Junker Coup?

Nietzsche

Banned
...errr. That's not within the means of the Junkers. They are merely a collection of very old East-Elbian settlers who work their own land. They are by no means rich(mostly, atleast) and there simply aren't enough of them. The army answers to the King or Kaiser, not the Junkers.
 
Is it possible for a Prussian Junker Military Junta to take power in Prussia?

The II Reich was already a prussian dominated Junker Military Junta... You can increase the militaristic power if you build a giant Militaro-Industrial Complex controlled by the officers and their families, something as today China when the PLA had until recently huge commercial interests even in non military sectors of economy : real estate, farming...
 
In Prussia at least, the Junkers (I mean the general nobility, not just the East-Elbian settlers) basically did control the government for the majority of the time. An example of that being the three class voting franchise. For there to be a Junker coup, I'm guessing they'd have to lose their control over the government first.
 
In Prussia at least, the Junkers (I mean the general nobility, not just the East-Elbian settlers) basically did control the government for the majority of the time. An example of that being the three class voting franchise. For there to be a Junker coup, I'm guessing they'd have to lose their control over the government first.

The three-class-voting only worked for the nobility in the places, where their top-spot in society was uncontested, i.e. in VERY rural and backward places which are generally now part of Poland. Everywhere else, the bourgeoisie profited from it because they payed a whole lot more taxes than an old conservative Von Soundso who pushes a few peasants across his fields.

To make things clear: there is an anecdote that in a certain well-off district of Berlin where a lot of politicians lived, they actually all had to vote in the 3rd class because not only the first, but also the second class fell to an extremely rich sausage-millionaire...

Then, the Junker would never be in a position where it is theirs to rebel against the King (of Prussia who from '71 onwards happens to be the same guy as the German Emperor). They could try to exert influence in certain questions when a king's position might become untenable and another option a possibility to them. But generally, they were OK with what the Hohenzollern provided. They could support a putch to preserve the monarchy, e.g. if Socialism looms around the corner. But - you couldn't call that a Junker's coup because so many more interest groups would be involved. Again, the bourgeouisie, the armed forces (which could for a long time be associated with the Junker-class, but less and less so with time) etc.

In the vein of supporting the King one could say that a Junkers' coup happened in 1862 when Bismarck was presented to a King who was at the verge of abdicating due to Parliament not financing an army-reform as "a guy who could solve things". Bismarck sidestepped the Constitution with verve and prevented a more liberal Prussia. D'oh!
 
Well, you could say that Bismarck more or less fronted a Junkers coup when he took over the government of Prussia and found ways around the assembly blocking what he was trying to do

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
The three-class-voting only worked for the nobility in the places, where their top-spot in society was uncontested, i.e. in VERY rural and backward places which are generally now part of Poland.
Err, I meant the East Elbian Junkers, with that at least. Yet again I make a stellar mistake today...

Anyway, someone just popped into my mind as to who could be apart of a putsch in 1862, the Chief of the Military Cabinet, Edwin von Mantuffel. Long story short, he was an influential reactionary at the time, even got into a duel over an article that insulted him and the army reforms. (He won the duel) But as Hörnla said, for a Putsch to happen, it would need support from other groups outside the Junkers, the military would be a good starting point.
 
The Junkers overthrowing the Prussian monarchy is like high-finance etc. destroying the Republican Party.
 
And Bismarck was a junker himself.

Exactly. That's why his coming to power is the closest to a Junker coup possible. Although, one has to say, in the 28 years of his tenure, he came at odds with the Ostelbien-Junkers' convictions now and then. But not fundamentally.
 
Pre-1900 you can't really have a Junker coup as in the wider sense (i.e. the military aristocracy of Prussia) they are running the show already and in the narrower sense (Just the East-Elbian Junkers) they aren't powerful or numerous enough. 1900-1914 its possible to imagine a coup against the SDP to rescue Germany (and the Kaiser) from Socialism but only with the Kaisers co-operation or at least acquiescence.
Post-1918 they didn't really have the power to launch a purely Junker coup though the July plot included an quite a few of them in prominent roles.
 
Top