German History in Images and Artefacts from Two Millenia
Exhibition 
Permanent Exhibition 1871 - 1918
The German Empire was established in 1871 as a federation of
states under a constitutional monarchy. The Prussian king Wilhelm I,
as German emperor, became the head of the state. In his function as
chancellor, Otto von Bismarck tried to secure the Empire's position
through a policy of European alliances. Domestically his aim was
to stabilize the new empire by means of an authoritarian
government while preserving the societal equilibrium. In 1888
Wilhelm II became emperor. Initially he supported social and
political reforms, but rejected the idea of democratizing the
Empire.
Around the turn of the century an economic upsurge enabled entrepreneurs and those of the educated middle class to become part of a new elite, but it also covered over serious conflicts on the domestic front. Attempts to incorporate the working class and Social Democrats into the state were thwarted by the resistance of agrarian, industrial and middle-class interests. Nationalism, the drive for economic expansion and social unrest produced a climate in which peace was increasingly experienced as a limitation. In 1914 power political clashes in Europe, along with the arms race, led to the First World War. Hopes for a rapid victory were demolished in the barrages of trench warfare. In 1918 Germany surrendered and Wilhelm II had to abdicate the throne.
