Editing German Democratic Party (section)

===Background===
The [[German Empire]] had a series of major [[Liberalism in Germany|liberal]] parties, including the [[National Liberal Party (Germany)|National Liberal Party]] (NLP). The [[German Progress Party]] and [[Liberal Union (Germany)|Liberal Union]] merged into the [[German Free-minded Party]]. [[Friedrich Naumann]]'s [[National-Social Association]] merged into the [[Free-minded Union]] in 1903. [[Theodor Barth]] and his supporters broke away into the [[Democratic Union (Germany)|Democratic Union]] in 1908, and maintained their independence until joining the DDP in 1918. The other liberal parties united into the left-liberal [[Progressive People's Party (Germany)|Progressive People's Party]] (FVP) in 1910. The FVP received 1.5 million votes in the [[1912 German federal election|1912 election]], the last one before the outbreak of [[World War I]].{{sfn|Frye|1985|pp=6-8}}