Academic literature on the topic 'Germany. Reichskanzler'

In the article the author examines the socio-political development of the German Empire during the reign of Emperor Wilhelm II. The author of the article tries to reveal the complex mechanism of the methods of policy of the imperial chancellor B. von Bulow both in the sphere of foreign and domestic politics. He began his activities in a difficult historical time not only for Germany but also for most of Western Europe. It was the time of Germany’s struggle for world domination. The political leaders of the leading Western European countries were representatives of the new formation, therefore, they had to act with new methods of management of society and not only them. The Reichskanzler B. von Bulow was ready to enact political and social reforms in order to weaken social conflicts and improve society as a whole. The author of the article emphasizes that unlike Western Europe, Germany at the beginning of the twentieth century could not completely free itself from the feudal-absolutist heritage. However, the rapid capitalist-industrial development of the country had an impact on all strata of the society and political institutions of power. At the beginning of the twentieth century in Germany, conservatism crystallized as a consistent ideology coupled with liberal tendencies. A bright representative of this ideology was B. von Bulow. Intelligent, charismatic, he was not against the democratic changes at all, insisting that all kinds of changes in the country be introduced in order to promote the organic development of generally recognized state and social institutions. So they are not in danger. As a leader of the country, he understood well the need to abandon extremes of conservatism, from violent methods, insisting on the combination of conservatism and liberalism, thus creating a bloc of party unity. Therefore, he tried to act in a consistent, active manner. At the beginning of the twentieth century Germany failed to build a stable parliamentary system. The Europeans considered the Germans “behind the facade of democracy”, because the effects of liberalization appeared there only from time to time. The article emphasizes that the liberals were not prepared to consider the radical projects of B. von Bulow, for example, general suffrage, because there were authoritarian traditions of the court, the army, and so German liberalism was weak and could not play a leading political role in the country. Relevance of the topic of study is determined by the historical significance of problems raised in it. Significant political parties, political and economic forces have created a “geopolitical consensus,” leading Germany to a struggle for world domination.

The impact of social media has grown significantly during the past decade in several fields of our society. This article advocates the research subfield of social media memory studies based on empirical data from a case study on the role of social media in a local conflict about re-naming a public square in an average German town. The square had been named after Paul von Hindenburg, who played a crucial role in the implementation of Adolf Hitler as German Reichskanzler and was therefore regarded as an inadequate public patron. Conservatives fought against the new name, also on Facebook. Our findings indicate that the platform played a decisive role as counter-public sphere against hegemonic mainstream media and politics in fostering a new historical consciousness. The case might be seen as a precedent of right-wing movements and their use of social media in the Brexit campaign or the US elections.

On the occasion of the New Year, the Saxon Press has spoken in very optimist language of the state of Europe, as guaranteeing a continuance of peace. The Germans seem to have a belief in the existence of a separate diplomatic faculty, to whose agency they ascribe events due more to the natural evolution of affairs than to the forethought and contrivance of statesmen. Prince Bismarck is credited with the monopoly of this force, with which he regulates at will the European alliances, bringing the continent into an international system controlled by Germany. The feeling that the Reichskanzler has created a German hegemony in Europe, is expressed in the ‘Dresdner Nachrichten’ in some remarks of which the following is the purport.