Bismarck and the "Capitulation" of German Liberalism

Abstract

German National Liberal party was formed in 1866 and 1867 to support Bismarck's policy of German unification. For four years the liberals had been locked in a bitter constitutional conflict with the Prussian government. But suddenly they saw their most strongly desired goal, kleindeutsch unification, being realized under Bismarck's leadership. I am no devotee of Mars . . . , wrote one liberal after the Prussian victory over Austria, the trophies of war exercise a magic charm upon the child of peace. One's view is involuntarily chained and one's spirit goes along with the boundless rows of men who acclaim the god of the moment-success.' Progressive party, which had led the fight against the government, split in two. left wing retained the party name and remained utterly unreconciled to Bismarck and his policies. But the right wing declared its willingness to support Bismarck's national policy in spite of past differences. In combination with many non-Prussian liberals it founded the National Liberal party, which was to be one of the mainstays of Bismarck's parliamentary support during the formative years of the empire. birth of the party under these circumstances has led most historians to see it as the of German liberalism to Bismarckian power politics. As one distinguished American historian has written, The strong secessionist right wing of the Progressives, nucleus of the National Liberal Party of the empire, abandoned the fight against Prussian authoritarianism in exchange for the achievement of German unity by blood and iron.2 Conservative German historians have seen the as the height of Realpolitik.3 Liberal critics of Germany have agreed that capitulation occurred, but have interpreted it instead