Bismarck’s Legacy. A scholarly wag once remarked that a book entitled “The Unification of Germany by Kaiser Wilhelm I” should have been titled “... despite Wilhelm I.” Before his death in March 1888, Wilhelm I himself observed wryly that it was not easy to serve as Kaiser under the reign of a chancellor like Bismarck. For his part, Bismarck was consistent and sincere when he argued that he served at the pleasure of his king (IM38). During the short reign of Kaiser Friedrich III (IM42) in the spring of 1888, relations between Bismarck and the royal palace were severely strained. To the surprise of most insiders, a cordial relationship between chancellor and emperor reemerged when Kaiser Wilhelm II ascended the throne in June 1888. By the end of the “Year of Three Kaisers,” however, storm clouds had already appeared on the horizon, eventually leading to Wilhelm II’s dismissal of Bismarck in March 1890 (D42, IM46). Even before that date, contemporaries had been debating the historical significance and consequences of Bismarck’s long term of office (D40, D41). Where next for Germany?
This debate continued for months and years after Bismarck’s resignation (D43, D44, D45). A Bismarck cult had already assumed immense proportions before the former chancellor’s death in July 1898. Just one year earlier, however, an anonymous political cartoon (IM48) had drawn attention to the way German history under Bismarck had followed convulsive but inconclusive paths toward a new century. This cartoon depicted the same kind of triumphalism we see elsewhere in this volume – over international foes, would-be assassins, and liberal opponents. But it also depicted deep-seated anxieties about where those triumphs might lead in the future.
The German Empire had been forged on the anvil of military victory, monarchism, and the predominance of Prussia. It had developed into an economic power of the first order, able to dominate industrial markets in any number of sectors. It boasted schools, scientific laboratories, an art scene, and electoral freedoms that were the envy of Europe and the world. And the principle of federalism, so powerful in earlier epochs, had not been sacrificed even as the empire’s central political institutions grew in number and importance. Even protection for the rights of Jews seemed secure, or at least as secure as in other parts of Europe. Nevertheless, the question of whether the authoritarian or the modern features of the empire would become more pronounced in the new century remained tantalizingly open. In fact both features persisted and continued to evolve.
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