Free Conservative Party

Moderate right-wing German party (1866–1918)

This article is about the party that existed in Imperial Germany. For the post-World War II party, see Deutsche Reichspartei.

Free Conservative Party

Freikonservative Partei

Founders| Carl Ferdinand von Stumm-Halberg
Wilhelm von Kardorff
Founded| 28 July 1866 (28 July 1866)
Dissolved| 13 December 1918 (13 December 1918)
Split from| Prussian Conservative Party
Succeeded by| DNVP (right-wing factions)
DVP (moderate factions)
Headquarters| Berlin, Prussia
Newspaper| Die Post
Ideology| Liberal conservatism
Progressive conservatism
Political Protestantism
East Elbia regionalism
German nationalism
Agrarianism
Political position| Centre to centre-right
Colors|  Sky blue

* Politics of Germany
* Political parties
* Elections

This article is part of a series on

Conservatism in Germany

Ideologies

* Agrarian
* Christian democracy
* Liberal
* Ordo
* Ritter School
* Monarchism
* Nationalist
* Völkisch
* Neue Rechte
* Paternalistic
* State Socialism
* Prussianism
* Cameralistic
* Socialist
* Revolutionary
* Young
* Romanticism
* Right-Hegelianism
* Historical School

Principles

* Authority
* Christian values
* Duty
* Elitism
* Aristocracy
* Meritocracy
* Gemeinschaft
* Geopolitik
* Germanisation
* Heimat
* Imperialism
* In Treue fest
* Kultur
* Medievalism
* Monarchism
* Organicism
* Patriotism
* Political theology
* Prussian virtues
* Sittlichkeit
* Social market economy
* Sonderweg
* Subsidiarity
* Volk
* Volksgeist

History

* 20 July plot
* Anti-Socialist Laws
* Carlsbad Decrees
* Erklärung 2018
* Freikorps
* German Confederation
* German Reich
* German Empire
* German reunification
* Heidelberg Manifesto
* Historikerstreit
* The Junkers
* Monarchism in Bavaria after 1918
* Oster conspiracy
* George-Kreis
* Perceived Weimar decadence
* Leipzig school
* Völkisch movement
* Wandervogel

Intellectuals

* Benedict XVI
* Eichberg
* Freyer
* Gadamer
* von Galen
* Gehlen
* Gogarten
* Görres
* Hamann
* Heidegger
* Herder
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* von Hildebrand
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* Jünger (Friedrich)
* Kantorowicz
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* von Lilienfeld
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* Mann
* Moeller van den Bruck
* Müller
* Nolte
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* Pieper
* Plessner
* von Ranke
* Reck-Malleczewen
* Ritter (Gerhard)
* Ritter (Joachim)
* Röpke
* Rüstow
* von Salomon
* Scheler
* Schelsky
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* Sieferle
* Sloterdijk
* Sombart
* Spaemann
* Spengler
* Steinbuch
* Tönnies
* von Treitschke
* Voegelin
* Weber

Literature

* Addresses to the German Nation (1806)
* Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820)
* The National System (1837)
* Degeneration (1892)
* Ressentiment (1912)
* Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man (1918)
* The Decline of the West (1918, 1922)
* Ideology and Utopia (1929)
* Man and Technics (1931)
* The Concept of the Political (1932)
* On the Marble Cliffs (1939)
* Man (1940)
* Diary of a Man in Despair (1947)
* The Questionnaire (1951)
* Fascism in Its Epoch (1963)
* Envy (1966)
* Moral und Hypermoral (1969)
* Rules for the Human Park (1999)
* Germany Abolishes Itself (2010)
* Finis Germania (2017)

Commentators

* Anrich
* Aust
* Broder
* Deschner
* Herman
* Höhler
* Krause Landt
* Kuby
* Löwenthal
* Maschke
* Mann (Golo)
* Maurer
* Nagel
* Nebel
* Noelle-Neumann
* Otte
* Pirinçci
* Röhl
* Safranski
* Sarrazin
* von Schrenck-Notzing
* Schwilk
* Stein
* Strauss (Botho)
* Stürmer
* Tichy
* Weißmann
* Zehrer
* Zitelmann

Politicians

* Adenauer
* Ancillon
* Barschel
* von Bismarck
* von Bose
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* Filbinger
* von Gerlach
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* Held
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* Hugenberg
* Jongen
* Jung
* Kapp
* Kohl
* Krah
* von Krosigk
* Lengsfeld
* Maaßen
* von Merkatz
* Merkel
* Merz
* Michaelis
* von Papen
* Petry
* von Radowitz
* Rauschning
* Ritter von Kahr
* von Roon
* Schäffer
* Schäffler
* von Schleicher
* vom und zum Stein
* Stresemann
* vom Stein
* Stoecker
* von Storch
* Strauss
* Wagener
* Weidel
* von Westarp
* Wilhelm II
* Winnig

Jurists

* Böckenförde
* von Gierke
* Möser
* von Savigny
* Schmitt
* Stahl
* Wackenroder
* Wagener

Activists

* Kohlmann
* Kubitschek
* Sabaditsch-Wolff
* Seibt
* von Stauffenberg
* Stürzenberger
* von Thurn und Taxis (Elisabeth)
* von Thurn und Taxis (Gloria)

Parties

Active

* Alternative for Germany (AfD)
* Bavaria Party (BP)
* Bündnis Deutschland (BD)
* Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU)
* Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU)
* Centre Party
* Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)
* Family Party of Germany
* The Republicans (REP)
* Values Union (WU)

Defunct

* Bavarian People's Party (BVP)
* Conservative Party
* Free Conservative Party (FKP)
* German Conservative Party (DkP)
* German Freedom Party
* German National People's Party (DNVP)
* German Party (DP)
* German People's Party (DVP)

Organizations

* Aufbau Vereinigung
* Bibliothek des Konservatismus
* Desiderius-Erasmus-Stiftung
* Die Deutschen Konservativen
* Forum of German Catholics
* Gerhard Löwenthal Prize
* German Burschenschaft
* Citizens' Movement Pax Europa
* Hanns Seidel Foundation
* Hans Filbinger Foundation
* Identitäre Aktion
* Institut für Staatspolitik
* Konrad Adenauer Foundation
* PEGIDA
* Studienzentrum Weikersheim
* Tradition und Leben

Defunct

* Germany Foundation
* Queen Louise League

Media

* Die Achse des Guten
* Antaios (Defunct)
* Bild
* Cato
* Cicero
* COMPACT
* Deutsche Rundschau
* Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
* Junge Freiheit
* Kreuzzeitung (Defunct)
* Politically Incorrect
* Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung
* Süddeutsche Monatshefte
* Der Türmer
* Verlag Antaios
* Die Welt
* Welt am Sonntag

Related topics

* Bavarian nationalism
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The Free Conservative Party (German: Freikonservative Partei, FKP) was a liberal-conservative[1][2] political party in Prussia and the German Empire which ran as the German Reich Party (German: Deutsche Reichspartei, DRP) in the federal elections to the Reichstag beginning in 1871.

The party was formed when it split from the Prussian Conservative Party in 1866. It was a minimally organized "party of notables" whose members came largely from the wealthier upper classes. Politically, the Free Conservatives stood between the German Conservative Party and the National Liberal Party. During the chancellorship of Otto von Bismarck, it generally gave him its strong support, and many of its members were ministers and diplomats. After Wilhelm II became emperor in 1888, the party lost a significant portion of its earlier strength. It took a staunchly nationalist stance during World War I and disbanded in 1918 during the early weeks of the German revolution. The majority of its members then joined the right-wing German National People's Party.

## History

[edit]

### Founding and organisation

[edit]

The Free Conservative Party split from the Prussian Conservative Party in 1866 as a result of disagreements over Chancellor Otto von Bismarck's policies in the wake of the Austro-Prussian War. Unlike the original party, the Free Conservatives supported the territorial annexations that led to the founding of the North German Confederation under Prussia's leadership.[3] They also favoured the advancement of commerce and industry and trusted that Bismarck would incorporate elements of modernity into Prussia's tradition of authoritarian rule.[4] On 28 July 1866, along with some members of the Old Liberals, they formed the Free Conservative Association, which within the year renamed itself the Free Conservative Party.[5] After the founding of the German Empire in 1871, the party ran in the Reichstag elections as the German Reich Party (Deutsche Reichspartei).[3]

The party was poorly organised internally and consisted of little more than the party contingents in the Reichstag and the Prussian Landtag. To establish a connection between the two, a national committee was formed in 1870, but it was not particularly active. Its office in Berlin was staffed by only one person. Before 1890 there was no official party leader, and the first party conference did not take place until 1906. Beginning in 1907, the official party structure consisted of an electoral association which was led by an executive board and committee. In the party's later phase, regional associations were established as well.[6]

The party newspaper was Die Post, which switched allegiance to the anti-government Pan-German camp in 1910.[7]

### Party manifesto

[edit]

The Free Conservatives had no fixed party program until 1906;[3] before then its founding manifesto, presented on 27 October 1867, served in place of one. The manifesto expressed only high-level political tenets. It saw the North German Confederation as an "extension of the Prussian monarchy" and praised its accomplishments as an absolute monarchical power, but then went on to say that absolutism's time had ended. The Confederation's people needed to have a part in determining their own destiny, and "the monarchy itself requires the cooperation of the people in order to fulfil its lofty mission". The party believed in a constitution but opposed the separation of powers:[8]

> We honour the state constitution as a source of strength for the monarchy, as an unfolding of popular customs and traditions, as the guarantor of the freedom of the church, of the equality of confessions, of the separation of political rights from religious faith. We also fight the antiquated doctrine of separation of powers; we counter that notion confidently with the principle of the communal exercise of unified state authority.

The manifesto stated that the party would support both federal and state governments when their policies placed the national interest first but would, "with true loyalty to king and Fatherland", uphold free conservative principles when a government's policies parted from them.[8]

### Membership

[edit]

The Free Conservative Party was a "party of notables" (Honoratiorenpartei), a party whose members came largely from the wealthy upper class and Bildungsbürgertum (educated middle class) and were able to participate in politics because of their financial independence. Many were high-ranking civil servants, military men, university professors and representatives of trade and industry. Because its members filled a large number of posts as ministers and state undersecretaries, it was sometimes referred to as the party of "ministers and diplomats". Rather than exercising policy influence through a party apparatus, it did so through personal contacts, including many at the imperial court.[4][9] In the 1867 Reichstag it was represented by three princes, two dukes, nine counts and eleven barons. Its leading members were the landowner Wilhelm von Kardorff and mining industrialist Carl Ferdinand von Stumm. Geographically it had particular strengths in Silesia and Prussia's Rhine Province.[10] The party had close ties to the nationalist Pan-German League (founded in 1891) and the German Agrarian League (1893).[3]

### Policies

[edit]

Politically, the Free Conservatives stood between the National Liberals and the German Conservative Party. As a decidedly pro-government party, they supported Bismarck's anti-Catholic Kulturkampf and, as the party of the elites, his Anti-Socialist Laws.[3] In 1878 it was the driving force behind the shift towards a protective tariff policy.[11] With support from some members of the German Conservative Party, the Free Conservatives opposed Bismarck when he ended the Kulturkampf and began to introduce social reforms such as health insurance for workers. They wanted to see the Anti-Socialist Laws strengthened and advocated a stronger military and more colonisation.[12] From 1887 to 1890 (the final years of Bismarck's chancellorship), it was one of the cartel parties – an electoral alliance of the Free Conservatives, the German Conservative Party and the National Liberals – which Bismarck saw as his only reliable source of support.[13] With the cartel in the majority following the 1887 Reichstag election, it was able to push through the second seven-year military budget (septennate) that Bismarck wanted.[14]

At the beginning of the Wilhelmine era (1890–1918), the party lost 22 seats in the 1890 Reichstag election, dropping from 41 to 19. It never recovered its former strength; the greatest number of seats it was able to achieve afterwards was 28 in the 1893 election.[15] The party continued to oppose moves towards parliamentarisation but was open to changes in the Prussian three-class franchise, which weighted votes by the amount of taxes paid, as long as they did not lead to an equal, universal manhood voting system such as was used in elections to the national Reichstag.[3]

During the First World War, the party advocated annexationist war aims, opposed the Reichstag's 1917 peace resolution and supported the militaristic German Fatherland Party after it was founded in 1917.[3] On 13 December 1918, during the early weeks of the German revolution, the executive board of the Free Conservatives advised party members to join the right-wing German National People's Party (DNVP), effectively disbanding the 52-year-old party.[16]

## Election results

[edit]

Reichstag  Date  | Votes  | Seats  | Rank

|
|
|

No.  | %  | ± pct  | No.  | ±
February 1867 | 348,537  | 9.33  | New |

39 / 297

| New | 4th
August 1867 | 205,792  | 8.95  |  0.38  |

36 / 297

|  3  |  4th
1871 | 343,098  | 8.83  |  0.12  |

37 / 382

|  1  |  5th
1874 | 388,840  | 7.49  |  1.34  |

32 / 397

|  5  |  4th
1877 | 424,228  | 7.85  |  0.36  |

38 / 397

|  6  |  5th
1878 | 785,631  | 13.64  |  5.79  |

57 / 397

|  19  |  3rd
1881 | 382,149  | 7.50  |  6.14  |

27 / 397

|  30  |  6th
1884 | 387,637  | 6.85  |  0.65  |

28 / 397

|  1  |  6th
1887 | 736,389  | 9.77  |  2.92  |

41 / 397

|  13  |  6th
1890 | 461,307  | 6.38  |  3.39  |

19 / 397

|  22  |  6th
1893 | 437,972  | 5.71  |  0.67  |

28 / 397

|  9  |  6th
1898 | 337,601  | 4.35  |  1.36  |

22 / 397

|  6  |  6th
1903 | 336,617  | 3.54  |  0.81  |

21 / 397

|  1  |  6th
1907 | 471,863  | 4.19  |  0.65  |

24 / 397

|  3  |  6th
1912 | 396,948  | 3.25  |  0.94  |

14 / 397

|  10  |  6th

Source: Wahlen in Deutschland bis 1918

## Notable members

[edit]

Wilhelm von Kardorff, one of the founders of the Free Conservative Party

* Hans Hartwig von Beseler, general
* Johann Viktor Bredt, expert in constitutional law
* Hermann von Dechend, financial expert
* Hans Delbrück, historian
* Karl Rudolf Friedenthal, businessman and solicitor
* Hermann von Hatzfeldt, civil servant and general
* Hugo zu Hohenlohe-Öhringen, politician, mining industrialist and general
* Wilhelm von Kardorff, politician and agricultural estate owner
* Karl Max, Prince Lichnowsky, diplomat
* Eduard von Liebert, military officer, colonial administrator and statesman
* Viktor I, Duke of Ratibor, politician
* Carl Ferdinand von Stumm-Halberg, politician and mining industrialist

## See also

[edit]

* Conservatism in Germany

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Philip G. Dwyer, ed. (2014). Modern Prussian History: 1830-1947. Routledge. p. 93\. ISBN 9781317887003. "The liberal conservatism of the parliamentary group around Bethmann—Hollweg would later appear in the FreiKonservative Partei."
2. ^ Marco E.L. Guidi, Massimo M. Augello, ed. (2014). Economists in Parliament in the Liberal Age: (1848–1920). Routledge. p. 93\. ISBN 9781351941778. "... FK: Freikonservative Partei (Liberal Conservative Party); FrVp: Freisinnige Volkspartei (Liberal People's Party); K: Konservative Partei (Conservative Party); Linke (Left); Linkes Zentrum (Left Centre); ..."
3. ^ a b c d e f g Asmuss, Burkhard; Scriba, Arnulf (2 September 2016). "Die Freikonservative Partei 1866–1918". Deutsches Historisches Museum (in German). Retrieved 2 January 2025.
4. ^ a b Craig, Gordon Alexander (1978). Germany, 1866–1945. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 11\. ISBN 978-0-198-22113-5.
5. ^ Meister, Aloys (1923). Gebhardts Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte [Gebhardt's Handbook of German History] (in German). Vol. 3\. Stuttgart: Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft. p. 210.
6. ^ Stalmann, Volker (2003). "Die konservativen Parteien" [The Conservative Parties (1867–1918)]. In Gall, Lothar (ed.). Regierung, Parlament und Öffentlichkeit im Zeitalter Bismarcks. Politikstile im Wandel [Government, Parliament and the Public in the Age of Bismarck: Changing Political Styles] (in German). Paderborn: Schöningh. pp. 91–126\. ISBN 3-506-79223-7.91-126&rft.pub=Schöningh&rft.date=2003&rft.isbn=3-506-79223-7&rft.aulast=Stalmann&rft.aufirst=Volker&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Free+Conservative+Party" class="Z3988">
7. ^ Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon [Brockhaus Conversational Dictionary] (in German). Vol. 13 (14 ed.). Leipzig: Brockhaus. 1895. p. 313.
8. ^ a b "Imperial and Free Conservative Party, Founding Manifesto (October 27, 1867)4". GHDI (German History in Documents and Images). Retrieved 4 January 2025.
9. ^ Beck, Hermann (2008). The Fateful Alliance. German Conservatives and Nazis in 1933: the Machtergreifung in a New Light. Oxford, UK: Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-845-45496-8.
10. ^ Wehler, Hans-Ulrich (1995). Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte [German Social History] (in German). Vol. 3\. Munich: C.H. Beck. p. 345\. ISBN 3-406-32263-8.
11. ^ Wehler 1995, p. 639.
12. ^ Wehler 1995, p. 924.
13. ^ Röhl, John C. G. (1966). "The Disintegration of the Kartell and the Politics of Bismarck's Fall from Power, 1887-90". The Historical Journal. 9 (1). Cambridge University Press: 61. doi:10.1017/S0018246X00026376. JSTOR 2637730 - via JSTOR.
14. ^ Winkler, Heinrich August (2014). Der Lange Weg nach Westen [The Long Road to the West] (in German). Vol. 1\. Munich: C.H. Beck. p. 254\. ISBN 978-3-406-66080-1.
15. ^ "Wahlen in Deutschland bis 1918. Reichstag Wahlen" [Elections in Germany to 1918. Reichstag Elections]. Wahlen in Deutschland (in German). Retrieved 9 January 2025.
16. ^ Schmitz, Sven-Uwe (2009). Konservativismus [Conservatism] (in German). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. p. 110\. ISBN 978-3-531-91610-1.

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Political parties in Germany until the end of World War I

Socialist|

* General German Workers' Association (ADAV)
* Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP)
* Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
* Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD)
* Majority Social Democratic Party of Germany (MSPD)

Catholic|

* Centre Party (Zentrum)

Liberal|

| Social liberal|

* German Progress Party (DFP)
* Democratic People's Party (DVP)
* German People's Party (DtVP)
* Liberal Union (LV)
* German Free-minded Party (DFsP)
* Free-minded People's Party (FVP)
* Free-minded Union (FV)
* National-Social Association (NSV)
* Democratic Union (DV)
* Progressive People's Party (FVP)

|

National liberal|

* National Liberal Party (NLP)
* Imperial Liberal Party (LRP)

Conservative|

* Free Conservative Party (FKP)
* German Conservative Party (DkP)
* Christian Social Party (CSP)
* German Fatherland Party
* Conservative Party (Prussia)

Antisemitic|

* German Reform Party (DRP)
* German Social Party (DSP)
* German Social Reform Party (DSRP)

Regionalist|

* Saxon People's Party
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