THE DOWNFALL OF BISMARCK, 1890

From 187L1890, Bismarck was significant in German as well as European affairs. He had a cordial relationship with King William I who supported his policies and programs. Bismarck took pride in the fact that he was the most faithful servant of William I. However, King William I died in 1888, which became the beginning of the end of Bismarck. He was succeeded by his son Fredrick who was already sick of Cancer and died after ruling for only 3 months. Fredrick was in turn replaced by his 27-year-old son, William who became known as Kaiser William II.
The young, inexperienced and ambitious William II considered Bismarck as a man who had out lived his usefulness and was therefore not prepared to work with him. On the other hand, Bismarck considered himself the maker of Germany and felt that he still had a great role to play. But right from the beginning, William II indicated that he was not going to tolerate Bismarck's influence over state affairs. He said; it’s not easy to work under such a chancellor, I will first let the old man sniffle for six months. Then I will rule myself.
The root cause of conflict between Bismarck and King William was that William was not ready to tolerate Bismarck's domination of German Politics. To quote him; There is only one master in this country and I am he. I shall suffer no other besides me.
Thus, there were serious disagreements and tensions between Bismarck and King William I that made Bismarck to resign in March 1890. Bismarck called his resignation a first class funeral & said; my dismissal was not a new thing of yesterday. I had seen it coming. The Emperor wished to be his own Chancellor. Soon or later he will learn from experience. Indeed, Kaiser William II learnt from experience when he was defeated and forced into exile in 1919, which also led to the collapse of the German Empire.
CAUSES OF BISMARCK'S DOWNFALL
1. The Death of King William I and the rise of William II laid foundation for the downfall of Bismarck.
King William I died in 1888 and was replaced by Fredrick who was in turn replaced by William II in the same year. William I had great respect for Bismarck and greatly supported his policies. However, the new King William II was a young, inexperienced and ambitious man who was out rightly determined to uproot Bismarck from German politics. He said, Ws not easy to work under such a chancellor. I will first let the old man sniffle for six months then Twill rule myself. Bismarck's response was that the young man wants to be his own Chancellor & with these he parted company with King William and resigned. This was inevitable because William II considered Bismarck an outdated statesman & it's a natural phenomenon that a young & inexperienced leader would not be tolerant to an old and ageing politician.
2. Bismarck's internal policies also contributed to his downfall. Bismarck persecuted the Catholics, liberals and the socialists who paid him by supporting the new King William II against him. Apart from this, Bismarck's Iron hand against opposition made him to be in loggerheads with King William II.
Bismarck wanted to continue using force, intimidation, imprisonment and repression against internal opponents most especially the socialists. This was rejected by the liberal King William II who preferred dialogue other than force against the opposition. This brought a domestic wrangle between Bismarck and King William, which forced Bismarck to resign.
3. Bismarck's downfall was also due to conflict with King William II on foreign affairs. Bismarck wanted to maintain diplomatic relations with both Austria and Russia while William II preferred Austria to Russia.
William II believed that a lasting German understanding with Russia was impossible and a dangerous dilution and refused to renew the re-insurance treaty. He also wanted Germany and Austria to have strong influence in the Balkans irrespective of Russian and British interests. Bismarck opposed this because it would give France an opportunity to ally with Britain and Russia against Germany. This prompted Bismarck to resign on 29th March 1890.
4. Kaiser William II's aggressions and reckless ambitions also forced Bismarck into resignation. William II wanted to defeat Britain and make Germany both a land and sea power. He openly declared our future lies on the sea He preferred colonialism, imperialism and the building of a powerful navy. This was expressed at his coronation when he remarked; Germany must become a great colonial power. She must show the world that her energies and achievements are second to none great power must grow or die. Bismarck protested Kaiser's ambitions arguing that it could provoke the hostility of Britain and Russia to the advantage of France. This disagreement conditioned Bismarck's resignation and hence downfall in 1890.
5. Exhaustion, fatigue and old age also contributed to the downfall of Bismarck. Bismarck had worked so hard to unify Germany and control Europe that by 1890 he was suffering from fatigue and exhaustion which made him less effective. He withdrew from Berlin and spent most of his time at the country house where he transacted state affairs. This isolated him from Ministers, other government officials and the King, which made him unpopular leading to his downfall.
6. It should be noted that Bismarck had anointed and groomed his son, Herbert Bismarck to replace him.
He had trained Herbert in state affairs and made him to work as foreign Secretary since 1886. His withdrawal from Berlin was to give Herbert opportunity to fit in to his shoes under his close supervision and direction. Although Herbert Bismarck tried to be like his father, his manners were insufferable (too extreme to be tolerated or unbearable). The Germans were prepared to move with Bismarck and rejected the bad mannered Herbert as his successor. This intensified opposition against Bismarck, which led to his resignation and downfall.
7. King William II's violation of the German constitution by taking over the foreign affairs ministry left Bismarck in an awkward situation. Bismarck reminded him that the German constitution provided that the chancellor alone was entitled to advice the king. William II reacted by telling Bismarck to advice him to change the constitution. William was determined to see and learn everything on his own instead of getting lessons & lectures from Bismarck. He made personal visits to St. Petersburg, Vienna, London, Athens and Constantinople, which were to be done by Bismarck. These visits enabled William to think independently about German's foreign Policy. Bismarck resented his foreign trips and expressed his disapproval by resigning.
8. The most immediate incident that led to the downfall of Bismarck was disagreement with Kaiser William II over the 1890 general elections. In the elections, more social democrats were elected to the parliament unlike before, i.e. From II in 1877 to 35 in 1890. Bismarck wanted to take a more serious a sure to deal with the growing strength of the party. However, King William who wanted to unite all 3 Germans behind him rejected his plans in favour of a more tolerant policy. This made Bismarck to believe that he no longer has a place in German politics and consequently resigned.