1912 German federal election

The 13th German election of 1912 is most notable for the major breakthrough of the leftist Social Democratic Party (SPD, Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands). It more than doubled its seat total from the 1907 election.

Some historians, such as Fritz Fischer have theorized that World War I was partially a result of the strategy of the conservative Prussian Junkers to deal with this result. In an attempt to drum up support for conservative parties and policies, to distract the population from the SPD they hoped to drum up patriotism in an external conflict with Russia or another east European state such as Serbia. Other authors, such as Niall Ferguson, feel that German conservatives were ambivalent about a war, worrying that losing a war would have disastrous consequences, and even a successful war might alienate the population if it were lengthy or difficult. See: Causes of World War I for details.

Results

Party	Seats
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD - Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands)	110
Centre Party	91
National Liberals (NL - Nationalliberalen)	45
Conservatives (DK - Deutschkonservativen)	43
Liberals (FVP - Fortschrittliche Volkspartei)	42
Polish Regionalists (P - Polen)	18
Conservative Nationalists (DRP - Deutsche Reichspartei)	14
Liberals (FV - Freisinnige Vereinigung)	14
Economy Party (WV - Wirtschaftspartei)	10
French and Alsatian regionalists (A - Asatianen)	9
German-Hannoveranian Party (DHP - Deutsch-Hannoversche Partei)	5
Anti-Semites (AS - Antisemiten)	3
Farmers (BL - Bund der Landwirte)	2
Other	2
Danish Regionalists (D - Daenen)	1
Total	409

Preceded by 1907

German elections

Succeeded by 1919