Western Civilization II / Unit 11 WC2 1029 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Kulturkampf: Bismarck Against Catholics, 1873
Captions available
The idea
Bismarck treated Catholicism as alien to the new Empire, where a third of subjects were Catholic. From eighteen seventy-three the state trained priests, made civil marriage compulsory and expelled resisters. Catholics answered with the Centre Party, and Bismarck lost, then allied with the Centre against socialists.
In practice
Thirty-five percent Catholic, the anchor says.
Where people slip
Papal infallibility, declared in eighteen seventy, sharpened the fear.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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