Der Evangelische Bund

This “evangelical league” was an alliance of German Protestants founded in 1886-87 by Willibald Beyschlag* and others. Its purpose was to defend Protestant interests against the growing power of Roman Catholicism. It issued its own literature and furthered its purpose by other methods such as making good use of contacts with the secular press. In the years preceding World War I the movement took on a strongly nationalistic emphasis. By 1914 it had gained 540,000 members. Since that time, however, its influence has declined considerably.