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"He left behind a nation without any political education, much below the level which it had reached twenty years earlier; above all, a nation without any political will, accustomed that a great statesman at the top should manage politics on its behalf. Further it was a nation... accustomed to acquiesce, under the signboard of a 'non-archic government', with fatalism in whatever had been decided for it, without any criticism of the political qualifications of those who now took Bismarck's empty seat, and who took the reins of government into their hands with astonishing informality... The great statesman did not leave behind a political tradition at all. He had asked no independent minds, and particularly no independent characters, to co-operate with him, nor had he even tolerated them... As a purely negative result of his immense prestige, there remained an entirely powerless parliament."

It was the tragedy of Germany, and a calamity for other nations, that parliament remained powerless up through the very end of the Second German Empire.

## The Era of Emperor William II (1890-1914)

Under Emperor William II the relationship between Emperor and Chancellor became the reverse of what it had been under William I. Under the latter, Bismarck had been the autocrat and the Kaiser merely a kind of figurehead. William II, on the other hand, reduced the Chancellor to an almost administrative position. During his reign the rest of the political system hardly changed. William II was neither able nor willing to diminish the aristocratic Prussian influence in the Government and the middle classes represented by the National Liberals ad to console themselves with their growing economic prosperity.

The internal policies of William II hardly differed from those of Bismarck. After a brief period of conciliation, some of the anti-Socialist measures were again enforced and the Conservative policies of Bismarck continued.

The Kaiser's Foreign policy differed radically from the policy of moderation carried out by Bismarck. William II believed that Germany should pursue a "Weltpolitik", that is, she should, by diplomacy or veiled threats of force, acquire territory in all parts of the globe. To carry out this program Emperor William II needed a huge navy. This contributed to bringing England into French camp. The treaty between Germany and Russia was not renewed and in 1893 a French-Russian rapprochment took place. William II's policy, partly motivated by economic pressures, heartily supported by such segments of the population as the Naval League, or the League for Colonial Expansion and begun already under Bismarck by a Colonial program, resulted in the breaking of Europe into two camps; on the one hand England, France and Russia; on the other, Germany and Austria-Hungary. A series of international crises occurred that only tended to increase Germany's isolation and culminated in the outbreak of World War I.

## The Corps Student and the Officer Class.

German politics and administration during this period cannot be properly understood without taking into account the immense prestige enjoyed by two social groups, i.e., Corps student and officers. The idea of the military machine and the code of military "honor" permeated every aspect of the upper and middle classes. In society, the officer took precedence over the civilian. The regular officers, like the officials, were badly paid and needed private means to keep up their position, but they were compensated by the "honor" and "prestige" bestowed on them. It was the anxious desire of most middle class parents that their sons should participate in this prestige by qualifying at least as reserve officers. In connection with this desire, a special certificate was introduced in the secondary schools, the so-called "Einjaehrig-Freiwillige", which was granted after the pupil had

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