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.
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.