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Kulturkampf - 4 dictionary results

Kul⋅tur⋅kampf

  [Ger. kool-toor-kahmpf]
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–noun
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.
Origin:
< G: culture struggle, equiv. to Kultur culture + Kampf battle, struggle (c. OE camp); see camp 1 , kemp 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Kul·tur·kampf   (kŏŏl-tŏŏr'kämpf')   
n.  
  1. The struggle (1871-1883) between the Roman Catholic Church and the German government under Bismarck for control over school and ecclesiastical appointments and civil marriage.
  2. A conflict between secular and religious authorities: "The 1920s proved to be the focal decade in the Kulturkampf of American Protestantism" (Richard Hofstadter).

[German : Kultur, Kultur; see Kultur + Kampf, struggle (from Middle High German, from Old High German kamph, probably ultimately from Latin campus, field).]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Kulturkampf

Kul*tur"kampf`\, n. [G., fr. kultur, cultur, culture + kampf fight.] (Ger. Hist.) Lit., culture war; -- a name, originating with Virchow (1821 -- 1902), given to a struggle between the the Roman Catholic Church and the German government, chiefly over the latter's efforts to control educational and ecclesiastical appointments in the interest of the political policy of centralization. The struggle began with the passage by the Prussian Diet in May, 1873, of the so-called

May laws, or

Falk laws, aiming at the regulation of the clergy. Opposition eventually compelled the government to change its policy, and from 1880 to 1887 laws virtually nullifying the May laws were enacted.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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kulturkampf 
1879, "struggle between Ger. government and Catholic Church over control of educational and ecclesiastical appointments, 1872-86," from Ger., lit. "struggle for culture," from Kultur + Kampf "combat, fight, struggle," from L. campus "field, battlefield."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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