lt
r`kämpf') [Ger.,=conflict of cultures], the conflict between the German government under Bismarck Bismarck, Otto von , 1815–98, German statesman, known as the Iron Chancellor.
Early Life and CareerBorn of an old Brandenburg Junker family, he studied at Göttingen and Berlin, and after holding minor judicial and administrative offices
..... Click the link for more information. and the Roman Catholic Church. The promulgation (1870) of the dogma of the infallibility infallibility , in Christian thought, exemption from the possibility of error, bestowed on the church as a teaching authority, as a gift of the Holy Spirit. It has been believed since the earliest times to be guaranteed in such scriptural passages as John 14.16,17.
..... Click the link for more information. of the pope in matters of faith and morals within the church sparked the conflict; it implied that the pope was the defender of the church against incursions by states. The German bishops and most lay Catholics supported this dogma. Bismarck, who was anxious to strengthen the central power of the new German Empire, feared the strongly organized church, which found its political voice in the Catholic Center party (organized 1870). The Center party received additional support from particularists in Bavaria and from other disaffected minorities such as the suppressed Poles in Prussia and the Guelph party of Hanover Hanover , Ger. Hannover, former independent kingdom and former province of Germany; Lower Saxony, NW Germany. Very irregular in outline, Hanover stretched from the Dutch border and the North Sea in the northwest to the Harz Mts. in the southeast.
..... Click the link for more information. , which refused to recognize Hanover's annexation (1866) by Prussia. In his opposition to the church, Bismarck found himself in alliance with the liberals, the traditional opponents of the church. The struggle was initiated by the abolition (July, 1871) of the Catholic department in the Prussian ministry of culture. Feelings grew stronger when Bismarck gave support to the small group of churchmen led by Döllinger Döllinger, Johann Joseph Ignaz von , 1799–1890, German theologian and historian, leader of the Old Catholics. Ordained in 1822, he was subsequently professor of church history and ecclesiastical law at the Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. who refused to accept the dogma of papal infallibility. In 1872, Bismarck gave the state direct control of the schools in Prussia and obtained the expulsion of the Jesuits, first from Prussia and then from Germany as a whole. The May Laws (of May, 1873) restricted the disciplinary powers of the church, placed the education of the clergy under state supervision, and provided for the punishment of those who refused to cooperate. Next, civil ceremonies became obligatory for marriages in Germany. The church resisted these laws, and many clerics were imprisoned or removed from office for their refusal to comply. Meanwhile, the Center party increased its strength significantly. After its large gains in the Reichstag elections of 1878, Bismarck began to moderate his policy, influenced also by the alienation of the liberals through his protective tariff policies. The death of Pope Pius IX Pius IX, 1792–1878, pope (1846–78), an Italian named Giovanni M. Mastai-Ferretti, b. Senigallia; successor of Gregory XVI. He was cardinal and bishop of Imola when elected pope.
..... Click the link for more information. (1878) aided the gradual resolution of the conflict. Many of the antichurch laws were repealed or fell into disuse. In 1887 a modus vivendi was reached with Pope Leo XIII Leo XIII, 1810–1903, pope (1878–1903), an Italian (b. Carpineto, E of Rome) named Gioacchino Pecci; successor of Pius IX. Ordained in 1837, he earned an excellent reputation as archbishop of Perugia (1846–77), and was created cardinal in 1853.
..... Click the link for more information. . In evaluating the Kulturkampf in Germany it is important to remember that the church was at odds with a number of European states during this period.
Bibliography
See L. P. Walace, The Papacy and European Diplomacy, 1869–1878 (1948); see also bibliography under Bismarck, Otto von.
Kulturkampf
(German; “culture struggle”)
Bitter struggle by Otto von Bismarck to subject the Roman Catholic church to state controls. Bismarck, a staunch Protestant, doubted the loyalty of Catholics in his new German Empire and became concerned by the Vatican Council's 1870 proclamation on papal infallibility. In 1872 the state dissolved the Jesuit order in Germany. The May, or Falk, Laws of 1873 (applying only to Prussia) limited church powers, and in 1875 the state mandated civil marriage services. Bismarck retreated in the face of strong Catholic resistance, especially by the Center Party. By 1887, with many anti-Catholic laws repealed, Pope Leo XIII declared the conflict over.
Kulturkampf
the generally accepted term denoting the measures instituted by O. von Bismarck’s government against the Catholic Church in the 1870’s.
The Catholic Church was the chief supporter of the Catholic Center Party, which advocated separatist and anti-Prussian views, primarily in western and southwestern Germany. During the Kulturkampf, laws were enacted forbidding priests to engage in political propaganda (December 1871), denying the clergy the right to supervise schools (March 1872), and transferring control over the training and appointment of the clergy to the state (1873). In February 1875 nearly all the Catholic religious orders were dissolved and a law providing for civil marriage was passed.
Bismarck’s government used the Kulturkampf to strengthen national oppression in Polish lands under German control and sought to inflame religious passions and thus distract workers from the class struggle. Describing the Kulturkampf, V. I. Lenin wrote that “by this struggle, Bismarck only stimulated the militant clericalism of the Catholics, and only injured the work of real culture, because he gave prominence to religious divisions rather than political divisions” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 17, pp. 416-17).
In the late 1870’s and early 1880’s Bismarck attempted a reconciliation with the Catholic clergy in order to unite all conservative forces. Most of the laws enacted during the Kulturkampf were repealed, and only the laws providing for civil marriage and the expulsion of the Jesuits remained in force.
REFERENCES
Germanskaia istoriia v novoe i noveishee vremia, vol. 1. Moscow, 1970. Pages 334-37.Kissling, J. B. Geschichte des Kulturkampfes im Deutschen Reiche, vols. 1-3. Freiburg, 1911-16.
M. I. MIKHAILOV
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