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 1913.