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163-835: It represented an era of creative ferment in the society, politics, culture , art, literature, and architecture of Germany. It also roughly coincided with the late Victorian and Edwardian eras in the British Empire , the Gilded Age in the United States , the Belle Époque in the Third French Republic , and the Silver Age in the Russian Empire . The term "Wilhelminism" ( Wilhelminismus )

326-534: A Roman Catholic nation and country. Moreover, when compared to other church-and-state conflicts about political culture , the German Kulturkampf of Prussia also featured anti-Polish sentiment . In modern political usage, the German term Kulturkampf describes any conflict (political, ideological, social) between the secular government and the religious authorities of a society. The term also describes

489-616: A Wild West -style gunfight on 30 November 1900 made him very popular, long after his capture, trial, and execution for their murders in 1902. According to German forensic scientist Mark Benecke , however, Mathias Kneißl never saw himself as a Robin Hood figure and was, in reality, "just a man who went astray with no way of getting back." In 1891, the Imperial Capital of Berlin witnessed the birth of organized crime in Germany in

652-563: A world power ( Weltmacht ). The desire for a "place in the sun" as coined by Foreign Secretary Bernhard von Bülow and was shared by a large number of German citizens and intellectuals. Pan-Germanism achieved a short-lived high point after the German colonial empire expanded in Africa, China, New Guinea, and in the South Seas and became the third largest colonial empire after those of

815-469: A Chancellor's policy objectives and is one of the only people who can forcibly remove an overly ambitious Chancellor from power. For these reasons, the last Kaiser believed that he had every right to be informed before Bismarck began coalition talks with the Opposition. In a deeply ironic moment, a mere decade after expelling religious orders , banning Catholic schools , and demonizing all members of

978-476: A blunt and jerky effect ... It is clear that a definite attempt is being made to use the language in a new way, an attempt to cure it of certain vices." Even though it is widely associated with the later plays of Berthold Brecht , the Second Reich also witnessed the iconoclastic invention of modern theatrical staging by Catholic poet and playwright Reinhard Sorge and stage director Max Reinhardt , under

1141-410: A culinary culture with Switzerland and Austria. Pork, beef, and poultry are the main varieties of meat consumed in Germany; pork is the most popular. Throughout all regions, meat is often eaten in sausage form. More than 1,500 different types of sausage are produced in Germany. Organic food has gained a market share of almost 6%, and this is predicted to increase further. Kulturkampf In

1304-682: A desire for its restoration continued to exist. During the Weimar Republic , the German National People's Party ( DNVP ) and it's paramilitary wing Der Stahlhelm , openly sought to restore the Monarchy but instead found itself manipulated, outmaneuvered, sidelined, and then banned outright by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party . During the same era, the death squad Organisation Consul , which considered both

1467-569: A letter to the German emperor on the very day of his election, followed by a second letter in a similar vein that same year. Bismarck and the Pope entered into direct negotiations without the participation of the Church or the Reichstag , yet initially without much success. It came to pass that Falk, vehemently resented by Catholics, resigned on 14 July 1879, which could be read as a peace offering to

1630-522: A major setback for Bismarck although never publicly conceded. Yet, in spite of strong Catholic representation in the Reichstag, the political power and influence of the Church in the public sphere and its political power was greatly reduced. Although Germany and the Vatican were officially at peace after 1878, religious conflicts and tensions continued. At the turn of the century, Pope Pius X announced

1793-576: A naval, imperial, and colonial power. This neo-Baroque style was particularly exemplified by the grandiose Siegesallee , a boulevard of what were intended to be heroic-looking marble statues of the last Kaiser's ancestors in the Tiergarten of Berlin. Even though the Siegesallee was widely ridiculed by the infamously irreverent and sarcastic Berliners of the era as die Puppenallee , 'The Boulevard of Dolls' and as an alley where, "even

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1956-694: A number of public holidays in Germany . The country is particularly known for its Oktoberfest celebrations in Munich , its carnival culture and globally influential Christmas customs known as Weihnachten . 3 October has been the national day of Germany since 1990, celebrated as the German Unity Day ( Tag der Deutschen Einheit ). The UNESCO inscribed 52 properties in Germany on the World Heritage List . A global opinion poll for

2119-472: A number of modern western universities. In the 21st century Germany has been an important country for the development of contemporary analytic philosophy in continental Europe, along with France, Austria, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries. In the field of music, Germany claims some of the most renowned classical composers of the world, including Bach , Mozart and Beethoven , who marked

2282-500: A peasant outlaw, copkiller, and poacher in the Dachau District of Kingdom of Bavaria witnessed the local Bavarian peasantry overwhelmingly cheering him on as a John Dillinger -style folk anti-hero . Policemen were assigned from other regions of Bavaria and often could not speak or understand the local dialect. What was worse, police corruption was considered so common in the region that Kneißl's slaying of two cops during

2445-603: A physical material" and, "honed down syntax to its bare essentials." Citing Stramm's fondness for "fashioning new words out of old," Adler has also written that, "what James Joyce did on a grand scale for English , Stramm achieved more modestly for German ." Adler has also written that August Stramm's "essential innovation (still too little recognized in Germany) was to create a new, non-representational kind of poetry," which is, "comparable," to Pablo Picasso 's creation of abstract art and to Arnold Schoenberg 's revolution in

2608-531: A printed newspaper every day, while around 14.6 million make use of newspapers’ digital offerings. Architectural contributions from Germany include the Carolingian and Ottonian styles , important precursors of Romanesque . The region has also produced significant works in styles such as the Gothic , Renaissance and Baroque . The nation was particularly important in the early modern movement through

2771-509: A range of digital-only channels. Reality TV is the most popular programming in Germany and a key part in modern German culture. Germany is home to some of the world's largest media conglomerates, including Bertelsmann , the Axel Springer AG and ProSiebenSat.1 Media . The German-speaking book publishers produce about 700,000,000 copies of books every year, with about 80,000 titles, nearly 60,000 of them new publications. Germany

2934-645: A regional language. They are officially protected by the ECRML . The most used immigrant languages are Turkish , Kurdish , Polish , the Balkan languages , and Russian . Standard German is a West Germanic language and is closely related to and classified alongside English, Dutch, and the Frisian languages . To a lesser extent, it is also related to the East (extinct) and North Germanic languages . Most German vocabulary

3097-687: A religious affiliation). The north and east are predominantly Protestant, the south and west predominantly Catholic. Nowadays there is a non-religious majority in Hamburg and the former East German states. Germany was, at one point, almost in its entirety within the Roman Catholic Holy Roman Empire , but was also the source of Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther . During the Kulturkampf (from about 1872 to 1886)

3260-537: A revenue of 28 billion Euro. Almost 44 percent of the products are exported. The textile branch thus is the second largest producer of consumer goods after food production in the country. Berlin is the center of young and creative fashion in Germany, prominently displayed at Berlin Fashion Week (twice a year). It also hosts Europe's largest fashion trade fair called Bread & Butter . Munich, Hamburg and Düsseldorf are also important design and production hubs of

3423-501: A speaker of standard German, since they often differ in lexicon , phonology , and syntax . Around the world, German has approximately 100 million native speakers and also about 80 million non-native speakers. German is the main language of about 90 million people (18%) in the EU. 67% of German citizens claim to be able to communicate in at least one foreign language, 27% in at least two languages other than their first. In

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3586-516: A survey of their readers by Quick magazine about who would be the most honorable person to become President of the Federal Republic of Germany , the last Kaiser's grandson and heir, Prince Louis Ferdinand , the only one of twelve candidates who was not a politician, won with 39.8% before Carlo Schmid and Ludwig Erhard . In a similar survey by the tabloid Bild , readers chose Louis Ferdinand by 55.6%. In an interview with Quick ,

3749-405: A universe of [the] mind, and the individual scenes are not replicas of three-densional physical reality, but visualizes stages of thought." Tragically and in an added parallel to the many other nations experiencing similar cultural ferment during the same era, many of Germany's most gifted and innovative poets, writers, artists, and intellectuals were soon to die prematurely upon the battlefields of

3912-415: Is a large aspect of the culture. This large community draws in people from all around the world. There are around 500 galleries in Germany that caters to this modern form of art. Art Cologne is a popular fair that displays contemporary art. Christianity was introduced to the area of modern Germany by 300 AD and became fully Christianized by the time of Charlemagne in the eighth and ninth century. After

4075-697: Is a prominent example of the city symphony genre. The Nazi era produced mostly propaganda films although the work of Leni Riefenstahl still introduced new aesthetics to film. During the 1970s and 1980s, New German Cinema directors such as Volker Schlöndorff , Werner Herzog , Wim Wenders , and Rainer Werner Fassbinder put West German cinema back on the international stage with their often provocative films. More recently, films such as Good Bye Lenin! (2003), Gegen die Wand (Head-on) (2004), Der Untergang (Downfall) (2004), and Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008) have enjoyed international success. The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film went to

4238-420: Is a simple, but disorienting trick of stagecraft, whose imaginative spatial reversal is self-consciously theatrical. So the audience is alerted to the fact that they are about to see a play and not a 'slice of life.'" According to Walter H. Sokel, "The lighting apparatus behaves like the mind. It drowns in darkness what it wishes to forget and bathes in light what it wishes to recall. Thus the entire stage becomes

4401-477: Is also very well known for its many renowned opera houses , such as Semperoper , Komische Oper Berlin and Munich State Theatre . Richard Wagner established the Bayreuth Festspielhaus . One of the most famous composers of the international film business is Hans Zimmer . The year 2020 was designated “Beethoven Year” to mark 250 years since the composer was born. German cinema dates back to

4564-542: Is characterised as Germany's ship of state going dangerously off course, leading directly to the carnage of the First and Second World Wars. According to Bismarck apologists, in foreign policy the Iron Chancellor had achieved a fragile balance of interests between Germany, France and Russia. Peace was allegedly at hand and Bismarck tried to keep it that way despite growing popular sentiment against Britain (regarding

4727-650: Is derived from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. Significant minorities of words are derived from Latin and Greek, with a smaller amount from French and most recently English (known as Denglisch ). German is written using the Latin alphabet. In addition to the 26 standard letters, German has three vowels with Umlaut , namely ä, ö, and ü, as well as the Eszett or scharfes S ( sharp s ) which

4890-634: Is in third place on international statistics after the English-speaking book market and the People's Republic of China. The Frankfurt Book Fair is considered to be the most important book fair in the world for international deals and trading and has a tradition that spans over 500 years. Many of Europe's best-selling newspapers and magazines are produced in Germany. The papers with the highest circulation are Die Zeit , Süddeutsche Zeitung , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Die Welt ,

5053-603: Is known that meetings took place in which Prince Heinrich XIII sought the covert assistance of the Russian Federation 's diplomats and foreign intelligence services, the Russian Government has repeatedly denied involvement in the coup plot. While reporting on the arrests for The Spectator , journalist Katja Hoyer commented, "While this kind of extremism is still rare, there has long been residual monarchism in Germany. Around 10 percent of Germans support

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5216-525: Is not meant as a conception of society associated with the name Wilhelm and traceable to an intellectual initiative of the German Emperor . Rather, it relates to the image presented by Wilhelm II and his demeanour, as manifested by the public presentation of grandiose military parades and self-aggrandisement on his part. The latter tendency had already been noticed by his grandfather, Emperor Wilhelm I , while Wilhelm II's father, later Frederick III ,

5379-591: Is one of the world's foremost film festivals. An international jury places emphasis on representing films from all over the world and awards the winners with the Golden and Silver Bears. The annual European Film Awards ceremony is held every second year in the city of Berlin, where the European Film Academy (EFA) is located. The Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam are the oldest large-scale film studios in

5542-492: Is referred to as the birth of modern Science Fiction movies. Founded in 1912, the Babelsberg Film Studio is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world. In 1930, Josef von Sternberg directed The Blue Angel , which was the first major German sound film and it brought world fame to actress Marlene Dietrich . Impressionist documentary Berlin: Symphony of a Great City , directed by Walter Ruttmann ,

5705-470: Is required to meet regularly with the monarch to explain his or her policies and intentions within the Government. A Chancellor in a constitutional monarchy also cannot afford to make an enemy of the monarch, who represents the only real check and balance against a Chancellor's otherwise absolute power . This is because a constitutional monarch has plenty of means at his or her disposal of quietly blocking

5868-451: Is the German techno and minimal scene (e.g. Ricardo Villalobos , Paul Kalkbrenner and Sven Väth ). Germany hosts many large rock music festivals every year. The Rock am Ring festival is the largest music festival in Germany, and among the largest in the world. German artists also make up a large percentage of industrial and Neue Deutsche Härte acts. Germany hosts some of the largest goth or dark culture scenes and festivals in

6031-580: Is the largest music market in Europe, and third largest in the world. It has exerted a strong influence on rock and heavy metal music . Artists such as Herbert Grönemeyer , Scorpions , Blind Guardian , Rammstein , Nena , Unheilig , Xavier Naidoo , Tokio Hotel and Modern Talking have enjoyed international fame. German musicians have contributed heavily to developments in electronic music , in synth-pop , electronic body music , trance and hardcore . Krautrock band Kraftwerk are considered to be

6194-690: Is the question of the Infallibility of the Pope. This pretension once become a dogma, will have a wider scope than the purely spiritual spheres, and will become evidently a political question: for it will raise the power of the Sovereign Pontiff, even in temporal matters, above all the princes and peoples of Christendom." The liberal majorities in the Imperial Diet and the Prussian parliament as well as liberals in general regarded

6357-467: Is written "ß" (not used in Switzerland and Liechtenstein , where it is written ss instead). German orthography has gone through a series of reforms, the most recent in 1996 . German dialects are distinguished from varieties of standard German . German dialects are traditional local varieties and can be traced back to the different German tribes. Many of them are not easily understandable to

6520-586: The Reichsbürger , 'Citizens of the Reich'; movement, which considers the Federal Republic of Germany to be both illegal and illegitimate, and allegedly anti-Semitic "Patriotic Union" organization. The Patriotic Union, whose members included doctors, police officers, at least one judge, and many active duty German armed forces personnel, sought to violently overthrow the government of

6683-604: The Kulturkampf , suggests that the liberals wanted to do more than prevent Catholicism from becoming a political force. They wanted victory over Catholicism itself, the long-delayed conclusion of the Reformation. At least since 1847 and in line with the Liberals, Bismarck had also been of the professed opinion, that state and church should be completely separated and "the sphere of the state had to be made secure against

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6846-677: The BBC revealed that Germany is recognized for having the most positive influence in the world in 2011, 2013, and 2014. German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany. It is one of 23 official languages in the European Union, and one of the three working languages of the European Commission , along with English and French. Recognised native minority languages in Germany are Danish , Sorbian , North Frisian and Saterland Frisian , with Low German being

7009-596: The Battle of Verdun in 1916, collected and published the collected works of Hölderlin in 1913 and succeeded in gaining for the Swabian poet in death the literary recognition that always eluded him in life. Norbert von Hellingrath is why Hölderlin is now widely considered one of the greatest poets ever to write in the German language. Jeremy Adler has written that war poet and playwright August Stramm , who began publishing his poetry in early 1914, treated, "language like

7172-555: The British Empire . Ironically, Germany during the Wilhelmian era was, on the other hand, distinguished by escalating secularization and growing belief in progress among intellectuals, in response to recent medical and scientific advances and the enormous prosperity of the heavily-industrialized German Empire, but which was at polar odds with the last Kaiser's belief in both Lutheranism and social conservatism . Even so, Otto von Bismarck's Anti-Socialist Laws were not renewed and

7335-662: The Catholic Church in Germany as ( German : Reichsfeinde , "traitors to the Empire") during the Kulturkampf , Bismarck decided to start coalition talks with the all-Catholic Centre Party. He invited that party's leader in the Reichstag, Baron Ludwig von Windthorst , to meet with him and begin the negotiations. The Kaiser, who always had a warm relationship with Baron von Windthorst, whose decades long defence of German Catholics, Poles, Jews, and other minorities against

7498-515: The Concordat of 1855 , and then cancelled the Concordat altogether in 1870. Saxony and Bavaria withheld approval to publish the papal infallibility dogma; Hesse and Baden even denied it any legal validity. France refused to publish the doctrines altogether; Spain forbade publication of Syllabus Errorum in 1864. By the mid-19th century, liberal policies had also come to dominate Germany and

7661-657: The Deutscher Werkbund and the Bauhaus movement identified with Walter Gropius . The Nazis closed these movements and favoured a type of neo-classicism . Since World War II post-modern structures have been built. Since the reunification of Germany the trend has continued. German art has a long and distinguished tradition in the visual arts , from the earliest known work of figurative art to its current output of contemporary art . Important German Renaissance painters include Albrecht Altdorfer , Lucas Cranach

7824-689: The German Social Democratic Party continued to expand its base and became the largest political party elected to the Reichstag during the 1912 national elections . Despite the party's stronger influence, internal developments were characterised, similarly to the Labour Party in Great Britain, by an increasing loyalty of the party leadership towards both the Monarchy and the German colonial empire . This attitude

7987-534: The German colonial empire ) and especially against Russia. With Bismarck's dismissal, the Russians allegedly expected a reversal of policy in Berlin, so they quickly negotiated a military alliance with the Third French Republic , beginning a process that by 1914 largely isolated Germany. In contrast, historian Modris Eksteins has argued that Bismarck's dismissal was actually long overdue . According to Eksteins,

8150-536: The German diaspora , aspects of German culture are passed on to younger generations through naming customs and through the use of spoken and written German. The Goethe Institute seeks to spread the knowledge of German culture worldwide. A total of 15.5 million people are currently learning German as a second language. German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages , with the most notable authors of

8313-481: The Imperial German Flying Corps following the advent of aerial warfare. The most successful World War I flying aces such as Max Immelmann , Oswald Boelcke , Manfred von Richthofen , Werner Voss , and Karl Allmenröder , were regarded as national heroes and, if they fell, as martyrs. Their fellow World War I flying ace Hermann Göring was once similarly regarded, until his heroic image

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8476-532: The Jesuits . As in many European countries, Jesuits were being banned or heavily restricted in many of the German states e.g. in Saxony (1831) or Württemberg (1862), and even in Catholic ones such as Bavaria (1851) and Baden (1860). Not to be left out, the German areas to the west of the Rhine had already gone through a process of separation of church and state in line with a radical secularization after annexation by revolutionary and Napoleonic France in 1794. After their return to Germany in 1814, many if not most of

8639-426: The Liberals and the Conservatives representing orthodox Protestants found the Centre Party 's support of the pope highly provocative. Many Catholics shared these sentiments, especially against the pope's declared infallibility and the majority of Catholic German bishops deemed the definition of the dogma as "'unpropitious' in light of the situation in Germany". While most Catholics eventually reconciled themselves to

8802-404: The Reformation started by Martin Luther in the early 16th century, many people left the Catholic Church and became Protestant , mainly Lutheran and Calvinist . 59.4% of the German population belongs to Christian denominations: 30% are Roman Catholic , and 29% are affiliated with Protestantism (the figures are known accurately because Germany imposes a church tax on those who disclose

8965-429: The Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg is one of the oldest universities in Europe. German designers were leaders of modern product design , with the Bauhaus designers like Mies van der Rohe , and Dieter Rams of Braun being essential. Germany is a leading country in the fashion industry . The German textile industry consisted of about 1,300 companies with more than 130,000 employees in 2010, which generated

9128-401: The United Kingdom and the Third French Republic . Meanwhile, European diplomatic relations deteriorated. In 1890, Germany refused to prolong the secret Reinsurance Treaty with the Russian Empire that had concluded by Bismarck in 1887, and Germany had to witness the forming of the Franco-Russian Alliance , which presenting a new threat of a two-front war . The distinctive spiked helmet,

9291-654: The history of philosophy . Kantianism inspired the work of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche as well as German idealism defended by Fichte and Hegel . Marx and Engels developed communist theory in the second half of the 19th century while Heidegger and Gadamer pursued the tradition of German philosophy in the 20th century. A number of German intellectuals were also influential in sociology , most notably Adorno , Elias , Habermas , Horkheimer , Luhmann , Marcuse , Simmel , Tönnies , and Weber . The University of Berlin founded in 1810 by linguist and philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt served as an influential model for

9454-418: The 1837 Kölner Wirren ( 'Cologne Confusion'  [ de ] ) of legal and policy issues regarding the children of mixed Protestant-Catholic marriages, Prussia's final settlement was considered a defeat for the state as it had given in to demands of the Catholic Church. In 1850, Prussia again had a dispute with the church about civil marriage and primary schools and in 1852, it issued decrees against

9617-484: The Catholic Church as a powerful force of reaction and anti-modernity, especially after the proclamation of papal infallibility in 1870 and the tightening control of the Vatican over the local bishops. The renewed vitality of Catholicism in Germany with its mass gatherings also attracted Protestants – even the heir to the Prussian throne, with the king's approval, attended one. Anti-liberalism , anti-clericalism , and anti-Catholicism became powerful intellectual forces of

9780-403: The Catholic Church had opposed, produced no democratic reforms and attempts to radically disentangle state-church relationships failed. In the revolutionary parliament , many prominent representatives of political Catholicism took the side of the extreme right-wingers. In the years following the revolution, Catholicism became increasingly politicized due to rising liberal ideologies contrasted with

9943-477: The Catholic Church was to lose its good standing which it had enjoyed for centuries in the Catholic-dominated Holy Roman Empire and which it would have continued to enjoy in a German empire united under Austrian auspices. Thus, in 1870, on the eve of unification, the Center Party was explicitly founded to defend the position of the church in the new empire. Bismarck was highly concerned that many major members and supporters of this new party were not in sympathy with

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10106-403: The Catholic section in the Ministry of Culture was not reintroduced). The respective opposing parties in the Reichstag harshly criticized the concessions made by the Vatican and the Prussian government. Windthorst and the Centre Party were dismayed at being sidelined and not being consulted about the concessions the pope made, e.g. about the ban on Jesuits or the civil registry of clerics. None of

10269-465: The Centre Party and as far as separation of state and church was concerned, he had achieved more than he wanted. In order to garner support for his Anti-Socialist Laws and protective trade tariffs, Bismarck turned his back on the liberals in search of new alliances. The death of Pius IX on 7 February 1878 opened the door for a settlement with the Catholic Church. The new pope, Leo XIII , was pragmatic and conciliatory. He expressed his wish for peace in

10432-455: The Church as backward, a hotbed for reactionaries , enemies of progress and cast monastic life as the epitome of a backward Catholic medievalism. They were alarmed by the dramatic rise in the numbers of monasteries, convents and clerical religious groups in an era of widespread religious revival. The Diocese of Cologne , for example, saw a tenfold increase of monks and nuns between 1850 and 1872. Prussian authorities were particularly suspicious of

10595-581: The Church condemned as false some 80 philosophical and political statements, mainly the foundations of the modern nation-state. It rejected outright such concepts as freedom of religion , separation of church and state , civil marriage , sovereignty of the people , liberalism and socialism , reason as the sole base of human action , and in general condemned the idea of conciliation with progress . The announcements included an index of forbidden books. The Church gradually re-organized and began to use mass media expansively to promote its messages. In addition,

10758-411: The Church's strong political role in the affairs of the state and society. With the growing influence of enlightenment and after having lost much of its wealth, power, and influence in the course of the mediatization and secularization of the early 19th century, the Church had been in a state of decline. The papacy was at a weak point in its history, having lost all its territories to Italy , with

10921-434: The Elder , Matthias Grünewald , Hans Holbein the Younger and the well-known Albrecht Dürer . The most important Baroque artists from Germany are Cosmas Damian Asam . Further artists are the painter Anselm Kiefer , romantic Caspar David Friedrich , the surrealist Max Ernst , the conceptualist Joseph Beuys , or Wolf Vostell or the neo-expressionist Georg Baselitz . Within modern day society, contemporary art

11084-404: The European Kulturkampf principally occurred in the regional and local politics of a society, especially in cities and towns where the educated populations were politically Liberal and practised the politics of anti-clericalism and of anti-Catholicism . The Catholic Church resisted such intellectual progress, which was portrayed as an attack on religion in an effort to maintain and strengthen

11247-483: The Federal Republic and place Prince Henrich XIII of the House of Reuß upon the throne as the new Kaiser of a Fourth Reich. The Patriotic Union intended, however, for the Fourth Reich to be a restoration of the Second Reich as it existed prior to the November Revolution of 1918, rather than as a continuation of the Third Reich . The coup was prevented only by nationwide arrests by the German Federal Criminal Police ( BKA ) , followed by multiple prosecutions. While it

11410-555: The German fashion industry, among smaller towns. Renowned fashion designers from Germany include Karl Lagerfeld , Jil Sander , Wolfgang Joop , Philipp Plein and Michael Michalsky . Important brands include Hugo Boss , Escada and Triumph , as well as special outfitters like Adidas , PUMA and Jack Wolfskin . The German supermodels Claudia Schiffer , Heidi Klum , Tatjana Patitz and Nadja Auermann came to global fame. German cuisine varies from region to region. The southern regions of Bavaria and Swabia, for instance, share

11573-423: The German people or their government were incapable of laughing at their own military or their own actions towards it. On 16 October 1906, former convict Wilhelm Voigt secretly dressed himself in an elite Prussian Guards Captain's uniform, the elements of which he had purchased from different second hand shops. In an Oscar-worthy performance, Voigt bluffed a group of Imperial German Army enlisted men into placing

11736-591: The German production Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum) in 1979, to Nowhere in Africa in 2002, and to Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) in 2007. Among the most famous German actors are Marlene Dietrich, Klaus Kinski , Hanna Schygulla , Armin Mueller-Stahl , Jürgen Prochnow , Thomas Kretschmann , Til Schweiger and Daniel Brühl . The Berlin Film Festival , held annually since 1951,

11899-469: The Gospel and the Church. The pope's teaching was promoted as absolutely authoritative and binding on all the faithful. Secular politicians wondered whether "Catholicism and allegiance to the modern liberal state were not mutually exclusive". British Prime Minister Gladstone wrote in 1874 that the teaching on papal infallibility compromised the allegiance of faithful English Catholics. For European liberalism,

12062-653: The Great War. The Wilhelmian era ended in the November Revolution of 1918 , which had very close parallels to the February Revolution which had toppled the House of Romanov from the throne of the Russian Empire . First, riots broke out in the Imperial Capital, the last Kaiser announced his intention to divert troops from the battlefield to restore order, and found to his shock that he had lost

12225-548: The Iron Chancellor have since attracted high praise and comparisons to Irish nationalist statesmen Daniel O'Connell and Charles Stewart Parnell , was furious to hear about Bismarck's plans for coalition talks with the Centre Party only after they had already begun. After a heated argument at Bismarck's estate over the latter's alleged disrespect for the Imperial Family, Wilhelm stormed out. Bismarck, forced for

12388-474: The Iron Chancellor's efforts to renew them were the catalyst for his forced resignation at the last Kaiser's insistence. The final break between the Iron Chancellor and the last Kaiser came when Bismarck initiated discussions with the opposition to form a new parliamentary majority without consulting with the monarch first. The Kartell , the shifting coalition government that Bismarck had been able to maintain since 1867, had finally lost its majority of seats in

12551-436: The Iron Chancellor, in his need for a scapegoat , had demonized Classical Liberals in the 1860s, Roman Catholics in the 1870s, and Socialists in the 1880s with the highly successful and often repeated refrain, "The Reich is in danger." Therefore, in order to divide and rule , Bismarck ultimately left the German people even more divided in 1890 than they had ever been before 1871. In interviews with C.L. Sulzberger for

12714-503: The King or Queen would stop and wait at traffic lights, Louis Ferdinand stated that if the House of Hohenzollern were ever restored to the German throne during his lifetime, this same informality was a quality he fully intended to emulate. Even after German Reunification in 1990, nostalgia continues. For example, the rebuilding of cities in the former East Germany which remained devastated by World War II bombing raids has often involved

12877-520: The Mayor of Köpenick and city treasurer of under arrest for political corruption . Voigt then "confiscated" more that 4,000 marks from the city treasury, changed back into civilian clothing, and disappeared. Following a police and military investigation, Voigt was arrested, convicted of forgery , impersonating an officer , and false imprisonment , and incarcerated. The case was cited by British writers such as G.K. Chesterton to criticize what they saw as

13040-648: The Munich-based Der Blaue Reiter ( The Blue Rider ) group. In addition to witnessing the birth of modern art, the same era also witnessed the introduction of the Symbolist movement into German literature and the creation of the modern German literary language by passionately Francophile poet Stefan George and the George-Kreis , the circle of younger poets and writers that surrounded him. Among many other examples of

13203-620: The November Revolution and the Versailles Treaty to be treasonous, routinely targeted political leaders involved with both for assassination. Even when they were caught and prosecuted, Organisation Consul members tended to receive lenient sentences from judges sympathetic to their views. Even after the Second World War , nostalgia for the Wilhelmian era continued. In 1968 Der Spiegel reported that in

13366-553: The Protestant church, I have to go via Rome." In August 1871, at Bad Ems , Bismarck revealed his intention to fight against the Centre Party, to separate state and church, to transfer school inspection to laymen, to abolish religious instruction from schools and to transfer religious affairs to the minister of justice. On 22 January 1872, liberal Adalbert Falk replaced conservative Heinrich von Mühler as Prussian minister for religion, education and health. In Bismarck's mind, Falk

13529-472: The Prussian state parliament and the federal legislature ( Reichstag ), both with liberal majorities, enacted 22 laws in the context of the Kulturkampf . They were mainly directed against clerics: bishops, priests and religious orders ( anti-clerical ) and enforced the supremacy of the state over the church. While several laws were specific to the Catholic Church (Jesuits, congregations etc.)

13692-669: The Reichstag due to the Anti-Socialist Laws fiasco. The remaining powers in the Reichstag were the Catholic Centre Party and the Conservative Party. In most parliamentary systems , the head of government depends upon the confidence of the parliamentary majority and has the right to form coalitions to maintain a majority of supporters. In a constitutional monarchy , however, the Chancellor

13855-536: The Ringvereine were having their first "business" dealings with the American Mafia , but their power and political influence only reached its height after the November Revolution of 1918. Only the secret police forces of Nazism and postwar Stalinism , who shot both real and suspected Ringverein members en masse and sent many others to concentration camps without requiring the niceties of evidence, broke

14018-901: The Roman Imperial Period with Germania by Tacitus . Germany has been the center for various important phenomena such as the Migration Period , the Carolingian Empire , Holy Roman Empire , the Medieval renaissances , Scholasticism , the Hanseatic League , the German Renaissance , the Printing Revolution , Protestant reformation , Prussia , Romanticism , Kaiserreich , Weimar and National Socialism . There are

14181-531: The Sporting Clubs' power. In a December 1931 conversation in Frankfurt with journalist Heinrich Simon , Harry Graf Kessler was asked for the reasons why, despite being a descendant of the German nobility , he embraced the concept of Republicanism and opposed the post-1918 restoration of the House of Hohenzollern . According to Count von Kessler, "William II's downright perverse bad taste, I said,

14344-595: The Vatican. A decisive boost only came in February 1880, when the Vatican unexpectedly agreed to the civic registry of clerics. As the Kulturkampf slowly wound down the talks lead to a number of so-called mitigation and peace laws which were passed until 1887. On 29 September 1885, as another sign of peace, Bismarck proposed the Pope as arbiter in a dispute with Spain about the Caroline Islands and accepted his verdict in favour of Spain. In gratitude but to

14507-463: The Wilhelmian era also seethed with radical innovation, literary, artistic, and cultural ferment inside the literary coffee houses, theatres, and bohemian urban quarters of Berlin, Munich, and many other German cities. Meanwhile, the Dresden -based artist's group Die Brücke ( The Bridge ) was one of two groups of iconoclastic German painters fundamental to expressionism , the other being

14670-509: The anti-modernist and anti-liberal policies of the Vatican. In the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and Franco-Prussian War of 1870 the Catholic Church sided against Prussia and it was an outspoken opponent of German unification under Prussia (as well as of Italy's unification). The Catholic dogmas and doctrines announced in 1854, 1864 and 1870 were perceived in Germany as direct attacks on the modern nation state. Thus, Bismarck,

14833-483: The basis for the modern "High German" language. Among the most admired German philosophers and authors are Lessing , Goethe , Schiller , Kleist , Hoffmann , Brecht , Heine and Schmidt . Nine Germans have won the Nobel Prize in literature : Theodor Mommsen , Paul von Heyse , Gerhart Hauptmann , Thomas Mann , Nelly Sachs , Hermann Hesse , Heinrich Böll , Günter Grass , and Herta Müller . The rise of

14996-485: The beginnings of space travel. The work of Albert Einstein and Max Planck was crucial to the foundation of modern physics , which Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger developed further. They were preceded by such key physicists as Hermann von Helmholtz , Joseph von Fraunhofer , and Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit , among others. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays , an accomplishment that earned him

15159-566: The bird-shit is made of marble", the neo-Baroque statues received Royal Assent in Kaiser Wilhelm's Rinnsteinrede ( German for 'gutter speech'), which was also a very harsh criticism of the recent birth of German modernist art which the last Kaiser considered degenerate art, at the formal unveiling of the Siegesallee on 18 December 1901. Foreign policy was founded on Kaiser Wilhelm's support for both his Government's colonialist ambitions and their efforts to establish Germany as

15322-549: The book The Fall of Eagles , Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia , grandson and heir of Kaiser Wilhelm II, further commented, "Bismarck was certainly our greatest statesman, but he had very bad manners and he became increasingly overbearing with age. Frankly, I don't think his dismissal by my grandfather was a great tragedy. Russia was already on the other side because of the Berlin Congress of 1878. Had Bismarck stayed he would not have helped. He already wanted to abolish all

15485-510: The changes were kept in place. In the Vormärz period, Catholic publications usually portrayed revolutions as negative and dangerous to the existing order as well as to the interests of the Catholic Church. Most of them considered a viable Catholicism to be necessary for the very health of society and state and to be the only true and effective protection against the scourge of revolution. The unsuccessful German revolutions of 1848–49 , which

15648-498: The church and was of no good to the state is now over". The Mitigation and Peace Laws restored the inner autonomy of the Catholic church while leaving key regulations and the laws concerning separation of church and state in place (civic marriage, civic registry, religious disaffiliation, government school supervision, civic registry of clerics, ban of Jesuits, pulpit law, state supervision of church assets, constitutional amendments and

15811-436: The church's opposition to enlightenment, liberal reforms, and the revolutions of the 18th/19th centuries, these dogmas and the church's expressed insistence on papal primacy angered the liberal-minded across Europe, even among some Catholics. Debates were heated. The dogmas were perceived as threatening the secularized state, as they reaffirmed that the fundamental allegiance of Catholics was not to their nation-state, but to

15974-421: The desire of both the bride and groom to keep things modest and low key, "Germany's own Royal wedding" between Prince George Friedrich of Prussia , the last Kaiser's great-great grandson and heir, and Princess Sophie of Isenburg was televised live and widely covered by the German news media. A less benign form of nostalgia for the Wilhelmian era was on display in the 2022 German coup d'état plot , by members of

16137-720: The doctrine, some founded the small breakaway Old Catholic Church . According to the Bavarian head of government, Hohenlohe , the dogma of infallibility compromised the Catholic's loyalty to the state. He sent a circular to all the diplomatic representatives of the Bavarian Kingdom saying, "The only dogmatic thesis which Rome desires to have decided by the Council, and which the Jesuits in Italy and Germany are now agitating,

16300-441: The dogmas were perceived as a declaration of war against the modern state, science, and spiritual freedom. The pope's handling of dissent from the dogmas, e.g. by excommunication of critics or demanding their removal from schools and universities, was considered as the "epitome of papal authoritarianism". In direct response to the Vatican's announcements, Austria passed the so-called May Laws for Cisleithania in 1868, restricting

16463-459: The empire, Catholics were the majority in the states of Bavaria , Baden , and Alsace-Lorraine as well as in the four Prussian Provinces of West Prussia , Posen , Rhineland , Westphalia and in the Prussian region of Upper Silesia . Since the Thirty Years' War the population was generally segregated along religious lines and rural areas or towns were overwhelmingly if not entirely of

16626-448: The encyclical Pascendi dominici gregis , mounting new attacks on historical criticism of biblical texts and any accommodation of Catholicism to modern philosophy, sociology or literature. As of 1910, clerics had to take an oath against all forms of modernism, a requirement later extended to teachers of Catholic religion at schools and professors of Catholic theology resulting in intense political and public debates and new conflicts with

16789-401: The entire world, with events like Wave-Gotik-Treffen and M'era Luna Festival attracting up to 30,000 people. In addition, the country hosts Wacken Open Air , the biggest heavy metal open air festival in the world. Since about 1970, Germany has once again had a thriving popular culture, now increasingly led by its reinstated capital Berlin , and a self-confident music and art scene. Germany

16952-421: The excessive militarism of the Second Reich and the blind obedience and subservience to authority in German culture . In contrast, the German people overwhelmingly found the exploit both clever and hysterically funny. Eventually the last Kaiser, who also admired Voigt's cleverness and boldness, pardoned him and ordered his early release from incarceration. Voigt then spent many years giving public lectures about

17115-737: The exploit to paying audiences and abandoned his former life of crime. Meanwhile, relations with Britain were badly strained by the Scramble for Africa and, even more so, by the Anglo-German naval arms race . Wilhelm's fascination with the Royal Navy , which led him to give his full support to Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz 's ambition to see the Imperial German Navy established as an instrument of national prestige, were still reflected in everyday German culture long after

17278-590: The federal states and the leading actor of the Kulturkampf was Prussia , Germany's largest state. However, some of the laws were also passed by the Reichstag and applied to all of Germany. In general, the laws did not affect the press and associations including Catholic ones. The Falk Laws , or 'May Laws' ( Maigesetze ), were a set of laws passed by the Prussian parliament in the years 1873, 1874, and 1875. Four laws passed in 1873 were enacted on 11–14 May that year: The last two laws passed in 1876 were of no practical importance: The political situation in Europe

17441-611: The first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. The Walhalla temple for "laudable and distinguished Germans" features a number of scientists, and is located east of Regensburg , in Bavaria . Germany is home to some of the finest academic centers in Europe. Some famous universities are those of Munich and Berlin, University of Tübingen , University of Göttingen , University of Marburg , University of Berlin , Mining Academy Freiberg and Freiburg University , among many others. Moreover,

17604-598: The first steps in secularisation well before unification. Predominantly Catholic Baden was at the forefront of curbing the power of the Catholic Church, as in the Baden Church Dispute (1852–1854) and the Kulturkampf Baden  [ de ] (1864–1876). Other examples are Prussia (1830s, 1850, 1859, and 1969), Württemberg (1859/1862), Bavaria ( Bayerischer Kulturkampf  [ de ] , 1867), Hesse-Nassau or Hesse-Darmstadt . In

17767-610: The first time in his career into a crisis that he could not twist to his own advantage, wrote a blistering letter of resignation, decrying the Monarchy's involvement in both foreign and domestic policy. The letter was published only after Bismarck's death. In later years, Bismarck created the "Bismarck myth"; the view (which some historians have argued was confirmed by subsequent events) that Wilhelm II's successful demand for Bismarck's resignation destroyed any chance Imperial Germany ever had of stable government and international peace. According to this view, what Wilhelm termed "The New Course"

17930-405: The flying aces of the Great War, Richthofen, in particular, is seen as embodying the best traditions of the officer corps of the last Kaiser's Germany. Even though the German people are traditionally stereotyped as law-abiding and subservient to the authority of the police and the courts, this stereotype does not fit the Wilhelmian era. For example, the 1900-1902 manhunt for Mathias Kneißl ,

18093-481: The form of oath bound secret societies for former convicts called the Ringvereine (Sporting Clubs"). The Ringvereine often carried romantic sounding names such as Immertreu ("Forever True"), Felsenfest ("Firm as a Rock"), Nordpiraten ("Northern Pirates"), and Apachenblut ("Apache Bloods") and completely dominated both racketeering , prostitution , and the illegal drug trade of Berlin. As early as 1895,

18256-455: The general laws affected both Catholic and Protestant churches. In an attempt to overcome increasing resistance by the Catholic Church and its defiance of the laws, new regulations increasingly went beyond state matters referring to the purely internal affairs of the church. Even many liberals saw them as an encroachment on civil liberties, compromising their own credo. Constitutionally, education and regulation of religious affairs were vested in

18419-644: The government opposed the Catholic church. Historically, Germany had a substantial Jewish population . Only a few thousand people of Jewish origin remained in Germany after the Holocaust , but the German Jewish community now has about 100,000 members, many from the former Soviet Union . Germany also has a substantial Muslim population, most of whom are descendants of Turkish workers from Turkey . German theologians include Luther , Melanchthon , Schleiermacher , Feuerbach , and Rudolf Otto . Germany

18582-416: The great and small culture wars among political factions who hold deeply opposing values and beliefs within a nation, a community, and a cultural group. The philosophic influences of The Enlightenment , Scientific realism , Positivism , Materialism , nationalism , secularism , and Liberalism impinged upon and ended the intellectual and political roles of religion and the Catholic Church, which then

18745-546: The great horror of Catholics, the Pope awarded Bismarck the Supreme Order of Christ , the highest order of chivalry to be granted by the Holy See. Bismarck was the only Protestant ever to receive this award. After further negotiations between Prussia and the Vatican, the Prussian parliament passed 2 additional laws amending some of the Kulturkampf laws. On 23 May 1887, the Pope declared "The struggle which damaged

18908-434: The hierarchy and the Centre Party and the liberals' demands to curb the power of the churches meshed well with Bismarck's main political objective to crush the Centre Party. According to historian Anthony J. Steinhoff: Bismarck's plan to disarm political Catholicism delighted liberal politicians, who provided the parliamentary backing for the crusade. Yet, the phrase the left-liberal Rudolf Virchow coined for this struggle,

19071-469: The history of Germany, the Kulturkampf (Cultural Struggle) was the seven-year political conflict (1871–1878) between the Catholic Church in Germany , led by Pope Pius IX ; and the Kingdom of Prussia , led by chancellor Otto von Bismarck . The Prussian church-and-state political conflict was about the Church's direct control over both education and ecclesiastical appointments in the Prussian kingdom as

19234-496: The increasing popularity of the socialists or more important such as questions of import duties. In these matters, he could either not rely on the support of the liberals to pursue his goals or they were not sufficient to form a majority. Bismarck had not been comfortable with the increasing ferocity of the Kulturkampf . Concerning the rise of the Centre Party, the laws had proven to be greatly ineffective and even counterproductive. He soon realized that they were of no help battling

19397-520: The incursions by the church", although his ideas were not as far-reaching as in the United States or in Great Britain. He had in mind the traditional position of the Protestant church in Prussia and provoked considerable resistance from conservative Protestants. This became clear in a heated debate with Prussian culture minister von Mühler in 1871 when Bismarck said: "Since you stopped my plans in

19560-482: The influence of Stefan George, Friedrich Nietzsche , and Richard Dehmel . Sorge's The Beggar was written during the last three months of 1911. According to Michael Paterson, "The play opens with an ingenious inversion: the Poet and Friend converse in front of a closed curtain, behind which voices can be heard. It appears that we, the audience, are backstage and the voices are those of the imagined audience out front. It

19723-399: The interpretation of daily events, was promoted through local and national Catholic newspapers that were prominent in all western European nations. In addition, organized missions and groups were dedicated to producing pious literature. In the 19th century, the popes issued a series of encyclicals (such as Mirari vos (1832) by Pope Gregory XVI ) condemning liberalism and freedom of

19886-445: The largest magazines include Der Spiegel , Stern and Focus . The Bild is a tabloid and has the largest circulation of all German papers. However, the publishing industry is in flux – amongst other things because meanwhile almost 800,000 newspaper copies sold daily are distributed digitally and the number of digital subscriptions is continually rising. Nevertheless, a total of around 38 million people in Germany still read

20049-491: The last Kaiser's home in exile and ultimate burial place, Huis Doorn in the Netherlands, opened its doors as a historic house museum in 1956. It remains an annual site of secular pilgrimage on the anniversary of the last Kaiser's death, which are organized by German monarchist organisations, such as Cologne -based Tradition und Leben , whose members often attend wearing period costumes. In August 2011, despite

20212-538: The modern natural sciences and the related decline of religion raised a series of questions, which recur throughout German philosophy, concerning the relationships between knowledge and faith, reason and emotion, and scientific, ethical, and artistic ways of seeing the world. German philosophers have helped shape western philosophy from as early as the Middle Ages ( Albertus Magnus ). Later, Leibniz (17th century) and most importantly Kant played central roles in

20375-451: The monks and nuns had left Prussia, a third of the monasteries and convents were closed. Between 1872 and 1878, numerous Catholic newspapers were confiscated, Catholic associations and assemblies were dissolved, and Catholic civil servants were dismissed merely on the pretence of having Ultramontane sympathies. Thousands of laypeople were imprisoned for assisting priests to evade the punitive new laws. The general ideological enthusiasm among

20538-462: The new Centre Party not only as an illegal mixup of politics and religion and the church's "long arm" but also as a unifying force for Catholic Germans and Poles and thus a threat to the consolidation of the empire. He feared that the Centre Party would frustrate his broader political agendas and he accused the Catholic priests of fostering Polish nationalism as had been done openly in the provinces of Posen and Upper Silesia. The Liberals regarded

20701-526: The new empire: the House of Hanover , the ethnic minority of the Poles, the southern German states. In 1871, the predominantly Catholic states of Southern Germany had only reluctantly joined the empire, increasing the overall share of the Catholic population to 36.5%. Among this Catholic share was Germany's largest ethnic minority, well over 2 million Poles in the east of Prussia, who under Prussia and Germany suffered discrimination and oppression. Bismarck regarded

20864-526: The ornate Germania postage stamps, numerous government buildings and the Wilhelmine Ring housing areas of Berlin and many other German cities, the term is also used to describe an essentially-Neo-Baroque and prestige-oriented style of architecture. Similarly to the architecture of other European Capitols of the era, the Neo-Baroque was calculated to express Germany's ambitions to become and remain

21027-742: The overthrow of the monarchy in 1918. Until the mid-20th century, young German boys were still dressed in sailor suits to impress them at an early age with the Navy's aura and prestige as the gentlemen's branch of the service. For this reason, the Imperial German Navy's most successful combat commanders of the Great War, such as Maximilian von Spee , Felix von Luckner , Karl von Müller , Hellmuth von Mücke , Otto Hersing , Otto Weddigen , and Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière , became widely revered national icons and, if they fell, martyrs. A very similar national iconization also took place within

21190-402: The party's major demands were met. Instead, the pope even sided with Bismarck on non-religious issues and pressured the Centre Party to support Bismarck or at least abstain, e.g. in the matter of the hotly debated Septennat 1887 (7-year military budget). Many Liberals, especially Falk, objected to the concessions Bismarck made to the Church. The growth of the Centre Party has been considered

21353-543: The period being Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach . The Nibelungenlied , whose author remains unknown, is also an important work of the epoch, as is the Thidrekssaga . The fairy tales collections collected and published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 19th century became famous throughout the world. Theologian Luther , who translated the Bible into German, is widely credited for having set

21516-556: The pioneers of synth-pop , electro , techno , and house music . Tangerine Dream 's " Love on a Real Train " was a major influence on the development of synthwave . German popular music of the 20th and 21st centuries includes the movements of Neue Deutsche Welle ( Nena , Alphaville ), Ostrock ( City , Keimzeit ), metal / rock , punk ( Nina Hagen , Böhse Onkelz , Die Ärzte , Die Toten Hosen ), pop rock ( Beatsteaks ), indie ( Tocotronic , Blumfeld ) and hip hop ( Die Fantastischen Vier , Deichkind ). A global trendsetter

21679-526: The pope a "prisoner" in the Vatican . The Church strove to regain its influence and to hold sway in such matters as marriage, family, and education. It initiated a Catholic revival by founding associations, papers, schools, social establishments and new orders, and encouraging religious practices such as pilgrimages , mass assemblies, devotion to the Virgin Mary or the Sacred Heart of Jesus , and

21842-433: The popes worked to increase their control of the Church. The Church centralized some functions and streamlined its hierarchy, which prompted strong criticism by European governments. The bishops sought direction from the Vatican, and the needs and views of the international church were given priority over the local ones. Opponents of the new hierarchical church organization pejoratively called it ultramontanism . In view of

22005-495: The power and influence the George-Kreis wielded over Germany cultural and literary life, the scholarly and editorial skills of one member, Norbert von Hellingrath , were singlehandedly responsible for the revival of interest in the German romantic poet Friedrich Hölderlin , who had died unrecognized following decades of incarceration in a tower at Tübingen following a mental breakdown in 1806. Hellingrath, who later fell at

22168-527: The press . These generated controversy in some quarters. Under the leadership of Gregory's successor, Pope Pius IX , the church proclaimed Mary's Immaculate Conception in 1854. In 1864, Pius published the encyclical Quanta cura with its appended Syllabus Errorum (" Syllabus of Errors "), and in 1870 convened the First Vatican Council . The Council, in turn, proclaimed the dogma of papal infallibility . In Syllabus Errorum ,

22331-546: The prince indicated that he might accept the presidency but would not relinquish his claim to the Imperial or Prussian crowns. In interviews with C.L. Sulzberger for the book The Fall of Eagles , Prince Louis Ferdinand further expressed a deep sense of admiration for the informal bicycle monarchy and crowned republic style favored and used by the Dutch, Belgian, and Scandinavian royal families. Praising how vehicles carrying

22494-759: The reconstruction of demolished historic buildings from the German Empire or even earlier. East German Premier Walter Ulbricht had ordered the demolition of both the Berlin Imperial Palace and the Garrison Church in Potsdam , sites which were closely associated with the former German Imperial Family and the ideology of the German Empire. Both buildings, however, are now being rebuilt, almost exactly as they were. Moreover,

22657-672: The reforms that had been introduced. He was aspiring to establish a kind of Shogunate and hoped to treat our family in the same way the Japanese shoguns treated the Japanese emperors isolated in Kyoto . My grandfather had no choice but to dismiss him." Subsequent Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow continued to implement legislation at the last Kaiser's insistence that favored industrial worker's rights to organized labor and collective bargaining, while still opposing Marxist ideas. Nevertheless,

22820-741: The restoration of the royals; among those under thirty-four, that number is nearly one in five." Culture of Germany The culture of Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular. German culture originated with the Germanic tribes , the earliest evidence of Germanic culture dates to the Jastorf culture in Northern Germany and Denmark . Contact with Germanic tribes were described by various Greco-Roman authors. The first extensive writing done on Germanic culture can be seen during

22983-467: The same religion. Education was also separate and usually in the hands of the churches. There was little mutual tolerance, interaction or intermarriage. Protestants in general were deeply distrustful of the Catholic Church. Unification had been achieved through many obstacles with strong opponents. These were the European powers of France and Austria, both Catholic nations, and the Catholic Church itself,

23146-424: The separation of church and state became a prominent issue. The Kulturkampf in Prussia is usually bracketed by the years 1871 and 1878 with the Catholic Church officially announcing its end in 1880 but the struggle in Germany had been an ongoing matter without definite beginning and the years 1871 to 1878 only mark its culmination in Prussia. In the wake of other European countries, most German states had taken

23309-560: The so-called Pickelhaube had existed previously and not only in the German Empire, but it now symbolises Wilhelmian era and the Imperial German Army and Prussian Army -inspired militarism in general. (In fact, various sign languages still have the extended forefinger placed in front of the forehead, indicating the spiked helmet, as the sign for "German".) While men in uniform were still treated with enormous respect in German culture , it should not be pretended that

23472-530: The spread of monastic life among the Polish and French minorities. The Church, in turn, saw the National-Liberals as its worst enemy, accusing them of spearheading the war against Christianity and the Catholic Church. At unification in 1871, the new German Empire included 25.5 million Protestants (62% of the population) and 15 million Catholics (36.5% of the population). Although a minority in

23635-564: The state. The abolition of the Catholic section of the Prussian ministry of ecclesiastical and educational affairs deprived 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. The school politics also alienated Protestant conservatives and churchmen. The British ambassador Odo Russell reported to London in October 1872 how Bismarck's plans were backfiring by strengthening

23798-408: The success of his laws and was unhappy with his lack of political tact and sensitivity. The differences in their attitudes concerning the Kulturkampf eventually put the two politicians at odds with each other. With this background and the determination of church and state, the Kulturkampf in Germany acquired an additional edge as it gathered in intensity and bitterness. From 1871 to 1876,

23961-541: The support of the Generals, who all demanded his immediate abdication. In response to Paul von Hindenburg 's implied threat that the Imperial German Army would not protect the last Kaiser if he faced a similar death to that of his late cousin Tsar Nicholas II , Wilhelm II took Hindenburg's advice and requested political asylum in the neutral Netherlands . Nevertheless, nostalgia for the German Empire and

24124-418: The three of which Bismarck perceived as "Coalition of Catholic Revenge". For Bismarck, the empire was very fragile and its consolidation was an important issue. Biographer Otto Pflanze notes that "all of these developments, real and imagined, reinforced Bismarck's belief in the existence of a widespread Catholic conspiracy that posed a threat to both his German and European policies." In a Protestant empire,

24287-426: The time and the antagonism between Liberals and Protestants on one side and the Catholic Church on the other was fought out through mud-slinging in the press. A wave of anti-Catholic, anticlerical and anti-monastic pamphleteering in the liberal press was answered by anti-liberal preaching and propaganda in Catholic newspapers and vice versa. For these reasons, the government sought to wean the Catholic masses away from

24450-514: The transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music. Also, Germans developed many Lutheran chorales and hymns . Other composers of the Austro -German tradition who achieved international fame include Brahms , Wagner , Haydn , Johann Pachelbel , Schubert , Händel , Schumann , Mendelssohn Bartholdy , Johann Strauss II , Bruckner , Mahler , Telemann , Richard Strauss , Schoenberg , Orff , and most recently, Henze , Lachenmann , and Stockhausen . Germany

24613-413: The ultramontane (pro-papal) position inside German Catholicism: Nearly all German bishops, clergy and laymen rejected the legality of the new laws and were defiantly facing the increasingly heavy penalties, trials and imprisonments. As of 1878, only three of eight Prussian dioceses still had bishops, some 1,125 of 4,600 parishes were vacant, and nearly 1,800 priests ended up in jail or in exile, nearly half

24776-400: The veneration of relics ; the pope himself became an object of devotion. Apart from the growth in religious orders, the 19th century was a time when numerous Catholic associations and organisations were founded, especially in Germany and in France (In the United States, there was a comparable rise in fraternal organizations in the late nineteenth century.). Catholic propaganda , including

24939-463: The very early years of the medium with the work of Max Skladanowsky . It was particularly influential during the years of the Weimar Republic with German expressionists such as Robert Wiene and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau . Austrian-based director Fritz Lang , who became a German citizen in 1926 and whose career flourished in the pre-war German film industry, is said to have been a major influence on Hollywood cinema. His silent movie Metropolis (1927)

25102-506: The world and a centre for international film production. Germany's television market is the largest in Europe, with 34,000,000 TV households. The many regional and national public broadcasters are organised in line with the federal political structure. Around 90% of German households have cable or satellite TV, and viewers can choose from a variety of free-to-view public and commercial channels. Pay-TV services have not become popular or successful while public TV broadcasters ZDF and ARD offer

25265-479: The writing of Classical music . In his 1985 book, The German Poets of the First World War , Patrick Bridgwater dubbed the literary movement inspired by Stramm's poetry, "the German variety of Imagism ." Shortly before the outbreak of war in 1914, T.E. Hulme heard the kind of poetry that Stramm had created and inspired being read aloud at the Cabaret Gnu in Berlin. Hulme later wrote, "Very short sentences are used, sometimes so terse and elliptical as to produce

25428-437: Was "to re-establish the rights of the state in relation to the church". Yet, unlike Bismarck, whose main motivation for the Kulturkampf was the political power struggle with the Centre Party, Falk, a lawyer, was a strong proponent of state authority having in mind the legal aspects of state-church relationships. Falk became the driving force behind the Kulturkampf laws. Although Bismarck publicly supported Falk, he doubted

25591-425: Was Crown Prince. Wilhelminism also characterizes the social, literary, artistic, and cultural climate of Wilhelm II's reign, which on the one hand was dominated by the rigidly- conservative opinions of the Prussian Junker aristocracy , those associated with the German Agrarian League , and of the German industrialists, which closely mirrored those of the British upper class during the parallel Victorian era in

25754-616: Was also the origin of many mystics , including Meister Eckhart , Rudolf Steiner , and Jakob Boehme ; and of Pope Benedict XVI . Germany has been the home of many famous inventors and engineers , such as Johannes Gutenberg , who is credited with the invention of movable type printing in Europe; Hans Geiger , the creator of the Geiger counter ; and Konrad Zuse , who built the first computer. German inventors, engineers and industrialists such as Zeppelin , Daimler , Diesel , Otto , Wankel , von Braun and Benz helped shape modern automotive and air transportation technology including

25917-432: Was condemned as " revisionism " by its opponents, but ultimately culminated in the Burgfrieden policy of agreeing to support the war effort during the patriotic euphoria later dubbed the Spirit of 1914 . These developments, however, were closely mirrored by other Leftist parties in other nations. While "Wilhelmism" is equally applied to the last Kaiser's favored styles in both the visual arts and architecture, such as

26080-460: Was first tarnished and then destroyed completely by his role in later chapters of German history . The gravesites of Oswald Boelcke and Manfred von Richthofen, on the other hand, remain sites of secular pilgrimage for both officers and enlisted men of the 21st century Air Force of the Federal Republic of Germany , which regards both World War I flying aces as their founding fathers. Furthermore, to many people worldwide who both admire and revere

26243-408: Was more responsible than anything else. Bad taste in the selection of his friends and advisors; bad taste in art, literature, politics and his style of living; bad taste revealed by every word he uttered... A crowned barbarian who gave the whole German nation a reputation for barbarity ." Despite Count von Kessler's later contempt for the cultural life during the final decades of the German Empire ,

26406-404: Was the established church of Europe. By way of the legislated separation of church and state , the Age of Reason reduced society's financial debts to the Church and rendered secular the public sphere of society, and established the state's supremacy concerning the content and administration of public education for all of society. During the Age of Reason in the 17th and the 18th centuries,

26569-426: Was very volatile. Initially perceived as a possible enemy hostile to German unification under Prussian leadership, Austria and Germany very quickly became friends and formed the Dual Alliance in 1879. The possibility of a war with France or Russia also became more remote. Therefore, social and economic problems moved to the fore and Bismarck's attention gradually turned to other topics he deemed more threatening such as

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