1912 German federal election

none February 2020 German Empire parliamentary 1907 German federal election 1907 yes 1912 01 12 1919 German federal election 1919 All 397 seats in the Reichstag 199 14,442,387 ( 8.16%) 84.89% ( 0.24pp) 130x130px Bebel Haase Composite.jpg 105 105 130 0 0 August Bebel &Hugo Haase Social Democratic Party of Germany 28.94%, 43 seats 110 67 4,250,400 34.82% 5.88 pp Georg von Hertling (cropped).jpeg 125 105 130 0 05 Georg von Hertling Centre Party (Germany) 18.79%, 101 seats 90 11 1,988,504 16.29% 2.50 pp Portrait of Ernst Bassermann.jpg 130 105 130 5 8 Ernst Bassermann NLP 14.80%, 56 seats 45 11 1,662,700 13.53% 1.27 pp Ernst von Heydebrand und der Lasa by E. Bieber.jpg 135 105 130 0 8 Ernst von Heydebrand German Conservative Party 9.41%, 59 seats 41 18 1,006,570 8.25% 1.16 pp Otto Fischbeck LCCN2014714907.jpg 135 105 130 10 8 Otto Fischbeck Progressive People's Party (Germany) 10.66%, 50 seatsCombined results of the parties that merged to form the Progressive People's Party; Free-minded People's Party (6.55%, 29 seats), Free-minded Union (3.01%, 14 seats) and the German People's Party (1.10%, 7 seats) 41 9 1,448,097 11.86% 1.20 pp Ferdynand Radziwi%C5%82%C5%82 c1914.jpg 120 105 125 0 8 Ferdynand Radziwiłł Polish Party 4.03%, 20 seats 18 2 441,744 3.62% 0.41 pp Karte_der_Reichstagswahlen_1912.svg 400px Results by constituency President of the Reichstag Hans Graf von Schwerin-Löwitz German Conservative Party President of the Reichstag after election Johannes Kaempf Progressive People's Party (Germany) Federal elections were held in Germany on 12 January 1912.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p762 978-3-8329-5609-7 Although the Social Democratic Party (SPD) had received the most votes in every election since 1890, it had never won the most seats, and in the 1907 elections, it had won fewer than half the seats won by the Centre Party despite receiving over a million more votes.Nohlen & Stöver, pp. 774–789 However, the 1912 elections saw the SPD retain its position as the most voted-for party and become the largest party in the Reichstag, winning 110 of the 397 seats.Nohlen & Stöver, p789 The election was also notable in producing a progressive legislative majority in the Reichstag.Germany Since 1789 A Nation Forged and Renewed By David G. Williamson, Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015 Parties hostile or ambivalent to the ruling elites of the German Empire – the Social Democrats, the Centre Party, and the left-liberal Progressives – together won a majority of the seats. This allowed a successful censure vote against the government of Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg over the Saverne Affair in 1913 and the passage of the Reichstag Peace Resolution of 1917. However, the Centre and the Progressives were unwilling to act consistently in opposition, which left the government largely free to do as it wished. Some historians, such as Fritz Fischer, have theorized that the First World War was partly a result of the strategy of the conservative Prussian Junkers to deal with the result.Fischer Fritz Germany's Aims in the First World War 1961 W. W. Norton & Company 0-393-09798-6 In an attempt to increase support for conservative parties and policies and to distract the population from the SPD, they hoped to drum up patriotism in an external conflict with Russia or another Eastern European state such as Serbia. Georges Weill, an SPD candidate who won a seat in Metz, defected to France at the start of World War I. Electoral system The members of the Reichstag were elected in single-member constituencies via the two-round system. There was no requirement that constituencies had to be of equal sizes population sizes, meaning that rural constituencies, which tended to have smaller populations, were overrepresented. Since 1869, suffrage was available to all residents who: were male, were at least 25 years old, were nationals of one of the states, were resident in one of the constituencies, were not active soldiers, were not convicts, did not live on poverty relief, were not incapacitated. Since 1888, a constitutional amendment required elections to be held every five years. Results File:Alemania Reichstag 1912.svg Social Democratic Party 4250399 110 +5.88 +67 Centre Party 1988504 90 −2.50 −11 National Liberal Party 1651115 45 −1.27 −11 Progressive People's Party 1448097 41 +1.20 −9 German Conservative Party 1006570 41 −1.16 −18 German Reich Party 396948 14 −0.94 −10 Independent Polish Polish Party 246275 10 −0.11 0 Agrarian League 165034 5 +0.18 −2 Alsace-Lorraine parties 148202 9 −0.11 −2 Christian Social Party 104219 3 +0.33 0 Polish Catholic Party Polish Party 93629 4 +0.33 +1 German-Hanoverian Party 90168 5 −0.08 +3 Polish People's Party Polish Party 81140 3 −0.13 −1 Independent conservatives #007FFF 74323 4 +0.18 +4 German Social Party Nazi Party 73169 3 −0.18 −5 ELD #EEDC82 60886 1 New New German Reform Party Nazi Party 60758 3 −0.52 −3 Independent liberals #EEDC82 53939 0 −0.32 −3 Bavarian Peasants' League 48219 2 +0.02 +2 Peasants' League 41352 2 New New Democratic Union 29444 0 New New Middle Class parties #007FFF 27095 0 −0.44 −2 Polish Court Party Polish Party 20700 1 −0.18 −1 Danish Party 17289 1 0.00 0 Lorraine Land Party #EEDC82 7039 0 −0.14 0 Lithuanian Party 6227 0 +0.01 0 Independent anti-semites #964B00 1604 0 −0.13 0 Other conservatives #007FFF 1081 0 −0.03 0 Other agrarians Bavarian Peasants' League 4027 0 −0.24 −1 Others 9492 0 +0.01 0 Unknown 688 0 0.00 0 53099 0 14442387 Wahlen in DeutschlandWahlen in Deutschland Alsace-Lorraine Social Democratic Party 110695 5 +8.00 +3 Alsace-Lorraine Center Party Centre Party (Germany) 96646 7 +0.75 0 ELD #EEDC82 60886 1 New New Independent Lorraine Party #B59631 36336 2 −3.70 −1 Alsace-Lorraine protesters #DCBFA3 15220 0 +2.08 −1 Centre Party 13715 0 −8.69 −1 German Reich Party 7373 0 +0.65 −1 Lorraine Land Party #EEDC82 7039 0 −4.47 0 Others 744 0 0 5807 0 417701 Wahlen in DeutschlandWahlen in Deutschland Notes References Category:Federal elections in Germany Federal Category:Elections in the German Empire German