High industrialization in Germany

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Eisenwalzwerk (oil painting by Adolph Menzel 1872–1875)

As industrialization in Germany , the phase of industrial development is called, during which the German Empire between 1870-71 and 1914 by a still strong agrarian -industrialized country into a modern industrial state transformed. In this phase, which partly overlapped with the early days , not only did the economic structures change, but the process also had a direct impact on German society. The internal German migration movements, increased urbanization and the formation of social and predominantly market-related classes can be traced back to the high level of industrialization. The development also had an indirect impact on political culture (the emergence of popular political parties and interest groups) and cultural life (e.g. youth movement as a protest against modernization ).

Time limit

While the beginning of the industrial revolution or the phase of “take off” ( Walt Rostow ) is controversial in economic history research, there is broad consensus on the timing of high industrialization . This follows the early industrialization (roughly from the beginning to the middle of the 19th century) and the phase of the industrial breakthrough (industrial revolution roughly from the beginning of the 1850s to the beginning of the 1870s) and is therefore roughly the same as the beginning of the German Empire .

The period of German industrialization began around 1870 and was practically over in 1914, when the transition to a war economy took place at the beginning of the First World War .

The phase of high industrialization is sometimes also referred to as the second industrial revolution . Others equate this term with the automation of the production process ( assembly line production ).

economy

Overall, the economy of the empire experienced its "first economic miracle" ( Hans-Ulrich Wehler ) during this time . Above all in relation to the industrial pioneer Great Britain , the German industry clearly expanded its position. The German federal government came to the early 1860s to a level of only 4.9% of world industrial production and was therefore behind the United Kingdom (approximately 20%) far behind. Between 1880 and 1900, the empire was already in third place in a comparison of the industrialized countries. In 1913 Germany had overtaken Great Britain (13.6%) with 14.8% and was in second place behind the USA (32%). In terms of trade, Germany was slightly behind Great Britain and ahead of the USA in 1913. The gross national product developed in a similarly positive manner during the German Empire.

Economic trend

Economic trend 1869–1914 using the example of wages in the Sauerland mining industry (in marks per day)

The decades between the founding of the Empire and the First World War were characterized by dynamic development; nevertheless there were considerable economic fluctuations during this period . The economic crises of this time could no longer reverse the development into an industrial state, but nevertheless had considerable economic, social and political consequences. The start-up boom from 1867 to 1873 was followed by a phase, sometimes referred to as the global economic crisis or the start-up crisis , which lasted until 1879. During this time, the economy in Germany and other countries halved its growth. In some cases, there was also a decline in production. One indication of the crisis was that iron consumption in Germany fell by half and miners' wages fell by half. After a brief recovery from 1879 to 1882, another somewhat weaker phase of depression followed, which lasted until 1886.

Almost all areas of society and groups were affected by this crisis, and so the skepticism towards industrial development increased significantly.

In the following four years until 1890 another period of stronger growth set in. This applies in particular to the year 1889. This was followed by another phase of weaker growth until 1895, before a period of boom prevailed. This was interrupted several times, around 1900 to 1902 and 1907–1908, by short phases of depression, but these did not have the duration and consequences of the crises before the 1890s. In the boom years between 1895 and 1913, net investment rose by an average of 15% annually. At the end of the German Empire , a phase of depression began to appear again in 1914, before special economic conditions set in with the outbreak of the First World War.

In addition to industry, agriculture was particularly hard hit by the crises. While Germany was a grain export country until the founding of the German Empire, grain had to be imported almost constantly since 1876. With the increased involvement of the agricultural sector in the world market, in particular due to competition from the USA and Russia , potential profits fell significantly at the same time.

Economic sectors

Employed persons and relatives as% of the total population
Economic sector 1882 1895 1907
Agriculture 41.6 35.0 28.4
Industry / craft 34.8 38.5 42.2
Trade / transport 9.4 11.0 12.9
Domestic services 5.0 4.3 3.3
Public service / liberal professions 4.6 5.1 5.2
Jobless / retirees 4.7 6.1 8.1
Source: Sozialgeschichtliches Arbeitsbuch, Vol. 2, p. 66

At the beginning of the German Empire, agriculture was the strongest economic sector in the German Empire. In 1873 the share of the primary sector in net domestic product was 37.9% and that of industry 31.7%. In 1889 the tie was reached; In 1895 agriculture was only 32%, but the secondary sector 36%. This change was also reflected in the development of employment relationships. Whereas the ratio of those employed in agriculture to those in industry, transport and the service sector in 1871 was 8.5 million to 5.3 million, the ratio in 1880 was 9.6 to 7.5 million and in 1890 9.6 to 10 million. In 1910 there were 10.5 million people employed in agriculture, while 13 million people were employed in industry, transport and the service sector. The number of people employed in agriculture had risen slightly, but lagged significantly behind the development of the other sectors. Also noteworthy is the doubling of the group of unemployed, pensioners and pensioners in this period, which was primarily due to the social policy since Bismarck and to increased life expectancy .

Industry and mining

Distribution of the commercial economy around 1890
BASF Ludwigshafen plant , 1881
Central German textile industry: building in Zeitz from 1908

During the German Empire there was a significant shift in the leading industrial sectors . So far these have mainly been the textile industry , the iron industry , mining and railway construction . Within the textile industry, important areas such as linen production were rapidly losing importance. In addition, the entire economic sector of textile production and railway construction also lost their leading position in relative terms. Up until 1879, 25% of net investments in railroad construction flowed into this area; between 1885 and 1889 it was only just under six percent.

Even if other sectors grew faster in relative terms, high industrialization was to a large extent shaped by the coal and steel industry. Between 1907 and 1913 alone, hard coal production grew from 143 to 191 million tons (i.e. by a third). Overall, funding in the Ruhr area increased tenfold between 1875 and 1913. The number of employees rose from a little more than 50,000 to over 440,000 between 1870 and 1913 and at the same time the average workforce per colliery grew from around 400 to over 2500 miners. In doing so, this region expanded its leading role in front of Upper Silesia and Saarland . Despite this boom, technological innovation in this area was relatively low and productivity per miner - in contrast to ore mining in 1913 - was hardly higher than at the beginning of the 1880s. As a result, the mines remained dependent on the continued immigration of workers, especially those of Polish origin known as the Ruhr Poles . Before the First World War, coal mining was the largest concentration of unskilled workers. The largest mining company was Gelsenkirchner Bergwerks AG (GBAG) with numerous collieries. Similarly structured mining groups under private law were the Harpener Bergbau AG , the Hibernia AG or the Mülheimer Bergwerks-Verein . In Saarland, mining was to a large extent operated by the Prussian state itself, while in Upper Silesia there were state mines as well as those founded by some of the large East Elbe landowners. One of the largest was the United King's and Laura's Hut .

Mechanical workshop at Krupp with belt drives ( trans-
missions ) of the machine, in 1900

An essential characteristic of the development was the close connection between mining and raw material processing. Large, vertically integrated mining groups such as Thyssen , Krupp , Phoenix , Hoesch , the Gutehoffnungshütte , the Bochumer Verein and the German-Luxemburgish Mining and Hütten-AG emerged , covering all stages of the value chain in the mining industry.

In the iron and steel industry, new production processes (e.g. Thomas processes , Siemens-Martin ovens ) increased productivity tenfold and in the steel industry even 25fold. The number of employees in the metal production sector rose from 43,000 in 1849 to 443,000 in 1913. In this area, the size of the establishment and the degree of local concentration were higher than in almost all other economic areas. In the 50 largest companies 45% of all employees were employed in this area. Within the branch, the importance of steel production increased significantly compared to iron production, and the production of rolling mills and cast goods grew even faster . Just before the First World War, rolling mill production alone accounted for around 44% of total production in this industrial sector.

Since the 1890s, electrical engineering , mechanical engineering and large-scale chemicals have established themselves as new leading sectors.

Ownership of the Wiesche mine in Mülheim an der Ruhr (around 1904)

The metal processing industry - including mechanical engineering - had played an important role in locomotive and steam engine construction since the beginning of industrialization. During the high industrialization new products were added and the number of companies and employees grew strongly. Some of these were part of the mining corporations, but there were also significant companies outside of them. There were some main mechanical engineering locations such as Berlin ( Borsig , Schwartzkopff ), Chemnitz ( Hartmann , Wanderer ), Augsburg and Nuremberg ( MAN ), Leipzig ( Pittler ), Hanover ( Hanomag ), Mannheim ( Benz ) or Cologne ( Deutz ), but Overall, the relatively low local concentration was characteristic. There were also a few large companies in this area, but medium-sized companies were more influential. Last but not least, the construction of combustion engines and automobiles gained considerable importance. In 1912, German automobile production reached over 16,000 passenger cars. The largest producer was Opel in Rüsselsheim with around 3000 vehicles.

The success of the chemical industry was largely based on the employment of in-house, university-trained chemists. The Bayer works in Leverkusen alone employed over 600 chemists in 1914. On this basis, innovative products were created and the German chemical industry, together with the companies in northern Switzerland, was a leader in this area before the First World War. In 1913, Germany accounted for 28 percent of world chemical exports; Great Britain was in second place with 16 percent.

However, the fastest growth after the founding of the German Empire in 1871 was in the electrical industry. As a pioneering company that has existed since 1847, Siemens & Halske (S & H) was able to maintain its leading position in the German Empire for a long time until Emil Rathenau founded the "German Edison Society for Applied Electricity" in 1883 , from which AEG emerged a few years later . In 1903, the two competitors S & H and AEG created the joint venture Telefunken for the emerging field of wireless communication ( radio telegraphy ) . Siemens alone employed 57,000 people in Germany in 1913 and another 24,000 abroad. Together with AEG, Siemens soon assumed the leading role on the world market. This branch of industry was concentrated in Berlin, where around 60% of the workforce was active.

The need of industry for energy and the increasing electrification of apartments, too, led to the emergence of energy groups such as RWE or EW , which divided the market along their areas of influence, mostly delimited by state concessions and supply contracts with local administrations.

However, the growth figures only say something about the industrial structure to a limited extent. In 1911/13, 15.7% of all employees in the secondary sector worked in metalworking (11.1% in 1875), 7.4% (5.3%) in mining, 3.7% in metal production ( 2.7%) and 2.3% (1.2%) in the chemical industry. With a downward trend, but still strong, clothing production was relatively stable at 13.3% (19.8%) and food and luxury goods production was relatively stable at 11.8% (12.4%). Textile production lost a lot of 9.5% (17.1%)

Operational structures

RWE share from 1910

During the period of high industrialization, the centralized factory clearly became the dominant form of business in Germany. In 1873 only about a third of all commercial employees were active in this type of company, by 1900 the number was already 66%. At the same time, the structure of the companies also changed significantly. In 1875 64% of all employees were employed in companies with fewer than 5 employees, in 1907 this proportion was only 32%. In contrast, 26% were now employed in companies with 5 to 50 employees and 37% in "large companies" between 50 and 1,000 employees. In even larger companies with more than 1000 employees it was 5% and only a few companies actually reached this enormous size. One of them was the Krupp company , which already had 21,000 employees in 1887. The largest was the share of large and giant companies in mining and in the iron and steel industry, followed by mechanical engineering, electrical and chemical industries and textile manufacturing. The share was lowest in the leather, wood and food industries as well as in the clothing and cleaning industries. The legal form of the company was directly related to the size of the company. Of the 100 largest industrial companies, 4/5 were already stock corporations .

Another characteristic of the development was the increasing corporate concentration . It formed companies , either through merger or the acquisition of comparable companies upstream or downstream production facilities. An example are steel mills that bought coal mines or built briquette factories and rolling mills. In addition, cartels arose which organized the markets through price fixing, fixing production quantities or similar agreements. The most successful were the Rhenish-Westphalian coal syndicate , the pig iron syndicate , the steelworks association or - in the field of chemistry - the "Dreiverband" ( BASF , Bayer , Agfa ). The companies Hoechst , Cassella and Kalle also merged. For certain products, however, cartel agreements existed between the two groups, so that the later IG Farben already indicated itself . Nevertheless, the effect of the cartels remained limited; they modified competition without completely eliminating it.

Due to the growing size of the company, the number of employees ("private civil servants") increased significantly , especially in large companies , and the management of the company tended to be transferred from the founding entrepreneurs to salaried managers . In the large companies in particular, an internal social policy arose with the aim of binding workers to the company and keeping them away from social democracy . This policy turned out to be quite successful. The workers at the Krupp company often saw themselves primarily as "Kruppians." The organizational possibilities of the unions were accordingly weak .

However, older structures did not completely disappear. For example, the home trade was able to hold its own in some areas and industries. In the cigar industry , but especially in the urban clothing and cleaning industry, the home industry even expanded. The trades, too, successfully adapted to the new industrial and social conditions. The repair trade (e.g. shoemaker or tailor) often took the place of production . Other older trades, such as building trade or food production, even benefited directly from increasing demand.

Trade, transport and services

Hamburg sailing ship port on Asiakai (around 1890–1900)

In addition to the private sector, a public service sector developed increasingly during the German Empire. Since the 1870s, the railways in Germany , especially in Prussia, have been largely nationalized. Their rail network did not grow as fast as in the previous decades, but the transport services increased significantly. The public sector was particularly active in state-of-the-art communications technology such as telegraph, post and, increasingly, telephone services . As a result, the public employment sector also grew considerably. In addition to the relatively small number of administrative officials, millions of postal workers and railroad workers appeared as workers or sub-officials.

With urbanization , the importance of retail also grew. " Grocery stores " and specialty shops emerged. The first department stores were founded, especially in the big cities . Cooperatives and flat-rate businesses increased competition in retail.

In the banking industry - in addition to the older institutes for agricultural loans known as Prussian landscapes  - modern mortgage banks for the financing of real estate emerged. The communal savings banks and credit unions became more and more important, not only for private customers, but also for regional SMEs . The major credit banks were particularly important for industrial finance . Here, in the second half of the 19th century, the mergers of the banks, which were originally typically locally organized, gave rise to large banking groups, which were mainly based in Berlin and the Rhineland, for example Deutsche Bank , the management of Disconto-Gesellschaft , Dresdner Bank , the Darmstädter Bank , the Berliner Handels-Gesellschaft and the Schaffhausen'sche Bankverein .

society

Population development

Population density map around 1890

From 1871 to 1917 the population in the German Empire grew strongly (see table). Causes for this were u. a. improved hygiene , advances in medicine and better human nutrition (→ sharply falling child mortality , falling maternal mortality ).

Date ¹ Area in km² population Inhabitants
per km²
December 1, 1871 541,561 41,058,792 76
December 1, 1875 539.829 42,727,360 79
December 1, 1880 540,522 45.234.061 84
December 1, 1885 540,597 46.855.704 87
December 1, 1890 540.504 49,428,470 91
December 2, 1895 540,658 52.279.901 97
December 1, 1900 540,743 56.367.178 104
December 1, 1905 540,778 60,641,489 112
December 1, 1910 540,858 64.925.993 120
December 1, 1916 540,858 62.272.185 115
December 5, 1917 540,858 62.615.275 116
October 8, 1919 474304 60,898,584 128
June 16, 1925 468.718 62.410.619 133
June 16, 1933 468,787 65.362.115 139

As in the previous industrialization phases, the development had very different regional effects. Overall, there is a double divide, on the one hand between the industrialized west and the agrarian east and on the other hand, with a similar difference, between north and south. There are many indications that regional economic contrasts even increased during the period of high industrialization.

Despite the interim depression , the population in the German Reich grew by leaps and bounds from around 41 to 52 million between 1873 and 1895, although another 2 million German citizens emigrated during this period. The fact that this enormous growth did not lead to a crisis like the pre- March pauperism was primarily due to the fact that industry continued to expand and new jobs were created during all crises. These emerged primarily in the commercial conurbations and in urban areas. By 1913 the population grew again sharply to 67 million. As a result, the average number of inhabitants per km² rose from 76 in 1871 to 120 in 1910. There were, of course, considerable differences from region to region.

From emigration to internal migration

However, the population growth took place very differently from region to region. While the population increased significantly in the large, industrial cities and metropolitan areas, growth in the agricultural areas of the empire was significantly slower. The growth was particularly strong in the major cities of Berlin , Hamburg and Bremen , the industrial areas of the provinces of Rhineland and Westphalia (especially the Ruhr area ), but also in the industrial areas of Central Germany and Upper Silesia .

Berlin Alexanderplatz around 1903

The population increase intensified the population pressure, which had become the main driver of emigration overseas since the pre- March period . Emigration continued in the first decades of the Empire and reached its numerical peak in the 1880s and 1890s.

Then it was replaced by internal migration . This developed into the "largest mass movement in German history" (Köllmann). In 1907, the Reich statistics showed that 48% of the residents lived outside their place of birth, i. H. every second citizen of the Reich had taken part in one way or another in the intra-German migration, which is unprecedented to this extent in European comparison. For a long time now, job seekers have been migrating first from the surrounding areas of industrial locations, then from the local migration area of ​​the neighboring agricultural areas to the cities. For the Ruhr area, it is estimated that the labor potential of the surrounding regions - such as the Sauerland or the Münsterland - was already exhausted by the 1870s. Since the 1880s and increasingly since the 1890s, long-distance migration has increased; H. the migrants crossed provincial or internal German national borders. The east-west migration was particularly pronounced, i.e. the train from the eastern Prussian provinces to Berlin or to the Rhenish-Westphalian industrial areas. By 1907 1.94 million people had left the East Prussian, West Prussian and Posen provinces and around 24% of those born in these provinces were living in other parts of the empire at the time of the census. Of these, around 400,000 lived in the Ruhr area and 360,000 in Berlin and the surrounding area. By 1914, around 450,000 mostly Polish or Masurian speaking Prussian citizens had migrated to the Ruhr area. The new population, made up of West and East German elements, differed in some aspects - such as Ruhr German  - from the surrounding areas.

The majority of long-distance hikers were single hikers, mostly single younger men. In the area of ​​local migration, i.e. within a province, women, who were mostly looking for work as maids, were represented above average. Later, it was not uncommon for the East German immigrants to catch up with women and other family members. The return migration was also pronounced, for example in old age or in times of bad economic activity. In some areas, forms of regular seasonal work developed . Every year numerous building tradesmen migrated from the Sauerland to work for a few months in the Ruhr area and returned just as regularly in the winter months. With the introduction of cheap workers' tariffs by the railroad, commuting increased considerably. Both forms of temporary migration made permanent emigration unnecessary and, in particular, enabled the owners of small, unprofitable farms to keep their property.

urbanization

The internal migration undoubtedly relieved the starting area and overall the movement made a decisive contribution to urban growth and urbanization. In the greater Berlin area, for example, the gain in migration between 1890 and 1900 was around 323,000. From 1900 to 1910 it was over 600,000.

In the Rhenish-Westphalian industrial area, immigration between 1850 and 1900 increased the population sevenfold. Around half of the population at that time consisted of immigrants and in the main target cities such as Dortmund , Duisburg or Essen less than half of the residents were also born there. Another aspect of mobility was the massive relocation within cities and industrial areas. Few of the immigrants stayed in the city for more than a year before moving on again to find better-paid work elsewhere. The consequence was that the migration volume in the industrial cities was significantly higher than the migration growth suggests. In the 50 years up to 1900, Duisburg's population increased by over 90,000, but the residents' registration offices recorded over 710,000 registrations and de-registrations during this period. In Chemnitz between 1900 and 1910, with a population growth of around 73,000, there were over 420,000 new arrivals and 385,000 departures. It is not uncommon for the migration volume to reach ten times the migration gains.

Population by size of municipality (in%)
year under 2000 2000-5000 5000-20,000 20,000-100,000 over 100,000
1871 63.9 12.4 11.2 7.7 4.8
1885 56.3 12.4 12.9 8.9 9.5
1900 45.6 12.1 13.5 12.6 16.2
1910 40.0 11.2 14.1 13.4 21.3
Source: Sozialgeschichtliches Arbeitsbuch, Vol. 2, p. 32.

City growth, which had already begun in the middle of the century, accelerated significantly, primarily due to immigration. In 1871 there were only 75 medium- sized cities (with 20,000 - 100,000 inhabitants) and 8 large cities (over 100,000 inhabitants), by 1910 there were already 223 medium-sized and 48 large cities. During this time Berlin grew from 826,000 to 2,071,000 and Hamburg from 290,000 to 931,000 inhabitants. More than half a million inhabitants reached Munich and Leipzig with almost 600,000 inhabitants each, Dresden with around 550,000, and Cologne and Breslau with more than 510,000 inhabitants. An extreme example of the power of industry as a “city designer” (Köllmann) was Gelsenkirchen , whose population increased tenfold between 1871 and 1910 to around 170,000. Duisburg , Dortmund, Essen and Düsseldorf had also increased significantly . But also a city like Kiel grew considerably due to the expansion of the war port. Plauen was the only textile city that was able to record high growth, while cities like Elberfeld or Barmen tended to lag behind. Mannheim benefited from its inland port, Saarbrücken grew as part of the Saar district and Nuremberg because of its diverse industrial structure.

While in 1871 64% of the population still lived in municipalities with fewer than 2000 inhabitants and only 5% in large cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, there was already a tie between urban and rural residents in 1890. In 1910 only 40% lived in municipalities with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants (−24%), in large cities 21.3% (+16%) and 27.4% (+8.5%) in medium-sized towns (5,000-100,000 Residents).

The most densely populated area was the Rhine Province and the Westphalian part of the Ruhr area. Shortly before the First World War, 75% of the residents of this Rhenish-Westphalian industrial area lived in urban communities, even if some of these had not yet achieved urban legal status. Half of the urban population in this area already lived in large cities. Saxony, which has been relatively heavily populated since the beginning of industrialization at the latest, experienced another surge of growth during the German Empire and had a population density similar to that of the two Prussian western provinces.

In the big cities, and above all in the sprawling new cities of the Ruhr area, the new buildings were often built wildly on the basis of private speculation before city administrations and local politics succeeded in structuring interventions. During the German Empire, an urban structure that is still felt today developed. The inner city area became a representative city, in addition to which clearly distinguishable residential and business areas, bourgeois residential quarters, workers' quarters, industrial areas and other urban functional areas emerged. However, despite all the progress, life in the city was characterized by a housing shortage, especially for the lower and middle income groups. The lack of accommodation in industrial areas led to an increase in sleepers . In large cities like Berlin in particular, entire districts were built out of tenement houses . In contrast, colliery settlements or company apartments for the permanent workforce emerged, especially in the mining sector . Regardless of the way in which the housing shortage was responded to, it was associated with social segregation . While bourgeois residential quarters were built in prime urban locations, far from the stink of industrial operations, for example, the working-class neighborhoods were mostly in unfavorable locations.

Urban development had not only a quantitative, but also a qualitative dimension. The urban and especially the metropolitan way of life differed fundamentally from the life in the small towns or even in the country around the turn of the century, as the contemporary Georg Simmel described in his pioneering work “The Big City and Spiritual Life”.

Social groups

A characteristic of the social structure of the empire was that in society market-related classes (especially the various employee groups and the economic bourgeoisie) were on the advance in the sense of Max Weber , but that class structures (nobility) also continued to exist. The numerical scope is difficult to determine. Based on contemporary statistics, Gustav v. Schmoller presented an estimate that has been quoted again and again, which, however, is assessed by some modern researchers as being somewhat medium-sized (Ullmann). According to the statistical office of the Reich , there were 12 million households in 1895. Schmoller states that the so-called “aristocratic and wealthy” top of society only belonged to 250,000 households. These included u. a. the larger landowners and entrepreneurs, high officials, doctors and rentiers. The "upper middle class" (middle landowners and entrepreneurs, most senior civil servants, many members of the liberal professions) included 2.75 million households. Around 3.75 million families belonged to the "lower middle class" of small farmers, artisans, small traders, middle-class officials (then called "subaltern officials"), foremen and even the higher-paid workers. The "lower classes" included above all the wage workers, the lower civil servants (especially the employees of the railway and post office), as well as poorer craftsmen and small farmers. This group makes up about 5.25 million families. Social mobility essentially took place within the various classes and these limits were rarely exceeded. If anything, an ascent usually took place in a change that lasted different generations. But in addition to class and class differences, the society of the empire was criss-crossed by further dividing lines. This included the difference between town and country and the different denominations.

Noble

The needle was also in 1900 in spite of industrialization and urbanization is still at the forefront of society. He continued to maintain his social exclusivity and his high social prestige and clearly set himself apart from the upper class. However, the agricultural economic foundations of the nobility lost their importance. Nonetheless, the nobility largely managed to maintain their strong positions in the state, administration and the military. The number of aristocrats in the civil service declined, but the higher the position, the greater the proportion of aristocratic posts.

Middle class and middle class

The bourgeoisie was not a single group, but rather differentiated in many ways. The number and importance of economic citizens increased significantly during the empire. Within this group, an upper bourgeoisie of industrialists, bankers and merchants began to develop , which clearly formed one of the top of society. The educated bourgeoisie experienced a quantitative expansion through the academization of numerous professions such as architects and engineers ; at the same time, with this development it had also lost much of its inner cohesion, which was based on a similar education and a comparable self-image. In addition to an old petty bourgeoisie made up of craftsmen and small traders, a “ new middle class ” was created made up of white-collar workers and small to medium-sized civil servants. Despite all the differences, the highly heterogeneous groups had in common a demarcation from the growing number of workers.

Workers

The number of workers in trade and industry doubled between 1882 and 1907 to 8.6 million. This increase was primarily due to industry and mining. But the group of industrial workers was still very heterogeneous internally. The pay of women and older workers was significantly lower than that of younger, male workers. A growing number of workers lived in large cities, but the majority in medium-sized and small towns. Many still lived in villages and so remained connected to rural values ​​and behavioral patterns. There were also great differences between those who were resident in one place and the immigrants. The professional activity and qualification had a further differentiated effect . The number of workers with a craft training tended to decrease, while the groups of unskilled and semi-skilled workers grew.

The strike (painting by Robert Koehler 1886)

What they had in common, however, was the still long working hours, although by 1914 these had dropped to 55 hours a week. The work itself intensified and was controlled more closely, it was mostly manual work and was not infrequently dangerous to health. In most cases it was also physically demanding work. There were strict hierarchies and work regulations, especially in the large companies . These made clear the entrepreneurs' claim to power.

Adjusted for the economic cycle, real wages rose significantly during the German Empire and improved living conditions without a secure livelihood being associated with it. In the cities in particular, living together in the workers 'quarters created a feeling of togetherness, to which the workers' organizations also contributed. During the empire a subculture developed with the working class culture, separated from the bourgeois world, which nevertheless remained related to the bourgeois culture.

Rural population

Industrialization also had an impact on rural society. In areas close to industry, smallholders were able to maintain their property as commuters. The owners in regions far from industry tried to maintain their agriculture through seasonal work, but many of them were forced to move permanently. The number of farm workers decreased both in percentage and in absolute terms. The reasons were not only the migration to the cities, but also changed cultivation methods.

Trade unions and economic interest groups

A characteristic of the era was the emergence and spread of interest groups .

The Federation of Farmers organized particularly successfully farmers from all over the empire with national and anti-Semitic tendencies, although the leadership was always with the East Elbe agrarians . He relied on a well-developed organization with millions of members. A large number of members of the Reich and Landtag owed their mandate to the support of the federal government. These were therefore also committed to the BdL in terms of content. The industrial associations such as the Central Association of German Industrialists were less successful in this regard . But this also managed to influence politics through successful lobbying in the background, for example on the question of protective tariffs. Associated with the large industrial associations CdI and the Federation of Industrialists were the employers' associations ( headquarters of German employers' associations , Association of German employers' associations ), which had been established especially since the 1890s and were directed primarily against the rights of the unions to have a say. In addition to the large interest groups, there were numerous other economically oriented organizations. In 1907 there were 500 associations with around 2,000 affiliated organizations in industry, craft, trade and commerce alone.

One aspect of the link between politics and lobbying was the emergence of unions . The bearers were (left) liberalism, the Catholic milieu and social democracy. The so-called free trade unions around the SPD had the largest number of members after the end of the Socialist Law. In important industrial areas such as the Ruhr area, however, the Christian trade unions were sometimes just as strong or even stronger. There were also organizations of Polish-speaking miners in this area after the turn of the century, so that the non-socialist unions were also very important overall.

Development of the direction unions in Germany 1887–1914

The left wing of liberalism found this new form of politics particularly difficult . Although the Hirsch-Duncker trade unions had been liberally oriented trade unions since the 1860s , their mobilization success remained comparatively low. In the area of ​​the Catholic milieu the development was different. The center remained largely an honorary party and did not develop into a modern member party. In the agrarian parts of Catholic Germany in particular, the pastors, the church and traditional community-based associations tied people to the milieu. In the industrial areas and cities, on the other hand, organizations with millions of members developed for the integration of the Catholic working population with the Volksverein for Catholic Germany and the Christian trade unions .

Beginning of the intervention and welfare state

The formation of the modern intervention and welfare state was a reaction to the consequences of industrialization. While the state had significantly scaled back its direct interventions in the economy and society under liberal auspices in the first half of the century, this changed significantly during the German Empire. One concrete cause was the social consequences of the start-up crisis, and the structural reason was fundamental politicization. Through them, social conflicts became politicized, became part of the political discourse and ultimately had to be resolved politically.

The instrument was initially an expanded and highly differentiated bureaucratic apparatus. In addition to sovereignty , it was above all the service administration at the state, but above all at the municipal level , that grew significantly.

Supported by the police and bureaucracy, the state devoted itself primarily to four areas: financial , monetary , economic and social policy .

A direct response to the social question , which became even more acute with the rise in the number of workers during the Empire, was social policy. Initially, this was mainly a communal matter in the context of poor relief (later called poor relief). Due to the migration movements, responsibility shifted from the community of origin to the community of residence. It was mostly based on the so-called Elberfeld system (characteristics: decentralization of administration, voluntary work for poor workers and the attempt to help people help themselves ). However, the big cities began to bureaucratize this work and to do it with full-time staff (often women). With urbanization, new municipal tasks such as the organization of emergency work , proof of work, but also child, youth and health care emerged. Overall, the cities took on a considerable part of the general interest and appeared as actors alongside the various welfare organizations.

The February edicts . Idealized representation of Wilhelm II ( Neuruppiner picture sheet from 1890)

State social policy was structured and oriented differently. With social security , occupational health and safety and labor law , this focused primarily on the “workers question.” How this solution should look and what role the state should play in it was, however, controversial. At the beginning of the discussions, opinions predominated, especially from the liberalist environment , which rely on social solutions and, last but not least, on the self-help of the workers themselves. In the educated bourgeoisie, especially among the members of the Verein für Socialpolitik , known as Kathedersozialisten , there were clear demands for stronger state involvement. Bismarck's government, which had long been supported by the Liberals, was initially divided on this issue, but ultimately opted for a state solution. It wasn't just skepticism about the effectiveness of the liberal recipes that played a role. An aspect that should not be underestimated was that political capital could be made from social policy, especially from the social insurance project. The state redistribution policy was intended to bind the workers to the state and was, in a sense, the positive counterpart to the repressive socialist law. After some years of discussion about the details, health insurance was put into effect in 1883 , accident insurance in 1884 and, as a conclusion, invalidity and old-age insurance . These were not just “Bismarck's social insurance”, but numerous organizations, parties and sections of the bureaucracy have greatly modified the original ideas. Characteristics of the social insurance were their compulsory validity for a large part of the workers, their organization under public law and the self-administration right of the insured. Benefits are not measured primarily on the basis of need (as in the case of poor relief), but on the contribution payments. In the following years, what had been achieved was modified and codified in the Reich Insurance Code in 1911 . In the same year, a special insurance for disability and old age with better conditions was introduced for employees, which helped to deepen the social separation between workers and employees. The social insurance alleviated the social hardship, but especially because of the very low benefits it could not resolve it. In addition, an important component of the whole system was missing with the unemployment insurance . The hope of keeping the workers away from the social-democratic movement through social insurance proved to be the most ineffective.

See also

literature

  • Lars Bluma, Karsten Uhl (ed.): Controlled work - disciplined bodies? On the social and cultural history of industrial work in the 19th and 20th centuries . Bielefeld 2012, ISBN 978-3-8376-1834-1 .
  • Rudolf Boch : State and Economy in the 19th Century . Munich 2004, ISBN 3-486-55712-2 .
  • Christoph Buchheim : Industrial Revolutions. Long term economic development in the UK, Europe and overseas. dtv Wissenschaft, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-423-04622-8 .
  • Ilona Buchsteiner : Pomeranian nobility through the 19th century . In: History and Society , 3/1999. Pp. 343-374.
  • Ewald Frie : The German Empire . Darmstadt 2004, ISBN 3-534-14725-1 . (Controversies over the story)
  • Hans-Werner Hahn: The industrial revolution in Germany . Munich 2005, ISBN 3-486-57669-0 .
  • Utz Haltern: Civil society. Social-theoretical and social-historical aspects . Darmstadt 1985, ISBN 3-534-06854-8 .
  • Volker Hentschel: History of German social policy. 1880-1980 . Frankfurt 1983, ISBN 3-518-11247-3 .
  • Gerd Hohorst, Jürgen Kocka, Gerhard A. Ritter : Social history workbook . Volume 2: Materials on Statistics of the Empire 1870–1914 . Munich 1978.
  • Toni Pierenkemper: Trade and Industry in the 19th and 20th Centuries . (Encyclopedia of German History, Vol. 29). Munich 1994, ISBN 3-486-55015-2 .
  • Jürgen Reulecke: History of Urbanization in Germany . Frankfurt 1985.
  • Klaus Tenfelde: Workers in the German Empire. 1871 to 1914 . Bonn, 1991. ISBN 3-8012-0168-6 .
  • Richard H. Tilly: From Zollverein to an industrial state. The economic and social development of Germany from 1834 to 1914. DTV, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-423-04506-X . (German history of recent times)
  • Hans-Ulrich Wehler : The German Empire . Goettingen 1988.
  • Hans-Ulrich Wehler: German history of society. Vol. 3: From the German double revolution to the beginning of the First World War . Munich 1995.
  • Wolfgang Zorn (Hrsg.): Handbook of German economic and social history. Vol. 2: The 19th and 20th centuries . Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-12-900140-9 .
In it u. a .:
Wolfgang Köllmann: Population history 1800–1970 . Pp. 9-50.
Knut Borchardt: Economic growth and changing situations 1800-1914 . Pp. 198-275.
Max Rolfes: Agriculture 1850-1914 . Pp. 495-526.
Wolfram Fischer: Mining, Industry and Crafts 1850–1914 . Pp. 527-562.
Richard Tilly: Transport and communications, trade, money, credit and insurance 1850-1914 . Pp. 563-596.

Web links

Wikisource: Industry  - Sources and Full Texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pierenkemper: Gewerbe und Industrie , pp. 58–61.
  2. ↑ Dieter Ziegler: The industrial revolution . Darmstadt 2005, p. 101
  3. ^ Wehler: History of Society , Vol. 3, pp. 610–612.
  4. ↑ Wehler: Kaiserreich , pp. 41–45, 51. In detail: Wehler: Gesellschaftgeschichte , Vol. 3, pp. 547–699. Knut Borchardt: Economic growth and changing situations 1800-1914 . In: Zorn: German Economic and Social History , Vol. 2, pp. 198–275.
  5. ^ Max Rolfes: Agriculture 1850-1914 . In: Zorn: German Economic and Social History , Vol. 2, pp. 495 ff.
  6. ↑ Hans-Ulrich Wehler : The German Empire . Göttingen, 1988, pp. 47-49.
  7. ^ To Siemens: Jürgen Kocka: Modernization in the multinational family company . europa.clio-online.de
  8. ↑ See Gerald D. Feldman : Hugo Stinnes. Biography of an industrialist 1870–1924. CH Beck, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-406-43582-3 , in particular p. 242 ff.
  9. ^ Wolfram Fischer: Mining, Industry and Crafts 1850–1914 . Pp. 527-562. Wehler: Gesellschaftgeschichte , Vol. 3, pp. 610–617. Ullmann: Kaiserreich , pp. 98-100
  10. ↑ Ullmann: Kaiserreich , pp. 98-101. Wehler: Kaiserreich , p. 49. Wehler: Gesellschaftgeschichte , Vol. 3, pp. 620–636; Pierenkemper: Gewerbe und Industrie , pp. 8–31, 61–73.
  11. ^ John Munro: German Banking and Commercial Organizations . (PDF; 106 kB)
  12. ^ Richard Tilly: Traffic and communications, trade, money, credit and insurance 1850-1914 . In: Handbook of German Social and Economic History , Vol. 2, pp. 563-596. Ullmann: Kaiserreich , p. 105. Wehler: Gesellschaftgeschichte , Vol. 3, pp. 622-631, cf. on the development and importance of banking John Munro: The rapid industrialization of Germany 1815–1914 . (PDF, English; 106 kB)
  13. ↑ Köllmann: Population history 1800–1970 , p. 17. Social history workbook , vol. 2, p. 22.
  14. ↑ Köllmann: Population history 1800–1870 , pp. 20–27. Wehler, Vol. 3, pp. 503-510. Sozialgeschichtliches Arbeitsbuch , Vol. 2, pp. 38–41.
  15. ↑ Wehler: Social History , Vol. 3, p. 505.Social History Workbook , Vol. 2, p. 41.
  16. ↑ Jürgen Reulecke: History of urbanization in Germany. Frankfurt 1985. Köllmann: Population history 1800–1970 , pp. 21–24. Wehler: Kaiserreich , p. 44, 49. Ullmann: Kaiserreich , p. 106 f.
  17. ↑ as an example: Heinz Reif: The belated city of Oberhausen. Urban planning, urban development and conflicts of interest 1846–1929. In: Revier-Kultur , 2/1986, pp. 72-83
  18. ^ Wehler: History of Society , Vol. 3, pp. 514-517.
  19. ↑ Georg Simmel : The big cities and the intellectual life . (1903)
  20. ↑ Ullmann: Kaiserreich , p. 115 f., Differentiated: Wehler: Gesellschaftgeschichte , Vol. 3, pp. 702–712.
  21. ↑ Ullmann: Kaiserreich , p. 113 f. as an example: Ilona Buchsteiner: Pomeranian nobility in the course of the 19th century . In: History and Society , 3/1999. Pp. 343-374
  22. ↑ Wehler: Society History , Vol. 3, pp. 712–771. Utz Haltern: Civil society. Social-theoretical and social-historical aspects . Darmstadt 1985, ISBN 3-534-06854-8 , v. a. Pp. 69-96
  23. ↑ Ullmann P. 110-113, Klaus Tenfelde: Arbeiter im Deutschen Kaiserreich. 1871 to 1914 . Bonn 1991, ISBN 3-8012-0168-6 .
  24. ↑ Ullmann: Kaiserreich , p. 115.
  25. ↑ Ullmann: Kaiserreich , pp. 26–137, on the economic interest groups see also: Pierenkemper: Gewerbe und Industrie , pp. 74–87, on the scientific discussion of milieu formation cf. about: Ewald Frie: The German Empire . Darmstadt, 2004. (Controversies over history) pp. 94–117.
  26. ↑ Cf. on this the 40-volume collection of sources on the history of German social policy 1867 to 1914 by Wolfgang Ayaß , Florian Tennstedt u. a.
  27. ^ Volker Hentschel: History of German social policy. 1880-1980 . Frankfurt 1983, pp. 11-55; Ullmann: Empire . Pp. 173-181.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on February 5, 2007 .