As such, it was marked by the conflict between the new Emperor, who unlike his grandfather Wilhelm I involved himself in day-to-day politics, and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

At the beginning of February, opposed by Bismarck who viewed it as a concession to the Social Democrats, Wilhelm II introduced labour protection legislation.

However, because of the malapportioned constituencies, which greatly underrepresented densely-populated areas, and the fact that Social Democratic candidates often faced a united front of non-socialist parties in runoffs, they only won 35 seats.

These included the major cities of Königsberg, Bremen, Hannover, Magdeburg, Frankfurt am Main, Mannheim, Nuremberg and Munich.

The 8th Reichstag, theoretically the first to be elected for a five-year term – the extension from three to five years had been passed on the 18th of March 1888 – was however dissolved in 1893.