Monday, Dec 22, 2014
- The Unification of Germany
- The Situation in 1860
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Obstacles to Unity
- Germany remained politically divided into a number of small states that jealously guarded their independence.
- The German Confederation remained a loose grouping of 39 states dominated by Austria
- French foreign policy continued to support German rivalries while opposing German unity.
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Prussia’s Growing Strength
- Prussia’s population increased from 11 million in 1815 to more than 18 million in 1850.
- Led by Prussia, the Zollverein promoted German economic growth while demonstrating the advantages of unity.
- Otto von Bismarck: Master of Realpolitik
- In 1862, William I chose as his prime minister a Junker and staunch conservative named Otto von Bismarck.
- A master of Realpolitik, Bismarck set out to strengthen Prussia.
- Bismarck enlarged and reequipped the Prussian army so that he could take advantage of opportunities for further territorial expansion.
- Disavowing liberalism as frivolous and misguided, Bismarck firmly declared, “The great questions of our day cannot be solved by speeches and majority votes—that was the great error of 1848 and 1849—but by blood and iron.”
- War with Denmark: 1864
- Bismarck led Prussia into war with Denmark to win two border provinces, Schleswig and Holstein.
- The victory combined with shrewd diplomacy enabled Bismarck to begin the process of eliminating Austria from German affairs.
- War with Austria: 1866
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The Seven Weeks’ War
- In 1866, Bismarck provoked Austria into declaring war on Prussia.
- Prussia’s revitalized army easily crushed the Austrians in a brief conflict known as the Seven Weeks’ War.
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Consequences
- Austria agreed to the dissolution of the German Confederation.
- With Austria excluded from German affairs, Bismarck organized a North German Confederation dominated by Prussia.
- As Prussia’s ally, Italy annexed Venetia.
- War with France: 1870
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The Causes
- France feared the sudden emergence of a strong and aggressive Prussia. It is important to note that France had opposed German unity for centuries.
- Bismarck adroitly exploited a minor dispute between France and Prussia over the search for a new Spanish monarch. By skillfully editing the Ems Dispatch, Bismarck inflamed relations between France and Prussia.
- Napoleon III declared war on Prussia on July 19, 1870.
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The War
- The Prussians successfully invaded France and forced Napoleon III to surrender on September 2, 1870.
- On January 18, 1871, King William I was proclaimed German emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles.
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The Consequences
- Bismarck imposed a harsh settlement. He forced France to pay a huge indemnity and cede Alsace and most of Lorraine to the German empire.
- The loss of rich deposits of coal and iron ore was a severe blow to France’s economy. The loss of these provinces was an even greater blow to French national pride.
- The unification of Germany created a new European balance of power. As the German empire rapidly industrialized, it became the strongest state on the continent of Europe and a formidable rival to Great Britain.
- France
- France
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The Paris Commune: 1871
- The Franco-Prussian War left France defeated and humiliated. France’s Third Republic began with the bitter task of ceding the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany.
- The People of Paris rejected both the treaty and the new conservative government. Radicals called Communards formed a revolutionary municipal council or “Commune.”
- Government troops besieged Paris for two months. The army finally overwhelmed the Communards and mercilessly crushed all opposition.
- The bloody suppression of the Paris Commune left a legacy of class hatred that poisoned French politics.
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The Dreyfus Affair
- Captain Alfred Dreyfus, the first Jewish officer in the French general staff, was convicted of selling military secrets to the Germans and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island off the northern coast of South America.
- Although Dreyfus was innocent, a coalition of Catholics, monarchists, anti-Semites, and military officers thwarted attempts to clear his name.
- Emile Zola, the famed realist novelist, wrote an article called “J’Accuse” (“I Accuse”), charging that military judges knowingly let the guilty party go, while Dreyfus remained imprisoned.
- Dreyfus was ultimately completely exonerated in 1906.
- The Dreyfus Affair had a number of consequences. It created a nationwide furor that deepened political divisions and revealed widespread anti-Semitism. The Dreyfus Affair also played a key role in Theodor Herzl’s decision to write The Jewish State, calling for a national homeland for the Jewish People.