especially when

19019-422: Was loudly cheered and seen as especially important because its connection to the socialist Second International and its pacifism had led many to call the socialists "journeymen without a fatherland" ( vaterlandslose Gesellen ). The bill for war credits was one of 17 war laws passed in fifteen minutes and signed by the Emperor on 4 August. Those included an enabling act ( Ermächtigungsgesetz ) which transferred

19162-506: Was marked by increased oppression of Polish people and various factors influencing the Emperor's decisions, which were often perceived as contradictory or unpredictable by the public. In 1879, the German Empire consolidated the Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary , followed by the Triple Alliance with Italy in 1882. It also retained strong diplomatic ties to the Ottoman Empire . When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, Italy left

19305-439: Was no compulsion to belong to a parliamentary party. The threat of exclusion was nevertheless an important means of internal discipline. Abstaining from a vote was often the option for members in disagreement. Party discipline became more and more prevalent as time went on. Discipline was weakest in the middle-class parties in which individual voting behavior was for a long time not uncommon. The council of elders operated outside

19448-425: Was put to a vote. The Reichstag's core responsibility was its budgetary authority and thus the decision on the Reich's budget in the form of a law (Article 69). Otto von Bismarck , who was Chancellor from 1871 to 1890, had proposed a budget covering three years, but the Reichstag enforced a period of one year. If unbudgeted expenditures occurred, a supplementary budget had to be passed. The Reichstag did not vote on

19591-428: Was quite extensive both in comparison to other countries and to the various German state parliaments. In most countries at that time, votes were not equal but weighted by such factors as class or income ( census suffrage ). Prussia , for example, the largest state in the Empire, used a three-class franchise in elections to the Prussian House of Representatives , with votes weighted by the amount of tax paid. Since it

19734-504: Was seen as proof of Germany's national unity in waging what was presented by the imperial leadership as a defensive war. Even though the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) had adopted the Second International 's policy of anti-militarism, it joined the rest of the Reichstag in supporting the declaration of war in the belief that Germany was defending itself against the Russian Empire . Emperor Wilhelm II and

19877-503: Was self-sufficient in meeting the demands of railroad construction, and the railways were a major impetus for the growth of the new steel industry. German unification in 1870 stimulated consolidation, nationalisation into state-owned companies, and further rapid growth. Unlike the situation in France, the goal was support of industrialisation, and so heavy lines crisscrossed the Ruhr and other industrial districts and provided good connections to

20020-577: Was significantly diluted by gross over-representation of rural areas from the 1890s onward. By the turn of the century, the urban-rural population balance was completely reversed from 1871; more than two-thirds of the empire's people lived in cities and towns. Bismarck's domestic policies played an important role in forging the authoritarian political culture of the Kaiserreich . Less preoccupied with continental power politics following unification in 1871, Germany's semi-parliamentary government carried out

20163-411: Was that it could propose bills (its legislative initiative) and that a bill could become law only with its consent. The Reichstag shared both rights with the Bundesrat (Article 16). Even though no law could be enforced against the will of the state governments represented in the Bundesrat, the latter's importance in everyday constitutional life gradually diminished. On the first reading of a bill, only

20306-477: Was the steel giant Krupp , whose first factory was built in Essen . By 1902, the factory alone became "A great city with its own streets, its own police force, fire department and traffic laws. There are 150 kilometers of rail, 60 different factory buildings, 8,500 machine tools, seven electrical stations, 140 kilometers of underground cable, and 46 overhead." Under Bismarck, Germany was a world innovator in building

20449-425: Was thought that allowing men in active military service to vote would politicize the military, they were denied the franchise, although they had the right to stand for election. Also ineligible to vote were men dependent on public assistance for the poor, those over whose assets bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings had been initiated, and those who had been declared incapacitated or been deprived of their civil rights by

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