BRITISH IDENTITY AND THE GERMAN OTHER A Dissertation ...

In contrast to the undisputed, if unscrupulous, political savvy of Bismarck, Wilhelm more
easily fit the unpolitical German stereotype with the added imprimatur that his “want of real
political capacity is coupled with the most energetic self-confidence known to mankind.” 84
During the brief honeymoon period after the Bismarck’s removal in 1890, the kaiser’s new
government presented a “favourable” prospect and hopes ran high for an end to heavy-handed
government and press manipulation. But revelations of Wilhelm’s “extremely autocratic” nature
quickly reversed earlier optimism. 85 To many, Bismarck’s dismissal itself and the kaiser’s failure
to wean German workers away from socialism through appeals to their patriotism presented
ample proof of his political incompetence. Writers more frequently criticized Germany as an
“over-administered” nation, staffed with servile officials and dominated through a “Philistine”
and “ridiculous” inspired press, whose fulsome praise of the government “reeks of the gutters of
ancient Byzantium.” 86 Little hope for change was foreseen by those who considered German
national character to be “essentially conservative.” Leisure Hour in 1894 concluded that “in
spite of the humane and ideal bias of the German character, there is no country where there is
less hope that any reform will be put into action. The Germans are still, as they always were,
extended to the clergy of the predominating sect at any given school the authority to advise and
even correct teachers, aroused widespread opposition in “cultured and sceptical” Germany,
particularly from moderates and the Left, before being dropped. See “The Question of Religious
Instruction in Prussian Schools” in Review of Reviews 5 (February 1892): 275.
84 “Progress of the World” Review of Reviews 5 (February 1892): 227.
85 See “The Change of Government in Germany,” Fortnightly Review 48 (August 1890):
294, 304; and Bamberger, “German Crisis and the German Emperor,” 397.
86 See “An Over-administered Nation,” Macmillan’s Magazine 66 (May 1892) and Sidney
Whitman, “The Berlin Reconciliation,” New Review 10 (March 1894): 346-48.
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