1. Two valuable bibliographical articles dealing with Wilhelmian Germany demonstrate the developing new orientation. Snell, John L., “Imperial Germany's Tragic Era: Threshhold to Democracy or Foreground of Nazism?”, Journal of Central European Affairs 18 (01 1959): 380–95; 19 (Apr. 1959): 57–75.Google ScholarSheehan, James J., “Germany, 1890–1918: A Survey of Recent Research,” Central European History 1, no. 4 (12 1968): 345–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Snell showed particular interest in diplomatic events. Sheehan noted (pp. 346–47) the increasing concern of historians for social history and interest groups. Of the more than four hundred titles mentioned in these two articles, only eleven works referred to the press.

2. Munster, Hans A., Geschichte der deutschen Presse in ihren Grundzügen dargestellt (Leipzig, 1941), pp. 126–51, provides a chronological table of the major events in German press history.Google Scholar For the early period Schottenloher, Karl, Flugblatt and Zeitung (Berlin, 1922), offers interesting insights.Google ScholarGroth, Otto, Die Zeitung, 4 vols. (Mannheim, 1928–1930), is still the indispensable standard work on all aspects of German journalism; the second volume details press history.Google Scholar The best of the recent overviews of the field are: Lindemann, Margot, Deutsche Presse bis 1815 (Berlin, 1969),Google Scholar and Koszyk, Kurt, Deutsche Presse im 19. Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1966).Google Scholar

3. The Diet lifted its ban on censorship on Mar. 3, 1848. Under the impact of the revolutions, Saxony lifted the restriction on Mar. 9, Austria on Mar. 15, Prussia on Mar. 17, and Bavaria on June 4. However, other restrictions and penalties remained, and were used as means of repression during the period of reaction. Koszyk, pp. 120–26.

4. Muser, Gerhard, Statistische Untersuchung über die Zeitungen Deutschlands 1885–1914 (Leipzig, 1918), pp. 10–15.Google ScholarSchacht, Hjalmar, “Statistische Untersuchung über die Presse Deutschlands,” Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik 3rd series, 15 (1898): 508–9, 512, 518.Google Scholar This expansion was not universally hailed, however. Writing in 1875, Heinrich Wuttke lamented that every little entrepreneur who could muster paper and a press went into the newspaper business, contributing to a serious decline in the quality and content of journalism, and discouraging the development of any major national newspaper. Wuttke, Heinrich, Die deutschen Zeitschriften und die Entstehung der öffentlichen Meinung, 3rd ed. (Leipzig, 1875), pp. 101–5.Google Scholar

5. A convenient introduction to the field of German press research is provided by: Franzmeyer, Fr., Presse-Dissertationen an deutschen Hochschulen 1885–1938 (Leipzig, 1940),Google Scholar and Spiess, Volker, Verzeichniss deutschsprachiger Hochschulschriften zur Publizistik 1885–1967 (Berlin, 1969).Google Scholar See also: Bömer, Karl, Bibliographisches Handbuch der Zeitungswissenschaft (Leipzig, 1929), and Otto Groth.Google Scholar

Less comprehensive are the studies of the regional press, for example: Baasch, Ernst, Geschichte des Hamburgischen Zeitungswesens von den Anfängen bis 1914 (Hamburg, 1930);Google ScholarBensheimer, Ernst J., Die politische Tagespresse Badens am Beginn des XX. Jahrhunderts (Heidelberg, 1910);Google ScholarBurkhardt, Hans, Die politische Tagespresse des Königreichs Sachsen (Heidelberg, 1914);Google ScholarBuschmann, Hugo, Die deutsche Lokalpresse (Bielefeld, 1922);Google ScholarGroth, Otto, Die politische Presse Württembergs (Stuttgart, 1915).Google Scholar

Groth, Muser, and Schacht provide valuable statistical surveys. Typical of the biographical approach are: Friehe, Ernst Gerhard, Geschichte der “National-Zeitung” (Leipzig, 1933);Google Scholar[Zeitung, Frankfurter], Geschichte der Frankfurter Zeitung, Volksausgabe (Frankfurt a.M., 1911);Google ScholarHale, Oron, The Captive Press in the Third Reich (Princeton, 1964); Kosyk;Google ScholarRieger, Isolde, Die Wilhelminische Presse im Überblick (Munich, 1957);Google ScholarWeinhold, Kurt, Verlag M. DuMont Schauberg, Köln: Die Geschichte eines Zeitungshauses 1620–1945 (Cologne, 1969);Google Scholar and Fischer's, Heinz-Dietrich four compilations: Deutsche Publizisten des 15. bis 20. Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1971);Google ScholarDeutsche Zeitungen des 17. bis 20. Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1972);Google ScholarDeutsche Zeitschriften des 17. bis 20. Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1973);Google ScholarDeutsche Presseverleger des 18. bis 20. Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1975).Google Scholar

Representative works dealing with the political impact of the press include: Apitzsch, Friedrich, Die deutsche Tagespresse unter dem Einfluss der Sozialistengesetzes (Leipzig, 1928);Google ScholarDaun, Johannes, “Die Innenpolitik der Kölnischen Zeitung in der Wilhelminischen Epoche 1890 bis 1914” (Ph.D. diss., Cologne, 1964);Google ScholarEngelsing, Rolf, Massenpublikum und Journalistentum in 19. Jahrhundert in Nordwestdeutschland (Berlin, 1966);Google ScholarHale, Oron, Publicity and Diplomacy (New York, 1940);Google ScholarHeidorn, G., Monopol-Presse-Krieg (Berlin, 1960);Google ScholarNaujoks, Eberhard, Bismarcks auswārtige Pressepolitik und die Reichsgründung (1865–1871) (Wiesbaden, 1968);Google ScholarSchaefer, Jurgen W., Kanzlerbild und Kanzlermythos in der Zeit des “Neuen Curses” (Paderborn, 1973);Google ScholarSchosser, Erich, Presse und Landtag in Bayem 1850 bis 1918 (Munich, 1968).Google Scholar

Stoklossa, Paul, “Der Inhalt der Zeitung,” Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft 66 (1910): 555–65, is an attempt at statistical content analysis of thirteen Berlin and seventeen provincial papers.Google Scholar However, the author deliberately chose a single week during the “political dog days” of August, and the line-count analysis of what was presented to the public makes no attempt to assess what impact this had upon it. There was no apparent effort to expand this field of analysis.

6. Hale, Captive Press, p. 2.

7. Schacht, p. 518.

8. The Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung came directly under Bismarck's control early in its publishing history. On Nov. 21, 1862, shortly after he accepted the Prussian Minister- Presidency, Bismarck wrote Count Bernsdorff of his intention to develop that paper as an outlet for the government. He provided it with an annual subsidy thereafter, although the paper made no outward acknowledgement of the fact. See: Schulze, Heinz, Die Presse im Urteil Bismarcks (Leipzig, 1931), p. 240;Google ScholarKoszyk, pp. 137, 233;Google ScholarNaujoks, pp. 30–31. Although the relationship between Bismarck and the Norddeutsche became apparent, there was and is uncertainty about the degree to which his successors also relied upon that paper.Google Scholar

The Kölnische developed contacts with the Foreign Office early in Bismarck's Minister-Presidency, and these were retained throughout much of the imperial era. This interaction contributed directly to the removal of Chancellor Caprivi from office in 1894, when the Kaiser was horrified to read the details of his private conversation with the Chancellor in an edition of the paper on Oct. 25. Nevertheless, under the direction of Otto Hammann, the press section of the Foreign Office continued to be very accessible to reporters from the Kolnische. Naujoks, p. 31; Nichols, J. Alden, Germany after Bismarck (New York, 1958), pp. 351–54;CrossRefGoogle ScholarHaller, Johannes, Aus dent Leben des Fürsten Philipp zu Eulenburg-Hertefeld, 2d ed. (Berlin, 1926), pp. 162–66.Google ScholarKölnische Zeitung, no. 856 (Oct. 25, 1894), p. 1; Hammann, Otto, Die neue Kurs (Berlin, 1918), pp. 91–92, 104.Google Scholar

9. Turk, Eleanor L., “The Political Press and the People's Rights: The Role of the Political Press in the Debates over the Association Right in Germany, 1894–1899” (Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1975).Google Scholar

10. Groth complained that reliable circulation statistics were almost impossible to obtain. Groth, 1: 239–40. Muser recorded that federal and state statisticians abandoned an attempt, made in 1908, to compile a comprehensive and uniform body of press statistics. Muser, pp. 7–8.

11. Hagelweide, Gert, German Newspapers in Libraries and Archives (Düsseldorf, 1974).Google Scholar This work is published in a bilingual dual edition, including the German-language text, Deutsche Zeitungsbestände in Bibliotheken uni Archiven.

12. Hammann, pp. 107–8.

13. The Prussian Minister of Interior, Ernst von Köller, tried unsuccessfully to curtail the unauthorized press activities of the other ministers, who were quite in the habit of leaking or inspiring articles for the press. Geheimes Staatsarchiv der Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin-Dahlem, Rep, 90, Nr. 2414, Stm 3381/94, Köller to Hohenlohe, Nov. 24, 1894. See Vogel, Walter, “Die Organisation der amtlichen Presse- und Propagandapolitik des Deutschen Reiches,” Zeitungswissenschaft 8/9, no. 16 (1941): 9–25, for discussion of the failure to establish an effective government press bureau.Google Scholar

14. See: Bauer, Wilhelm, “Die moderne Presse als Geschichtsquelle,” Zeitungsgeschichtliche Mitteilungen 4 (1921): 9–10;Google ScholarMommsen, Wilhelm, “Die Zeitung als historische Quelle,” Vierteljahrsschrift für Politik und Geschichte 14 (1926): 244–51;Google ScholarSpahn, Martin, “Die Presse als Quelle der neuesten Geschichte und ihre gegenwärtigen Benutzungsmöglichkeiten,” Internationale Monatsschrift für Wissenschqft, Kunst und Technik 2 (1908): 1164–70, 1202–12.Google Scholar

15. Hale, Captive Press, p. 3.