I don't think so (well, technically ITTL there is Frederick Maherero, but he is in the Guards Grenadiers). Anyways, the setup in Ostafrika is that the Schutztruppe Askaris have a large number of white officers and senior NCOs, but they also have black NCOs. Aspiring to be a sergeant is normal for an Askari, becoming an officer is not.
Es Geloybte Aretz - a Germanwank
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I don't think so (well, technically ITTL there is Frederick Maherero, but he is in the Guards Grenadiers). Anyways, the setup in Ostafrika is that the Schutztruppe Askaris have a large number of white officers and senior NCOs, but they also have black NCOs. Aspiring to be a sergeant is normal for an Askari, becoming an officer is not.
AFAIR the recruitment in Sudan was problematic because of the high cost (and IOTL because the British didn't want to supply mercenaries to other colonial powers too much). After 1900, it was mostly done "at home", among friendly tribes mostly from the northern highlands. I'm going on the assumption that the recruitment of Askaris is mostly a local affair. They were often quite professional - a lot of British Askaris IOTL served with the Germans after they were dismissed in the reduction of the KAR, and a number of German Askaris joined the British after the defeats of 1915.
Fantastic time line.
I especially enjoy the fact that you take your time, instead of cropping several centuries worth of history into a dozen or so pages you take your time and above all, deliver elaborate writing of substantial quality in the process.
Thumbs up.
(EDIT: And to add to that, I am saying this as someone who is generally fiercely opposed to wank TLs, but so far I am enjoying every moment of it)
I especially enjoy the fact that you take your time, instead of cropping several centuries worth of history into a dozen or so pages you take your time and above all, deliver elaborate writing of substantial quality in the process.
Thumbs up.
(EDIT: And to add to that, I am saying this as someone who is generally fiercely opposed to wank TLs, but so far I am enjoying every moment of it
)Nothing on earth is more powerful than a bad idea whose time has come.
Faeelin
Banned
Why is this a bad idea? The land colleges were incredibly useful in helping America develop.
It is a brilliant idea that will turn Germany into an industrial powerhouse unrivalled anywhere, lay the groundwork for the German equivalent oif the GI Bill, and produce decades of economic boom. Alongside some very nasty things that the 1960s will have to deal with (along with the usual problems with eugenics laws, a planned economy will only take you so far, especially if it is one effectively run by trusts). But right here, right now, it is going to massively alienate the conservative bloc and the bureaucracy in return for the full support of all twenty-five guys who have also read H.G. Wells.
Faeelin
Banned
I'm trying to figure out who would support this. I don't think it's just Well's the American progressive movement would love this idea, if we didn't already have it.
The Liberals, Zentrums, and Socialists might love it if it didn't piss off everyone. He's gonna have to go to the people with this and half of them won't understand it at first. The Communists and Conservatives will hate it... He's going to have to pull a 'State of the Empire' speech on them. Which wouldn't be a half bad idea for Wilhelm now that I think about it... The radio and newspapers would eat it up.
The main problem with this is that there are very few people who will buy it wholesale. As a vision of the future, it will actually sound appealing to pretty much the entire left spectrum. There is something for everyone to dislike, though.
The Liberals will buy intzo most of it. Some will object to the high levels of economic regulation Wilhelm has in mind, but that's fairly trivial. The problem with them is that they are already a firm support of the emperor, and inconsequential in terms of numbers.
Zentrum will dislike the idea of a nonconfessiopnal, modernist education quite thoroughly. They are not as ultramontane as they used to be, but they will want concessions on that. These are the days of the Syllabus Errorum, after all.
The Social Democrats will love the idea, though they have their own ideas how to run that brave new world. Wilhelm will need to base himself on their support to make it happen, and that has a price.
The ethnic parties are going to be split, but the vote vof the Poles can be had in exchange for other concessions, and they are the most important bloc.
The Christian Social Movement will spit fire and brimstone over the idea and call it Jewish.
The more active Conservative press will call on patriots to burn technical colleges and cleanse society of their professors. The party will be content with lamenting the evil influence of certain not very German elements (cough, cough) the emperor has fallen under.
In the end (and this is mostly going to be a postwar development), the initiative will result in a framework for technical colleges that are subordinate to real universities, but can be attended more cheaply or, for gifted students, free. They will work in concert with the army and navy to integrate and improve artificer and technical-branch officer training with their curricula, so that men who had that training in their service can count it towards their credit. And they will have the option of outside scholarships, which the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Stiftung and the military, but also the Social Democratic party and the Genossenschaften will provide in quantity.
In the meantime, it will start a polarising fight over the vision of Germany's future. Wilhelm is a clever politician, but not (yet) a good one. He lives by the old German centrist assumption that there is such a thing as objectively good for the country, and if you can produce that, surely nobody could possibly object.
The Liberals will buy intzo most of it. Some will object to the high levels of economic regulation Wilhelm has in mind, but that's fairly trivial. The problem with them is that they are already a firm support of the emperor, and inconsequential in terms of numbers.
Zentrum will dislike the idea of a nonconfessiopnal, modernist education quite thoroughly. They are not as ultramontane as they used to be, but they will want concessions on that. These are the days of the Syllabus Errorum, after all.
The Social Democrats will love the idea, though they have their own ideas how to run that brave new world. Wilhelm will need to base himself on their support to make it happen, and that has a price.
The ethnic parties are going to be split, but the vote vof the Poles can be had in exchange for other concessions, and they are the most important bloc.
The Christian Social Movement will spit fire and brimstone over the idea and call it Jewish.
The more active Conservative press will call on patriots to burn technical colleges and cleanse society of their professors. The party will be content with lamenting the evil influence of certain not very German elements (cough, cough) the emperor has fallen under.
In the end (and this is mostly going to be a postwar development), the initiative will result in a framework for technical colleges that are subordinate to real universities, but can be attended more cheaply or, for gifted students, free. They will work in concert with the army and navy to integrate and improve artificer and technical-branch officer training with their curricula, so that men who had that training in their service can count it towards their credit. And they will have the option of outside scholarships, which the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Stiftung and the military, but also the Social Democratic party and the Genossenschaften will provide in quantity.
In the meantime, it will start a polarising fight over the vision of Germany's future. Wilhelm is a clever politician, but not (yet) a good one. He lives by the old German centrist assumption that there is such a thing as objectively good for the country, and if you can produce that, surely nobody could possibly object.
Why should they? Wilhelm doesn't invent technical colleges here - they were around for decades and in many European countries, and I think by the time it already was established that the German ones contributed greatly to the rise of Germany. Founding more technical colleges wouldn't alienate the conservatives.
If you want to alienate the conservatives, you have to make technical colleges to full-blown universities. But that's not necessary.
It'as not the technical colleges as such, it is the fact that he is aiming to expand their reach. The conservative party was dominated by the traditional upper classes to such an extent that they openly fought for minimising upward mobility in every walk of life. The idea of a technical college is not a problem, but a technical college that a) is open to students from the working classes and b) allows them to compete for jobs with the sons of privilege is bad enough. But the larger picture also plays a part. The Prussian conservatives are largely agrarian interests, the last thing they want is more weight and influence for the Stinnes-Rathenau gang. It's somewhat like the Republicans hating Obamacare because of the Obama part, not the care part. They object to meritocracy on principle and to technology on gut suspicion. THeir coiuntry ios changing under their feet and they are scared and angry, and unlike OTL Wilhelm, who was taking their side in public, their emperor is holding on to the rail going "wheee!" for the ride.
The DKP is on the losing side of history, but it's going to get ugly.
Didn´t some of that already happen?
Just as one example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RWTH_Aachen_University#History
Technical universities are already existing since 1880. And several of the "older" universities too have science departments (physics, biology, medicine for example) that might get some money too.
(Archeology was also pretty popular at least since Schliemann.)
The Kaiser Wilhelm society with its institutes for basic research were founded in our TL in 1911.
Strengthening the German scientific lead here will get wide support except maybe from Prussian conservatives?
Just mention Ernst Abbe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Abbe
The "governing along scientific lines" is a bit more frightening. But it´s a goal right now. The money is real.
And political realities probably will stop quite a bit of that "scientific governing".
Didn´t some of that already happen?
Just as one example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RWTH_Aachen_University#History
Technical universities are already existing since 1880. And several of the "older" universities too have science departments (physics, biology, medicine for example) that might get some money too.
(Archeology was also pretty popular at least since Schliemann.)
The Kaiser Wilhelm society with its institutes for basic research were founded in our TL in 1911.
Strengthening the German scientific lead here will get wide support except maybe from Prussian conservatives?
Just mention Ernst Abbe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Abbe
The "governing along scientific lines" is a bit more frightening. But it´s a goal right now. The money is real.
And political realities probably will stop quite a bit of that "scientific governing".
Good point, but the problem here really is not the idea of polytechnika as such (thanks for the detail, BTW. I knew they existed, but not exactly where). The thing that is going to be the problem is the "bringing scientific education to the masses and scientific thinking into government" thing. The big picture includes a lot of tecvhnical colleges with scholarship programmes, things like civil service reform (no longer requiring a law degree, introducing a class of Fachbeamte to rank alongside the traditional lawyer in the höherer Dienst), scientific education in schools, and a much higher status in the military for the technical branches and in the navy for engineer officers. If you're a Junker, it's going to look like a concerted attack on everything you stand for. Except for the eugenics laws, these are universally uncontroversial.
OK, now I got you. You could add the right to gain PhDs for engineers and the like and explicitly allow that one could study in these polytechnika without knowing Latin or Greek or even without Abitur but with a decent technical education in a firm.
However, even if I can clearly see opposition to that, I think you overestimate it. For the average Junker, a doctor of engineering from a Polytechnikum that comes from a working class background will not be seen as a threat: He's working in the industries (low status) for wages (low status) wasn't in the military (low status). Only with time passing by the Junkers will realize that their individual view of the world differs from reality: the technical elites will become more and more powerful, I just don't think the old elites already realize the extent of that demographic change. After all, it's bad enough if someone goes to university who doesn't know Latin or Greek. But then he's only from a polytechnikum and working for a private company and not in an "important" profession. Who cares for those people and their poor education...
Technical Universities existing in 1906 (our TL)
Kingdom of Prussia:
TH Berlin (in Berlin-Charlottenburg)
TH Hannover
TH Aachen
TH Danzig
TH Breslau (just being created, teaching started in 1910)
Kingdom of Saxony:
TH Dresden
(Bergakademie Freiberg ranked as a Technical university in 1899)
Kingdom of Bavaria:
TH Munich
Kingdom of Wuerttemberg:
TH Stuttgart
Grand Duchy of Badenia:
TH Karlsruhe
Grand Duchy of Hesse:
TH Darmstadt
Duchy of Brunsvick, Lippe and Waldeck:
TH Braunschweig
That´s 10 (11 or 12) Technical universities compared to 22 "traditional" universities existing.
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A sample of existing Engineer (applied sciences) schools (state owned unless otherwise mentioned):
Rhenish Technical school Bingen (1897)
Bergschule (mining engineer?) Eisleben (1798)
Bergakademie (mining academy) Freiberg (1765)
Engineer school for civil engineering Gotha (1805)
Balthasar-Neumann-Polytechnica Schweinfurt (1850)
Royal Bavarian Technical school Nuremberg (1907) evolved out of the Polytechnica Nuremberg from 1833
Engineer school Giessen (1838)
Engineer school Konstanz (1906)
Engineer school Furtwangen (1850)
Engineer school for civil engineering Holzminden (1830)
Technical school Strelitz (1890), privately owned
Engineer academy Wismar (1908)
Technical school of the Free Hanse town of Bremen (1894)
Civil engineering school Munich (1909) evolved out of the Munich "Baugewerbeschule" from 1822
Thuringian technical school Ilmenau (1894), privately owned
As I said this is just a sample. I found 2 additional ones in Frankfurt/Main. And I didn´t even look at the Ruhr region, Berlin, Hamburg and so on. I suspect the actual number is a lot higher.
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Since 1892 there also exist evening schools for metal working workers. To teach these workers theoretical knowledge (added to their already existing practical knowledge). At first without exams. Over time they developed into evening "machine building (Maschinenbau)" schools with an education over several semesters with exams and certificates.
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So the infrastructure seems to exist already. Enlargement of the schools and more scholarships shouldn´t be that much of a problem.
Of course the Emperor is only King of Prussia. He can´t interfere in the education systems of the other German states.
Reform of the civil service and a higher status for the technical branches in the military might be more of a problem, I agree here.
Not necessarily for federal (Imperial) civil servant positions and the Imperial navy. Here the Reichstag could help, with conservatives only having around 20% of the seats.
It´s more difficult in the Kingdom of Prussia and the Prussian army. Due to the three class franchise election system conservatives have almost 50% of the seats in the Prussian lower house ("Abgeordnetenhaus"). The Emperor would need the support of every other party.
The upper house ("Herrenhaus") might be even more difficult. Clear conservative majority. Of course the Emperor as King of Prussia does have the right to appoint additional members to this chamber.....
And his approval is needed for any elected member to take his seat in the "Herrenhaus".
More scientific education in schools?
There is already a differentiation in Prussia (last changed 1900).
-The traditional old-language "Gymnasium" (secondary school?) with Latin and Greek teaching that allows you to study at a university and
- the modern-language "Realgymnasium" (secondary school?) teaching modern languages that allows you to study at a university and
- the "Oberrealschule" (secondary school?) focussing on mathematics and sciences that allows you to study at a university (except theology)
If his foundation showers "Oberrealschulen" with money nobody could do anything about it.
He might approach too the already existing private science clubs / associations and the VDI (association of German engineers). To organize outside pressure.
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See my post below yours.
- The right to bestow PhDs was given to Technical universities already in 1898.
- Secondary schools that allow you to study at a university without knowing Latin or Greek already exist. "Oberrealschulen" since 1882. At first you were only allowed to study mathematics, natural sciences and technical subjects. In 1900 they were allowed to study everything except theology (where you need Latin and Greek).
- You don´t need "Abitur" to attend one of the numerous engineer / applied sciences schools.
Wilhelm III is quite the visionary, impressive.
The Kaiser's Speech would be of limited value here as there's no radio yet - wireless communication is still in the developmental stage.
The Kaiser's Speech would be of limited value here as there's no radio yet - wireless communication is still in the developmental stage.
Oh. That is a lot more educational indfrastructure than i had found. In that case I think a scholarship programme andf research facilities is more realistic. Thanks, I'll retcon that.
School education is not quite as far ITTL than IOTL. Wilhelm II was a great advocate of school reform, but Albert, while himself also in support, felt his caretaker role did not allow him to lean that far out of the window. But the basics are largely as per IOTL.
What I am aiming for is the increasing disappointment of the rural conservatives, something that Bismarck was at least as afraid of as he was of a Franco-Russian alliance. Wilhelm III is a Kennedyesque figure to German politics, someone who carries a vast weight of expectation and the adulation of millions simply for being "fresh". Albert gets very little credit for his rule, but every political party to some extent, the conservatives to a great one, told themselves that things would be all right once they had a proper emperor again, who would surely see things their way. The conservatives are learning now that they have an emperor who reflexively opposes everything they stand for. The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Stiftung is nowhere near as big an issue as Wilhelm's continued opposition to higher tariffs on food, the canal building projects, or the successive army enlargements. But it will be an opportunity for Wilhelm to lay out clearly that his vision of Germany is nothing like theirs. The reaction of the völkisch-conservative bloc is not going to be nice, quiet, or rational. If you look at the period, you can see that the only thing that stopped these groups from being the terror of governments was their continued appeasement. Socialists were choirboys by comparison.
School education is not quite as far ITTL than IOTL. Wilhelm II was a great advocate of school reform, but Albert, while himself also in support, felt his caretaker role did not allow him to lean that far out of the window. But the basics are largely as per IOTL.
What I am aiming for is the increasing disappointment of the rural conservatives, something that Bismarck was at least as afraid of as he was of a Franco-Russian alliance. Wilhelm III is a Kennedyesque figure to German politics, someone who carries a vast weight of expectation and the adulation of millions simply for being "fresh". Albert gets very little credit for his rule, but every political party to some extent, the conservatives to a great one, told themselves that things would be all right once they had a proper emperor again, who would surely see things their way. The conservatives are learning now that they have an emperor who reflexively opposes everything they stand for. The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Stiftung is nowhere near as big an issue as Wilhelm's continued opposition to higher tariffs on food, the canal building projects, or the successive army enlargements. But it will be an opportunity for Wilhelm to lay out clearly that his vision of Germany is nothing like theirs. The reaction of the völkisch-conservative bloc is not going to be nice, quiet, or rational. If you look at the period, you can see that the only thing that stopped these groups from being the terror of governments was their continued appeasement. Socialists were choirboys by comparison.
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