Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2010
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35 Ibid. p. 221, doc. 95.
36 Ibid. pp. 237f, doc. 96; pp. 243f doc. 101; pp. 253f., doc. no; p. 332, doc. 165.
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77 The Army League in south west Germany had links with the Volunteer Youth Army; the German League against the Abuse of Intoxicating Drinks; the German League for the Combatting of Women's Emancipation; the League against Social Democracy and the General German Language Association - as well as, improbably but revealingly, the Württemberg Association for Breeding Pedigree Hunting Dogs: ibid. pp. 55–8, 65.
78 Ibid. pp. 76–104. Coetzee's attempt to derive a more exact sociological profile of the League from the rolls it kept of members killed in the war gives a similar picture: 29·4% were career soldiers; 16·2% civil servants; ii·4% academics or teachers; 7·7% businessmen; 8·9% other professions; and only 6·5% were clerical employees (pp. 90f). Unfortunately, there are methodological difficulties with these figures, since they naturally over-represent the young; whereas another sample of 195 pre-war members reveals that 90% were over 40. One point which Coetzee could perhaps have made more of is the League's origin and popularity in non-Prussian Germany. Was this a self-conscious effort to ‘germanicise’ the traditionally Prussian army?
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136 Figures From Kroboth, , Finanzpolitik, pp. 489fGoogle Scholar. Cf. Stuebel, H., Das Verhältnis zwischen Staal und Banken auf dem Gebiet des preussischen Anleihewesens von 1871 bis 1313 (Berlin, 1935)Google Scholar.
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139 There remains a profound division between those, like Wehler and Witt, who see the Reichstag's power over finance as extremely limited - part of the Reich's ‘sham constitutionalism’ - and those, notably Rauh, who argue for a gradual process of parliamentarization before 1914: Wehler, German empire, pp. 52–65, 72–83; Witt, P.-C., ‘Innenpolitik und Imperialismus in der Vorgeschichte der Ersten Weltkrieges’, in Holl, K.. and List, G. (eds.), Liberatismus und impenalistischet Stoat (Göttingen, 1975)Google Scholar; Rauh, M., Föderalismus und Parlamentarismus im wilhelminischen Reich (Düsseldorf, 1972); idem. Die Parlamentarisierung dts Deutscken Reichts (Düsseldorf, 1977)Google Scholar.
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142 For the debate on the effectiveness of Sammlungspolitik (which clearly existed as a government strategy), see esp. Stegmann, D., Die Erben Bismarcks, Parttien und Verbände in der Spätphase des wilhelminischem Deutschlands. Sammlungspolitik, 1897–1918 (Cologne, 1970); and the critique byGoogle ScholarEley, G., ‘Sammlungspolitik, social imperialism and the German navy law of 18981, Militärgesckicntliche Mitteilungen, xv (1974), 29–63Google Scholar.
143 Unlike Witt, he was unable to make use of the important archives in what was, at the time he undertook his research, still the GDR.
144 Thus he sees the parliamentary conflicts over financial reform as being between ‘industrial-liberal’ interests and ‘agrarian-conservatives’: , Kroboth, Finanzpolitik, pp. 30f., 105, 250. These are then implicitly equated with the conflicting‘protagonist* of a constitutional modernisation appropriate to the [extent of social] change’and ‘the exponents of the political and social status quo’: ibid. p. 284Google Scholar.
145 For example, it suited the Social Democratsto talk only about Reich finances when stressing the regressive and militaristic character of the German financial system, quietly ignoring the increasingly progressive tax system of the states and communes, around half of the revenues of which were by 1910–13 devoted to‘social’policies (e.g. health and education provision). Between 1907 and 1913, the percentage of total public revenues coming from direct tax rose from 49 to 57%; the percentage of totalpublic expenditure devoted to ‘social’ and educational purposes rose from 133% (1891) to 28%: see Kroboth, Finmnpolitik, pp. 301–5; , Hentschel, Wirtschaft und Wirtschaftspolitik, p. 150; Schremmer, table 95, p. 482Google Scholar.
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147 Kroboth estimates the proportion of total Reich debt incurred by the army, the navy and colonies as 65–3% in 1913–14: ibid. p. 33, II. 116.
148 Calculated from figures in Witt, Finanzpolitik, p. 378.
149 By 1901–5, it had reached over 10%, enough to prompt complaints about the ‘interest-serfdom of the masses for the sake of the state's creditors’: , Kroboth, Finanzpolitik, p. 33Google Scholar.
150 Between 1896 and 1913, the volume of public sector bond issues rose 166%, compared with just 26% for private sector issues; and after 1901, public sector bond issues accounted for, on average, between 45 and 50% of the nominal value of all stock and share issues: , HentschelWirtschaft und Wirtschaftspolitik, p. 144. Among the leading competitors for funds was in fact the Prussian state. Between 1892 and April 1914, the Prussian state debt rose from 6,240 m. M to 10,400 m. M. Thus, by 1913, of the total public debt of 32,843 m. M, the Reich's share was just 15%: cf.Google Scholar, Kroboth, Finanzpolitik, p. 489, Tab. II. Of this total, almost 20% was held by foreign investorsGoogle Scholar.
151 When total issues of 128 billion M of Reich and Prussian bonds in 1909–10 were poorly received on the bourse, many foreign observers concluded with Wermuth that Germany's‘financial armament’did not match its ‘military armament’: ibid. p. 98. When the price of 4% Reich bonds fell below that of 3–5% Italian bonds, there was dismay in the press: ibid. p. 235.
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154 The government succeeded in quashing the second and third resolutions: ibid. pp. 170–81.
155 Ibid. p. 181.
156 Ibid. p. 197.
157 Ibid. p. 214.
158 Ibid. p. 218.
159 Ibid. pp. 272f.
160 Groh, D., ‘“Je eher, desto betser!” Innenpolihsche Faktoren fur die Praventivkriegs. berciuchaft des Deutschen Reiches 1913–14’, in Politischt Vierteljahresschrift (1972):Google Scholar, Wehler, German empire, pp. 192–201Google Scholar.
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162 It was typical that, although the Reichstag raised the yield of the capital gains tax by 18 m. M by making the tax more progressive, it actually increased die total level of expenditure by 22 m. M: , Kroboth, Finanzpolitik, pp. 220–70Google Scholar.
163 Westarp and Heydebrand had been divided about tactics in the DKP; Erzberger's enthusiasm was not shared by all Centre deputies, a number of whom voted against the capital gains tax; there were many in the SPD who objected to voting for any legislation linked to arms spending; while a significant number of National Liberals were unhappy with the introduction of a progressive scale for the Defence Contribution. The BdI, which had initially supported the introduction of a direct tax now feared ‘the beginning of confiscation’: ibid. pp. 272ff.
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166 It is worth noting that the fiscal position of Germany's principal ally, Austria-Hungary, was similar to that of the Reich, only worse: see Wysocki, j., ‘Die osterreichische Finanzpolitik’, in Wandruszka, A. and Urbanitsch, P., Die Habsburgermonarchie 1848–1918, I (Vienna, 1973), 68–104. I would like to thank Dr John Leslie for his comments on this under-researched questionGoogle Scholar.
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168 Die Wehr in 1912, quoted in , Coetzee, Army league, p. 50Google Scholar.
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