Forces Uniting Germans: language reaction against Napoleon Zollverein (except Austria) traditions, customs, literature

Forces Dividing Germans: Austria & France 1848 failures religion: Catholic south, Protestant north

ReviewWhat are the five elements of Nationalism that exist in ALL Nations (or Nation-States)?

LanguageCultureHistoryReligionTerritory

Napoleon

• French troops conquered and occupied German States, this led to nations

• He encouraged princes to consolidate smaller states

• In 1792 there were 300-400 independent states, by 1815 only 30 remained

• Russia armies were going to invade Germany to get Napoleon, the Germans now had a common enemy which led to feelings of Nationalism

Zollverein

• Customs union which eliminated trade barriers (remove internal customs), although upholding a protectionist tariff system with foreign trade partners , this led to economic nationalism

• Germany was rich in resources and became industrialized during this era

Revolution of 1848• The Princes compromised on a

constitution that called for an emperor and a two-house parliament. The Prussian king Frederick William IV was invited to be emperor but he refused. “He refused to take the Crown from the gutter.”

• The German Confederation of 1815 was reestablished.

A True Conservative . . .• wanted to maintain Prussian power in German States

•to preserve the monarchy

• cared little for nationalism, a middle-class cause

German Chancellor 1862-

1890

. . . in Liberal Nationalist Disguise!

• courted the middle-class for success• promoted economic development• accepted trappings of a parliamentary

system• This is Realpolitik

Prussia’s King Wilhelm I desired military reform . . . which would involve a 25% tax increase.

Liberals in parliament said NO, so . . . Wilhelm selected Bismarck

as chancellor to break the deadlock. Bismarck sent Prussian bureaucratsto collect taxes without Dietapproval, and the people willingly paid!

Towards Unification

Schleswig & Holstein (1863)

Austro-Prussian War  (1866)

Franco-Prussian War (1870)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Puk_jLli5s&feature=fvw

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igqTIpQOt8Q&feature=related: Video Overview of Ems

• Prussian victory over Austria and Denmark upsets the balance of power in Europe• He provokes France to war by issuing the false “Ems Telegram.”

(Napoleon III wanted to go to war)• Bismarck uses propaganda to fuel anti-French feelings and

increase nationalism• France declares War on Prussia. Prussia defeats France and

reduces it to a 2nd rate power

French defeat at the Battle of Sedan• Napoleon III taken prisoner • (+ 82,000 other Frenchmen)

Creation of the German Empire, Jan. 1871• Wilhelm I becomes the German Kaiser• unity imposed from above; constitution seen as a

gift from the princes to the German people rather than a right of the people

• Reichstag = universal male suffrage, but little true power

• Bundesrat = appointed members

Treaty of Frankfurt, Feb. 1871 surrender of Alsace-

Lorraine National humiliation for

France 500 million francs

indemnity ceremonial entry to

Paris by Prussian army

Was Bismarck a genius diplomat, architect of a long-laid plan of German unification?

Was Bismarck merely a master opportunist?

Not through speeches and majority decisions will the great questions of the day be decided - that was the great mistake of 1848 and 1849 - but by iron and blood.

"Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made."

"A generation that has taken a beating is always followed by a generation that deals one."

"I am bored. The great things are done. The German Reich is made."

"Some damned foolish thing in the Balkans." (Bismarck's prediction on what would trigger the next war)

Bismarck's Unification of

Germany

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3k724JX-PY&feature=related