DBWI: What do you think of the second Bismarck?

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First of all, I must say that Herr Hugenberg is the closest a human being can come to a character of the Tin Tin stories by Hergé.

Well, Alfred von Hugenberg was the german chancellor from 1933 until his death in 1946, and remains a usually positively figure who did some very negative points and also flirted with fascism.

He crushed the NSDAP after refusing a coalition with him as he was appointed Chancellor after the fall of the Schleicher government, most people agree that Germany had a fascist menace and could end like Italy if he didn't that. On the other hand he adopted many aspects of fascism like Salazar did in Portugal, there was the Bismarckjugend, he was a anti semite but was persuaded to not act against the german jewish minority, he held mass rallies and created a cult to his personality

He increased worker's rights and made a extensive labour legislation, while also promoted christian trade unions. On another hand he crushed all socialist and communist trade unions. Interpretations vary as some believe he did that to strengh his power, while others point at the fact that these unions were supportive of the soviet stalininst dictatorship.

His government (not him, but his foreign minister, alltough his followers like to credit him for that) recognized once for all the french rule in Alsace Lorraine, and even signed a trade deal allowing Krupp to build factories there while the Renault built plants on the Rhine, the german flag flies along with the french in Stratsburg even today, on a lower level of course. He also won privileges for the german minorities on Belgium (malmedy), Czechoslovakia (the sudets) and after a victory of a similar party on austria, both countries unified. While he had these success there is the polish question, but I gonna leave this to the end.

After the death of President Hindenburg in 1934 the german monarchy was restored, but contraty to Kaiser Wilhelm III wishes he didn't restored the imperial constitution, he made a new one that kept the ban on the DKP, the NSDAP and a extreme pressure towards the liberals and the social democrats, creating a monopoly of power to the DNVP. He also restore the privileges to the german nobility, something that is polemical even today in Germany since they have to spend part of the budget with a class that either doesn't do anything all day, or that already have large estates and industries and could sustain their own wealth by themselves. After Austria joined Germany the habsburgs were granted local rule, the same for the Wittelsbach in Bavaria.

Apart from the censorship, support for Franco in the spanish civil war, political monopoly and the cult to the personality, Hugenburg main critic comes from the Polish-German war of 1939. He had lost a lot of political capital by normalizing the relations with the west and so he didn't wanted to compromise with the Poles. After failing to receive the corridor back he authorized the German army to make plans for a offensive takeover, the war began on october 11 of 1939 with three spearheads going into Poland, one from the enclave of Prussia, the second from the north and the last from Silesia. This gave Stalin the opportunity he wanted to also attack Poland as the west failed to react, and the country got splitted, with the germans retaking 1914 borders and setting up a puppet kingdom of Poland under the house of Wettin, while the belarussian and ukrainian majority regions were annexed on the soviet SSRs.

For the rest of his government he became more and more isolated internationally with the war with the Poland, combined with his declining health that prevented him from giving his energetic speeches, Von Hugenberg popularity began to suffer more and more, while still popular at the time of his death in 1946 he was far from his glory days of the mid-late 1930s. Since them the monopoly of power of the DNVP was broken up, but anti socialism remains high in germany even today, and while some chancellors tried to emulate Hugenberg they failed to get to the same level of popularity.

So, what do you think of the second Bismarck, guys?
 
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Probably amongst the men who most defined the 20th Century with his policies and goals being mostly successful. The SPD never recovered the government until 1971, 25 years after Hugenberg's death, showing how strong the legacy of Hugenberg was.
 
Hey I always thought abdur Rashid dostum looked like General alcazar !

True, but also Hugenberg seems like a Disney character, look at him for God's sake:
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He's a meme, the moustache, the clothes, even the glasses are so funny :p

Probably amongst the men who most defined the 20th Century with his policies and goals being mostly successful. The SPD never recovered the government until 1971, 25 years after Hugenberg's death, showing how strong the legacy of Hugenberg was.

Yes, but it was also due the blunders of Von Merkatz administration that ruined the DNVP for that year...
 
Have to say, the end of the war with the USSR is probably his most problematic legacy. It involved Germany (through her proxies in the Russian Empire) in a low-intensity conflict with Red and Republican partisans for a decade- I'm reminded, actually, of what the US faced in the Republic of Japan after the execution of Hirohito, though obviously that ended worse for the Americans than the Second RCW did for the Germans.
 
Your thoughts on how Hugenberg's Germany had strong ties with the Kuomintang in China with the Kuomintang's modernization of China being modelled heavily on Germany's system?
 
I admit that the funding of the German nobility is unnecessary but look at all the good that has been done by house Wittelsbachs. They have been using their government money to fund save the baiji ( Chinese river dolphin) foundation. Many zoologists claim that their funding has allowed the survival of this species of dolphin.
 
I admit that the funding of the German nobility is unnecessary but look at all the good that has been done by house Wittelsbachs. They have been using their government money to fund save the baiji ( Chinese river dolphin) foundation. Many zoologists claim that their funding has allowed the survival of this species of dolphin.

The Kaiser wife is also the owner of one of the main charity organizations active today, and Eve tough the pensions for them are high, some part of the money is seen again by their projects. Every crowing of a new Kaiser or a royal marriage brings a lot of profit for the state and the Germans for tourism and commerce.
 
The Wittelsbachs actually don’t even need the pension for themselves they are financially independent because they are own a major pharmaceutical company,35% of Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) and finally a tremendous amount of smaller businesses and land. The Royal house of Württemberg is about the only member of the nobility that is dependent on the government funding,and that’s only because they lost 90% of their wealth in a string of incredibly bad business decisions.
 
Eh, considering there's nonzero evidence he also really enjoyed those anglo-german "experiments" in Namibia after he was able to negotiate mining rights there on local !Xuu land, I'm not too fond.
 
His moniker of "second Bismarck" is a bit overblown - sure, he DID bring political stability to a Germany in sore need of it, and his economic policy was effective, but it wasn't as if he had to contend with another power for the dominance over Germany (re-branding the Reich from the German Empire to the Empire of Germany after Austria joined was a bit of technicality to make sure the Habsburgs were on board, sure). Nor did he feel the need to humiliate France; after all, the Franco-German detente started in his time.
 
Your thoughts on how Hugenberg's Germany had strong ties with the Kuomintang in China with the Kuomintang's modernization of China being modelled heavily on Germany's system?
Well, Sun Yat Sen would be spinning in his grave to know that the Republic he created is still so strongly aligned with the monarchist side of the world instead of the west, but the Germans really were natural allies for the KMT. Plus that alliance drove the Germans into the Great Asia-Pacific War; Rommel's Ostasienkorps at least won the Germans a lot of prestige for its exploits during Operation Downfall.
 
Sounds like a typical 1920 political leaders stuck in the 19th Century. Stereotypical German authoritarian figure.

Just one more thing to add here: His whole regime and ideology are built on 19th century nostalgia, that is why the members of the dnvp on the Reichstag wear that fancy suits and some time a top hat.
 

Deleted member 94680

His moniker of "second Bismarck" is a bit overblown - sure, he DID bring political stability to a Germany in sore need of it, and his economic policy was effective, but it wasn't as if he had to contend with another power for the dominance over Germany

This is the modern revisionist take on Hugenberg’s time in office, for sure. I suppose to all those but students of post-War German history, the threat of the NSDAP (known as “Nazis” in German slang) is greatly underrated. One shudders to think how life would be different if that gang of street thug extremists got into power...


Nor did he feel the need to humiliate France; after all, the Franco-German detente started in his time.

This is the other key achievement of Hugenberg’s office. The Franco-German “thaw” probably did more to localise conflicts in Europe (and their Empires) then any other single foreign policy move in the last 80 years.
 
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