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Unification of Germany ● Stages of German unification: Roll of ( Costumes union) ● Role of Bismarck in Unification ● Foreign Policy of Germany: Under Bismarck 1871 - 1891

Early Situation 1871 No Political Unification: German speaking population was under different princely states. ● Major princely states were ○ Russia: majorly had German speaking population ○ Austria: Austria had other language speaking populations too ● 300 Other smaller princely states.

1871 Germany ● : On the east of , major power ● : On South, another major power. ● Northern German States: A group several small German speaking states on the north. ● Southern German States: a group of several small German speaking states on the south.

Unification of Germany

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1805: When annexed a number of German speaking areas ● 300 smaller German speaking areas of Northern and Southern states ● Consolidated to 39 Germanic State. ● Napoleon of France: Defeated Austria ● Napoleon supported the Political unification of linguistically similar region ○ Supported the idea of Nationalism ○ Birth of European nationalism coupled with linguistic homogeneity was an idea proposed by Napoleon. ○ Nationalism was the seed for many revolution ○ Revolution led to the formation of modern nations

1815 Congress of discussed the German unification ● was formed to undo the changes fo napoleon ● Yet, the unification of Germany was not undone. ● Germanic Confederation: in 1815 established by Vienna Congress. ○ Consists of: ■ 37 Smaller German provinces ■ Prussia ■ Austria ○ Metternich: Austrian negotiator in Vienna Congress attempted to be the key leader of . ○ Confederalism is a system in which the provinces are more strong than the centre. An extended version of Federalism. That is a Loose union. ● Issue with the Germanic Confederation ○ Rivalry with Austria and Prussia ○ Austria, militarily and economically powerful tried to acquire leadership of the Confederation. ○ Prussia did not support this. ○ 1819: Economic unification through a common Customs Union was led by Prussia ● Zollverien: The customs union (Completed in 1834) ● A costumes union removes the barriers between each and every boundaries of the small provinces. Therefore creates a No tariff internal markets. ● Prussia unified: Prussia + Northern states + Southern states ● Austria refused to join. ● When the world market was filled with French or Britain goods, this provided Prussia a good market. ● Tariff barrier on outside goods ● Coal and Iron policy.

1819 - 1840: Significance of Zollverein ● Zollverien closely interlinked the economic fate of Northern and Southern Germanic states with Prussia ● Austria’s refusal to join Zollverien resulted in it being marginalised in economic term ● Zollverien made the possibility of Prussia being the leader of Germanic states. ● Boosted economic Growth of Prussia

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○ Ensured the availability of a ready market for the emerging Prussian capitalist class ○ Enabled it to tackle the competition from British and French industrie. ● German capital class became a strong supporter or political unification of Germany under Prussian leadership. ● Rapid economic growth allowed Prussia a bigger expenditure in 1834 on Military. Especially under Bismarck during 1860. This ultimately resulted in the political unification of Germany in 1871. ● Economic unification of Germany by formation of Zollverien preceded political unification of Germany

1848: ● Revolution of 1848: Overthrow of Metternich, The Austrian ruler ● Establishment of Frankfurt Parliament for all German speaking areas. ● Fresh election for the Frankfurt Parliament held. ● Parliament aim: To unify all German speaking areas under a with limited power. ○ Parliament requested the king of Prussia: Friedrich William 4 to become the Constitutional monarch ○ Federick William rejected this. ○ He was an absolute monarchy in Prussia ○ Replacing that with limited power was not appealing even if it was all over Germany ○ He also did not find the idea of popular sovereignty acceptable: He emphasized the idea of divine right to rule. ● Thus the Frankfurt Parliament failed to establish a constitutional monarchy and failed to unify all German speaking areas together. ● This reflected the failure of constitutional/liberal methods to unify Germany

1850s: Frederick William 4 Died. Kaiser William I came to power. ● Kaiser was interested in unifying German ● But under a complete monarchy ● Thus he appointed Bismarck as PM/ Chancellor for this task.

1860 is appointed as PM by Kaiser William I ● Bismarck: A conservative ultra nationalist from a wealthy landed family of Prussia ○ In Prussian diplomatic services ○ Aimed for political unification of Germany under Prussian leadership. ○ Bismarck explicitly clarified that there was no space for Austria under/in a unified Germany. ○ Little interest in constitutional arrangements. Supported the idea of a strong Germany under a strong Prussian monarchy. ○ A unified Germany would become a leading power. ○ Adopted the policy of ■ Liberal constitutional methods were ineffective and were crippled by indecisiveness of corrupt, self centred political class.

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■ Argued that crucial tasks like the unification of Germany could not be completed by constitutional methods was demonstrated by the failure of revolution of 1848. ■ Preferred militaristic method ■ In Prussian Parliament Bismarck stated that: The task of political unification of Germany cannot be achieved with talks and deliberation. Rather it requires a strong will and decisive use of military force. ■ Three wars under Bismarck: 1862, 1865 and 1871 to achieved a unified Germany.

1862 War: Prussia along with Austria ● To take back control of Schleswig and Holstein (German speaking area) ● From : Who got the control of these regions by Congress of Vienna in 1815. ● Northern Schleswig went to Prussia ● Holstein went to Austria ● Prussia from 1860 increasing its military expenditure. Under the radar of Austria but still for “a good cause”.

1865 War: The 7 week war. Prussian Austrian war ● Prussian offensive against Austria to take control of the northern Germanic state. ● Rapid military expansion followed by Bismarck ○ By increasing military expenditure ○ Under policy of Blood and Iron ○ Enable it to quickly defeat Austria and unification of Germany ● Bismarck’s Crafty diplomacy ○ To ensure French neutrality: by informally promising certain territories along rain river ○ To ensure Russian neutrality: by providing military support to Tsarist regime in Russia to crush a popular uprising in 1863. ● Thus captured Northern Germanic states

1871 War: Franco-Prussian war 1871 against Prussia ● Prussia aimed to unify the Southern Germanic states ● Bismarck deliberately ignored the letters from French monarch Napoleon III ○ for territorial concessions as promised by Prussia in 1865 ○ France now threatened Prussia with dire consequences if it continued to ignore this. ● Bismarck selectively leaked portions of this letters were the threat of war was clearly mentioned ○ He urged southern Germanic states to join Prussia ○ Which voluntarily did so ● Infuriated Napoleon III declared war on Prussia ○ Prussia successfully defeats France ○ 83,000 French soldiers including Napoleon III were taken as prisoners of War as France was forced to surrender ● Treaty of Paris 1871: ○ The French mineral rich region of Alsace Lorraine along the Rhine river were forcibly taken by Germany as indemnity.

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● Thus the unification of Germany was completed ○ Also humiliated France which was eager to undo the embarrassment of the defeat of 1871.

Foreign Policy of Bismarck

Objectives of Bismarck's Foreign Policies Under the Prime ministership of Bismarck a unified Germany sought to achieve ● German domination over Europe ● Diplomatically isolate France: therefore prevent it from forming any alliances against Germany. Bismarck understood that France would make serious attempts to undo the humiliation impared by the Franco-Prussian war of 1871. ● To maintain Relative peace across Europe: As repeated war disrupts trade and would adversely affect the economic interest of German policies.

Steps taken ● A web of interconnected alliances ○ Dual Alliance b/w Germany and Austria 1779 ○ Triple Alliance b/w Germany, Austria and Italy 1782 ○ Reinsurance Treaty with Russia in 1887: Signed for 3 years ● These alliances were secrete in nature ○ Aimed to prevent France from making any alliance / to Isolate France. ● Germany publicly spoke about the need to establish Peace in Europe. ○ But German military expenditure continued to increase ○ Particularly in the Navel arena ○ Aimed at increasing German Naval strength to counter British dominance over Europe. ● Bismarck refrained from any military expansion in Europe: to prevent it’s neighbours from acquiring an anti-German orientation

Impact of Bismarck’s Policies ● Suspicion about Germany’s intent: Secretive nature of treated along with increased military expenditure ○ Led to emergence of suspicion amongst other European powers about the intent of Germany. ○ Reliability of the treaties kept on reducing. ● Every European country sought peace in the company of arms ○ Germany’s neighbours like France, Austria, Italy etc. ○ Considered these treaty as unreliable and ○ Pursued increasing military expenditure to prepare self capacity for self defence ○ Thus Europe moved towards an arms race. ● Unstable alliance system of Germany ○ As these alliances were not guided by convergence of long term world views or shared objectives

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○ They were temporary and opportunistic in nature ○ Guided by the sole objective of isolating France ● Kaiser William II taking the throne in 1891 ○ Favoured an expansionist policy in Europe and Africa ○ Wanted to move away from a policy of restraints and alliances established by Bismarck ● Refusal to renew Reinsurances Treaty with Russia in 1891 ○ By William II ○ Led to the collapse of the alliance ○ Bismarck soon resigned ○ Russia viewed the collapse of treaty with apprehension ● Russia alliance with France in 1894 ○ This ended the diplomatic isolation of France in Europe ○ Alliance system of Bismarck soon collapsed after 1891

Conclusion ● Unification of Germany: Bismarck's policies were responsible for the unification of Germany ● Europe’s Arm Race: Bismarck’s militaristic approach along with unstable alliance system pushed Europe towards an arms race. ● World War I : Some of the important reasons for Europe moving towards WW1 was ○ Bismarck’s drive to ensure German domination over Europe and ○ The humiliation imposed on France in 1871