Download German Unification

The Unification of Germany
Prussia
Displaces
Austria
Hohenzollerns v Hapsburgs
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Hohenzollerns - Prussian Royal Family
Hapsburgs - Austrian Ruling Family
Both are Germanic dynasties
Both rule over significant numbers of Germans
(and others)
• 1815 Confederation balanced power between the
Austrians and Prussians
• Both effected by 1848 revolutions
Otto Von Bismarck
1815 - 1898
• Born in Berlin
– Brandenburg Junker Family
• Studied Law
• Benefitted from 1848 Revolutions
– Enters Prussian Parliament 1849
– Delighted at failure of Revolutions
• Political Experience
– Prussian Representative to Frankfurt 1851 - 1859
– Ambassador to St Petersburg 1859 - 1862
– Ambassador to France 1862
• “A government must not waiver once it has chosen it's
course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.”
• The great questions of the day will not be settled by means
of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood.
Wilhelm I
1797 - 1888
• Young brother of King
Frederick William IV
• 1848 Flees to England
• Commands troops in
crushing rebels in Baden
1849
• Becomes Regent in 1858
when brother declared
insane
– King in 1861
• Conservative
• Pet project The Army
Friedrich III
1831 - 1888
• Married Queen Victoria’s Daughter Vicky
• General against Austrians 1866
– And French in 1870
– Successful
• Distrusted by Bismarck
– Wife regarded as too liberal
• Ruled for only 99 days
– Cancer of throat
• Replaced by son Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II
1859 - 1941
• Strong Belief in
Divine nature of
Kingship
– Military Pomp and
Displays
• Impulsive
• Withered Left Arm
Franz Joseph
1830 - 1916
• Emperor of Austria, King
of Hungary
– Result of 1848 Revolutions
• Uncle abdicated
• 1848 - 1916
• Took part in pacification of
Hungary 1849
• Arch-Conservative
• German ruling over multinational empire
The Erfurt Union
• 1849
– Austrian army tied up restoring order
– Prussian Army easily restores order
• Debate over Prussia’s relationship to Germany
– King Declined invitation to rule over liberal 1848 Germany
– The pre 1848 confederation and balance between Prussia
and Austria blown away
• The solution: The Erfurt Union
– Defensive association of German Princes under Prussia’
protection
– Conservative constitution that gave Prussia dominating
control over neighbours
– Forced upon German Princes
The Dissolution of the Erfurt
Union
• Reasons for failure of Erfurt Union
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Austrian army rejuvenated by successes
Russia did not want a strong Prussia
German Princes suspicious of Prussia
Prussian Junkers just cared about their own estates and way of
life
• Not interested in the rest of Germany
• Erfurt tested to destruction
– Prince of Hesse-Cassel sought protection from his own subjects
• Prussian and Austrian forces raced to mobilise first
– The Two armies nearly clashed in their haste
– However, Prussians had little stomach fighting over ‘Germany’
– Russia wanted neither side to win & increase its power
• Olmutz Agreement
– Erfurt Union officially dissolved
– German Confederation revived with Austro/Prussian balance
– Humiliation for Prussia
Could Austria have dominated
Germany
• On paper Yes
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Huge empire
Large army
German ruling family
Germans controlled most economic activity and
aristocratic positions
• In reality No
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Finances in disorder
Poor industrial base / not modernising
Army required to garrison existing empire
Officers and leaders promoted through family connections
not talent
– Alienated Russia over mouth of Danube
– Alienated Prussia in Federal Diet but constantly teaming
up with small German states to isolate Prussia
1850 Prussia Constitution
• Designed to replace 1848 Liberal
Constitution
– King retained most power
– Electorate divided into thirds
• Three Class Franchise
– High Taxpayers
– Medium Taxpayers
– Small Taxpayers
• Would remain in place to 1918
The Modernisation of Prussia
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Following model of British Industrialisation
Military still Dominant Institution
Prussian Coalfields
– Ruhr and Rhenish Prussia
– Serious production
– Would allow iron & steel industries to develop
• Useful for developing weapons and strategic armaments
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Growing urbanisation
– 33% in 1871 Second only to Britain
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Railway construction
– Private capital
– But directed by army for strategic purposes
• Would be used extensively in the coming wars
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Chemical Industries
– Useful for armaments
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Optics
– Military applications
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All these industries served the State and the Military rather than consumers
‘I am a Junker and mean to benefit
by it’ Bismarck
• Bismarck had one aim
– The Preservation of the Junker class
– A Predatory Military class
• Loyal to Hohenzollerns
– But only when it suited the Junkers
• Patient
– Prepared to cut deals with enemies
– To hold off from humiliating vanquished foes
• Originally wanted to work with Austria
– Austrian obscurantism in Diet killed off this idea
International Events Open Door to
Unification
• Crimean War
– Congress of Paris
• Russians humiliated
– Concentrate on undoing damage in Black Sea
– At all costs
• France
– Napoleon III
» Assumed uncle had lost because of ignoring
nationalism
» Therefore, he vows to help German and Italian
nationalists
• Franco-Austrian War 1859
– Italy the main battleground
• Austria lost Lombardy
• Serious blow to Austrian prestige
New King, New opportunities
• 1858 Frederick William IV declared mad
• Wilhelm I
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Hard-headed practical leader
Not ‘liberal’ but not a romantic nationalist either
Initially appoints liberal leaning ministers
Authoritarian Bismarck was ‘put on ice’ at the
court at St. Petersburg 1859
• Fanatically pro-army
– Clashes with ‘liberal’ parliament over army
expenditure
‘Blood and Iron’
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1861 Army Budget crisis
– War Minister Roon wanted to increase conscription intake
– Parliament agreed in principle but only if paid for by cut in service from 3 years to 2
years
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Both sides dig heels in.
– Wilhelm threatens to abdicated
– Bismarck invited by Roon and Wilhelm to solve problems
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“The great questions of the day will not be settled by speeches and the
resolutions of majorities – that was the great mistake from 1848 to 1849 – but
by blood and iron”
Bismarck simply ignores parliament
– Army reforms carried out
– Taxes increased and collected
– Claims that there was a hole in the constitution
• King and parliament had to agree for legislation
– No agreement then the King can decide
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Liberal parliament was powerless
Bismarck had created a dual dictatorship
– Bismarck & Wilhelm
1863 Polish Revolt
• Poland split
– Russia 50%
– Prussia 40%
– Austria 10%
• Austria supported the Polish nationalists
• Russia and Prussia combine to suppress
Poles
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‘The Alvensleben Agreement’
Most disturbances were in Russian sector
Russia grateful for Prussian support
Prussia free to turn attention to south and west
1863 Frankfurt Meeting
• Austria proposed a new
Federal Germany uniting all
the German states together
• Wilhelm intrigued and
wished to meet emperor
Franz Joseph at Frankfurt
• Bismarck appalled
– Junker and therefore Prussian
power would be greatly
reduced in this new super
parliament
– Threatened to resign if
Wilhelm attended
– Wilhelm backs down and does
not attend
• Last chance for peaceful,
negotiated unification
Schleswig Holstein – Again!
• 1848
– Prussia had invaded only to withdraw after British and
Russian threats of war
• 1863/4
– Last male Danish King dies
• Duchies could not be passed on to a woman
– Therefore Denmark invades and takes by force
– Austria and Prussia rush to reconquer duchies
• Prussians did not really want any help
– Russia happily turns a blind eye
– Napoleon III did not wish to stand in nationalist
Germany’s way
– Britain Impotent
• Treaty of Gastein
– Schleswig to Prussia
– Holstein to Austria
Bismarck’s Isolation of Austria
• France and Russia were both Neutral
• A formal secret alliance with Italy
– Venice the chief target of Italians
• An implicit understanding with Nationalist
Magyars within Austrian Empire
• Surprise deal to German radicals
– Full Universal Suffrage offered for new German
parliament
• Confounded supporters and opponents alike
• 2/3rds of Germany still poor peasants
1866 Austro-Prussian War
• Three week campaign (7 week war)
– Only one battle of Sadova
• Efficient Prussian army moved quickly
and decisively against inefficient Austrian
army
• Treaty of Prague
– Showed Bismarck’s restraint
– He took no continental land from Austria
• Just Holstein
– But, Austria excluded from German
affairs and German confederation
dissolved
• North German Confederation
created of those German states who
fought with or were conquered by
Prussia in the seven week war
Austria struggles for survival
• Ausgleich 1867
– New Constitution
– Magyars given equal status within empire
– Hungary virtually independent within
empire
– Creation of Dual Monarchy
• Revenge prohibited
– Liberals and Magyars happy with new
arrangement and therefore blocked any
attempts to undo Prussian dominance in
Germany
Ausgleich 1867
The Prussian Parliament Agrees
that it does not matter
• Prussian parliamentary elections on July 3rd
(day of battle of Sadova)
• Liberals returned with a smaller minority
• However, they did not want a new election
once news of the victory had been heard
• September 3rd 1866
– Moderates break away from progressives to form
new National Liberal Party
– Agree to give Bismarck an indemnity for the
unconstitutional right to collect taxes
• 230 to 75
– As important to German constitutional history as
Magna Carta is to England’s – except here the
ruler wins!
The Political Class Stagnates
• Parliament recognised as being unimportant
• MPs can seek concessions from government
but need take no responsibility for running
affairs
• Ambitious talented Prussians
– Avoid politics
– Turn to Armed Forces, Industry or Research for
fulfilment
• German Industry receives the most talented industrialists
and scientists and therefore booms
• Politics receives sycophantic dregs
Prussia Turns on France
• Russia still turns a blind eye
– France had been one of the Crimean War victors
• Austria still battling for survival
• War provoked by Ems Telegram
– Dispute over a Hohenzollern claim to the Spanish throne
– Bismarck deliberately changed the wording of a telegram
between Wilhelm and the French ambassador
• He made it appear that Wilhelm had insulted and rejected the
French proposals
• The French reacted angrily and declared war
• The Prussian Army was superbly lead, highly mobile and
easily defeated the French army
– Paris commune and then capitulation
– Bonaparte deposed
– Alsace and Lorraine handed to Prussia
A New Germany declared in
France!
• 1871 Versailles
– A united Germany was declared in the Hall of
Mirrors in Versailles
– Including the newly conquered territories of
Alsace and Lorraine
• A Triumph of will
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Clever diplomacy
Lightening (and therefore cheap) campaigns
Restraint
Organisation
• “Germany stood for nothing, except German
Power. The organising capacity, the selfless
devotion, the critical intelligence, the scientific
curiosity, which in Western Europe were liberating
men from the tyranny of others and, still more, from
the tyranny of nature, were in Germany employed
to liberate the German state from the control of
either of its neighbours or of its subjects. The
highest faculties of the mind, and these the
Germans possessed, were put to the service of a
mindless cause.” AJP Taylor
A ‘Managed Autocracy’