The German Empire: founding and domestic policy

Bismarck’s government pursued the “Prussianisation” of Germany: Polish-language schools were closed in the eastern lands where Poles lived, and German was imposed in Alsace-Lorraine as well. Measures known as the “Kulturkampf” were taken against the influence of the Catholic Church: a 1872 law transferred the supervision of schools from the church to the state and registration of births, marriages and deaths passed to the state. In 1878 an emergency law against socialists was adopted, effectively banning the Social Democratic Party (it stayed in force 12 years), yet Bismarck also passed laws on insurance against sickness, injury and old age for workers. In 1888 Wilhelm II came to the throne, did not want to share power, and Bismarck resigned in 1890; the emergency law was repealed. The SPD became a mass party, winning 34.8 percent of the vote in 1912. From 1891 Sunday became a day of rest and child labour under 13 was banned; later the working day fell to 9.5 hours. In farming the Junkers used hired labour and mineral fertilisers, and surplus workers moved to towns.