Adolf Hermann Hagen
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Adolf Hermann Wilhelm Hagen (23 September 1820 – 17 August 1894) was a public official in
Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
. He was also a banker and a liberal politician. He is known for the "Hagen resolution", presented in the
Prussian House of Representatives The Prussian House of Representatives () was the lower chamber of the Landtag of Prussia (), the parliament of Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the upper house, the Prussian House of Lords, House of Lords (), it formed ...
in 1862, which triggered a general election and heralded the end of the so-called (and as matters turned out short-lived) "New Era" in Prussian politics.


Early life

Adolf Hagen (in some sources ''Adolph'' Hagen) was born into a leading family of successful intellectuals in
Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...
, the principal city in what was then
East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...
. His father was Carl Heinrich Hagen, a leading lawyer, socio-economist and senior government official. An uncle was the pioneering professor for
Art history Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...
and
Aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...
, Ernst August Hagen. The chemist
Karl Gottfried Hagen Karl Gottfried Hagen (24 December 1749 – 2 March 1829) was a German chemist. Hagen was born and died in Königsberg, Prussia. He founded the first German chemical laboratory at the University of Königsberg, thus establishing the scientific di ...
was his grandfather.


Career

Hagen studied
jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...
at Königsberg and then, in 1843, entered into public service in Königsberg. In 1854 he became "city treasurer" (''Stadtkämmerer'') for
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and a salaried
councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...
, positions he retained, following re-election in 1866, till 1871. He then switched his principal focus into the private sector, taking a directorship with the Deutsche Unionbank, and was involved in the creation of several public companies. After the bank was dissolved he returned to civic duties, and in 1876 became a Berlin alderman. In Königsberg he was elected a local administrator (''Landrat'') in 1856, and during the 1860s he was three times elected Lord Mayor of Königsberg. However, the government in Berlin refused to confirm the election results and he was accordingly prevented from taking up the offices. Between 1862 and 1876 he sat as a member of the Prussian House of Representatives (''Preußisches Abgeordnetenhaus'') where he represented the newly formed Progressive Party (''Deutsche Fortschrittspartei''/ DFP). Shortly after his election to the House of Representatives, in 1862 he presented a plenary resolution on the contentious issue of Prussia's military budget. The background was the rejection, by the Progressive Party which Hagen represented, of increased financial provision for army reform. Hagen's motion called for a binding obligation on government to provide a breakdown of state budgets. The motion gained support from members the larger Liberal and Catholic parties, and was passed by the assembly. The king was enraged and threatened to abdicate. The finance minister agreed with the sense of the Hagen Resolution, but resigned because he correctly concluded that the government had lost the confidence of the king. Leading "Old-style Liberal" ministers followed von Patow's example and the government collapsed. The king appointed new ministers who were closer politically to his own conservative preferences, but who were unable to command a majority in the assembly. The crisis escalated till September 1862 when the king appointed
Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...
to head the government. Bismarck accepted the appointment only on condition that he was also appointed to the position of
Foreign Minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...
. Despite the king's misgivings, which were shared by many in the political establishment, Bismarck proved a formidable political fixer, while Adolf Hagen has gone down in history as the man whose plenary resolution paved the way for the Prussian Constitutional Crisis and the Bismarck era. Between 1867 and 1877 Hagen was also a member of the German Reichstag.Specht, Fritz / Schwabe, Paul: ''Die Reichstagswahlen von 1867 bis 1903. Eine Statistik der Reichstagswahlen nebst den Programmen der Parteien und einem Verzeichnis der gewählten Abgeordneten''. 2nd Edition Publisher: Carl Heymann, Berlin, 1904, p. 23 After that he retired from politics. In 1871 he was awarded the honorific title Berlin City Elder (''"Stadtältester von Berlin"'') in recognition of his public service to the city.


Personal life

Adolf Hagen's first marriage was to his cousin, Johanna Louise Amalie Bessel (1826–1856), daughter of the astronomer-mathematician
Friedrich Bessel Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (; 22 July 1784 – 17 March 1846) was a German astronomer, mathematician, physicist, and geodesy, geodesist. He was the first astronomer who determined reliable values for the distance from the Sun to another star by th ...
. He married secondly Anna Claussen (1831–1905). His children included: *
Ernst Bessel Hagen Carl Ernst Bessel Hagen (who published under the name Ernst Hagen; 31 January 1851 – 15 January 1923) was a German applied and experimental physicist. With Heinrich Rubens, he identified the so-called Hagen–Rubens equation (1903). Life Carl ...
, physicist (1851-1923) * , physician (1856-1945) * Werner Hagen, diplomat (1864–1921)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hagen, Adolf Hermann 1820 births 1894 deaths Politicians from Königsberg Businesspeople from Königsberg Bankers from the Kingdom of Prussia Politicians from East Prussia German Protestants German Progress Party politicians Members of the Prussian House of Representatives Members of the 1st Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 2nd Reichstag of the German Empire German bankers Members of the Reichstag of the North German Confederation