The Golden Noughties
1903-1909
The period from the middle through to the late 1900s was a Golden Age for Germany. As the maligned nation rose once more to become a centre of world culture, witnessed a booming economy – growing faster than all other major industrialised economies with the exception of those of the Communist states and Japan, as the threat of Communist revolution internally and internationally subsided the Republic flourished. These years saw German prestige continue to rise internationally, just as social peace at home finally appeared within reach.
The election of 1903 had left the DNVP noticeably stronger within the ruling coalition whose majority had fallen noticeably. Pressurised by the DNVP, the German government intervened in Lithuania when a workers’ rising, the last major working class rebellion of the immediate post-war period in Europe, saw both Kaunas and Vilnius fall out of government control. The response of the Germans to the request of the Lithuanian government for assistance in the form of arms was the full blown invasion of the country from July-October 1903. Unsurprisingly, the rising was quickly crushed and the Lithuanian government restored – however, the government was forced into allowing for a referendum in Memelland over its future statehood. With a German speaking majority, and the presence of a German army of occupation the territory, Memel voted overwhelmingly for reunification with Germany. Shortly after the conclusion of events in Lithuania, Germany and Britain formalised their alliance – securing the Republic from any realistic threat from her continental enemies.
The glean of international successes – which were added to by the further development of German influence in the Baltic with the creation of ties with Latvia and Estonia – did not last long. Quickly the DNVP and their Liberal allies came into conflict over economic and political issues. After 1903 the DNVP had conceded to the DDP the opening up of the economy through the abandonment of state subsidies for industry and the creation of substantial tax advantages for entrepreneurs. The results of these policies were underwhelming to say the least. Through 1903 Germany experienced negative annual growth in industrial output for only the third time since the formation of the North German Federation. Old Prussia was hit particularly hard with unemployment rising to 10-20% across Pomerania, East and West Prussia, Silesia and the Brandenburg region whilst parts of the Rhineland also suffered. Although growth returned in 1904, the results were not nearly spectacular enough to convince the doubters and unemployment remained high.
Tensions were further enraged by the ominous approach of the Presidential election of 1905 in which the Reichstag was due to elect its second President. The DNVP called for all governing parties to rally around the Austrian born General and Great War hero Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, who stood on a platform of substantial constitutional reform – particularly to the office of President. Believing Hötzendorf to be little more than a disguised agent of DNVP power, Richter rejected the idea of supporting his candidacy and instead put forward leading DDP member Friedrich Naumann as a potential President – even offering to step aside as Chancellor and retire should Naumann receive the backing of all governing parties.
In the resulting election neither Naumann, nor the Communist candidate Clara Zetkin came close to challenging the two frontrunners. In the second round of voting, following the elimination of Naumann and Zetkin from the ballot, FVP leader Adam Stegerwald secured victorious thanks to the formation of an alliance with the DDP leadership. Richter’s bargaining position was far, far weaker than just two years before. With their own economic positions appearing widely discredited and the DNVP pushing hard for the advance of its demands for constitutional change the Liberals’ relationship with the right was badly damaged. Although promised an iron grip over the foreign ministry, and the continuation of Eugen Richter’s hold over the Chancellery the DDP was forced to concede to its new left wing allies a social programme and the abandonment of laissez faire economic policies and state subsidies and support for industrial investment were renewed alongside reduced taxation on the poor and dramatic tax rises for the rich.
The new government, consisting primarily of FVP, DDP and SPD ministers with the backing of the DZP as well would pass through a series of reforms during its first year in office. At a time when unemployment remained high on large parts of the country, subsidies were increased significantly whilst state pension provisions were also enhanced. Beyond this new legislation was also passed to tighten central control over the currency whilst tremendous sums were invested in industry.
In the following years the German economy would celebrate its highest growth rate since before the unification with Austria in 1887 and see the first green shoots of modern industry as Germany became the world leader in advanced electronics and telecommunications – Brandenburg and the Ruhr being the heartlands of the new industries.
Politically, the declining threat of Communist revolution made the Weimar Republic appear far more secure. Many Communists internationally had feared that the period of revolutionary upheaval had ended long before the crushing of the Lithuanian rising by German troops in 1903, after that date continued belief in immediate revolution – at least in Europe – appeared fantastical. With this in mind, from around 1904 the KPD began to shift itself away from insurrectionary ends towards the consolidation and expansion of the party – largely through industrial action. Internationally, the new Communist policies allowed a spectacular agreement between France and Scandinavia in which each promised to go to war should the other be attacked by Germany.
If anything, the pact between the French and Scandinavians was only another of several signs of Germany’s renewed standing internationally. In the years after the Great War Germany had come to dominate much of Central and Eastern Europe – during the Noughties the Republic attempted to boldly expand this influence. The primary target for German advances was the Ottoman Empire – a direct challenge to the hegemony the Italians had enjoyed in South-East Europe since the Great War and the Russian Revolution. Agreeing to provide funds and supervision for the construction of a railway that would link Berlin and Baghdad via Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade and Istanbul the Germans enraged the Italians and won considerable support in the Sultan’s court. Elsewhere, the Russians began to challenge German domination of Eastern Europe in the latter years of the decade – even supporting an anti-German pro-Russian coup in Ruthenia that saw the country’s treaties with Germany torn up.
In the years after the Great War Germany had been home to dozens of groups to the right of the DNVP whose politics were more radically anti-democratic, anti-liberal, anti-Marxist, anti-Semitic and anti-systemic. These groups had rallied large parts of the German population against the Revolution in 1897 and had continued to clash with Communist, Social Democratic and Populist groups amongst others on the streets of Germany’s cities for years after. However, the Noughties had witnessed a decline in the power of these groups as their street thug tactics became ever less appealing and relevant to the political situation, yet at the same time dissatisfaction on the right with the perceived moderation and ineffectiveness of the DNVP (entering government from 1901-1905 and failing to prevent the rise of the left to power) was growing amongst parts of its right wing base. It was in this atmosphere that several small groups merged to form the German Workers’ Party in 1907 under the leadership of the influential, if slightly bizarre, Dietrich Eckart with a view to compete in the upcoming elections on a radical platform.