[1] It was part of a broader intensification of church-state rivalry that emerged in the final decades of the nineteenth century in much of Europe as nationalism flourished, and secular states took a more assertive role in the daily lives of individuals.
[2][3] The core focus of the Kulturkampf laws went back to the individual states that together comprised the newly unified German Empire and which still enjoyed considerable autonomy within it.
They were joined in the vote by the National Liberal assembly deputy, Karl Biedermann, who had opposed the law till the last minute but then, after much agonizing, changed his mind.
Reichstag conservatives, alarmed to find themselves aligned with most of the liberals, were no doubt reassured by Bismarck's wry historical reference as he addressed the chamber, "We will not go to Canossa, not physically, nor in spirit".
As a political campaign, Bismarck's pursuit of the Kulturkampf was not a total success, and following the accession of Pope Leo XIII in 1878 the papacy lost some of its enthusiasm for Papal infallibility.
It was repealed in 1917 while the political class was focused on the First World War, and the civilian government, increasingly sidelined by the military establishment, saw an urgent need to nurture Centre Party support.