List of alternate German Chancellors (1871-today)

1. Otto von Bismarck (Conservative Party); 1871-1880
2. Minna Cauer (Liberal Union); 1880-1886
[1]
3. Rudolf von Bennigsen (Liberal Union); 1886-1898
[2]

4. Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (Conservative Party); 1898-1900 [3]
5. Friedrich August von Holstein (Conservative Party); 1900-1903 [4]
6. Eduard Bernstein (Socialist Workers' Party); 1903-1904 [5]

7. August Bebel (Socialist Workers' Party); 1904-1908
8. Rosa Luxemburg (Socialist Workers' Party); 1908-1916 [6]
9. Philipp Scheidemann (Socialist Workers' Party); 1916-1925 [7]
10. Otto Wels (Socialist Workers' Party); 1925-1931 [8]
11. Max Planck (German People's Party); 1931-1935 [9]

[1]
The first decade of the newly formed German empire was dominated by large protests of both industrial workers and Suffragettes. Bismarck seemed unable to cope with the situation and became embittered with politics. After a crisis talk with the Kaiser, he handed in his resignation in a dramatic gesture, arguing that he doesn't want to take responsibility for the decline of Germany in case the Socialist Workers' Party or the womens' movement ever get to power. The Kaiser decided to take the wind out of these movements by making a bourgeois Suffragette chancellor, hoping that she would fail.
[2] Rudolf von Bennigsenm, a Hanoverian politician. In 1877 he was offered the post of vice-chancellor with a seat in the Prussian ministry, but refused it because Bismarck or the king would not agree to his conditions. From this time his relations with the government were less friendly, and in 1878 he brought about the rejection of the first Socialist Bill. He succeeded Minna Cauer not only as the Liberal Union Leader but also Chancellor of Germany, if it was not for the death of Wilhelm I, a few days after him taking office, in 1886, he may have been kicked out but Kaiser Frederick III supported his liberal ideas. The two men were well matched; their shared liberal ideology led them to seek greater representation for commoners in the government.
They both proposed to liberalize the German Empire, with such moves as reforming the office of Chancellor, who was responsible to the Emperor, would be replaced with a British-style cabinet, with ministers responsible to the Reichstag. Government policy would be based on the consensus of the cabinet.
[3] At the age of 29, Rupprecht came to lead the German Conservatives with his charisma and charm. His popularity lead to his victory over von Bennigsen in 1898. However, he proved to be an ineffective leader with little experience and his poor economic policies lead to the near destruction of the German industrialisation and the collapse of the German economy in 1899. Rupprecht was ousted by his party in 1900.
[4] Widely regarded as the "trustee of misery", Rupprecht's former foreign secretary von Holstein was challenged by both the left and the right during his brief leadership. Following the policies of Cauer and Bennigsen, the late Friedrich Engels had revised some of his earlier theories about the nature of the class struggle and advised the Socialist Workers' Party to enter parliamentarian politics alongside progressively-minded bourgeois parties. The party leaders, August Bebel and Eduard Bernstein, quickly made this their main agenda and brought along parliamentary majorities with the Liberal Union on many occassions. On the other side of the spectrum, Heinrich Claß and his German Imperial Party criticised the Conservatives for disregarding armament and essentially betraying German interests in the world. With both these movements gaining strength, the parliamentary elections of 1903 were expected to be highly confrontational.
[5] While history-making in many respects, Bernstein's brief tenure was plagued by internal party squabbling about his Revisionist ideas.
[6] With Babel retiring, young, radical leader Rosa Luxemburg was made Chancellor, making sweeping nationalizations, establishing proportional representation (mostly to benefit her political party), pursuing an isolationist foreign policy, and reducing the power of the monarch to simple figurehead. With a booming economy, she was reelected in 1912 to a majority, but she resigned in 1916 following a scandal in which her government, that heavily defunded and weakened the military, secretly funded and supplied her political party's ruthless paramilitary force, the Spartacus League led by Karl Liebknecht, the Russian Bolsheviks, and the Revolutionary Army of France, a mass movement led by the French Communist Party that eventually formed the world's first revolutionary state, the Socialist Republic of France.
[7] Luxemburg created divisions in the SAP that only an experienced mediator could soothe, and thankfully for the party, they chose the right person, Philipp Schneidemann. Schneidemann managed to win a new majority in 1918. His second and third cabinets (elected in 1918 and 1922 respectively) is known for creating the "German Miracle" in which the German economy reached new highs and inequality seemed to be on the way out. He retired in 1925 an incredibly popular Chancellor. The army in particular admires him for building up the army to deal with the growing danger of Socialist France.
[8] With Schneidemann retiring in 1925, his ally and Vice-Chancellor Otto Wels soon became the Chancellor of Germany. Wels' policies including the establish of universal healthcare, pubic housing of those who couldn't afford basic housing, and a basic income guarantee. With the German Miracle still going incredibly strong, Wels was reelected in landslides in 1926 and 1930, retiring in 1931 incredibly popular, remembered as a champion of the poor and downtrodden.
[9] The "French scare" erupted the day after Wels' retirement and brought down the Government. Planck put together a caretaker Government from across the political spectrum, and won the ensuing election.
 
1. Otto von Bismarck (Conservative Party); 1871-1880
2. Minna Cauer (Liberal Union); 1880-1886
[1]
3. Rudolf von Bennigsen (Liberal Union); 1886-1898
[2]

4. Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (Conservative Party); 1898-1900 [3]
5. Friedrich August von Holstein (Conservative Party); 1900-1903 [4]
6. Eduard Bernstein (Socialist Workers' Party); 1903-1904 [5]

7. August Bebel (Socialist Workers' Party); 1904-1908
8. Rosa Luxemburg (Socialist Workers' Party); 1908-1916 [6]
9. Philipp Scheidemann (Socialist Workers' Party); 1916-1925 [7]
10. Otto Wels (Socialist Workers' Party); 1925-1931 [8]
11. Max Planck (German People's Party); 1931-1935 [9]
12. Rosi Wolfstein (Socialist Workers' Party); 1935-1937 [10]

[1]
The first decade of the newly formed German empire was dominated by large protests of both industrial workers and Suffragettes. Bismarck seemed unable to cope with the situation and became embittered with politics. After a crisis talk with the Kaiser, he handed in his resignation in a dramatic gesture, arguing that he doesn't want to take responsibility for the decline of Germany in case the Socialist Workers' Party or the womens' movement ever get to power. The Kaiser decided to take the wind out of these movements by making a bourgeois Suffragette chancellor, hoping that she would fail.
[2] Rudolf von Bennigsenm, a Hanoverian politician. In 1877 he was offered the post of vice-chancellor with a seat in the Prussian ministry, but refused it because Bismarck or the king would not agree to his conditions. From this time his relations with the government were less friendly, and in 1878 he brought about the rejection of the first Socialist Bill. He succeeded Minna Cauer not only as the Liberal Union Leader but also Chancellor of Germany, if it was not for the death of Wilhelm I, a few days after him taking office, in 1886, he may have been kicked out but Kaiser Frederick III supported his liberal ideas. The two men were well matched; their shared liberal ideology led them to seek greater representation for commoners in the government.
They both proposed to liberalize the German Empire, with such moves as reforming the office of Chancellor, who was responsible to the Emperor, would be replaced with a British-style cabinet, with ministers responsible to the Reichstag. Government policy would be based on the consensus of the cabinet.
[3] At the age of 29, Rupprecht came to lead the German Conservatives with his charisma and charm. His popularity lead to his victory over von Bennigsen in 1898. However, he proved to be an ineffective leader with little experience and his poor economic policies lead to the near destruction of the German industrialisation and the collapse of the German economy in 1899. Rupprecht was ousted by his party in 1900.
[4] Widely regarded as the "trustee of misery", Rupprecht's former foreign secretary von Holstein was challenged by both the left and the right during his brief leadership. Following the policies of Cauer and Bennigsen, the late Friedrich Engels had revised some of his earlier theories about the nature of the class struggle and advised the Socialist Workers' Party to enter parliamentarian politics alongside progressively-minded bourgeois parties. The party leaders, August Bebel and Eduard Bernstein, quickly made this their main agenda and brought along parliamentary majorities with the Liberal Union on many occassions. On the other side of the spectrum, Heinrich Claß and his German Imperial Party criticised the Conservatives for disregarding armament and essentially betraying German interests in the world. With both these movements gaining strength, the parliamentary elections of 1903 were expected to be highly confrontational.
[5] While history-making in many respects, Bernstein's brief tenure was plagued by internal party squabbling about his Revisionist ideas.
[6] With Babel retiring, young, radical leader Rosa Luxemburg was made Chancellor, making sweeping nationalizations, establishing proportional representation (mostly to benefit her political party), pursuing an isolationist foreign policy, and reducing the power of the monarch to simple figurehead. With a booming economy, she was reelected in 1912 to a majority, but she resigned in 1916 following a scandal in which her government, that heavily defunded and weakened the military, secretly funded and supplied her political party's ruthless paramilitary force, the Spartacus League led by Karl Liebknecht, the Russian Bolsheviks, and the Revolutionary Army of France, a mass movement led by the French Communist Party that eventually formed the world's first revolutionary state, the Socialist Republic of France.
[7] Luxemburg created divisions in the SAP that only an experienced mediator could soothe, and thankfully for the party, they chose the right person, Philipp Schneidemann. Schneidemann managed to win a new majority in 1918. His second and third cabinets (elected in 1918 and 1922 respectively) is known for creating the "German Miracle" in which the German economy reached new highs and inequality seemed to be on the way out. He retired in 1925 an incredibly popular Chancellor. The army in particular admires him for building up the army to deal with the growing danger of Socialist France.
[8] With Schneidemann retiring in 1925, his ally and Vice-Chancellor Otto Wels soon became the Chancellor of Germany. Wels' policies including the establish of universal healthcare, pubic housing of those who couldn't afford basic housing, and a basic income guarantee. With the German Miracle still going incredibly strong, Wels was reelected in landslides in 1926 and 1930, retiring in 1931 incredibly popular, remembered as a champion of the poor and downtrodden.
[9] The "French scare" erupted the day after Wels' retirement and brought down the Government. Planck put together a caretaker Government from across the political spectrum, and won the ensuing election.
hawkish Jacques Doriot was replaced by the more moderate Irène Joliot-Curie.
[10] During the four years of the caretaker government, the SAP was once again split on how to counter the ambitions of the hawkish French Leader of the Revolutionary Council, Jacques Doriot. The left-wing under Rosi Wolfstein favoured negotiations or even a formal alliance, whereas a smaller faction led by Carlo Mierendorff sided with the Conservative opposition to use military force, if necessary. Wolfstein managed several deals with France, including the security of Alsace-Lorraine. When France supported a Communist secession in Wallonia, some MPs left the SAP faction in protest. Wolfstein was dropped after a vote of no confidence.
 
1. Otto von Bismarck (Conservative Party); 1871-1880
2. Minna Cauer (Liberal Union); 1880-1886
[1]
3. Rudolf von Bennigsen (Liberal Union); 1886-1898
[2]

4. Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (Conservative Party); 1898-1900 [3]
5. Friedrich August von Holstein (Conservative Party); 1900-1903 [4]
6. Eduard Bernstein (Socialist Workers' Party); 1903-1904 [5]

7. August Bebel (Socialist Workers' Party); 1904-1908
8. Rosa Luxemburg (Socialist Workers' Party); 1908-1916 [6]
9. Philipp Scheidemann (Socialist Workers' Party); 1916-1925 [7]
10. Otto Wels (Socialist Workers' Party); 1925-1931 [8]
11. Max Planck (German People's Party); 1931-1935 [9]
12. Rosi Wolfstein (Socialist Workers' Party); 1935-1937 [10]
13. Carlo Mierndoff (Independent); 1937-1938 [11]

[1]
The first decade of the newly formed German empire was dominated by large protests of both industrial workers and Suffragettes. Bismarck seemed unable to cope with the situation and became embittered with politics. After a crisis talk with the Kaiser, he handed in his resignation in a dramatic gesture, arguing that he doesn't want to take responsibility for the decline of Germany in case the Socialist Workers' Party or the womens' movement ever get to power. The Kaiser decided to take the wind out of these movements by making a bourgeois Suffragette chancellor, hoping that she would fail.
[2] Rudolf von Bennigsenm, a Hanoverian politician. In 1877 he was offered the post of vice-chancellor with a seat in the Prussian ministry, but refused it because Bismarck or the king would not agree to his conditions. From this time his relations with the government were less friendly, and in 1878 he brought about the rejection of the first Socialist Bill. He succeeded Minna Cauer not only as the Liberal Union Leader but also Chancellor of Germany, if it was not for the death of Wilhelm I, a few days after him taking office, in 1886, he may have been kicked out but Kaiser Frederick III supported his liberal ideas. The two men were well matched; their shared liberal ideology led them to seek greater representation for commoners in the government.
They both proposed to liberalize the German Empire, with such moves as reforming the office of Chancellor, who was responsible to the Emperor, would be replaced with a British-style cabinet, with ministers responsible to the Reichstag. Government policy would be based on the consensus of the cabinet.
[3] At the age of 29, Rupprecht came to lead the German Conservatives with his charisma and charm. His popularity lead to his victory over von Bennigsen in 1898. However, he proved to be an ineffective leader with little experience and his poor economic policies lead to the near destruction of the German industrialisation and the collapse of the German economy in 1899. Rupprecht was ousted by his party in 1900.
[4] Widely regarded as the "trustee of misery", Rupprecht's former foreign secretary von Holstein was challenged by both the left and the right during his brief leadership. Following the policies of Cauer and Bennigsen, the late Friedrich Engels had revised some of his earlier theories about the nature of the class struggle and advised the Socialist Workers' Party to enter parliamentarian politics alongside progressively-minded bourgeois parties. The party leaders, August Bebel and Eduard Bernstein, quickly made this their main agenda and brought along parliamentary majorities with the Liberal Union on many occassions. On the other side of the spectrum, Heinrich Claß and his German Imperial Party criticised the Conservatives for disregarding armament and essentially betraying German interests in the world. With both these movements gaining strength, the parliamentary elections of 1903 were expected to be highly confrontational.
[5] While history-making in many respects, Bernstein's brief tenure was plagued by internal party squabbling about his Revisionist ideas.
[6] With Babel retiring, young, radical leader Rosa Luxemburg was made Chancellor, making sweeping nationalizations, establishing proportional representation (mostly to benefit her political party), pursuing an isolationist foreign policy, and reducing the power of the monarch to simple figurehead. With a booming economy, she was reelected in 1912 to a majority, but she resigned in 1916 following a scandal in which her government, that heavily defunded and weakened the military, secretly funded and supplied her political party's ruthless paramilitary force, the Spartacus League led by Karl Liebknecht, the Russian Bolsheviks, and the Revolutionary Army of France, a mass movement led by the French Communist Party that eventually formed the world's first revolutionary state, the Socialist Republic of France.
[7] Luxemburg created divisions in the SAP that only an experienced mediator could soothe, and thankfully for the party, they chose the right person, Philipp Schneidemann. Schneidemann managed to win a new majority in 1918. His second and third cabinets (elected in 1918 and 1922 respectively) is known for creating the "German Miracle" in which the German economy reached new highs and inequality seemed to be on the way out. He retired in 1925 an incredibly popular Chancellor. The army in particular admires him for building up the army to deal with the growing danger of Socialist France.
[8] With Schneidemann retiring in 1925, his ally and Vice-Chancellor Otto Wels soon became the Chancellor of Germany. Wels' policies including the establish of universal healthcare, pubic housing of those who couldn't afford basic housing, and a basic income guarantee. With the German Miracle still going incredibly strong, Wels was reelected in landslides in 1926 and 1930, retiring in 1931 incredibly popular, remembered as a champion of the poor and downtrodden.
[9] The "French scare" erupted the day after Wels' retirement and brought down the Government. Planck put together a caretaker Government from across the political spectrum, and won the ensuing election.
hawkish Jacques Doriot was replaced by the more moderate Irène Joliot-Curie.
[10] During the four years of the caretaker government, the SAP was once again split on how to counter the ambitions of the hawkish French Leader of the Revolutionary Council, Jacques Doriot. The left-wing under Rosi Wolfstein favoured negotiations or even a formal alliance, whereas a smaller faction led by Carlo Mierendorff sided with the Conservative opposition to use military force, if necessary. Wolfstein managed several deals with France, including the security of Alsace-Lorraine. When France supported a Communist secession in Wallonia, some MPs left the SAP faction in protest. Wolfstein was dropped after a vote of no confidence.
[11] Despite elections in which the SAP did quite well, Carlo Mierendorff, formerly a member of the SAP, formed a government supported by the German People's Party and the Conservatives. The government did not last long however, as Mierendorff, outside of an intervention in Wallonia, favored a continuation of the SAP's policies, while the DVP and DKP did not. Mierendorff's government only lasted a year, as new elections where called. Mirendorff died in 1943, forgotten by the German people.
 
1. Otto von Bismarck (Conservative Party); 1871-1880
2. Minna Cauer (Liberal Union); 1880-1886
[1]
3. Rudolf von Bennigsen (Liberal Union); 1886-1898
[2]

4. Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (Conservative Party); 1898-1900 [3]
5. Friedrich August von Holstein (Conservative Party); 1900-1903 [4]
6. Eduard Bernstein (Socialist Workers' Party); 1903-1904 [5]

7. August Bebel (Socialist Workers' Party); 1904-1908
8. Rosa Luxemburg (Socialist Workers' Party); 1908-1916 [6]
9. Philipp Scheidemann (Socialist Workers' Party); 1916-1925 [7]
10. Otto Wels (Socialist Workers' Party); 1925-1931 [8]
11. Max Planck (German People's Party); 1931-1935 [9]
12. Rosi Wolfstein (Socialist Workers' Party); 1935-1937 [10]
13. Carlo Mierendorff (Independent); 1937-1938 [11]
14. Lt.-Gen. Otto Hörsing (military emergency rule); 1938-1941 [12]

[1]
The first decade of the newly formed German empire was dominated by large protests of both industrial workers and Suffragettes. Bismarck seemed unable to cope with the situation and became embittered with politics. After a crisis talk with the Kaiser, he handed in his resignation in a dramatic gesture, arguing that he doesn't want to take responsibility for the decline of Germany in case the Socialist Workers' Party or the womens' movement ever get to power. The Kaiser decided to take the wind out of these movements by making a bourgeois Suffragette chancellor, hoping that she would fail.
[2] Rudolf von Bennigsenm, a Hanoverian politician. In 1877 he was offered the post of vice-chancellor with a seat in the Prussian ministry, but refused it because Bismarck or the king would not agree to his conditions. From this time his relations with the government were less friendly, and in 1878 he brought about the rejection of the first Socialist Bill. He succeeded Minna Cauer not only as the Liberal Union Leader but also Chancellor of Germany, if it was not for the death of Wilhelm I, a few days after him taking office, in 1886, he may have been kicked out but Kaiser Frederick III supported his liberal ideas. The two men were well matched; their shared liberal ideology led them to seek greater representation for commoners in the government.
They both proposed to liberalize the German Empire, with such moves as reforming the office of Chancellor, who was responsible to the Emperor, would be replaced with a British-style cabinet, with ministers responsible to the Reichstag. Government policy would be based on the consensus of the cabinet.
[3] At the age of 29, Rupprecht came to lead the German Conservatives with his charisma and charm. His popularity lead to his victory over von Bennigsen in 1898. However, he proved to be an ineffective leader with little experience and his poor economic policies lead to the near destruction of the German industrialisation and the collapse of the German economy in 1899. Rupprecht was ousted by his party in 1900.
[4] Widely regarded as the "trustee of misery", Rupprecht's former foreign secretary von Holstein was challenged by both the left and the right during his brief leadership. Following the policies of Cauer and Bennigsen, the late Friedrich Engels had revised some of his earlier theories about the nature of the class struggle and advised the Socialist Workers' Party to enter parliamentarian politics alongside progressively-minded bourgeois parties. The party leaders, August Bebel and Eduard Bernstein, quickly made this their main agenda and brought along parliamentary majorities with the Liberal Union on many occassions. On the other side of the spectrum, Heinrich Claß and his German Imperial Party criticised the Conservatives for disregarding armament and essentially betraying German interests in the world. With both these movements gaining strength, the parliamentary elections of 1903 were expected to be highly confrontational.
[5] While history-making in many respects, Bernstein's brief tenure was plagued by internal party squabbling about his Revisionist ideas.
[6] With Babel retiring, young, radical leader Rosa Luxemburg was made Chancellor, making sweeping nationalizations, establishing proportional representation (mostly to benefit her political party), pursuing an isolationist foreign policy, and reducing the power of the monarch to simple figurehead. With a booming economy, she was reelected in 1912 to a majority, but she resigned in 1916 following a scandal in which her government, that heavily defunded and weakened the military, secretly funded and supplied her political party's ruthless paramilitary force, the Spartacus League led by Karl Liebknecht, the Russian Bolsheviks, and the Revolutionary Army of France, a mass movement led by the French Communist Party that eventually formed the world's first revolutionary state, the Socialist Republic of France.
[7] Luxemburg created divisions in the SAP that only an experienced mediator could soothe, and thankfully for the party, they chose the right person, Philipp Schneidemann. Schneidemann managed to win a new majority in 1918. His second and third cabinets (elected in 1918 and 1922 respectively) is known for creating the "German Miracle" in which the German economy reached new highs and inequality seemed to be on the way out. He retired in 1925 an incredibly popular Chancellor. The army in particular admires him for building up the army to deal with the growing danger of Socialist France.
[8] With Schneidemann retiring in 1925, his ally and Vice-Chancellor Otto Wels soon became the Chancellor of Germany. Wels' policies including the establish of universal healthcare, pubic housing of those who couldn't afford basic housing, and a basic income guarantee. With the German Miracle still going incredibly strong, Wels was reelected in landslides in 1926 and 1930, retiring in 1931 incredibly popular, remembered as a champion of the poor and downtrodden.
[9] The "French scare" erupted the day after Wels' retirement and brought down the Government. Planck put together a caretaker Government from across the political spectrum, and won the ensuing election.
[10] During the four years of the caretaker government, the SAP was once again split on how to counter the ambitions of the hawkish French Leader of the Revolutionary Council, Jacques Doriot. The left-wing under Rosi Wolfstein favoured negotiations or even a formal alliance, whereas a smaller faction led by Carlo Mierendorff sided with the Conservative opposition to use military force, if necessary. Wolfstein managed several deals with France, including the security of Alsace-Lorraine. When France supported a Communist secession in Wallonia, some MPs left the SAP faction in protest. Wolfstein was dropped after a vote of no confidence.
[11] Despite elections in which the SAP did quite well, Carlo Mierendorff, formerly a member of the SAP, formed a government supported by the German People's Party and the Conservatives. The government did not last long however, as Mierendorff, outside of an intervention in Wallonia, favored a continuation of the SAP's policies, while the DVP and DKP did not. Mierendorff's government only lasted a year, as new elections where called. Mirendorff died in 1943, forgotten by the German people.
[12] Although the SAP still gained the most votes in the 1938 election, they didn't manage to pull a majority. The party was now led by the "Wolfsteinite" Werner Scholem, who was considered too pro-French by the other parties and his own party's right wing. With Socialist uprisings in Vienna, Lemberg and Prague, and neighbouring Austria on the verge of a civil war, the German mainstream press wrote about the dangers of Communist encirclement and favoured a close alliance with Russia. In this unstable political situation, the military establishment decided to shut down the parliament and set up an emergency government. The highest-ranking soldier, Kurt von Hammerstein-Equordt, considered himself apolitical and felt too bound to Prussian traditions to take control of the government himself. Therefore he installed the lower-ranked Otto Hörsing as a puppet emergency leader. Hörsing was politically sympathetic to the right wing of the SAP and championed their split off party, the German Workers Party (DAP). After three years, he wanted a return to civilian rule and called for new elections.
 
Last edited:
1. Otto von Bismarck (Conservative Party); 1871-1880
2. Minna Cauer (Liberal Union); 1880-1886 [1]

3. Rudolf von Bennigsen (Liberal Union); 1886-1898
[2]
4. Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (Conservative Party); 1898-1900 [3]
5. Friedrich August von Holstein (Conservative Party); 1900-1903 [4]
6. Eduard Bernstein (Socialist Workers' Party); 1903-1904 [5]

7. August Bebel (Socialist Workers' Party); 1904-1908
8. Rosa Luxemburg (Socialist Workers' Party); 1908-1916 [6]
9. Philipp Scheidemann (Socialist Workers' Party); 1916-1925 [7]
10. Otto Wels (Socialist Workers' Party); 1925-1931 [8]
11. Max Planck (German People's Party); 1931-1935 [9]
12. Rosi Wolfstein (Socialist Workers' Party); 1935-1937 [10]
13. Carlo Mierendorff (Independent); 1937-1938 [11]
14. Lt.-Gen. Otto Hörsing (military emergency rule); 1938-1941 [12]

15. Gen. Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach (Military Dictatorship); 1941-1948 [13]

[1] The first decade of the newly formed German empire was dominated by large protests of both industrial workers and Suffragettes. Bismarck seemed unable to cope with the situation and became embittered with politics. After a crisis talk with the Kaiser, he handed in his resignation in a dramatic gesture, arguing that he doesn't want to take responsibility for the decline of Germany in case the Socialist Workers' Party or the womens' movement ever get to power. The Kaiser decided to take the wind out of these movements by making a bourgeois Suffragette chancellor, hoping that she would fail.
[2] Rudolf von Bennigsenm, a Hanoverian politician. In 1877 he was offered the post of vice-chancellor with a seat in the Prussian ministry, but refused it because Bismarck or the king would not agree to his conditions. From this time his relations with the government were less friendly, and in 1878 he brought about the rejection of the first Socialist Bill. He succeeded Minna Cauer not only as the Liberal Union Leader but also Chancellor of Germany, if it was not for the death of Wilhelm I, a few days after him taking office, in 1886, he may have been kicked out but Kaiser Frederick III supported his liberal ideas. The two men were well matched; their shared liberal ideology led them to seek greater representation for commoners in the government.
They both proposed to liberalize the German Empire, with such moves as reforming the office of Chancellor, who was responsible to the Emperor, would be replaced with a British-style cabinet, with ministers responsible to the Reichstag. Government policy would be based on the consensus of the cabinet.
[3] At the age of 29, Rupprecht came to lead the German Conservatives with his charisma and charm. His popularity lead to his victory over von Bennigsen in 1898. However, he proved to be an ineffective leader with little experience and his poor economic policies lead to the near destruction of the German industrialisation and the collapse of the German economy in 1899. Rupprecht was ousted by his party in 1900.
[4] Widely regarded as the "trustee of misery", Rupprecht's former foreign secretary von Holstein was challenged by both the left and the right during his brief leadership. Following the policies of Cauer and Bennigsen, the late Friedrich Engels had revised some of his earlier theories about the nature of the class struggle and advised the Socialist Workers' Party to enter parliamentarian politics alongside progressively-minded bourgeois parties. The party leaders, August Bebel and Eduard Bernstein, quickly made this their main agenda and brought along parliamentary majorities with the Liberal Union on many occassions. On the other side of the spectrum, Heinrich Claß and his German Imperial Party criticised the Conservatives for disregarding armament and essentially betraying German interests in the world. With both these movements gaining strength, the parliamentary elections of 1903 were expected to be highly confrontational.
[5] While history-making in many respects, Bernstein's brief tenure was plagued by internal party squabbling about his Revisionist ideas.
[6] With Babel retiring, young, radical leader Rosa Luxemburg was made Chancellor, making sweeping nationalizations, establishing proportional representation (mostly to benefit her political party), pursuing an isolationist foreign policy, and reducing the power of the monarch to simple figurehead. With a booming economy, she was reelected in 1912 to a majority, but she resigned in 1916 following a scandal in which her government, that heavily defunded and weakened the military, secretly funded and supplied her political party's ruthless paramilitary force, the Spartacus League led by Karl Liebknecht, the Russian Bolsheviks, and the Revolutionary Army of France, a mass movement led by the French Communist Party that eventually formed the world's first revolutionary state, the Socialist Republic of France.
[7] Luxemburg created divisions in the SAP that only an experienced mediator could soothe, and thankfully for the party, they chose the right person, Philipp Schneidemann. Schneidemann managed to win a new majority in 1918. His second and third cabinets (elected in 1918 and 1922 respectively) is known for creating the "German Miracle" in which the German economy reached new highs and inequality seemed to be on the way out. He retired in 1925 an incredibly popular Chancellor. The army in particular admires him for building up the army to deal with the growing danger of Socialist France.
[8] With Schneidemann retiring in 1925, his ally and Vice-Chancellor Otto Wels soon became the Chancellor of Germany. Wels' policies including the establish of universal healthcare, pubic housing of those who couldn't afford basic housing, and a basic income guarantee. With the German Miracle still going incredibly strong, Wels was reelected in landslides in 1926 and 1930, retiring in 1931 incredibly popular, remembered as a champion of the poor and downtrodden.
[9] The "French scare" erupted the day after Wels' retirement and brought down the Government. Planck put together a caretaker Government from across the political spectrum, and won the ensuing election.
[10] During the four years of the caretaker government, the SAP was once again split on how to counter the ambitions of the hawkish French Leader of the Revolutionary Council, Jacques Doriot. The left-wing under Rosi Wolfstein favoured negotiations or even a formal alliance, whereas a smaller faction led by Carlo Mierendorff sided with the Conservative opposition to use military force, if necessary. Wolfstein managed several deals with France, including the security of Alsace-Lorraine. When France supported a Communist secession in Wallonia, some MPs left the SAP faction in protest. Wolfstein was dropped after a vote of no confidence.
[11] Despite elections in which the SAP did quite well, Carlo Mierendorff, formerly a member of the SAP, formed a government supported by the German People's Party and the Conservatives. The government did not last long however, as Mierendorff, outside of an intervention in Wallonia, favored a continuation of the SAP's policies, while the DVP and DKP did not. Mierendorff's government only lasted a year, as new elections where called. Mirendorff died in 1943, forgotten by the German people.
[12] Although the SAP still gained the most votes in the 1938 election, they didn't manage to pull a majority. The party was now led by the "Wolfsteinite" Werner Scholem, who was considered too pro-French by the other parties and his own party's right wing. With Socialist uprisings in Vienna, Lemberg and Prague, and neighbouring Austria on the verge of a civil war, the German mainstream press wrote about the dangers of Communist encirclement and favoured a close alliance with Russia. In this unstable political situation, the military establishment decided to shut down the parliament and set up an emergency government. The highest-ranking soldier, Kurt von Hammerstein-Equordt, considered himself apolitical and felt too bound to Prussian traditions to take control of the government himself. Therefore he installed the lower-ranked Otto Hörsing as a puppet emergency leader. Hörsing was politically sympathetic to the right wing of the SAP and championed their split off party, the German Workers Party (DAP). After three years, he wanted a return to civilian rule and called for new elections.
[13] Seydlitz moved against Gen. Horsing, believing he was incompetent and would be unable to restore order to Germany. In a leadership coup, Seydlitz deposed Horsing and consolidated control by exiling any supporters of the former regime. He established a military dictatorship and ruled Germany to maintain order until he felt that democracy was safe to be restored. His goal was, however, never completed when he died of a stroke in 1948.
 
bumping this...

1. Otto von Bismarck (Conservative Party); 1871-1880
2. Minna Cauer (Liberal Union); 1880-1886[1]

3. Rudolf von Bennigsen (Liberal Union); 1886-1898
[2]
4. Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (Conservative Party); 1898-1900 [3]
5. Friedrich August von Holstein (Conservative Party); 1900-1903 [4]
6. Eduard Bernstein (Socialist Workers' Party); 1903-1904 [5]

7. August Bebel (Socialist Workers' Party); 1904-1908
8. Rosa Luxemburg (Socialist Workers' Party); 1908-1916 [6]
9. Philipp Scheidemann (Socialist Workers' Party); 1916-1925 [7]
10. Otto Wels (Socialist Workers' Party); 1925-1931 [8]
11. Max Planck (German People's Party); 1931-1935 [9]
12. Rosi Wolfstein (Socialist Workers' Party); 1935-1937 [10]
13. Carlo Mierendorff (Independent); 1937-1938 [11]
14. Lt.-Gen. Otto Hörsing (military emergency rule); 1938-1941 [12]

15. Gen. Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach (Military Dictatorship); 1941-1948 [13]
16. Gen. Friedrich Olbricht (Military Dictatorship); 1948-1955 [14]

[1] The first decade of the newly formed German empire was dominated by large protests of both industrial workers and Suffragettes. Bismarck seemed unable to cope with the situation and became embittered with politics. After a crisis talk with the Kaiser, he handed in his resignation in a dramatic gesture, arguing that he doesn't want to take responsibility for the decline of Germany in case the Socialist Workers' Party or the womens' movement ever get to power. The Kaiser decided to take the wind out of these movements by making a bourgeois Suffragette chancellor, hoping that she would fail.
[2] Rudolf von Bennigsenm, a Hanoverian politician. In 1877 he was offered the post of vice-chancellor with a seat in the Prussian ministry, but refused it because Bismarck or the king would not agree to his conditions. From this time his relations with the government were less friendly, and in 1878 he brought about the rejection of the first Socialist Bill. He succeeded Minna Cauer not only as the Liberal Union Leader but also Chancellor of Germany, if it was not for the death of Wilhelm I, a few days after him taking office, in 1886, he may have been kicked out but Kaiser Frederick III supported his liberal ideas. The two men were well matched; their shared liberal ideology led them to seek greater representation for commoners in the government.
They both proposed to liberalize the German Empire, with such moves as reforming the office of Chancellor, who was responsible to the Emperor, would be replaced with a British-style cabinet, with ministers responsible to the Reichstag. Government policy would be based on the consensus of the cabinet.
[3] At the age of 29, Rupprecht came to lead the German Conservatives with his charisma and charm. His popularity lead to his victory over von Bennigsen in 1898. However, he proved to be an ineffective leader with little experience and his poor economic policies lead to the near destruction of the German industrialisation and the collapse of the German economy in 1899. Rupprecht was ousted by his party in 1900.
[4] Widely regarded as the "trustee of misery", Rupprecht's former foreign secretary von Holstein was challenged by both the left and the right during his brief leadership. Following the policies of Cauer and Bennigsen, the late Friedrich Engels had revised some of his earlier theories about the nature of the class struggle and advised the Socialist Workers' Party to enter parliamentarian politics alongside progressively-minded bourgeois parties. The party leaders, August Bebel and Eduard Bernstein, quickly made this their main agenda and brought along parliamentary majorities with the Liberal Union on many occassions. On the other side of the spectrum, Heinrich Claß and his German Imperial Party criticised the Conservatives for disregarding armament and essentially betraying German interests in the world. With both these movements gaining strength, the parliamentary elections of 1903 were expected to be highly confrontational.
[5] While history-making in many respects, Bernstein's brief tenure was plagued by internal party squabbling about his Revisionist ideas.
[6] With Babel retiring, young, radical leader Rosa Luxemburg was made Chancellor, making sweeping nationalizations, establishing proportional representation (mostly to benefit her political party), pursuing an isolationist foreign policy, and reducing the power of the monarch to simple figurehead. With a booming economy, she was reelected in 1912 to a majority, but she resigned in 1916 following a scandal in which her government, that heavily defunded and weakened the military, secretly funded and supplied her political party's ruthless paramilitary force, the Spartacus League led by Karl Liebknecht, the Russian Bolsheviks, and the Revolutionary Army of France, a mass movement led by the French Communist Party that eventually formed the world's first revolutionary state, the Socialist Republic of France.
[7] Luxemburg created divisions in the SAP that only an experienced mediator could soothe, and thankfully for the party, they chose the right person, Philipp Schneidemann. Schneidemann managed to win a new majority in 1918. His second and third cabinets (elected in 1918 and 1922 respectively) is known for creating the "German Miracle" in which the German economy reached new highs and inequality seemed to be on the way out. He retired in 1925 an incredibly popular Chancellor. The army in particular admires him for building up the army to deal with the growing danger of Socialist France.
[8] With Schneidemann retiring in 1925, his ally and Vice-Chancellor Otto Wels soon became the Chancellor of Germany. Wels' policies including the establish of universal healthcare, pubic housing of those who couldn't afford basic housing, and a basic income guarantee. With the German Miracle still going incredibly strong, Wels was reelected in landslides in 1926 and 1930, retiring in 1931 incredibly popular, remembered as a champion of the poor and downtrodden.
[9] The "French scare" erupted the day after Wels' retirement and brought down the Government. Planck put together a caretaker Government from across the political spectrum, and won the ensuing election.
[10] During the four years of the caretaker government, the SAP was once again split on how to counter the ambitions of the hawkish French Leader of the Revolutionary Council, Jacques Doriot. The left-wing under Rosi Wolfstein favoured negotiations or even a formal alliance, whereas a smaller faction led by Carlo Mierendorff sided with the Conservative opposition to use military force, if necessary. Wolfstein managed several deals with France, including the security of Alsace-Lorraine. When France supported a Communist secession in Wallonia, some MPs left the SAP faction in protest. Wolfstein was dropped after a vote of no confidence.
[11] Despite elections in which the SAP did quite well, Carlo Mierendorff, formerly a member of the SAP, formed a government supported by the German People's Party and the Conservatives. The government did not last long however, as Mierendorff, outside of an intervention in Wallonia, favored a continuation of the SAP's policies, while the DVP and DKP did not. Mierendorff's government only lasted a year, as new elections where called. Mirendorff died in 1943, forgotten by the German people.
[12] Although the SAP still gained the most votes in the 1938 election, they didn't manage to pull a majority. The party was now led by the "Wolfsteinite" Werner Scholem, who was considered too pro-French by the other parties and his own party's right wing. With Socialist uprisings in Vienna, Lemberg and Prague, and neighbouring Austria on the verge of a civil war, the German mainstream press wrote about the dangers of Communist encirclement and favoured a close alliance with Russia. In this unstable political situation, the military establishment decided to shut down the parliament and set up an emergency government. The highest-ranking soldier, Kurt von Hammerstein-Equordt, considered himself apolitical and felt too bound to Prussian traditions to take control of the government himself. Therefore he installed the lower-ranked Otto Hörsing as a puppet emergency leader. Hörsing was politically sympathetic to the right wing of the SAP and championed their split off party, the German Workers Party (DAP). After three years, he wanted a return to civilian rule and called for new elections.
[13] Seydlitz moved against Gen. Horsing, believing he was incompetent and would be unable to restore order to Germany. In a leadership coup, Seydlitz deposed Horsing and consolidated control by exiling any supporters of the former regime. He established a military dictatorship and ruled Germany to maintain order until he felt that democracy was safe to be restored. His goal was, however, never completed when he died of a stroke in 1948.
[14] After Seydlitz' death, Olbricht was "next in line" in the military command structure and therefore took over the government. He proposed a "five-year plan for the return of democracy". Parliamentary elections would be held every seven years by a system of majority rule. The chancellor would need both the majority of the parliament and the permission of a newly created second chamber, called "House of the Honoured Elders", composed of military leaders, retired business and media elites, Protestant and Catholic clergy, and aristocratic land owners. The function of this House was"to prevent democratic and egalitarian excesses". Olbricht stepped down in 1955, the year of the first elections for 17 years, and declared himself leader of the House of Elders, or as it was known for the next decades, "Olbricht's baby".
 
1. Otto von Bismarck (Conservative Party); 1871-1880
2. Minna Cauer (Liberal Union); 1880-1886[1]

3. Rudolf von Bennigsen (Liberal Union); 1886-1898
[2]
4. Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (Conservative Party); 1898-1900 [3]
5. Friedrich August von Holstein (Conservative Party); 1900-1903 [4]
6. Eduard Bernstein (Socialist Workers' Party); 1903-1904 [5]

7. August Bebel (Socialist Workers' Party); 1904-1908
8. Rosa Luxemburg (Socialist Workers' Party); 1908-1916 [6]
9. Philipp Scheidemann (Socialist Workers' Party); 1916-1925 [7]
10. Otto Wels (Socialist Workers' Party); 1925-1931 [8]
11. Max Planck (German People's Party); 1931-1935 [9]
12. Rosi Wolfstein (Socialist Workers' Party); 1935-1937 [10]
13. Carlo Mierendorff (Independent); 1937-1938 [11]
14. Lt.-Gen. Otto Hörsing (military emergency rule); 1938-1941 [12]

15. Gen. Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach (Military Dictatorship); 1941-1948 [13]
16. Gen. Friedrich Olbricht (Military Dictatorship); 1948-1955 [14]
17. Phillip Scelitzen (German Democratic Party); 1955-1958 [15]


[1] The first decade of the newly formed German empire was dominated by large protests of both industrial workers and Suffragettes. Bismarck seemed unable to cope with the situation and became embittered with politics. After a crisis talk with the Kaiser, he handed in his resignation in a dramatic gesture, arguing that he doesn't want to take responsibility for the decline of Germany in case the Socialist Workers' Party or the womens' movement ever get to power. The Kaiser decided to take the wind out of these movements by making a bourgeois Suffragette chancellor, hoping that she would fail.
[2] Rudolf von Bennigsenm, a Hanoverian politician. In 1877 he was offered the post of vice-chancellor with a seat in the Prussian ministry, but refused it because Bismarck or the king would not agree to his conditions. From this time his relations with the government were less friendly, and in 1878 he brought about the rejection of the first Socialist Bill. He succeeded Minna Cauer not only as the Liberal Union Leader but also Chancellor of Germany, if it was not for the death of Wilhelm I, a few days after him taking office, in 1886, he may have been kicked out but Kaiser Frederick III supported his liberal ideas. The two men were well matched; their shared liberal ideology led them to seek greater representation for commoners in the government.
They both proposed to liberalize the German Empire, with such moves as reforming the office of Chancellor, who was responsible to the Emperor, would be replaced with a British-style cabinet, with ministers responsible to the Reichstag. Government policy would be based on the consensus of the cabinet.
[3] At the age of 29, Rupprecht came to lead the German Conservatives with his charisma and charm. His popularity lead to his victory over von Bennigsen in 1898. However, he proved to be an ineffective leader with little experience and his poor economic policies lead to the near destruction of the German industrialisation and the collapse of the German economy in 1899. Rupprecht was ousted by his party in 1900.
[4] Widely regarded as the "trustee of misery", Rupprecht's former foreign secretary von Holstein was challenged by both the left and the right during his brief leadership. Following the policies of Cauer and Bennigsen, the late Friedrich Engels had revised some of his earlier theories about the nature of the class struggle and advised the Socialist Workers' Party to enter parliamentarian politics alongside progressively-minded bourgeois parties. The party leaders, August Bebel and Eduard Bernstein, quickly made this their main agenda and brought along parliamentary majorities with the Liberal Union on many occassions. On the other side of the spectrum, Heinrich Claß and his German Imperial Party criticised the Conservatives for disregarding armament and essentially betraying German interests in the world. With both these movements gaining strength, the parliamentary elections of 1903 were expected to be highly confrontational.
[5] While history-making in many respects, Bernstein's brief tenure was plagued by internal party squabbling about his Revisionist ideas.
[6] With Babel retiring, young, radical leader Rosa Luxemburg was made Chancellor, making sweeping nationalizations, establishing proportional representation (mostly to benefit her political party), pursuing an isolationist foreign policy, and reducing the power of the monarch to simple figurehead. With a booming economy, she was reelected in 1912 to a majority, but she resigned in 1916 following a scandal in which her government, that heavily defunded and weakened the military, secretly funded and supplied her political party's ruthless paramilitary force, the Spartacus League led by Karl Liebknecht, the Russian Bolsheviks, and the Revolutionary Army of France, a mass movement led by the French Communist Party that eventually formed the world's first revolutionary state, the Socialist Republic of France.
[7] Luxemburg created divisions in the SAP that only an experienced mediator could soothe, and thankfully for the party, they chose the right person, Philipp Schneidemann. Schneidemann managed to win a new majority in 1918. His second and third cabinets (elected in 1918 and 1922 respectively) is known for creating the "German Miracle" in which the German economy reached new highs and inequality seemed to be on the way out. He retired in 1925 an incredibly popular Chancellor. The army in particular admires him for building up the army to deal with the growing danger of Socialist France.
[8] With Schneidemann retiring in 1925, his ally and Vice-Chancellor Otto Wels soon became the Chancellor of Germany. Wels' policies including the establish of universal healthcare, pubic housing of those who couldn't afford basic housing, and a basic income guarantee. With the German Miracle still going incredibly strong, Wels was reelected in landslides in 1926 and 1930, retiring in 1931 incredibly popular, remembered as a champion of the poor and downtrodden.
[9] The "French scare" erupted the day after Wels' retirement and brought down the Government. Planck put together a caretaker Government from across the political spectrum, and won the ensuing election.
[10] During the four years of the caretaker government, the SAP was once again split on how to counter the ambitions of the hawkish French Leader of the Revolutionary Council, Jacques Doriot. The left-wing under Rosi Wolfstein favoured negotiations or even a formal alliance, whereas a smaller faction led by Carlo Mierendorff sided with the Conservative opposition to use military force, if necessary. Wolfstein managed several deals with France, including the security of Alsace-Lorraine. When France supported a Communist secession in Wallonia, some MPs left the SAP faction in protest. Wolfstein was dropped after a vote of no confidence.
[11] Despite elections in which the SAP did quite well, Carlo Mierendorff, formerly a member of the SAP, formed a government supported by the German People's Party and the Conservatives. The government did not last long however, as Mierendorff, outside of an intervention in Wallonia, favored a continuation of the SAP's policies, while the DVP and DKP did not. Mierendorff's government only lasted a year, as new elections where called. Mirendorff died in 1943, forgotten by the German people.
[12] Although the SAP still gained the most votes in the 1938 election, they didn't manage to pull a majority. The party was now led by the "Wolfsteinite" Werner Scholem, who was considered too pro-French by the other parties and his own party's right wing. With Socialist uprisings in Vienna, Lemberg and Prague, and neighbouring Austria on the verge of a civil war, the German mainstream press wrote about the dangers of Communist encirclement and favoured a close alliance with Russia. In this unstable political situation, the military establishment decided to shut down the parliament and set up an emergency government. The highest-ranking soldier, Kurt von Hammerstein-Equordt, considered himself apolitical and felt too bound to Prussian traditions to take control of the government himself. Therefore he installed the lower-ranked Otto Hörsing as a puppet emergency leader. Hörsing was politically sympathetic to the right wing of the SAP and championed their split off party, the German Workers Party (DAP). After three years, he wanted a return to civilian rule and called for new elections.
[13] Seydlitz moved against Gen. Horsing, believing he was incompetent and would be unable to restore order to Germany. In a leadership coup, Seydlitz deposed Horsing and consolidated control by exiling any supporters of the former regime. He established a military dictatorship and ruled Germany to maintain order until he felt that democracy was safe to be restored. His goal was, however, never completed when he died of a stroke in 1948.
[14] After Seydlitz' death, Olbricht was "next in line" in the military command structure and therefore took over the government. He proposed a "five-year plan for the return of democracy". Parliamentary elections would be held every seven years by a system of majority rule. The chancellor would need both the majority of the parliament and the permission of a newly created second chamber, called "House of the Honoured Elders", composed of military leaders, retired business and media elites, Protestant and Catholic clergy, and aristocratic land owners. The function of this House was "to prevent democratic and egalitarian excesses". Olbricht stepped down in 1955, the year of the first elections for 17 years, and declared himself leader of the House of Elders, or as it was known for the next decades, "Olbricht's baby".

[15] As the newly elected Chancellor, Scelitzenbecame quickly embroiled in a power struggle with Olbricht's baby. This struggle lead to what became known as 'The Turmoil'. Scelitzen wanted to dissolve the House and began to pass legislation to do so by force. When the Elders refused to recognise any of these, Scelitzen ordered the police to issue arrest warrants for the all members of the Elders. When the police went to arrest the members, troops loyal to the Elders fired upon the police. Berlin descended into anarchy and British and French media reported that the Elders were attempting a coup. However, Scelitzen was able to turn public opinion against the Elders and had Olbricht assassinated. In retaliation, Scelitzen was killed in an explosion in his office in central Berlin, killing several other members of the Cabinet. A snap election was called in 1958 as the Elders took up emergency control of the government.
 
1. Otto von Bismarck (Conservative Party); 1871-1880
2. Minna Cauer (Liberal Union); 1880-1886[1]

3. Rudolf von Bennigsen (Liberal Union); 1886-1898
[2]
4. Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (Conservative Party); 1898-1900 [3]
5. Friedrich August von Holstein (Conservative Party); 1900-1903 [4]
6. Eduard Bernstein (Socialist Workers' Party); 1903-1904 [5]

7. August Bebel (Socialist Workers' Party); 1904-1908
8. Rosa Luxemburg (Socialist Workers' Party); 1908-1916 [6]
9. Philipp Scheidemann (Socialist Workers' Party); 1916-1925 [7]
10. Otto Wels (Socialist Workers' Party); 1925-1931 [8]
11. Max Planck (German People's Party); 1931-1935 [9]
12. Rosi Wolfstein (Socialist Workers' Party); 1935-1937 [10]
13. Carlo Mierendorff (Independent); 1937-1938 [11]
14. Lt.-Gen. Otto Hörsing (military emergency rule); 1938-1941 [12]

15. Gen. Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach (Military Dictatorship); 1941-1948 [13]
16. Gen. Friedrich Olbricht (Military Dictatorship); 1948-1955 [14]
17. Phillip Scelitzen (German Democratic Party); 1955-1958 [15]
18. Eugen Kogon (Christian People's Party); 1958-1963 [16]


[1] The first decade of the newly formed German empire was dominated by large protests of both industrial workers and Suffragettes. Bismarck seemed unable to cope with the situation and became embittered with politics. After a crisis talk with the Kaiser, he handed in his resignation in a dramatic gesture, arguing that he doesn't want to take responsibility for the decline of Germany in case the Socialist Workers' Party or the womens' movement ever get to power. The Kaiser decided to take the wind out of these movements by making a bourgeois Suffragette chancellor, hoping that she would fail.
[2] Rudolf von Bennigsenm, a Hanoverian politician. In 1877 he was offered the post of vice-chancellor with a seat in the Prussian ministry, but refused it because Bismarck or the king would not agree to his conditions. From this time his relations with the government were less friendly, and in 1878 he brought about the rejection of the first Socialist Bill. He succeeded Minna Cauer not only as the Liberal Union Leader but also Chancellor of Germany, if it was not for the death of Wilhelm I, a few days after him taking office, in 1886, he may have been kicked out but Kaiser Frederick III supported his liberal ideas. The two men were well matched; their shared liberal ideology led them to seek greater representation for commoners in the government.
They both proposed to liberalize the German Empire, with such moves as reforming the office of Chancellor, who was responsible to the Emperor, would be replaced with a British-style cabinet, with ministers responsible to the Reichstag. Government policy would be based on the consensus of the cabinet.
[3] At the age of 29, Rupprecht came to lead the German Conservatives with his charisma and charm. His popularity lead to his victory over von Bennigsen in 1898. However, he proved to be an ineffective leader with little experience and his poor economic policies lead to the near destruction of the German industrialisation and the collapse of the German economy in 1899. Rupprecht was ousted by his party in 1900.
[4] Widely regarded as the "trustee of misery", Rupprecht's former foreign secretary von Holstein was challenged by both the left and the right during his brief leadership. Following the policies of Cauer and Bennigsen, the late Friedrich Engels had revised some of his earlier theories about the nature of the class struggle and advised the Socialist Workers' Party to enter parliamentarian politics alongside progressively-minded bourgeois parties. The party leaders, August Bebel and Eduard Bernstein, quickly made this their main agenda and brought along parliamentary majorities with the Liberal Union on many occassions. On the other side of the spectrum, Heinrich Claß and his German Imperial Party criticised the Conservatives for disregarding armament and essentially betraying German interests in the world. With both these movements gaining strength, the parliamentary elections of 1903 were expected to be highly confrontational.
[5] While history-making in many respects, Bernstein's brief tenure was plagued by internal party squabbling about his Revisionist ideas.
[6] With Babel retiring, young, radical leader Rosa Luxemburg was made Chancellor, making sweeping nationalizations, establishing proportional representation (mostly to benefit her political party), pursuing an isolationist foreign policy, and reducing the power of the monarch to simple figurehead. With a booming economy, she was reelected in 1912 to a majority, but she resigned in 1916 following a scandal in which her government, that heavily defunded and weakened the military, secretly funded and supplied her political party's ruthless paramilitary force, the Spartacus League led by Karl Liebknecht, the Russian Bolsheviks, and the Revolutionary Army of France, a mass movement led by the French Communist Party that eventually formed the world's first revolutionary state, the Socialist Republic of France.
[7] Luxemburg created divisions in the SAP that only an experienced mediator could soothe, and thankfully for the party, they chose the right person, Philipp Schneidemann. Schneidemann managed to win a new majority in 1918. His second and third cabinets (elected in 1918 and 1922 respectively) is known for creating the "German Miracle" in which the German economy reached new highs and inequality seemed to be on the way out. He retired in 1925 an incredibly popular Chancellor. The army in particular admires him for building up the army to deal with the growing danger of Socialist France.
[8] With Schneidemann retiring in 1925, his ally and Vice-Chancellor Otto Wels soon became the Chancellor of Germany. Wels' policies including the establish of universal healthcare, pubic housing of those who couldn't afford basic housing, and a basic income guarantee. With the German Miracle still going incredibly strong, Wels was reelected in landslides in 1926 and 1930, retiring in 1931 incredibly popular, remembered as a champion of the poor and downtrodden.
[9] The "French scare" erupted the day after Wels' retirement and brought down the Government. Planck put together a caretaker Government from across the political spectrum, and won the ensuing election.
[10] During the four years of the caretaker government, the SAP was once again split on how to counter the ambitions of the hawkish French Leader of the Revolutionary Council, Jacques Doriot. The left-wing under Rosi Wolfstein favoured negotiations or even a formal alliance, whereas a smaller faction led by Carlo Mierendorff sided with the Conservative opposition to use military force, if necessary. Wolfstein managed several deals with France, including the security of Alsace-Lorraine. When France supported a Communist secession in Wallonia, some MPs left the SAP faction in protest. Wolfstein was dropped after a vote of no confidence.
[11] Despite elections in which the SAP did quite well, Carlo Mierendorff, formerly a member of the SAP, formed a government supported by the German People's Party and the Conservatives. The government did not last long however, as Mierendorff, outside of an intervention in Wallonia, favored a continuation of the SAP's policies, while the DVP and DKP did not. Mierendorff's government only lasted a year, as new elections where called. Mirendorff died in 1943, forgotten by the German people.
[12] Although the SAP still gained the most votes in the 1938 election, they didn't manage to pull a majority. The party was now led by the "Wolfsteinite" Werner Scholem, who was considered too pro-French by the other parties and his own party's right wing. With Socialist uprisings in Vienna, Lemberg and Prague, and neighbouring Austria on the verge of a civil war, the German mainstream press wrote about the dangers of Communist encirclement and favoured a close alliance with Russia. In this unstable political situation, the military establishment decided to shut down the parliament and set up an emergency government. The highest-ranking soldier, Kurt von Hammerstein-Equordt, considered himself apolitical and felt too bound to Prussian traditions to take control of the government himself. Therefore he installed the lower-ranked Otto Hörsing as a puppet emergency leader. Hörsing was politically sympathetic to the right wing of the SAP and championed their split off party, the German Workers Party (DAP). After three years, he wanted a return to civilian rule and called for new elections.
[13] Seydlitz moved against Gen. Horsing, believing he was incompetent and would be unable to restore order to Germany. In a leadership coup, Seydlitz deposed Horsing and consolidated control by exiling any supporters of the former regime. He established a military dictatorship and ruled Germany to maintain order until he felt that democracy was safe to be restored. His goal was, however, never completed when he died of a stroke in 1948.
[14] After Seydlitz' death, Olbricht was "next in line" in the military command structure and therefore took over the government. He proposed a "five-year plan for the return of democracy". Parliamentary elections would be held every seven years by a system of majority rule. The chancellor would need both the majority of the parliament and the permission of a newly created second chamber, called "House of the Honoured Elders", composed of military leaders, retired business and media elites, Protestant and Catholic clergy, and aristocratic land owners. The function of this House was "to prevent democratic and egalitarian excesses". Olbricht stepped down in 1955, the year of the first elections for 17 years, and declared himself leader of the House of Elders, or as it was known for the next decades, "Olbricht's baby".

[15] As the newly elected Chancellor, Scelitzenbecame quickly embroiled in a power struggle with Olbricht's baby. This struggle lead to what became known as 'The Turmoil'. Scelitzen wanted to dissolve the House and began to pass legislation to do so by force. When the Elders refused to recognise any of these, Scelitzen ordered the police to issue arrest warrants for the all members of the Elders. When the police went to arrest the members, troops loyal to the Elders fired upon the police. Berlin descended into anarchy and British and French media reported that the Elders were attempting a coup. However, Scelitzen was able to turn public opinion against the Elders and had Olbricht assassinated. In retaliation, Scelitzen was killed in an explosion in his office in central Berlin, killing several other members of the Cabinet. A snap election was called in 1958 as the Elders took up emergency control of the government.
[16] The 1958 election saw a surprising victory of the newly formed, ecumenically-oriented Christian People's Party, a platform that managed to win seats in both Catholic and Protestant constituencies. Led by Eugen Kogon, they pulled off a very populist campaign, dismissing the reform-minded German Democratic Party as a party associated with riots and political assassinations. The House of Elders thought of Kogon as a lightweight partner, as he proved to be very moderate and cautious in his first years. However, they soon had to realise that he was no less ambitious than his predecessor, as he presented himself as the "chancellor of the people and all Christians". In 1963, he proposed a controversial reform bill, which included a stronger parliament and electoral reforms. As expected, it was rejected by the Elders, who saw this as a good opportunity to dismiss Kogon as chancellor. As the next parliamentary election were scheduled to be held in 1965, public opinion feared another great 'turmoil' period, since it became unclear whether the Elders would accept another CPP leader or an indirect dictatorship with one of their own men.
 
Nice work.
The timeline at the moment has one weird aspect, though:
It is easily conceivable to have an oligarchy of old elites, combined with a military dictatorship, take over the country (like in Thailand at the moment). But after three decades of successful Social Democratic governments? Who shaped the country with a welfare state, universal education, house building programs, redistribution, electoral reform etc.?
That would be as plausible as a military coup d´etat and oligarchical rule in Sweden in the 1980s...
 
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