Germany 1815-1914 Online Trivia | German

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. When did Germany FIRST become a unified country with a central government?

Answer: 1871

Until 1866-67 the country was a patchwork of loosely confederated states.

2. About how many states did the German Confederation (der Deutsche Bund) have when it was created in 1815?

Answer: 40

The exact number was 35 hereditary monarchies (including duchies and so on) together with 4 Free Cities (Hamburg, Bremen, Frankfurt and Luebeck) - 39 in all (in 1815). This represented a very substantial reduction on the 360 or so states in the Holy Roman Empire on the eve of the French Revolution.

3. Two states in the German Confederation were major European powers. One of these was Prussia. Which was the other?

Answer: Austria

The German-speaking parts of the Austrian Empire (together with the Czech-speaking lands) were part of the Confederation. The Austrian Empire was reorganized as Austria-Hungary in 1867 after the dissolution of the German Confederation.

4. In the period c. 1820-70 the German states were widely admired abroad not only for music, literature and philosophy but also for another achievement. Which of these was it?

Answer: Education system

In 1825, Prussia introduced (and enforced) compulsory education for all children aged 6-14. Many of the German states also had excellent universities, where there was a strong emphasis on research rather than on the transmission of 'received wisdom'. Both the school system and the universities were greatly admired and widely imitated abroad.

5. Which German author enjoyed cult status in Germany from before the start of this period till 1860 and beyond?

Answer: Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), best known for 'Faust' and other dramas, for his lyrical poetry and his novel 'Werther', enjoyed cult status not only in Germany but further afield, including Britain and France. Schiller was popular in much of Europe but not a cult figure. Hegel and Kant were philosophers. They both enjoyed a certain vogue outside Germany.

6. Many states in the German Confederation were 'police states', especially in the period 1815-1848. What, however, did these nineteenth-century police states NOT do to those whom they regarded as subversives?

Answer: Send them to concentration camps

The Carlsbad (or Karlsbad) Decrees of September 1819 introduced strict censorship, banned 'subversives' from employment in government service, put the universities under political surveillance and drastically restricted individual freedom. Most of the states also had further, often severe restrictions, too - for example on the right to holding public meetings. With a handful of exceptions, the governments avoided physical ill-treatment of 'subversives', except in parts of the Habsburg domains in 1848-49.

7. In 1848, German liberals, together with many conservative nationalists, elected a rebel Parliament. Where did it meet?

Answer: Frankfurt am Main

Some of the more radical liberals moved to Stuttgart after the Frankfurt Parliament had been dissolved - and a few of these ultimately fled to Switzerland.

8. When (approximately) did industrialization start in Germany, albeit on a very small scale?

Answer: 1825

The first areas to indutrialize were the Northern Rhineland and the Ruhr, Saxony (all from about 1825 onwards) and somewhat later, also Upper Silesia.

Some historians take the view that southern Belgium, northern France, the northern Rhineland and the Ruhr industrialized together on a wider regional basis. The same is also sometimes said of Saxony, Northern Bohemia and Silesia.

9. Prussia was keen to advance its commercial development and to this end established the 'Zollverein', to which other German states also belonged. What kind of organization was this?

Answer: Customs union

The 'Zollverein' is widely seen as a forerunner to political union under Prussian leadership.

10. Which politician is credited with the unification of Germany?

Answer: Bismarck

Otto von Bismarck is one of those politicians that some historians like to refer to as a 'stateman'. The unification of Germany under Prussian leadership is regarded as his most important achievement.

11. In 1878, the German government used two unsuccessful assassination attempts on the Kaiser as an excuse to ban one of the opposition parties and seize its assets. The ban remained in force till 1890. What was this party?

Answer: Social Democrats

It was more than simply a ban. It enabled the authorities to subject the Social Democrats to harrassment, and the publication of Socialist literature was illegal.

12. In 1897, Germany embarked on unsuccessful negotiations to form an alliance with another power. Which?

Answer: Britain

The negotiations foundered largely because Britain was only willing to offer Germany the role of a junior partner in any such alliance, and the German government didn't want anything less than equality with Britain.

13. From the late 1890s onwards, Germany antagonized Britain by doing which of these?

Answer: Building a substantial navy

Germany embarked on this naval building programme after the negotiations for forming an alliance with Britain proved fruitless.

14. What was the elected parliament of Imperial Germany called?

Answer: Reichstag

Its powers fell far short of what is taken for granted in a democracy, but grew gradually in the period c. 1890-1914. In a remarkable gesture to the spirit of the age, Bismarck gave the franchise to all resident German men aged 25 and above.

15. The Anglo-French "Entente Cordiale" of 1904 was intended from the outset as a means of "encircling" Germany.

Answer: False

The original purpose of the Anglo-French "understanding" ("entente") was to resolve areas of disagreement between Britain and France, mainly in Africa. The British agreement of 1907 with France's ally, Russia, was much more difficult and less successful. These two agreements that Britain made were not military alliances in the strict sense.

Source: Author bloomsby

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Germany 1815-1914 Trivia Quiz

The history of Germany in the second half of this period is fairly well known, but that of the first half, rather less so. Test your knowledge and have fun.

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