GERMANY

Following the Congress of Vienna, 39 German States formed

the German Confederation. Austria and Prussia dominated
the Confederation.
 Confederation of the Rhine

A confederation of nineteen minor German

states formed by Napoleon; major states were
Bavaria, Saxony, Wurttemberg and Baden.
As a consequence of the creation of the
Confederation of the Rhine in 1806, the
individual city states on the western bank of
Rhine, were brought under one single
administration, with the
 complete disappearance of all internal tariff
barriers.
For the first time there was a single currency,
a single set of laws,
a single administrative setup, and
a single judicial apparatus.
This in turn encouraged the emergence of
economy
 How did the Continental System
benefit Germany?
British goods banned from the European market
German towns of Krefeld, Julich, Aachen and Berg
managed to supply the European market; hosiery
By 1811 with the Continental System in place,
German products entered markets in Spain and
Russia.
largest producers of textile goods in continental
Europe.
 Prussia rewarded by the
Vienna Congress
Prussia being an expanding state required
more and more industrial resources.
Rhineland would be handed over to Prussia.
Thus the Confederation of the Rhine became
a part of Prussia.
 Zollverein
Between 1815 and 1843 Prussia gradually began
to work for the unification of Germany.
In 1818 she abolished internal customs and
proposed a customs union called Zollverein to
her neighbours
According to it, tariff barriers between the states
of the union should be discontinued.
By 1842, most of the states joined the union.
This economic supremacy of Prussia in Germany
, through the Zollverein paved the way for her
military and political supremacy.
 Advantage of the Zollverein

All the signatories who joined the Zollverein

had their internal tariff barriers removed.
This integrated the market.
Also the high tariff wall around the Zollverein
market ensured preferential treatment for the
signatories manufacturers and kept British
merchandise out of their markets.
Their domestic market was therefore
protected.
 Why did Austria not join the
Zollverein?
Austrias argument for not joining the
Zollverein was that the tariff wall that it had
decided upon was not high enough to keep
British manufactures out of the Austrian
market.
Austria on the contrary tried to raise tariff
barriers higher than what the Zollverein had
designated in order to safeguard its own
industry.
 German railways

Banking concerns like the Rothschilds and

Bethmann in Frankfurt am-Main, Schikler in
Berlin and Heine in Hamburg came forth and
invested in railways.
 GERMANY
Prussian advantages:
Mainly German population
Most powerful army in Europe (emerging)
Industrialized faster than other German states
Rich resources in the Rhineland

Friendship between the two German states would

turn to conflict in an attempt to unify Germany.
 GERMANY
1848: Democratic
revolutions broke out all
over Europe.
As a result, Prussia
created a liberal
constitution to limit the
power of the King.
GERMANY: LEADERS OF THE UNIFICATION

King Wilhem I (King of Prussia)

Succeeded Frederick William to
the throne in 1861.
Supported by the Junkers:
Wealthy landowning class
Strongly conservative and
opposed liberal ideas.
LEADERS OF GERMAN UNIFICATION
Wilhem I
Wanted to increase the size and strength of the
military (Parliament refused to give him the
money)
Decided to pick a new Chancellor in order to get
what he wanted.
 LEADERS OF GERMAN UNIFICATION
Otto von Bismarck
(conservative junker):
Became Chancellor in
1862.
 LEADERS OF GERMAN UNIFICATION
Bismarck:
Realpolitik (the politics of
reality): politics than
leave no room for
idealism.

Known as the Iron

Chancellor for his
realpolitik and his
powerful rule.
LEADERS OF GERMAN UNIFICATION
Not by speeches and votes of the majority, are the great
questions of the time decided that was the error of 1848
and 1849 but by iron and blood.
-Bismarck
Other quotes:
Hit the Poles so hard that they despair of their life; I have
full sympathy with their condition, but if we want to
survive, we can only exterminate them; the wolf, too,
cannot help having been created by God as he is, but
people shoot him for it if they can.
A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by
eloquence.
Politics is not an exact science.
Politics is the art of the possible.
 COURSE OF GERMAN UNIFICATION
1864
Alliance between Prussia and
Austria.
War against Denmark to win
two border provinces:
Shleswig and
Holstein.
Quick victory.
Prussia governed Schleswig and
Austria, Holstein.
 COURSE OF GERMAN UNIFICATION
1866: Seven Weeks War
Bismarck purposely stirred up border conflicts with
Austria over Schleswig and Holstein.
Bismarck had negotiated a secret agreement
between Italy and Prussia to help each other
agreements of neutrality from France and Russia

The tensions provoked Austria into declaring war on

Prussia in 1866.
 COURSE OF GERMAN UNIFICATION
1866: Seven Weeks
War
The war was over
quickly.

The Austrians lost the

region of Venetia
(given to Italy).
 COURSE OF GERMAN UNIFICATION
1866: Seven Weeks War
Prussia took control of
northern Germany.
In 1867, the remaining
states of the north,
fueled by nationalist
pride, joined a North
German Confederation
(dominated by Prussia)
 COURSE OF GERMAN UNIFICATION
1870-1871: The Franco-Prussian War
 COURSE OF GERMAN UNIFICATION

1870-1871: The Franco-Prussian War.

By 1867, a few southern German states remained
independent of Prussia.
Bismarck felt he could win the support of Southerners if
they faced a threat from outside: a war with France
would rally the South.
 He published an altered version of a diplomatic telegram
he had received from France (Ems telegram).
Wilhelm seemed to insult the French.
Reacting to the insult, France declared war on Prussia on
July 19, 1870.
 COURSE OF GERMAN UNIFICATION
1870-1871: The Franco-
Prussian War.
The Prussian army poured
into northern France, and in
September, they
surrounded the main
French force in Sedan.
 COURSE OF GERMAN UNIFICATION
1870-1871: The
Franco-Prussian
War.

For four months,

Parisians
withstood a
German siege.
Finally, hunger
forced them to
surrender.
 COURSE OF GERMAN UNIFICATION

1870-1871: The Franco-Prussian War.

The Franco-Prussian War was the final stage in
German unification. Now the nationalistic fever also
seized people in southern Germany.
They finally accepted Prussian leadership.
 STEPS TO GERMAN UNIFICATION
Over a six-year
period, Bismarck
created a united
Germany. He made
skillful use of
diplomacy and
warfare to
accomplish this
task.
 STEPS TO GERMAN UNIFICATION
JANUARY 18, 1871
- Wilhem I is crowned
Kaiser (Emperor) at the
Palace of Versailles
 THE BALANCE OF POWER SHIFTS
The Congress of Vienna
established five Great
Powers in Europe: Britain,
France, Austria, Prussia and
Russia.

By 1871, however, Britain

and Germany were clearly
the most powerful. The
European balance of power
had broken down.
 Bismarck and Unification of Germany
In 1851 he joined the diplomatic service and from 1851-59 was a member of the
German diet.
From 1859-62 he was Prussian ambassador to Russia. In 1862 he was transferred
to Paris in the same capacity. So he was able to correctly asses the weakness and
strength of both Russian and France.
Bismarck's views were in perfect consonance with those of his king William I. They
were two fold
1. Prussia must take the lead in the matter of German unification and oust Austria from the
German confederation by force.
2. Germany must be Prussianised, rather than that Prussia should loose its identity in
Germany.
For the inevitable struggle with Austria, he steadily prepared. He developed
friendship with the minor sovereigns by strengthening their economic ties with
Prussia.
He said; "Germany is looking not to Prussia's liberalism, but to her power The
great questions of the day will not be decided by speeches and majority
resolutions, but by Blood and Iron".
He had definite aims to isolate Austria.
 Bismarck began by courting the friendship of Napoleon III, the enemy of Austria,
and for the purpose, concluded a commercial treaty with France, and giving her
favourable terms.
Bismarck offered Prussian help to Russia in 1863, at the time of the polish revolt.
He said, "Prussia must never let Russia's friendship wax cold. Her alliance is the
cheapest among all continental alliances, for the eyes of Russia are turned only
towards East".
Having built up the army and assured himself of Russian neutrality, Bismarck now
set about to achive his cherished aim, the unification of Germany under Prussian
leadership.

In order to strengthen her hold on the German confederation, Austria proposed to

hold a congress of the princes at Frankfort and invited Prussia to attend it. He
insisted that King William I of Prussia should not attend the congress of German
princes which, had summoned to consider proposals for the reform of the German
confederation.
Bismarck wrecked Austria's plan and scored a diplomatic victory .
 Three wars
The German empire was the result of the policy
of "Blood and Iron" as carried out by Prussia in
three wars which were crowded in to the brief
perid of six years
the war with Denmark in 1864
with Austria in 1866, and
with France in 1870
the last two of which were largely the results of
Bismarck's will and his diplomatic ingenuity and
unscrupulousness
 Schleswig- Holstein question and
Bismarck
The Duchies of schleswig and Holstein were attached to Denmark Since the late 15th century.
The Duke of Schleswig-Holstein became the king of Denmark by heriditary right, but the duchies
maintained their separate government.
As recently as 1852, the great powers had agreed to continue this status
In 1863 the Danish king, Christian IX, acting under pressure from Danish nationalists, annexed
Schleswig-Holstein and integrated it more closely into Denmark.
Bismarck found an opportunity in the dispute over Schleswig-Holstein. Moreover, this was a
violation of international law, which provoked an outburst of nationalist rhetoric in the German
states and serious diplomatic reactions in Prussia and Austria.
Further , the population of Holstein was mainly German, and in Schleswing, half the population
was German and this gave Bismarck an excuse to intervene and create opportunity out of crisis.
Bismarck took the lead in denouncing Denmark's behavior.
He also turned to Austria and stressed the merits of Austrian-Prussian cooperation both to preempt
the German nationalists and to forestall possible action by Britain, France, and Russia.
 war with Denmark ; 1864
over the questions of Schleswig and Holstein, areas that had long been
administered by the Danish monarchy.
A joint Austrian-Prussian expeditionary force occupied Holstein, then
invaded Schleswig.
After Denmark's defeat, Austria and Prussia tried to decide the ultimate
disposition of the territory.
Austria wanted was a joint Austrian and Prussian occupation of the
disputed regions. But the future of Schleswig and Holstein was kept vague,
purposely, because Bismark for saw the cause of a conflict between
Austria and Prussia over their future status.
August 1865 the convention of Gastein "plastered over the cracks" and
the partners divided their spoil.
Prussia was to administer schleswig, and Austria Holstein.
Thereafter, Bismarck concluded different alliances with France and Italy to
gain their support in the event of a war between Prussia and Austria.
 War with Austria in 1866
war broke out between Austria and Prussia over a
dispute concerning the administration of Schleswig and
Holstein.
The Prussian victory in the war and the subsequent
Treaty of Prague excluded the Habsburgs of Austria
from the German affairs.
In 1867, Prussia incorporated all the German states
north of river Main and their ruling dynasties were
deposed. Prussia and these newly incorporated states
constituted the North German Confederation and
Prussia became the undisputed leader of this
confederation.
 What was the Ems telegram?
The Ems Telegram was a telegram sent in July
1870 from William I (King of Prussia) to Bismarck.
The contents outlined the details of a
disagreement between William I and the French
ambassador. The significance of this telegram lies
in the subtle manner in which Bismarck doctored
it to give the impression that France had been
insulted by Prussia, thus creating a furore in
France, which led to its declaration of war against
Prussia.
 War with France in 1870

Bismarck now awaited an opportunity to complete the unification process

by bringing the states of southern Germany into the confederation.
The occasion arose as a result of complex diplomacy surrounding the
possibility of a cousin of William I becoming the monarch of Spain.
France opposed this idea.
Bismarck personally edited a press dispatch revolving around these
negotiations to make it appear that William I had insulted the French
ambassador even though this was not the case.
French government of Napoleon III quickly fell to Bismarck's bait, and in
July 1870 France declared war against Purssia.
But once the war began, the states of southern Germany rallied behind
Prussia.
On September 1, at the battle of Sedan, the Germans not only defeated
the French army but also captured the Emperor.