Georg Arbogast von Franckenstein

After the foundation of the German Empire in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, Franckenstein initially withdrew into Bavarian politics. However, after Charles, Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1834–1921) resigned his Reichstag seat for the constituency of Lohr, Franckenstein was elected there on 24 May 1872 in the necessary by-election and represented the constituency of Lohr in the Reichstag until 1890 (re-elections in 1874, 1877, 1878, 1881, 1884 and 1887). Franckenstein joined the centrist faction and quickly positioned himself as the spokesman for the Bavarian centrist deputies. He was elected to the executive committee of the parliamentary group and became parliamentary group chairman in 1875, succeeding the late Karl Friedrich von Savigny. From 1879 to 1887 he was also vice-chairman of the Reichstag.

In imperial politics, Franckenstein, as one of the spokesmen for political Catholicism, was initially a bitter opponent of Bismarck in the Kulturkampf. However, after Bismarck's domestic political turnaround in 1878/79, which was associated with the first steps towards defusing the Kulturkampf, Franckenstein's Centre faction grew into a key position in the Reichstag: Bismarck now needed the centre for important legislative projects and Franckenstein became his preferred contact in the faction. This first became apparent in the transition to a protective tariff policy in 1879, when Franckenstein - through direct negotiations with Bismarck - was pushing through the so-called Franckenstein clause[5] in the tariff commission of the Reichstag, which was significant for the financial constitution of the empire and was named after him. From 1880 onwards, he distinguished himself in the field of social policy and, as chairman of the relevant Reichstag commissions, helped to push through the social insurance laws (sickness (1883), accident (1884), old-age and invalidity insurance (1889)). Here considerable conflict (intended by Bismarck) arose between Franckenstein and the Centre leader Ludwig Windthorst, who wanted to make the approval of the parliamentary group dependent on concessions made by Bismarck in terms of church policy. The law on old age and invalidity was rejected by Windthorst and the majority of the parliamentary group, but was passed via a minority of the parliamentary group led by Franckenstein. However, in the serious September crisis of 1887, Windthorst and Franckenstein jointly and decisively rejected the attempted influence of the Curia on Centre policy.

In Bavarian politics, Franckenstein was considered "the coming man" by Georg von Hertling and the bearer of hope for the conservative forces in the difficult domestic political situation of the 1870s and 80s, which was characterised by "the fact that an ideologically liberal, politically state-conservative, empire-friendly and state-church-oriented state ministry continued to govern against a conservative, emphatically Bavarian-estate and Catholic majority of the Chamber of Deputies" (Dieter Albrecht). King Ludwig II wanted to appoint Franckenstein as chairman of the Council of Ministers after the state parliamentary elections of 1875, but Franckenstein refused because he feared that Bismarck would perceive the appointment of a high-profile Catholic as a provocation and use it as an opportunity to pursue anti-Bavarian policies. When there was renewed speculation about a "Franckenstein Ministry" in the context of the 1881 state elections, Bismarck took a firm stand against it, and Ludwig II followed the pressure and once again expressed his confidence in the liberal Lutz Government.

Franckenstein was involved in the royal tragedy surrounding Ludwig II in 1886 as the King's personal confidant and as President of the Chamber of Imperial Councillors; contemporary rumours that Ludwig II had wanted to form a "Franckenstein Government" at the last moment and that he had been prepared to do so can today be considered refuted; however, Prince Regent Luitpold's relationship with Franckenstein remained strained due to these rumours.