Ludwig Windthorst

Who was Ludwig Windthorst?

Ludwig Windthorst, was a German politician and leader of the Catholic Centre Party, the most notable opponent of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck during the Prussian-led unification of Germany and the Kulturkampf. Anderson argues that he was "Imperial Germany's greatest parliamentarian," one who bears comparison with Irishmen Daniel O'Connell and Charles Stewart Parnell "in his handling of party machinery and his relation to the masses."

He entered politics in the revolutionary years of 1848-49 in the small Protestant kingdom of Hanover, where his legal and political skills overcame the handicap of near blindness and being in an unpopular minority. He supported Hanoverian independence and was loyal to monarchism. He was not a Liberal but they admired his opposition to the king's reactionary policies and his strong support for an independent judiciary and the rights of the accused. He served in 1851 and 1862 as minister of justice.

When Prussia absorbed Hanover and then set up the German Empire in 1871, Windthorst became a leader of the all-Catholic Centre Party. It won over 80% of the Catholic vote in a new nation that was one-third Catholic.