Unification of Germany
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The Unification of Germany took place on January 18, 1871, when Prussian Prime minister Otto von Bismarck managed to unify a number of independent German states into one nation, and thus created the German Empire, from which all of the states since that time bearing the name of Germany descend. There is much debate surrounding whether or not the 'iron chancellor' had a masterplan to unify Germany or whether his aims were simply to expand Prussia.
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[edit] Bismarck's rise to power
Several factors played a key role in the uniting 39 previously independent states into a unified Germany under the rule of the Prussian chancellor Otto Von Bismarck. The move toward unification began many years prior with a rise in German nationalism, initially allied with liberalism. The Revolutions of 1848 — a time in which Europe was dealing with severe economic depression — disrupted plans by the German Confederation to possibly unify. It became increasingly clear that the Austrian Empire was incompatible with the drive to unify a German nation-state.
In the early 1860s, a conflict about army reforms caused a constitutional crisis in Prussia. The Prussian king, William I, appointed Bismarck prime minister in 1862. Bismarck hoped he could resolve the constitutional crisis and establish Prussia as the leading German power through foreign triumphs, ultimately leading to a conservative, Prussian-dominated German state.
[edit] Forging a unified state through military victories
German nationalism rapidly shifted from its liberal and democratic character in 1848 to Bismarck's authoritarian Realpolitik, as Bismarck achieved German unity largely through three military successes: the Second war of Schleswig (1864), the Austro-Prussian War (1866), and the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71).
Denmark's claim to Schleswig led to the short Second war of Schleswig (1864), in which Prussia and Austria secured a united Schleswig-Holstein for the German Confederation.
In 1866, in concert with Italy, Bismarck created an environment in which Austria declared the Austro-Prussian War (also known as the Seven Weeks' War or German Civil War). A decisive, one day victory at the Battle of Königgrätz allowed Prussia to annex some territory and allowed Bismarck to exclude long-time rival Austria and most of its allies from the now-defunct German Confederation when forming the North German Confederation with the states that had supported Prussia. This war also resulted in the end of Austrian dominance of the German nations.
This new Confederation was the direct precursor to the 1871 empire. The four German states south of the Main River remained independent, but made military alliances with Prussia. In 1867, the Austrian emperor, his power greatly weakened by this defeat, was forced to give equal status to his Hungarian holdings, creating the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. Austria was never again a power in Germany.
Bismarck had overcome Austria's active resistance to a unified Germany through military victory, but however much it lessened Austria's influence over the German states, it also splintered German unity, as some German states allied with Austria. Since this decreased the sense of German nationalism, yet another war was required to rally the German states together. Further, to complete the unification of Germany Bismarck knew that he needed to overcome the opposition of Napoleon III and the Second French Empire. He accomplished both of these goals through the Franco-Prussian War.
In 1870, he encouraged a Hohenzollern prince — that is, one of the same dynasty as Wilhelm I — to accept the throne of Spain. As Bismarck expected, France objected. Although the prince withdrew as a candidate, Bismarck used the dispute to start the Franco-Prussian War, which pitted France against the North German Confederation and its south German allies, without the participation of Austria. After several battles, the Germans defeated the main French armies and captured the French emperor in the Battle of Sedan on September 1, 1870.
Yet the new French Third Republic continued to fight. During the Siege of Paris, the North German Confederation, supported by the allies from southern Germany, formed the German Empire. On January 18, 1871, William was proclaimed "German Emperor" in the Hall of Mirrors of the French Palace of Versailles, to the humiliation of the French, who ceased to resist only days later. (This intentional affront was repaid in 1919, when the Treaty of Versailles was signed the same room, holding Germany totally responsible for World War I.) Under the peace treaty, France gave up almost all of Alsace and the German-speaking part of Lorraine.
This war had affirmed Bismarck and Prussia as the leaders of a unified Germany. The southern states were officially incorporated into a unified Germany at the Treaty of Versailles of 1871 (later ratified in the Treaty of Frankfurt), which ended the Franco-Prussian War. Bismarck, as the first chancellor of a unified Germany, had led the transformation of Germany from a federation to a unified nation state.
[edit] The new empire
The new German Empire included 25 states, three of which were Hanseatic cities. It was a realization of the Kleindeutsche Lösung, ("Lesser German Solution"), since Austria had been excluded, as opposed to a Großdeutsche Lösung or "Greater German Solution", which would have included Austria.
Bismarck himself prepared in broad outline the 1866 North German Constitution, which became the 1871 Constitution of the German Empire with some adjustments. Germany acquired some democratic features: notably the Reichstag, that in contrast to the parliament of Prussia was elected by direct and equal manhood suffrage. However, legislation also required the consent of the Bundesrat, the federal council of deputies from the states, in which Prussia had a large influence. Behind a constitutional façade, Prussia thus exercised predominant influence in both bodies with executive power vested in the Kaiser, who appointed the federal chancellor — Otto von Bismarck. The chancellor was accountable solely to and served entirely at the discretion of the Emperor. Officially, the chancellor was a one-man cabinet and was responsible for the conduct of all state affairs; in practice, the State Secretaries (bureaucratic top officials in charge of such fields as finance, war, foreign affairs, etc) acted as unofficial portfolio ministers. With the exception of the years 1872–1873 and 1892–1894, the chancellor was always simultaneously the prime minister of the imperial dynasty's hegemonic home-kingdom, Prussia. The Reichstag had the power to pass, amend or reject bills, but could not initiate legislation. The power of initiating legislation rested with the chancellor. One problem with this constitution was that it was designed for certain types of people to hold the position of chancellor and king. Bismarck was extremely powerful and William I was only a figurehead. The constitution failed to consider the scenario of a powerful king and a chancellor who is a figurehead.
While the other states retained their own governments, the military forces of the smaller states were put under Prussian control, while those of the larger states such as the Kingdoms of Bavaria and Saxony were coordinated along Prussian principles and would in wartime be controlled by the federal government. Although authoritarian in many respects, the empire permitted the development of political parties.
Through the Kulturkampf that followed (1872-1878), Bismarck as chancellor tried without much success to limit the influence of the Roman Catholic Church and of its political arm, the Catholic Centre Party. A policy of Germanization discriminated against non-German sections of the empire's population, including the Polish, Danish and French minorities.
[edit] Constituent states of the empire
- Kingdoms (“Königreiche”)
- Grand Duchies (“Großherzogtümer”)
- Baden - capital Karlsruhe
- Hesse ("Hessen", informally "Hessen-Darmstadt") - capital Darmstadt
- Mecklenburg-Schwerin - capital Schwerin
- Mecklenburg-Strelitz - capital Strelitz
- Oldenburg - capital Oldenburg
- Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (“Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach”) - capital Weimar
- Duchies (“Herzogtümer”)
- Anhalt - capital Dessau
- Brunswick (“Braunschweig”) - capital Wolfenbuttel or Braunschweig
- Saxe-Altenburg (“Sachsen-Altenburg”) - capital Altenburg
- Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (see also Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Gotha) (“Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha”) - capitals Coburg and Gotha
- Saxe-Meiningen (“Sachsen-Meiningen”) - capital Meiningen
- Principalities (“Fürstentümer”)
- Lippe - capital Detmold
- Reuss-Gera or Reuss Younger Line (“Reuß jüngere Linie”) - capital Gera
- Reuss-Greiz or Reuss Elder Line (“Reuß ältere Linie”) - capital Greiz
- Schaumburg-Lippe - capital Bückeburg
- Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt - capital Rudolstadt
- Schwarzburg-Sondershausen - capital Sondershausen
- Waldeck-Pyrmont - capital Arolsen
- Others:
- Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine (“Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen”)
The Kingdom of Prussia was the largest of the constituent states, covering some 60 percent of the territory of the German Empire. Before being annexed and turned into Provinces of Prussia, several of these states had gained sovereignty following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, or been created as sovereign states after the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
[edit] Parallels with Italy and Japan
The evolution of the German Empire is somewhat parallel to developments in Italy and Japan. Similarly to Bismarck, Count Camillo Benso di Cavour in Italy used diplomacy and war to achieve his objectives: he allied with France before attacking Austria, securing the unification of Italy (except for the Papal States and Austrian Venice) by 1861 as a kingdom under the Piemontese dynasty. In the interests of Piedmont-Sardinia, Cavour, hostile to the more revolutionary romantic nationalism of liberal republicans such as Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini, sought to unify of Italy along conservative lines.
Japan followed a similar course of conservative modernization from the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Meiji Restoration to 1918. Japan issued a commission in 1882 to study various governmental structures throughout the world and were particularly impressed by Bismarck's Germany, issuing a constitution in 1889 that formed a premiership with powers analogous to Bismarck's position as chancellor with a cabinet responsible to the emperor alone.
One factor in the social anatomy of these governments had been the retention of a very substantial share in political power by landed elites—in Germany's case the Prussian Junkers—due to the absence of a revolutionary breakthrough by the peasants in combination with urban workers.
[edit] See also
- German reunification at the end of the Cold War
- For a more detailed look at how German unification occurred see German Empire.
[edit] External links
- The Unification of Germany, part of The Seeds of Evil: Germany 1919 - 1933 on schoolshistory.org.uk.
