National Liberal Party of Germany Nationalliberale Partei (Deutschland) | |
|---|---|
| Founder | Eduard Lasker |
| Founded | 1867 |
| Dissolved | ?? (integrated into Die Liberalen) |
| Headquarters | Berlin |
| Ideology | National liberalism Classical liberalism Constitutional monarchism Reformism |
| Colors | yellow |
The National Liberal Party of Germany (Nationalliberale Partei Deutschland, NLP) was a liberal political party that existed throughout the 1800s and early 1900s in Germany. The NLP was the most right-wing of the three major German parties (together with the German Free Thinkers' Party, in the left, and the split Liberal Union of Germany in the centre).
The National Liberal Party split from the German Progress Party, as rightist politicians supported mild protectionism rather than full free trade. The National Liberals had wide support by the centre of German politics, including Otto von Bismarck, until his "conservative turn" shortly after the murder of Wilhelm I in 1878. With this change, the NLP changed its platform, from that of conservative liberalism to one of more radical liberalism, especially under the tutelage of Frederick IV, German Emperor, as it found itself as representing a left-wing of a mild-liberal coalition with the Catholic Centre Party between 1878 and 1884. Essentially becoming the "big business party", according to the side of the bourgeoisie it represented, it became essential in the Period of Reforms in the late 19th century, after withdrawing its support for the conservative Kulturkampf.