Overview: German Unification

Factor Role in helping/hindering political change (Italian Unification)

1815 Vienna Settlement

Vienna Settlement meant that:
Hindering:
Austria would be President of the confederation in an assembly, therefore would be able to starve off any attempt of
political change or unification using her influence.
Helping:
Prussia was made the second largest state gaining considerable territory as reward for her role in defeating
Napoleon, and as a buffer against possible French aggression in the future.
Smaller German states
1818-34 Zollverein Helping:
Trade was duty-free and they had agreed tariffs for imported goods, although this sometimes made decision-making
difficult, the Zollverein was highly successful overall.
Prussia was able to take advantage of raw materials and agriculture, and prompted massive investment in roads and
rail communications.
It confirmed Prussia as the dominant economic power in the Confederation.
Questioning:
Evidence suggests that the Zollverein did not enhance Prussia politically as it was in the interests of the members to
trade with Prussia, but not to accept her as a leading figure.
An example of this is during the Austro-Prussian war, where most of Prussias zollverein partners sided with Austria.
Revolutionary groups
and their aims
Hindering:
Support for a united Germany came from a small minority of university students and from the professional middle-
classes: lawyers, academics, entrepreneurs.
Different groups who favoured unification had different methods and goals to achieve unification, therefore they
were divided.
Helping:
Hegel believes Prussia is important as an economic and military force.
The middle classes in Germany were warm to unification, which is the same for the radical working class.
1848 Revolutions and
the Frankfurt Parliament
Helping:
Kaiser Wilhelm introduced a new Prussian Constitution which had strange mixture of liberalism and absolutism.
This meant that:
Basic freedoms were guaranteed, an independent judiciary was established
Prussian ministers were now able to talk about the fact that the Prussian Constitution offered a better model for a
united Germany than the Frankfurt Parliament.
The revolutions marked a crucial turning-point in Austro-Prussian relations. Before 1848, they were essentially allies,
meaning that there would be an increasing contempt for Austria and her influence in German States.
National Liberalism emerged which accepted the Prussian political system, supported the direction in which her
economy was heading, ultimately saw Prussia as holding the key to the eventual unification of Germany.
One key reason why the revolutions occurred due to the impact of industrialisation causing rise to overcrowding and
poor housing insanitary conditions and disease and poor working conditions for the unskilled workers.
There had been bad harvests which caused large numbers of peasants and tenant farmers to the brink of starvation,
causing them to revolt.
There were demands in each German state when Metternich fled, these demands led to the Frankfurt Parliament.
The Frankfurt Parliament dealt with issues like of a Grossdeutschland (a Germany including Austria), and those who
preferred a Kleindeutschland (a smaller Germany without parts of the Austrian empire).
Hindering:
The Parliament had no finances, administration, or armed forces and had experienced poor leadership and deep
divisions between its members.
1850 Erfurt Union and
Olmutz Agreement
Hindering:
It was a clear breach of international law i.e. The Treaty of Vienna, as the other great powers were not consulted.
Another reason why the Erfurt Union failed was because Russia did not want a strong Prussia.
Due to the Olmutz Agreement the Erfurt Union officially dissolved
German Confederation revived with Austro/Prussian balance
The Prussian bid for power had ended in humiliation
Helping:
The proposal would have served the interests of the Prussian Junker, but did not have widespread popular support.
Specifically, although it might have been seen by some as a step closer to German unification, in fact it was not
motivated by this consideration at all. Thus, in the elections for the Erfurt Parliament held in January 1850, less than
50% of the electorate took part.

1856 Crimean war This broke the holy alliance, the foreign influence was broken up.
The Crimean War (GB & Fr v Russia 1854-6) drove a wedge between Austria and Russia, and of course between
Russia and Britain & France. All this, six years before Bismarck comes to power.
1862 Army reforms and
the appointment of
Bismarck
Helping:
He introduced army reforms in 1862. These ensured that Prussia would be ready for the possibility of war, if other
powers opposed her expansion.
He went to war with Denmark (1864) and Austria (1865) over Schleswig-Holstein. In two years, he first challenged
Austrias dominance in the Confederation, then defeated her.
Having defeated Austria, he broke up the Confederation, with Prussia controlling the north.
Finally, he provoked a war with France, and negotiated the unification of Germany with the more suspicious South
German states in the aftermath of victory.


1964 War with Denmark In 1863 Bismarck took advantage of the seizing of Schleswig by King Christian of Denmark (to secure his claim to rule the
duchies) to:
appear to support a nationalist cause
agree with Austria to wage war on Denmark, and
insist on the joint administration of the duchies with Austria (Gastein Convention, 1865).
1965 Bismarck meeting
with Napoleon at
Biarrite
Bismarck refused to accept Austrias favoured claimant to rule the duchies, the Prince of Augustenburg, even though
the duchies wanted him.
After meeting Napoleon III at Biarritz (Oct 1865), Bismarck was confident that France would stay out of a future conflict
between Prussia and Austria.
In April 1866, he secured a secret alliance with Italy to go to war with Austria (within 3 months) in return for gaining
Venetia (then under Austrian control)
Bismarck presented controversial plans for the reform of the Confederation, including a representative Diet and UMS.
Austria mobilised for war in April, and Prussia followed suit.
1866 War with Austria
Bismarck recieved 60,000, the title of Major-General, and the admiration of Liberals and Nationalists alike.
Prussia now controlled 2/3 of Germany in a new North German Confederation.
The remaining southern states were brought into the Zollverein and were represented in a new Zollparlament in 1867.


1868 Hohenbzollern
Candidature Crisis
Bismarck urged Wilhelm I (head of the Hohenzollern royal family) to support the succession of Prince Leopold of
Hohenzollern, who had been approached by the Spanish in 1870, and sent envoys and bribes to Spain to secure it. He
knew full well, as did Wilhelm, that France would see it as an attempt to encircle France, and oppose it.
In July, Wilhelm I changed his mind, and assured the French ambassador of his friendship. Leopolds candidacy was
withdrawn, leaving Bismarck furious.
Napoleon came to Bismarcks aid and tried to push his advantage. He demanded that Wilhelm give official and for-all-
time renunciation of the succession claim. Although Wilhelm found this insulting, his telegram from Ems (a spa town)
was conciliatory.
Bismarck received a copy of the telegram on 13 July and immediately edited it down and sent it to newspapers in
Berlin, as well as Prussian embassies (which were ordered to inform foreign governments of its contents). A red rag to a
Gallic bull, as one historian famously described it. On July 19th France declared war on Prussia.
Although Bismarck manipulated events as far as he could, it is also true that Napoleon and France fell readily into the
trap.

1870 Franco Prussian
War
France were diplomatically isolated: Bismarck had played Russia and Austria against each other to secure Austrian
neutrality; GB were unwilling to support France, and Italys terms for help were rejected by Napoleon
Again, Prussian industrial and military strength gave them the advantage.
Victories at Metz (Aug) and Sedan (Sept) led to Napoleons surrender, although the war continued for another six
months, as Paris declared a republic and rallied a public defence of the capital.
The French finally accepted an armistice on 28th January 1871.
The unification of Germany
Bismarck had to use a combination of bribery and skilful reasoning to overcome the last obstacles to unification: the
south German states.
On the wave of popular nationalism that accompanied the last stages of the war, Bismarck made constitutional
concessions to the rulers of the larger S German states, and threatened others with popular revolution, to ensure
agreement.
The Treaty of Frankfurt, May 1871 12
France was fined an indemnity of 200 million, and suffered Prussian military occupation of its eastern border
territories until it was paid.
Alsace and Lorraine were annexed to Prussia (land rich in mineral resources)

Rather than being able to manipulate events like a puppeteer, Bismarck is best seen as a very good chess player.