Founding and organisation , one of the founders of the Free Conservative Party 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. 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. 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. After the founding of the German Empire in 1871, the party ran in the
Reichstag elections as the German Reich Party (). The party newspaper was , which switched allegiance to the anti-government
Pan-German camp in 1910.
Party manifesto The Free Conservatives had no fixed party program until 1906;
Membership The Free Conservative Party was a "party of notables" (), a party whose members came largely from the wealthy upper class and (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.'' 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. The party had close ties to the nationalist
Pan-German League (founded in 1891) and the
German Agrarian League (1893). 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. 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. The party continued to oppose moves towards a
parliamentary system 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. == Election results ==