The German Question, Part Eighty-Two

Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part Two/L "The Germans At War"

"The End Of The Second Reich"

Although not routed by the Allies, the German armies were in retreat. The outbreak of revolution stunned Kaiser Wilhelm, and the demand from even the Americans that he abdicate the German throne left him clutching at straws. His mind tried to rationalize that he could give up the German Imperial throne, but still remain "King of Prussia." Remember, although Germany had united into a modern nation in 1871, the individual German states, like Prussia, kept their positions within the new "Reich" ("empire") and the nobility retained their various titles within their respective states; thus the Kaiser ("Emperor") also held the title "King of Prussia." The various princes, grand dukes, dukes, etc all kept their titles throughout each German state. The problem for Wilhelm was, he failed to grasp how serious the situation at home had really become, as the German government was virtually paralyzed by the revolution, which included the more extreme communist elements. Prince Max von Baden, as the new head of the government ("Chancellor"), forced the Kaiser's hand by announcing Wilhelm's abdication as both Kaiser and King of Prussia on November 9. Von Baden then resigned as Chancellor in favor of Friedrich Ebert, the head of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, who had already been given a position by von Baden in his government in an effort to satisfy the revolutionary fervor. Ebert and the Social Democrats were far more moderate than the German Communists, and they even supported the continuation of the monarchy in some form. However, another Social Democrat, Philipp Scheidemann, a prominent leader of the Reichstag (the German Parliament), announced the establishment of "the German Republic," for fear of a takeover of the German government by more radical elements. The Kaiser, who was in Belgium at the time, did not presently agree to the abdication, but crossed the border into the Netherlands, which was a neutral country.*

Wilhelm became convinced that the abdication announcement would prevail when even army leaders told him they could not guarantee the troops' willingness to fight German civilians to preserve his throne. His sons agreed (he had six) not to put forth any claim to the German Imperial throne or to the Prussian throne. Wilhelm finally conceded, thus ending the Second German Reich and the Hohenzollern dynasty.

* For those who have followed this series, it is interesting to note that a German Kaiser fled to Dutch territory, an area that had once belonged to the "old" German Empire, but had gained independence in the 1600s; thus giving us part of the answer to "The German Question." Sort of ironic.

WORD HISTORY:
Up-This word goes back to the Indo European root "upo," with the notion of "from under" or "from below," "to go over/above." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "upa," then "upp/up," with the same basic meaning, which then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "up/uppe," with English eventually settling on "up" for the spelling. The Old Germanic form also gave Old High German "uf," with a long "u" sound. After the elements of the Germanic tribes that left what is now northern Germany and founded England, what linguists call a "sound shift" took place among "some" of the Germanic dialects located south of that area, which is more elevated; thus Old "HIGH" German is the terminology that developed for these dialects. It is important to remember, not all Germanic dialects in the region were affected (the "low" dialects were not affected, and these became Frisian, Dutch and Low German), but for those that were affected, what had been the "p" sound (no toilet jokes, please), often became an "f" or "pf" sound in those dialects. Just as English speakers don't pronounce many words as they were pronounced centuries ago, German pronunciation too has changed, and the "u" sound, in this case, became "au" in German, which is English "ow," as in "how;" thus giving modern German "auf," as their word for "up." With the "low" dialects unaffected by the sound shift, you can see in just this one word, why modern English is closer to Frisian, Low German and Dutch than to modern standard German, which is based much more upon the "high" dialects. The various forms of "up" are widespread in the Germanic languages, and besides English "up" and German "auf:" Frisian, Dutch and Danish have "op," Icelandic and Swedish have "upp," Norwegian has "opp." The Low German dialects have "op," and the mixed Berlin dialect, which was originally "Low German," but then with standard German superimposed on it, but with retention of some "Low" features, has "uff," and Bavarian (a high dialect) has "aaf."

The German Question, Part Sixty-Three

"Bismarck" Part 5/H "Bismarck as Chancellor & A Treaty With 'Contentious Relatives' "
"Fear of Average People Brings Social Change"

Bismarck was a staunch monarchist conservative, but he was always thinking about ways to undermine his (and the monarchy's) opponents, which brought him to see a certain sense of reality in the politics of his day. He was very troubled by the socialist movement in Germany, including the more radical variety, communism.* He tried suppressing the socialist movement and its major face to the German public, the "Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei," or "Social Democratic Workers Party."** Laws drawn up by Bismarck were passed by the Reichstag banning the party, and a number of party officials were arrested, but the law was circumvented as the now outlawed party ran candidates as independents, with no political party label, which was a right guaranteed by the German constitution. The number of such "independents" rose in representation in the Reichstag and state legislative bodies. Bismarck feared revolution, and his fears brought him to propose state sponsored social legislation to head off the ever growing popular movement. These programs, most later amended and expanded, became the basis for modern Germany's system of social services. To "soften" the notion of "state sponsored socialism" leveled by Germany's right wing politicians, Bismarck tied the legislative initiatives to Christian principles, something some of America's "Christians(?)" seem to have forgotten. (Anyone can call themselves a "Christian" or any other religious designation, but it doesn't make it so.)

First came health insurance in 1883. While the new law covered only a fairly small percentage of the German working population, it helped to insure most of the lowest paid workers in Germany. The costs were split between employers and employees, with employers only responsible for about a third. In 1884 came what was essentially "workers compensation," or accident insurance for workers. Not only did it pay for injured workers after exhaustion of the above insurance benefits, but it also paid workers a partial pension if they were temporarily disabled. The program was financed by employers, and eventually just came to be seen as the "cost of doing business." In 1889 came Old-Age and Disability Insurance (more commonly known in America as "Social Security"), financed by fees on workers and employers and supplemented by the government.*** Initially, pensions could be collected beginning at age 70, but this was later changed to age 65. The disability part essentially took over from the "workers compensation" program, mentioned above, for workers who were permanently disabled. An added benefit of these social programs was that fewer young Germans left the country for America, where wages were usually higher, but none of the social protections listed above were in effect. While the loss of German workers to America slowed, the growth of the socialist movement continued to climb, even with the enacted reforms. (A Word History is below the notes)

* Remember, the communism that eventually spread around much of the world was based upon the writings and ideas of two Germans, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

**For those familiar with modern German politics, the above mentioned party changed its name in the 1890s, becoming "The Social Democratic Party of Germany" ("Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands," commonly known by the initials "SPD"), which is still one of Germany's major political parties. Reports in the American media usually refer to the party as the "Social Democrats."

*** Bismarck wanted the German government involved (both financially and administratively) in these programs in the hopes of luring workers away from the socialist movement. Just as American progressives have faced tough opposition to social legislation with claims that the "government is getting too powerful," and, "government takeover," Bismarck faced the same from German conservatives, and he was forced to change his proposals, except regarding "Social Security," to which the government contributed financially and administratively.

WORD HISTORY:
Baum/Beam/Boom-All three words are closely related, and here is the "Baum" part of "Tannen(baum), from the previous part of this series. The word apparently goes back to Indo European "bheu" or "bu," which meant "to be, exist, be living" but also in that sense, "to grow." This gave Old Germanic "baumaz," meaning "a living, growing tree," which became "bauma" in West Germanic (German and English are Germanic, but more specifically "West Germanic" languages). This then gave Old High German "boum," which eventually became modern German "Baum," meaning "tree," but it can (rarely) also mean "girder," similar to the English word "beam." English "beam" is really just the same word, its early history being the same as "baum," and like its close German relative, it too meant "tree" in Anglo-Saxon (Old English). By the late Old English period, English had settled more on "tree" as the word for this woody growing plant, but "beam" did not die out, rather it took on the meaning "timber for a ship," eventually meaning the support timbers of the frame, and of course, we still use it in that sense today, although not only for ships. Further, also in the Old English period, "beam" had taken on the meaning as in "beam of light." I found a speculative reason on why this developed, but I'm not terribly convinced, so I just as well speculate on it myself: "perhaps" the notion of branches emanating from the trunk of a tree (remember, it also still had the meaning "tree" back then) gave Old English speakers the idea of "light rays coming from a common source." Hey, my speculation is as good as the one I saw elsewhere. Eventually the spelling became "bem" and "beme," before taking on the modern spelling. "Boom," not the loud sound of a crash, but the kind used in construction, is also really the same word, but English borrowed it from the Dutch, whose spelling of German "Baum" and English "beam" is "boom." The Dutch word also meant "tree," but like its Germanic relatives, it had developed other meanings, in this case, "a horizontal piece of timber or metal." Forms of these words are widespread in the Germanic languages, especially in the West Germanic languages: besides English "beam," German "Baum," and Dutch "boom," West Frisian has "beam," North Frisian has "buum" and "booam," Low German Saxon has "Boom," Letzeburgisch/Luxembourgish has "Bam," Icelandic has the rare (high style/poetic) "baðmur" (=bathmur). In all of these languages, except English, it still primarily means "tree."