Reichstag election 1907
.svg)
The Reichstag election in 1907 was the election for the 12th German Reichstag . It took place on January 25, 1907 and was also referred to by contemporaries as the "Hottentot election " or "Hottentot election ".
Prehistory of the "Hottentot election"
The election was called the Hottentot election because its cause and the election campaign were determined by the Herero War in the colony of German South West Africa , but above all by the associated Nama uprising . The Nama were called “ Hottentots ” - a derogatory expression even then. The ongoing and costly colonial war led to a political crisis in Germany after the German government had asked the Reichstag on August 2, 1906 for a supplementary budget of 29 million marks for the war in German South West Africa . Above all, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) refused to agree to further funds in the face of ruthless warfare with numerous victims among the estimated 20,000 Nama. At first the Reich leadership tried to resolve the conflict through a certain concession. The center delegate Matthias Erzberger in particular sharply criticized the extensive expenditure and argued against the colonial wars. This led to the fact that the center parliamentary group also rejected the supplementary budget, sometimes against its will. In contrast, conservatives and national liberals vehemently advocated the continuation of the colonial war. The vote on December 13th resulted in a narrow majority of 177 to 168 against the supplementary budget.
On the same day, Reich Chancellor Bernhard Fürst von Bülow had the Reichstag dissolved by order of Wilhelm II - who also supported this step in terms of content. One reason for the dissolution in view of a not very important factual issue was that not only among the emperor but also in large parts of the bureaucracy the reservations about the previous strong position of the center had grown. Bülow, who did not share this position and would have gladly continued to rely on the center, gave in. He hoped to restore his battered position of confidence with the Kaiser by attempting to establish a new political majority in government. According to the state of affairs, only a re- launch of the cooperation with the former cartel parties consisting of conservatives and national liberals, extended to include the left-wing liberals, was considered. After Eugen Richter's death the previous year, the left-wing liberals had long been ready to support the government. This alliance actually came about and is commonly referred to as the Bülow Block . Not least through mediation by the government, electoral agreements were made between the parties involved for the runoff elections that have now become common.
In the run-up to the upcoming elections, it was above all the government itself that, with its propagation of a reliable majority in "national issues" and the fight against social democracy, which was fought as an enemy of the monarchy, religion and property, and against the national unreliable Center Party set the tone. The aim was to unite the cartel parties and the left-wing liberals into a nationally minded, anti-socialist and anti-clerical bloc. This was supported by a newly founded Reich Association against Social Democracy .
Election result
The turnout was 84.7%. It was the highest of all Reichstag elections up to that point in time. Only in the following Reichstag election in 1912 was there roughly the same turnout.
The SPD was able to gain another quarter of a million votes compared to 1903 and remained the strongest party by a margin of 10% in terms of votes, even if it suffered percentage losses due to the high voter turnout. The run-off agreements between the bloc parties also had a negative impact on social democracy. Despite the high proportion of votes, it only got 43 mandates - compared to 81 as in 1903. The center was able to win mandates (105 instead of 100 previously). A small number of the parties in the bloc won additional seats, not least because they no longer competed with one another due to the election agreements. The two conservative parties were able to increase the number of their seats from 75 to 84. The gains of the National Liberals were even lower, with 54 seats in parliament instead of 51. The gains made by the left-wing liberals were particularly clear. They were able to improve from 36 to 49 mandates. Overall, the bloc, including some small parties and non-attached MPs, got 220 out of 397 seats.
Also noteworthy was the good performance of Polish candidates in Upper Silesia , where Polish candidates won 5 of the 12 constituencies. This was in contrast to all elections to the Reichstag from 1871 to 1898, where Polish candidates were never able to win a mandate despite the predominantly Polish-speaking population. This politicization of the Upper Silesian Poles was essentially due to the anti-Polish language and cultural policy of the Prussian government (cf. Wreschen school strike ).
Results
| Political Direction | Parties | Votes | Sit in the Reichstag | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in millions | proportion of | compared to 1903 | absolutely | proportion of | compared to 1903 | ||||
| conservative | German Conservative Party (DKP) | 1.060 | 9.4% | −0.6% | 60 | 15.1% | +6 | ||
| German Reich Party (DRP) | 0.472 | 4.2% | + 0.7% | 24 | 6.0% | +3 | |||
| liberal | Right- | National Liberal Party (NLP) | 1.631 | 14.5% | + 0.6% | 55 | 13.9% | +4 | |
| moderate | Liberal Association (FVg) | 0.359 | 3.2% | + 0.6% | 14th | 3.5% | +5 | ||
| Left- | Liberal People's Party (FVp) | 0.736 | 6.5% | + 0.8% | 28 | 7.1% | +7 | ||
| German People's Party (DtVP) | 0.139 | 1.2% | + 0.2% | 7th | 1.8% | +1 | |||
| Catholics | Center Party | 2.180 | 19.4% | −0.3% | 105 | 26.4% | +5 | ||
| Socialists | Social Democrats (SPD) | 3.259 | 28.9% | −2.8% | 43 | 10.8% | −38 | ||
|
Other and independent |
Regional parties , minorities 1) | 0.651 | 5.8% | −0.1% | 29 | 7.3% | −3 | ||
| Peasant parties / alliances 2) | 0.195 | 1.7% | −0.7% | 9 | 2.3% | +1 | |||
| Anti-Semite parties 3) | 0.353 | 3.1% | + 0.5% | 21st | 5.3% | +10 | |||
| Others | 0.228 | 2.0% | + 0.9% | 2 | 0.5% | −1 | |||
| total | 11.263 | 100% | 397 | 100% | |||||
Notes :
- 1) Seats (with change from 1903): German-Hanoverian Party (DHP) 1 (−5), Poland 20 (+4), Danes 1 (± 0), Alsace-Lorraine 7 (−2)
- 2) Seats (with change from 1903): Bund der Landwirte (BdL) 8 (+4), Bayerischer Bauernbund (BB) 1 (−3)
- 3) Seats (with change from 1903): German Social Party (DSP) 7 (+4), German Reform Party (Ref) 6 (± 0), Christian Social Party (CSP) 3 (+1), other 5 (+5 )
Elected MPs by constituency
In each of the 397 constituencies , a member was elected by absolute majority voting. If no candidate achieved an absolute majority in the first ballot, a runoff election was held between the two best-placed candidates.
Prussia
Bavaria
Saxony
Württemberg
to bathe
| Grand Duchy of Baden | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Constance , Überlingen , Stockach | Friedrich Hug | center | |
| 2 | Donaueschingen , Villingen | Josef Duffner | center | |
| 3 | Waldshut , Säckingen , Neustadt in the Black Forest | Ernst Adolf Birkenmayer | center | |
| 4th | Loerrach , Muellheim | Ernst Blankenhorn | NLP | |
| 5 | Freiburg , Emmendingen | Carl Hauser | center | |
| 6th | Lahr , Wolfach | Constantin Fehrenbach | center | |
| 7th | Offenburg , Kehl | Julius student | center | |
| 8th | Rastatt , Bühl , Baden-Baden | Franz Xaver Lender | center | |
| 9 | Pforzheim , Ettlingen | Emil Eichhorn | SPD | |
| 10 | Karlsruhe , Bruchsal | Adolf Geck | SPD | |
| 11 | Mannheim | Ludwig Frank | SPD | |
| 12 | Heidelberg , Mosbach | Anton Josef Beck | NLP | |
| 13 | Bretten , Sinsheim | Johannes Rupp | BdL | |
| 14th | Tauberbischofsheim , Buchen | Johann Anton tenth | center | |
Hesse
| Grand Duchy of Hesse | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giessen , Grünberg , Nidda | Philipp Koehler | Anti-Semites ( DSP ) | |
| 2 | Friedberg , Büdingen , Vilbel | Waldemar of Oriola | NLP | |
| 3 | Lauterbach , Alsfeld , Schotten | Friedrich Bindewald | Anti-Semites ( Ref ) | |
| 4th | Darmstadt , Gross-Gerau | Arthur Osann | NLP | |
| 5 | Offenbach , Dieburg | Carl Ulrich | SPD | |
| 6th | Erbach , Bensheim , Lindenfels , Neustadt im Odenwald | Wilhelm Haas | NLP | |
| 7th | Worms , Heppenheim , Wimpfen | Cornelius von Heyl zu Herrnsheim | NLP | |
| 8th | Bingen , Alzey | Philipp Keller | BdL | |
| 9 | Mainz , Oppenheim | Eduard David | SPD | |
Small states
Alsace-Lorraine
| Reichsland Alsace-Lorraine | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Altkirch , Thann | Eugene Ricklin | Alsace-Lorraine | |
| 2 | Mulhouse | Leopold Emmel | SPD | |
| 3 | Kolmar | Jacques Preiss | Alsace-Lorraine | |
| 4th | Gebweiler | Karl Hauss | center | |
| 5 | Rappoltsweiler | Emile Wetterlé | Alsace-Lorraine | |
| 6th | Schlettstadt | Leo Vonderscheer | center | |
| 7th | Molsheim , Erstein | Nicolaus Delsor | Alsace-Lorraine | |
| 8th | Strasbourg city | Bernhard Böhle | SPD | |
| 9 | Strasbourg country | Dionysius Will | center | |
| 10 | Hagenau , Weissenburg | Heinrich Wiltberger | Alsace-Lorraine | |
| 11 | Babble | Johannes Hoeffel | DRP | |
| 12 | Saargemünd , Forbach | Franz Xaver Hoën | center | |
| 13 | Bolchen , Diedenhofen | Charles de Wendel | Alsace-Lorraine | |
| 14th | Metz | Albert Grégoire | Alsace-Lorraine | |
| 15th | Saarburg , Château-Salins | Johann Labroise | Alsace-Lorraine | |
The parliamentary groups of the 12th Reichstag
In the 12th Reichstag, not all members of the parliamentary group joined their actual party. The BdL members Rupp (Bretten), Roesicke (Kaiserslautern) and Hahn (Neuhaus / Oste) joined the German conservative group. The DHP MP from Olenhusen (Göttingen) joined the center group. The German Social and Christian Social Members joined forces with the BdL Members Stauffer (Homburg), Roth (Böblingen), Vogt (Hall) and Vogt (Crailsheim) as well as other right-wing members of the Economic Association . At the beginning of the 12th legislative period, the parliamentary groups had the following strengths:
| center | 105 |
| German Conservatives | 62 |
| National Liberals | 55 |
| Social democrats | 43 |
| Liberal People's Party | 27 |
| German Reich Party | 24 |
| Poland | 20th |
| Economic association | 19th |
| Liberal Association | 14th |
| German People's Party | 7th |
| German reform party | 6th |
| Non-attached | 15th |
In the further course of the legislative period, the strength of the individual parliamentary groups changed several times due to by-elections and changes in parliamentary groups.
History of the 12th Reichstag 1907 to 1911
The supplementary budget was approved soon after the election. Reich Chancellor von Bülow was severely damaged by the Daily Telegraph affair in 1908 and finally had to resign in 1909 when the Bülow bloc broke up in the face of the great Reich financial reform: the German conservatives , together with the center, prevented the new inheritance tax law . Bülow's successor was Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg .
The three left-liberal parties ( German People's Party , German Liberal Party and Liberal Association ) formed a common parliamentary group from 1908 onwards. This and their affiliation to the Bülow Block took a circle around Theodor Barth as an opportunity to resign and to form the unsuccessful Democratic Association . After the end of the Bülow bloc, the three parties named finally joined forces in 1910 to form the Progressive People's Party , which opened up to social democracy.
See also
literature
- Imperial Statistical Office (Ed.): Statistics of the Reichstag elections of 1907. First part: Comparative overview of the Reichstag elections of 1903 and 1907 based on the reports of the election commissioners . Verlag von Puttkammer and Mühlbrecht, Berlin 1907 (= special publication for the quarterly journal on statistics of the German Reich)
- Bureau des Reichstag (ed.): Reichstag manual 12th legislative period . Berlin 1907.
- Gerd Harder : The Reichstag election of 1907 in its significance for the German imperial history. An investigation with special consideration of the colonial problems . Thesis, Kiel 1975 (mach.), 154 pp.
- Bernd Haunfelder : Member of the Reichstag of the German Center Party 1871–1933. Biographical handbook and historical photographs (= photo documents on the history of parliamentarism and political parties. Volume 4). Droste, Düsseldorf 1999, ISBN 3-7700-5223-4 .
- Bernd Haunfelder: The Liberal Members of the German Reichstag 1871-1918. A biographical manual . Aschendorff, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-402-06614-9 .
- Bernd Haunfelder: The conservative members of the German Reichstag from 1871 to 1918. A biographical handbook . Aschendorff, Münster 2009, ISBN 978-3-402-12829-9 , 336 pp.
- Thomas Nipperdey : German History 1866-1918 . Volume II: Power State Before Democracy . C. H. Beck, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-406-44038-X (especially the section Der Bülow-Block 1907-1909 , pp. 729ff.).
- Carl-Wilhelm Reibel: Handbook of the Reichstag elections 1890-1918. Alliances, results, candidates (= handbooks on the history of parliamentarism and political parties. Volume 15). Droste, Düsseldorf 2007, ISBN 978-3-7700-5284-4 .
- Gerhard A. Ritter , with the assistance of Merith Niehuss : Wahlgeschichtliches Arbeitsbuch. Materials on the statistics of the Empire 1871–1918 . C. H. Beck, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-406-07610-6 .
- Wilhelm Heinz Schröder : Social Democratic MPs and Reichstag candidates 1898–1918. Biographical-statistical manual (= manuals on the history of parliamentarism and political parties. Volume 2). Droste, Düsseldorf 1986, ISBN 3-7700-5135-1 .
- Frank O. Sobich: "Black beasts, red danger". Racism and Anti-Socialism in the German Empire. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-593-38189-3 ( Campus Research 909).
Web links
- Database of German members of parliament. Bavarian State Library, accessed on October 22, 2009 .
- Reichstag election 1907 with graphics in the LeMO ( DHM and HdG )
- Elections in Germany until 1918
- German history in documents and pictures , there:
- The Reichstag and the "Hottentot election" of 1907 . German Historical Museum
Individual evidence
- ^ Reichstag Handbook 1907. (PDF) Munich Digitization Center, p. 418 , accessed on November 20, 2009 .
.svg){kind=small}