The Free Conservative Party was a right-wing

Right-wing politics

In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...

 political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

 and the German Empire

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

, which emerged from the Conservatives in the Prussian Landtag

Preußischer Landtag

Preußischer Landtag or Prussian Landtag was the Landtag of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was implemented in 1849 after the dissolution of the Prussian National Assembly, building on the tradition of the Prussian estates that had existed from the 14th century in various forms and states in Teutonic...

 in 1866. In federal elections to the Reichstag

Reichstag (German Empire)

The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....

 parliament from 1871 it ran as the German Reich Party (Deutsche Reichspartei, DRP).

The Free Conservative Association achieved party status in 1867, comprising German noble

German nobility

The German nobility was the elite hereditary ruling class or aristocratic class from ca. 500 B.C. to the Holy Roman Empire and what is now Germany.-Principles of German nobility:...

s and East Elbian Junker

Junker

A Junker was a member of the landed nobility of Prussia and eastern Germany. These families were mostly part of the German Uradel and carried on the colonization and Christianization of the northeastern European territories during the medieval Ostsiedlung. The abbreviation of Junker is Jkr...

s (land owners) like Duke Victor of Ratibor

Victor I, Duke of Ratibor

Victor I, Duke of Ratibor, Prince of Corvey, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst was a member of House of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst and later Duke of the Silesian duchy of Ratibor .-Early life and family:...

 and Karl Rudolf Friedenthal

Karl Rudolf Friedenthal

Karl Rudolf Friedenthal was a Prussian statesman.Friedenthal was born in Breslau , Prussian Silesia, as a nephew of Markus Bär Friedenthal, the author, and later became a convert to Christianity...

, industrialists

Business magnate

A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist, is an informal term used to refer to an entrepreneur who has reached prominence and derived a notable amount of wealth from a particular industry .-Etymology:The word magnate itself...

 and government officials like Johann Viktor Bredt

Johann Viktor Bredt

Johann Viktor Bredt was a German Weimar era justice minister.-Biography:Bredt was born in Barmen. He rose to be Justice minister in 1930 succeeding Theodor von Guérard.Bredt died in Marburg.-References:...

, Hermann von Hatzfeldt

Hermann von Hatzfeldt

Hermann von Hatzfeldt was a German civil servant and politician. He represented the Deutsche Reichspartei in the Reichstag for a number of years.-References:...

, Hermann von Dechend

Hermann von Dechend

Hermann Dechend, since 1865 ennobled von Dechend, was a Prussian public official and first President of the Reichsbank.- Biography :...

, Prince Karl Max von Lichnowsky or General Hans Hartwig von Beseler

Hans Hartwig von Beseler

Hans Hartwig von Beseler was a German Colonel General.- Biography :Beseler was born in Greifswald, Pomerania. His father, Georg Beseler, was a law professor at the University of Greifswald. He entered the Prussian Army in 1868, fought in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, and had a successful...

 and scholars like Hans Delbrück

Hans Delbrück

Hans Delbrück was a German historian. Delbrück was one of the first modern military historians, basing his method of research on the critical examination of ancient sources, the use of auxiliary disciplines, like demography and economics, to complete the analysis and the comparison between...

 and Otto Hoetzsch

Otto Hoetzsch

Otto Hoetzsch , was a German academic and politician. Son of a plumber, he studied history, economics and history of art in Leipzig, starting in 1895. In 1899 he obtained a PhD, worked for several newspapers and was active in the Alldeutscher Verband and favoured the creation of a German Navy...

.

It was distinguished from the German Conservative Party

German Conservative Party

The German Conservative Party was a right-wing political party of the German Empire, founded in 1876.- Policies :It was generally seen as representing the interests of the German nobility, the East Elbian Junkers and the Evangelical Church of the Prussian Union, and had its political stronghold...

 established in 1876 by its unqualified support of German unification

Unification of Germany

The formal unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred on 18 January 1871 at the Versailles Palace's Hall of Mirrors in France. Princes of the German states gathered there to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as Emperor Wilhelm of the German...

, and was seen as the political party which beside the National Liberals

National Liberal Party (Germany)

The National Liberal Party was a German political party which flourished between 1867 and 1918. It was formed by Prussian liberals who put aside their differences with Bismarck over domestic policy due to their support for his highly successful foreign policy, which resulted in the unification of...

 was closest in views to those of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck

Otto von Bismarck

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...

, including his Anti-Socialist Laws

Anti-Socialist Laws

The Anti-Socialist Laws or Socialist Laws were a series of acts, the first of which was passed on October 19, 1878 by the German Reichstag lasting till March 31, 1881, and extended 4 times...

 and Kulturkampf

Kulturkampf

The German term refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria...

 policies. The party was generally dominated by conservative industrialists, and while it opposed political liberalism, it also tended to support free trade and the development of industry. Upon the accession of Emperor Wilhelm II in 1888, the party backed his naval policies and the formation of the German colonial empire

German colonial empire

The German colonial empire was an overseas domain formed in the late 19th century as part of the German Empire. Short-lived colonial efforts by individual German states had occurred in preceding centuries, but Imperial Germany's colonial efforts began in 1884...

, approaching towards the nationalist Pan-German League

Pan-German League

The Pan-German League was an extremist, ultra-nationalist political interest organization which was officially founded in 1891, a year after the Zanzibar Treaty was signed. It was concerned with a host of issues, concentrating on imperialism, anti-semitism, the so called Polish Question, and...

 pressure group, while centrists like Adolf Grabowsky

Adolf Grabowsky

Adolf Grabowsky was a German political scientist and author of several books about geopolitics and political theory, including "Democracy and Dictatorship" . He was a Jewish convert to Protestantism, and founder and editor of the Zeitschrift fuer Politik...

 did not prevail.

The FKP disbanded in November 1918 following the end of the Hohenzollern monarchy

House of Hohenzollern

The House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near...

 and the German Revolution. Several members had supported the formation of the Fatherland Party

Fatherland Party (Germany)

German Fatherland Party was a pro-war party in the German Empire.The party was founded close to the end of 1917 and represented political circles supporting the war. Among founding members were Wolfgang Kapp and Alfred von Tirpitz . Walter Nicolai, head of the military secret service, was also...

 in 1917, now most of its constituency turned to the newly established German National People's Party

German National People's Party

The German National People's Party was a national conservative party in Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the NSDAP it was the main nationalist party in Weimar Germany composed of nationalists, reactionary monarchists, völkisch, and antisemitic elements, and...

, some also joined the national liberal German People's Party

German People's Party

The German People's Party was a national liberal party in Weimar Germany and a successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire.-Ideology:...

.