History Y9

• holy roman empire was an area of 1,800 individual states/cities
• No one trusted Germany as:

  Just fought wars and looked aggressive

  New Country

  France and Austria felt humiliated

  Britain felt threatened
• Created a nation - introduced

  Coinage

  Postal Service

  Law System

  Rail Network

  Army
• Reforms in 1889 to reduce complaints by workers

  Old age pensions

  Sickness and accident insurance
• Wilhelm I died aged 90 and was succeeded by his son Friedrich III
• Kaiser Wilhelm II took over from Friedrich III
• Fredriech only ruled for 99 days before dying from cancer of the larynx
• The Kaiser's personality made it difficult for him to work with others
• Wilhelm was born on 27th January 1859 in Berlin
• Wilhelm became kaiser in 1888 at the age of 29
• Wilhelm was partly paralysed on his left side and had a withered arm
• He was unstable and often had violent rages
• He was obsessive over building the navy
• he wanted a navy to match britain and an army that could defeat any european power
• 18 months into his reign, he forced Bismarcks resignation
• wilhelm ensured he only employed people who agreed with his opinions
• coal production was the same as britain by 1914
• by 1893 germany matched britain with steel production
• by 1914 germany was producing about 50% of the worlds electrical goods
• the amount of km of track increased by 40%
• germany had the most advanced telephone system in the world
• the merchant navy grew by about 60%
• germany led the world, producing 75% of the worlds dyes
• firms like Bosch, Daimler, Benz and AEG became world famous
• many of the wealthy became very rich