ABSTRACT
The foremost episodes in the domestic history of Germany during of Bismarck's Chancellorship having been related in detail, other notable events and tendencies incidental to the new epoch may be reviewed more summarily. The dominant mark of this epoch was expansion, in the form of greater political influence abroad and in the development of the nation's material resources at home. The war of 1870-1871 had not been attended in Germany by any of the violent economic and social disturbances which had convulsed France. The economic transition which was diverting the nation's energies in an increasing degree from agricultural into industrial and mercantile channels was illustrated by the growing aggregation of population in the towns. For the first half of the century Germany still ranked as an impoverished country. New forms of commercial enterprise, and especially the public company system, enlisted the resources of the community in the service of trade and industry upon a scale unknown and impossible hitherto.
