Kulturkampf

American  

[kool-toor-kahmpf] / kʊlˈturˌkɑmpf /

noun

1. the conflict between the German imperial government and the Roman Catholic Church from 1872 or 1873 until 1886, chiefly over the control of education and ecclesiastical appointments.

---

Kulturkampf British  

/ kʊlˈtʊəˌkæmpf, ˈkʊltə- /

noun

1. the struggle of the Prussian state against the Roman Catholic Church (1872–87), which took the form of laws designed to bring education, marriage, etc, under the control of the state

---

Etymology

Origin of Kulturkampf

< German: culture struggle, equivalent to Kultur culture + Kampf battle, struggle (cognate with Old English camp ); see camp ¹, kemp ¹

Example Sentences

The Kulturkampf was in part a product of Germany’s unique form of government.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2020

Mr. Hunter got his title from Otto von Bismarck’s Kulturkampf, the late-19th-century effort to absorb Germany’s Roman Catholic south into its Protestant north.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 25, 2018

In a portentous passage recalling Tony Blair’s penchant for grand historical narratives he cast British politics today as a giant Kulturkampf between open and closed.

From Economist • Sep. 22, 2016

“The court has mistaken a Kulturkampf for a fit of spite.”

From Time • Jan. 19, 2015

The Kulturkampf had reached its most critical stage.

From The War Upon Religion Being an Account of the Rise and Progress of Anti-christianism in Europe by Cunningham, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)