The Jesuits Law (Jesuitengesetz) of 4 July 1872 forbade Jesuit institutions on the soil of the new German empire. It was part of a broader intensification of church-state rivalry that emerged in the final decades of the nineteenth century in much of Europe as nationalism flourished, and secular states took a more assertive role in the daily lives of individuals. Within Germany, sources generally identify the resulting church-state struggle as the Kulturkampf (literally "cultural struggle", and meaning a cultural battle or war).