German People's Party (German Empire)
The German People's Party (also: Democrats , South German People's Party , abbreviated DtVP ) of the German Empire was a left-liberal party founded in 1868 that was represented in the Reichstag .
It is not to be confused with the German People's Party of the Weimar Republic, which emerged from the National Liberal Party, and also not with other similarly abbreviated parties (cf. definition of DVP ). Rather, after 1918, through the merger with the Free People's Party and the Free Union for the Progressive People's Party in 1910, after the November Revolution, the German Democratic Party (DDP) emerged.
history
The DtVP emerged from the left wing of the German Progress Party after the Prussian constitutional conflict and was founded in 1868 during the time of the North German Confederation . The other, right-wing liberal wing became the National Liberal Party , which supported Bismarck 's policy and the supremacy of Prussia in the Federation and later in the German Empire.
In contradiction to the National Liberals, the DtVP, which had its strongholds primarily in southern Germany - above all in Bavaria , Baden (there until 1878 as the Democratic Party ) and Württemberg (there initially organized as the Democratic People's Party from 1864 ) - advocated greater German unification (with Austria ) a. Even after the establishment of the German Empire in 1871 (as a small German solution ), it represented federal structures in the empire and called for democratic reforms , in particular a strengthening of parliament. In its work against the supremacy of Prussia and the power of the emperor, the DtVP also worked temporarily with the then still Marxist -oriented social democracy .
In contrast to the National Liberal Party , it stood in opposition to Bismarck's policies at the time the Reich was founded. The party put the commitment to the classic liberal freedom rights above the prospect of German unification "from above". In the Reichstag election on June 15, 1893 , the People's Party achieved its best result and won eleven seats with 2.2% of the vote. Almost all of the MPs came from Württemberg.
In 1910, the DtVP merged with the Free People's Party and the Free People's Association to form the Progressive People's Party . From this, in turn, the German Democratic Party (DDP) emerged after the First World War in 1918.
An important member of both the DtVP, the Progressive People's Party and the DDP was Ludwig Quidde , winner of the 1927 Nobel Peace Prize. He had joined the DtVP in 1893.
Web links
literature
- Ludwig Elm : South German People's Party (SDVp) 1868-1910 (German People's Party). In: Dieter Fricke et al. (Ed.): Lexicon for the history of parties. The bourgeois and petty bourgeois parties and associations in Germany (1789–1945). In four volumes. Volume 4. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1984, DNB 550849033 , pp. 171-179.