HISB31H3 Chapter : Grenville chapter notes
Document Summary
Social democrats, progressives and centre, who had won majority in 1912 elections, demanded constitutional monarchy responsible to. Reichstag in 1888, at time of accession of wilhelm ii, germany appeared not only secure but on threshold of new expansion of power, world power contrast of mood and expectations between then and 1914 could not have been greater. Bismarck spoke of his recurring nightmare of coalitions", meaning that germany"s neighbours would combine, surround, and threaten. Germany added to its problems by being blinded by a vision of weltpolitik, worldwide power. France was at one and the same time both highly centralised but also decentralised; for ordinary french citizens government" in practice meant what the prefect and his administration did, not what was happening in far-off paris. Church supported by monarchists, most of old aristocracy and wealthier sections of society; class" division was by no means so complete and simple as this suggests: church supporters were not just rich and powerful.
