Orlan von Hammerstein

Orlan von Hammerstein (1815 - 1870) was a German Chancellor, politician and industrialist. He was the founder and leader of subsequently the Liberale Vereinigung (1850-1865) and the Deutsche Demokratische Partei (1865-1870). From 1855 to 1860, he was Chancellor of the North German Federation, during which the southern German states joined the NGF. Orlan was the son of Karl von Hammerstein and the father-in-law of Beatrix von Hammerstein. Orlan was widely unpopular as a result of the way he treated his colleagues, often being called Germany's most hated man, or even Germany's biggest clown.

Life before politics
Orlan von Hammerstein was born in 1815 in Berlin, because his father wanted him and his brother to grow up in the city as he pursued his burgeoning career as an industrial capitalist, Orlan was greatly interested in the newest advancements, political, military or economic, from an early age. While studying in university at age 20, he happened to meet the common woman, Charlotte Schanz, a bright young maid of one of his professors, who was being informally taught the basics of medicine on the side. Quickly falling in love with her, Orlan married her after proposing to her with a beautiful and valuable wedding ring paid from what would be Orlan’s inheritance. They had two kids. Anne, in 1836 and Reinhard in 1839.

Landing himself a job as a bureaucrat, Orlan learned a whole lot about the Prussian state and how it ticks and by and large, he found it equal parts exasperating and enraging. During the 1843 Free Press Uprising, while Orlan was in Berlin working in the Prussian bureaucracy, he heard the news that his wife had been mortality injured during a protest, shot by musket fire. As he’d learn from his wife as she died, she had been working to help treat the wounded when a unit fired on protesters, hitting her among other civilians. On her deathbed, she returned the ring that Orlan had first proposed to her with, asking him to promise to love again.

In the aftermath of the jacobin uprising of 43’, Orlan grew disgusted with working under brutal conservative governments and instead took a job helping manage his father’s business affairs, which he developed a gift for. It is here, also, he came in further contact with the downtrodden within Prussia's lower classes, causing a sort of political revelation in him he’d be only coming to terms with. Nonetheless, his experience in the Prussian bureaucracy has taught him strict opposition to state intervention in industrial affairs, as he knows well that such intervention will only mean economic development stifled by the interests of corrupt landlords and single minded officers.

Life as a politician
In 1850, three years after his father died, Orlan joined the Prussian Landtag and founded his own party, the Liberale Vereinigung. Already from very early on, he campaigned for higher tariffs and lower taxes, an idea that would set him up against the main proponents of the Free Trade Consensus, such as Ruprecht and his brother Karl Birnbaum. In 1855, Orlan von Hammerstein participated in the elections for the North German Reichstag. That same year, he was part of the Compromise of '55 with other prominent leaders such as Wilhelm von Hoth, Friedrich Krüger, Leopold von Hofmeinster, Wilhelm von Rotstein and King Wilhelm I himself. It was Orlan who suggested to reform the Chancellorship to be directly elected by the Reichstag, but it was also him who suggested getting rid of the Chancellor's overriding veto. After the Compromise was passed in the Reichstag, new elections were called.

After these new elections, Orlan von Hammerstein became Bundeskanzler by blackmailing himself into office. The LV was part of the Liberale Allianz at the time, but threatened to coalition with the Freikonservative Partei and the Preussische Vaterlandspartei should the rest of the alliance not make him Chancellor. The move was Orlan's first step towards becoming Germany's most hated man. After having blackmailed himself into office, von Hammerstein faced opposition from both within and without his own coalition. His influence as Chancellor could mostly be felt during Reichstag procedures during which he didn't hesitate to arrest political opponents for speaking out against him, such as Magnus von Klopp. The only person von Hammerstein listened to was himself. During his Chancellorship, Germany was united not because of him, but rather despite him. The brave sacrifices of the German army overshadowed any legacy von Hammerstein could have left behind. During von Hammerstein's Chancellorship, the Free Trade Consensus was given form but would often be challenged by protectionists, including von Hammerstein himself.

In 1860, after his term in office was over, Orlan published an autobiography titled "Last of the Federation, First of the Empire." In it, he recounted the negotiations for the 1855 Constitution, his time as Chancellor and the return of Wilhelm von Hoth. He made fun of the naivety of the left, the spinlessness of the centre, the entitlement of the right and his own stubborness, which would further strain his relationship with the rest of the Reichstag. At the conclusion of the book, von Hammerstein writes:

"The unifying political conviction of the political class, regardless of ideology, is that the Herr von Hoth and the right wing of the Reichstag has a quasi-divine right to rule and that any attempt to build an alternative is more or less looked upon as if it were Lucifer's rebellion. They believe that such an order is a requirement for political peace. All political disagreement must occur within submission to the fact. The socialists in the SPD believe this as much as the liberals in the PKW. What they fail to realize, is should the day ever come that the right wing can not govern, the result will be a power vaccum that brings about the chaos they long guarded against. My foolish mistake was thinking that I could stand against that rushing current on my own, for that reason I climbed to high office. In hindsight, no one man can be a movement and the best I can do is wait until a movement to provide an alternative emerges."

Despite von Hammerstein's warnings and predictions, there were several successful governments without any right wing parties being involved. "Last of the Federation, First of the Empire" was criticized by contemporaries who loathed von Hammerstein's God complex and self-entitlement. Furthermore, after his Chancellorship, von Hammerstein became more and more isolated in the Reichstag, urging him to rebrand the Liberale Vereinigung in 1865 to become the Deutsche Demokratische Partei. But the change in name was to no avail and in 1867, Orlan von Hammerstein would make the biggest blunder of his career. During the 1867 Reichstag Session, he once again campaigned for tariffs against the Free Trade Consensus, but in doing so he talked about dollars and gold, resulting in him being mocked. Not long after the session, Orlan announced his official retirement from politics.

Later life and death
The last few years in Orlan's life were as tragic as his death. Finding himself completely isolated from political allies, he had no one to rely on to defend his views in the Reichstag. As a result, the DDP disbanded in 1870 and its members mostly joined the Nationalliberale Partei. That same year, Orlan would lose his life, and that of his son, in a tragic boat accident. There are many wild theories surrounding his death. Some claim it was a plot by right-wing politicians to get rid of a widely unpopular opponent, others blame members of the Free Trade Consensus. Some are even saying it was an elaborate suicide, but the theory which holds the most merit is that Orlan and his son were killed by Beatrix von Hammerstein. She clearly had motive as she inherited Orlan's large estate and factories. Those who follow this theory point to the fact that the marriage between Beatrix and Orlan's son was never official and that she thus had a reason to kill her husband before the truth came out.

Capitalist ventures
A lesser known fact about Orlan von Hammerstein is his rise as a powerful and wealthy industrialist, mostly because his factories and wealth would later be inherited by Karl Jürgen von Krieger following the Beatrix Scandal. In addition to the cement factory in Westfalen that he had inherited from his father, Orlan build a glass factory in Silesia in 1863 and a machine parts factory in the same region shortly before his death in 1870. That year, he had also founded the Brandenburg Bank AG. During his lifetime, he also cooperated often with Elouise von Märchenlied, who could be considered as perhaps one of Orlan's few friends, providing her with loans and even owning some shares in her glass factory in the Palatinate.