... Vienna, liberal ideas based on Napoleon's rule were "squelched" under the Metternich system, a conservative, reactionary system. The Conservatives discouraged any movement to unify Germany and the over bearing policy of the Metternich system initially put down liberal ideas. In German states, violent uprisings of peasants and liberals began, sparked by strong desire for reform. Princes from individual states, unaware ... appointed to the bureaucracy, the army and the education system. Bismarck made sure he could take back anything he allowed and absolutely made sure that unified Germany...

• Word Count: 1782
• Approx Pages: 7

... administrative systems. They were free to legislate for a variety of local matters, including raising their own taxation. But the federal government controlled the armed forces and was responsible for foreign policy, civil and criminal law, banking, press regulations and taxation for imperial purposes. Some of the federal rights were exercised by the monarch, who appointed the chancellor and was head of ... Catholic Church he enacted many laws with the aim to reduce the disciplinary power of the catholic bishops, he also had the Jesuit order of priests banned and wrested the control of ...

• Word Count: 1543
• Approx Pages: 6

... It needed someone to organise and bring it all together if unification was to be achieved, and that person proved to be Bismarck. Bismarck's control over Prussia and the achievement of German unification was due to "military strength and diplomacy."" It could be argued that as he had a " ... upper hand in all decision making."" The Bundesrat was made up of representatives from each state. It had various powers, but Bismarck still maintained control as 14 votes against anything meant a veto, and Prussia was the only individual state to have enough representatives for this. Prussian repres...

• Word Count: 1748
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... was not as well organised as the government. This was particularly true of opposition from the left wing. Only in Bavaria did the communists gain control, setting up a republic in March 1919 which was ruthlessly crushed by the Freikorps in May of the same year. The main communist group in ... This tactic was shown to have worked in the creation of the Dawes and the Young plans, and even later in the Allies' lenient policy towards Hitler. Helping this even further was the fact that the constitution was very democratic. Making the new German republic very much like the ... inability to su...

• Word Count: 2083
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... programme. The political parties had very little experience of how to operate a democratic parliamentary system, because before 1919 the Reichstag had not actually controlled policy, the Chancellor was responsible to the Reichstag but it usually failed to give a clear lead because the parties refused to compromise. The Communists and ... Independent volunteers regiments raised by ex-army officers). It was a sign of the governments weakness that it had to depend on forces which did not itself control. The two Communist leaders were clubbed to death by Freikorps and the Kaiser's troops. The...

• Word Count: 2459
• Approx Pages: 10

... changes in government and constitution, on this occasion the nationalist outcry resulted in the formation of a Federal Diet at Frankfurt. This German Confederation excluded Austria, because of her anti-unity policy, preferring rather a loose "middle-Europe" coalition. Ever since first being appointed Prussian representative to the Federal Diet in 1851, Bismarck had urged the Prussian Government to seize power in the ... manipulate the situation to Prussia's advantage. Consequently after the war flared up again in the summer of 1864, the result being that the two duchies were placed unde...

• Word Count: 1515
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Graduate