Wikipedia

Liberalism in Germany

(Redirected from German liberal)

This article aims to give a historical outline of liberalism in Germany (German: Liberalismus). The liberal parties dealt with in the timeline below are, largely, those which received sufficient support at one time or another to have been represented in parliament. Not all parties so included, however, necessarily labeled themselves "liberal". The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme.

Background

edit

The early high points of liberalism in Germany were the Hambach Festival (1832) and the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states.

In the Frankfurt Parliament National Assembly in the Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt Paulskirche (1848/1849), the bourgeois liberal factions Casino and Württemberger Hof (the latter led by Heinrich von Gagern) were the majority. They favored a constitutional monarchy, popular sovereignty, and parliamentary rule. Organized liberalism developed in the 1860s, combining the previous liberal and democratic currents. Between 1867 and 1933 liberalism was divided into progressive liberal and national liberal factions. Since 1945 only one liberal party has been significant in politics at the national level: The Free Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei, FDP).

History

edit

Pre 1860s

edit
Main article: Old Liberals

From German Progress Party to German State Party

edit
  • 1861: Liberals united in the German Progress Party (Deutsche Fortschrittspartei)
  • 1867: The moderate faction seceded as the ⇒ National Liberal Party
  • 1868: A radical South German faction seceded as the ⇒ Democratic People's Party
  • 1884: The party merged with the ⇒ Liberal Union into the German Freeminded Party (Deutsche Freisinnige Partei)
  • 1893: The party split in the Freeminded People's Party (Freisinnige Volkspartei) and the ⇒ Freeminded Union (Freisinnige Vereinigung)
  • 1910: The FVP merged with the ⇒ Freeminded Union and the ⇒ German People's Party into the Progressive People's Party (Fortschrittliche Volkspartei)
  • 1918: The party is reorganised into the German Democratic Party (Deutsche Demokratische Partei), incorporating parts of the ⇒ National Liberal Party
  • 1930: The DDP in an attempt to survive reorganised itself into the German State Party (Deutsche Staatspartei)
  • 1933: The party is forced to dissolve itself

German People's Party (1868)

edit
  • 1868: A radical faction of the ⇒ German Progress Party formed the German People's Party (Deutsche Volkspartei)
  • 1910: The DVP merged into the ⇒ Progressive People's Party

National Liberal Party / German People's Party (1918)

edit

National Liberals

  • 1867: A right-wing faction of the ⇒ German Progress Party formed the National Liberal Party (Nationalliberale Partei)
  • 1871: A conservative faction of NLP formed the Imperial Liberal Party (Liberale Reichspartei)
  • 1880: A left-wing faction seceded as the ⇒ Liberal Union
  • 1918: The NLP is reorganised into the German People's Party (Deutsche Volkspartei), part of the party joined the German Democratic Party
  • 1933: The party is dissolved

Liberal Union

edit
  • 1880: A left-wing faction of the ⇒ National Liberal Party formed the Liberal Union (Liberale Vereinigung)
  • 1884: The party merged with the ⇒ German Progress Party into the ⇒ German Freeminded Party

Freeminded Union

edit
  • 1893: The ⇒ German Freeminded Party split into the Freeminded Union (Freisinnige Vereinigung) and the ⇒ Freeminded People's Party
  • 1903: The ⇒ National Social Union joined the Freeminded Union
  • 1908: A left-wing faction seceded as the ⇒ Democratic Union
  • 1910: The party merged into the ⇒ Progressive People's Party

National Social Union

edit
  • 1896: The National Social Union (Nationalsozialer Verein) is formed
  • 1903: The party is dissolved and members joined the ⇒ Freeminded Union

Democratic Union

edit
  • 1908: A left-wing faction of the ⇒ Freeminded Union formed the Democratic Union (Demokratische Vereinigung)
  • 1918: The remnants of the Union joined the German Democratic Party

From Liberal Democratic Party of Germany to Alliance of Free Democrats (GDR)

edit

Free Democratic Party

edit
  • 1945–1946: Liberals in West Germany re-organised themselves in regional parties
  • 1948: The regional liberal parties merged into the Free Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei)
  • 1956: A conservative faction seceded and formed the Free People's Party (Germany) (Freie Volkspartei). FDP is initially a hardright party well to the right of CDU
  • 1982: A left-wing faction seceded as the ⇒ Liberal Democrats
  • 1990: The FDP incorporated the ⇒ Association of Free Democrats

Liberal Democrats

edit
  • 1982: A left-wing faction of the ⇒ Free Democratic Party formed the present-day Liberal Democrats (Liberale Demokraten), without success

New Liberals

edit
  • 2014: A left-wing faction of the ⇒ Free Democratic Party formed the present-day New Liberals (Neue Liberale), contested in Hamburg state election 2015
  • 2021: The party was dissolved, formed into an association and members were urged to join Volt Deutschland

Party of Humanists

edit

Liberal leaders

edit

Liberal thinkers

edit

In the Contributions to liberal theory the following German thinkers are included:

See also

edit

Further reading

edit
  • Åberg, Martin. Swedish and German Liberalism: From Factions to Parties 1860–1920 (2011)[ISBN missing]
  • Anderson, Margaret Lavinia. Practicing democracy: Elections and political culture in Imperial Germany (2000)[ISBN missing]
  • Doering, Detmar (2008). "Liberalism, German". In Hamowy, Ronald (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; Cato Institute. pp. 298–299. doi:10.4135/9781412965811.n180. ISBN 978-1412965804.
  • Eyck, F. Gunther. "English and French Influences on German Liberalism before 1848." Journal of the History of Ideas (1957): 313–341. in JSTOR
  • Gross, Michael B. The war against Catholicism: Liberalism and the anti-Catholic imagination in nineteenth-century Germany (University of Michigan Press, 2004)[ISBN missing]
  • Harris, James F. A study in the theory and practice of German liberalism: Eduard Lasker, 1829–1884 (University Press of America, 1984)[ISBN missing]
  • Jarausch, Konrad, et al. eds. In search of a liberal Germany: studies in the history of German liberalism from 1789 to the present (1990), essays by scholars[ISBN missing]
  • Jones, Larry Eugene. German liberalism and the dissolution of the Weimar party system, 1918–1933 (University of North Carolina Press, 1988)[ISBN missing]
  • Krieger, Leonard. The German idea of freedom: History of a political tradition (University of Chicago Press, 1957)[ISBN missing]
  • Kurlander, Eric. The price of exclusion: ethnicity, national identity, and the decline of German liberalism, 1898–1933 (Berghahn Books, 2006)[ISBN missing]
  • Langewiesche, Dieter. Liberalism in Germany (Macmillan Press, 2000)[ISBN missing]
  • Kwan, Jonathan. Liberalism and the Habsburg Monarchy, 1861–1895 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), Concerns the Austro-Hungarian Empire
  • Langewiesche, Dieter. Liberalism in Germany (2000)[ISBN missing]
  • Mork, Gordon R. "Bismarck and the 'Capitulation' of German Liberalism," Journal of Modern History (1971) 43#1 pp. 59–75 in JSTOR
  • Palmowski, Jan. "Mediating the nation: liberalism and the polity in nineteenth-century Germany." German History (2001) 19#4 pp. 573–598.
  • Palmowski, Jan. Urban liberalism in imperial Germany: Frankfurt am Main, 1866–1914 (Oxford University Press, 1999)[ISBN missing]
  • Sheehan, James J. "Liberalism and society in Germany, 1815–48." Journal of Modern History (1973): 583–604. in JSTOR
  • Sheehan, James J. German liberalism in the nineteenth century (1995)[ISBN missing]
  • Sheehan, James J. "Liberalism and the city in nineteenth-century Germany." Past and Present (1971): 116–137. in JSTOR
  • Sheehan, James J. The career of Lujo Brentano: a study of liberalism and social reform in imperial Germany (University of Chicago Press, 1966)[ISBN missing]
Retrieved from "https://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=Liberalism_in_Germany&oldid=1252413667"