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TheGründerzeit (German pronunciation:[ˈɡʁʏndɐˌtsaɪt]ⓘ;lit. 'founders' period') was a period ofEuropean economic history in mid- and late-19th centuryGermany andAustria-Hungary betweenindustrialization and the greatstock market crash of 1873. Its name is derived from the manyincorporations of companies that occurred in the years between theFranco-Prussian War and the panic of 1873.
The term also refers to a cultural and architectural era which began in the mid-19th century and lasted until 1914.Gründerzeit architecture is closely associated withhistoricism, and occupies a prominent place in many Central European cities due to 19th-centuryurbanization.
The years constituting the economicGründerzeit are not universally agreed-upon. In the most narrow sense, the term refers to the two years following the founding of the German Empire in 1871 (also called theGründerjahre, or "founder's years"), in which Frenchwar reparations from theFranco-Prussian War charged massive growth and speculation.[1][2] Some economists have postulated that the era began in 1869, a year in whichcorporate law and theHandelsgesetzbuch were liberalized across Germany.[3][4] Others put the beginning of the period in the 1860s, or earlier, while most agree on the 1873 end-date.[5][6] Alternatively, German historian Christian Jansen delineates the period as lasting from theRevolutions of 1848 to thefounding of the German Empire.[7]Nikolai Kondratiev described the economic upswing in which theGründerzeit occurred as the growth phase of the secondKondratiev cycle.[8]
Industrialization andurbanization opened new stylistic frontiers, especially in architecture. However, industrialization's rapid and drastic changes also engendered a reaction, with many artists and members of the bourgeoisie turning to history and tradition (seeromanticism). This resulted in aneclectic development of existing forms.[9] "Gründerzeit style" is a term often inseparable fromhistoricism. Because historicism remained a predominant style until after 1900, the delineation of this art-historical era is imprecise.[10] In the context of stylistic history, it can refer to varying periods within the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as 1850–1873, 1871–1890, and sometimes even 1850–1914. The distinction of theGründerzeit from other periods (such as theBelle Époque) is not delineated.
According to conservative definitions, theGründerzeit was a very short-lived, but extraordinarily productive economic boom at the beginning of theGerman Empire. Hundreds of new businesses, banks and railways were founded in the few years assigned to the period.[6] The founding of joint-stock companies was crucial to the growth of the German economy: inPrussia, between 1867 and 1860, 88 of them were founded; between 1870 and 1873, 928 were founded.[11][12] However, as discussed prior, its beginning date has been placed as far earlier; any periodization includes Germany and Austria-Hungary's rapid economic development.
A decisive factor in this rapid economic development was the construction of newrailways. Typical “founders” were therefore railway entrepreneurs such asBethel Henry Strousberg. Railroads had a significant stimulating effect on other branches of industry, for example through the increased demand forcoal andsteel, so that industrial empires such as that ofFriedrich Krupp emerged during theGründerzeit. Mass production of non-industrial goods, such as foodstuffs, was made possible during this period by the birth of railroads. Perhaps most importantly, communication and migration were made much easier. Rural lower classes migrated en masse to the cities, where they became part of the emergingproletariat: in Germany, the expandedGründerzeit was the time in which thesocial question was first addressed bysocialists.
Reparations payments from theFrench Third Republic were enormously stimulating to the German economy. The five billion goldFrancs which the French state agreed to send were melted down and recast asgold Marks. Simultaneously, the new German state sold off its silver reserves and bought more gold on the world market. To counteract a devaluation of the silver currencies caused by the high amount of silver on the market, France was forced to limit the minting of silver coins (seeLatin Monetary Union).
German writers of the late 19th century used the termGründerzeit as a pejorative, because the cultural output of that movement was associated with materialism and nationalistic triumphalism. Cultural historianEgon Friedell complained that fraud in the stock market had not been the only swindle of theGründerzeit, lambasting greater cultural trends of the time.[13]
The need for housing rose in consequence of industrialization. Complete housing developments in the so-called Founding Era's Architecture style arose in previously green fields, and even today, Central European cities have many buildings from the time together along a single road or even in complete districts. The buildings have four to six stories and were often built by private property developers. They often sported richly decorated façades in the form ofHistoricism such asGothic Revival,Renaissance Revival,German Renaissance andBaroque Revival. Magnificent palaces for nouveau-riche citizens but also infamous rental housing for the expanding urban lower classes were built.
The period was also important for the integration of new technologies in architecture and design. A determining factor was the development of theBessemer process in steel production, which made the construction of steel façades possible. A classical example of the new form is the steel and glass construction of theCrystal Palace, completed in 1851, which was then revolutionary and inspired subsequent decades.
Gründerzeit districts, calledGründerzeitviertel [de], were built all over Germany, Austria and even in Hungary. In the German-speaking world, the architecture of theGründerzeit would be supplanted byJugendstil in the early 20th century.
In Austria, theGründerzeit began after 1840 with the industrialisation ofVienna, as well as the regions ofBohemia andMoravia. Liberalism reached its zenith in Austria in 1867 in Austria-Hungary and remained dominant until the mid-1870s.
Vienna, the imperial capital and the residence ofEmperor Franz Joseph, after the failed uprising of 1848 became the fourth-largest city in the world with the inclusion of suburbs and an influx of new residents from other regions of Austria. Where the city wall had once stood, aring road was built, and ambitious civic buildings, including theOpera House,Town Hall, andParliament, were also built. In contrast to agricultural workers and urban labourers, an increasingly-wealthy upper-middle class installed monuments and mansions. That occurred on a smaller scale in other cities such asGraz but on the periphery, which preserved the old city from destructive redevelopment.
In the mindset of many Germans, the epoch is intrinsically linked withKaiserWilhelm I andChancellorBismarck, but it did not end with them (in 1888 and 1890, respectively) but continued well into the reign of KaiserWilhelm II. It was aGolden Age for Germany in which the disasters of theThirty Years' War and theNapoleonic Wars were remedied, and the country competed internationally in the areas of science, technology, industry and commerce. Particularly, the German middle class rapidly increased its standard of living, buying modern furniture, kitchen fittings and household machines.
In German-speaking areas, a huge number of publications were produced that was comparable, on a per-capita basis, to modern levels. Most were academic papers or scientific and technical publications, often practical instruction manuals on topics such asdike construction. There was nocopyright law in most countries except in theUnited Kingdom. Since popular works were immediately republished by competitors, publishers needed a constant stream of new material. Fees paid to authors for new works were high and significantly supplemented the incomes of many academics. The prices of reprints were low and so publications could be bought by poorer people. A widespread public obsession with reading led to the rapidautodidactic dissemination of new knowledge to a broader audience. After copyright law gradually became established in the 1840s, the low-price mass market vanished, and fewer but more expensive editions were published.[14][15]
The social effects of industrialisation were the same as in other European nations. Increased agricultural efficiency and introduction of new agricultural machines led to a polarized distribution of income in the countryside. The landowners won out to the disadvantage of the agrarianunpropertied workforce. Emigration, most of it to America, and urbanisation were consequences.
In the rapidly-growing industrial cities, new workers' dwellings were erected, lacking in comfort by today's standards but criticised even then as unhealthy by physicians: "without light, air and sun", they were quite contrary to the prevailing ideas on town planning. The dark, cramped flats took much of the blame for the marked increase intuberculosis, which spread also to wealthier neighbourhoods.
Nevertheless, the working class also saw improvements of living standards and other conditions, such associal security through laws on workers'health insurance andaccident insurance introduced by Bismarck in 1883–1884, and in the long run also through the foundation of asocial democracy that would remain the model for the European sister parties untilHitler'sMachtübernahme in 1933. Even today, the model of social care developed by Bismarck in 1873 (theReichsversicherungsordnung) remains the contractual basis for health insurance in Germany.
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