Why did Protestants consider Catholics unpatriotic in Bismarck’s Reich? What were the sources of the German Kulturkampf?

During Bismarck’s reign, Catholics were not well perceived by Protestants, particularly the conservative Protestants and the liberals. In the wake of the industrial age and technological progress, most German states were being industrialized and modernized. However, in the rural states of Baden, Bavaria, Alsace-Lorraine, West Prussia, Posen, Rhineland, Westphalia and in Upper Silesia where Catholics were the majority, education was still led by the Church. There were very little movement and interaction between them and the rest of the German citizens. Overall, Protestants were distrustful of the Catholic Church for they saw the Catholics as a burden for the newly founded German economy. In addition, while Protestants were mostly workers, living in the cities, looking forward to increasing capitalism, Catholics for the most part opposed modernity and were mostly traditional ‘ultramontanist’ farmers living in disconnected spaces and many upheld monarchical tendencies, seeing revolutions as negative and dangerous. While Catholics were perceived as slowing down the economy, Protestants were also alarmed at the number of monasteries and convents, which controlled many of the German lands.  

It is in this context that the Kulturkampf (1871–87) emerged. The diplomatic battle led by German chancellor Otto von Bismarck wished to subject the Roman Catholic Church to state controls. The Empire was still fragile and Bismarck wanted to work towards consolidating it and secularizing church matters as he was concerned with the power of the Catholic church in Germany. In particular, he considered the Catholic-led Center Party as a threat to his political agendas and accused the priests of encouraging Polish nationalism in certain part of the country. Bismarck was further reluctant in the Pope's power and authority over the German Catholics and thus became incredibly concerned with the Vatican Council’s proclamation of papal infallibility. To remedy the situation, Bismarck issued a number of laws from 1871 to 1876 to enforce the supremacy of the state over the church. Those 22 laws were directed against clerics: priests, nuns and bishops were massively targeted and altogether formed the Kulturkampf era.