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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.
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
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
‘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
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