Parliament and built up the Army to a point where it could lead German unification. This did not mean that victory was easy. He needed Austria as an ally to defeat Denmark and
then did not go to war with Austria until he was sure that other countries would not support Austria. Russia was friendly because Bismarck had given support against the
Polish rebels. Napoleon III of France was persuaded to be neutral by vague promises of territorial gains and because of his domestic problems. Britain was very unlikely to intervene in a continental quarrel.
After the victory of 1866, Bismarck treated Austria quite leniently to avoid creating a dangerous enemy in the long term. Napoleon III acted unwisely before the Franco- Prussian War, when it seemed as if France, nor Prussia, was the aggressor. Therefore, Bismarck had again isolated an enemy, which helped the Prussian army to win another decisive victory at Sedan. Moltke and Roon, the Minister of War, assisted Bismarck in his work. Their planning was vital in strengthening the Prussian army and this supported Bismarck’s diplomacy.
However, some people have exaggerated the superiority of the Prussian army. At the battle of Sadowa, the Austrian army was larger than the Prussian and it had good artillery. The Prussians’ needle gun became decisive but the outcome of the battle was in doubt for some time.
Moltke realised that it was necessary to reform the Prussian army in spite of this victory. The French had better rifles than the Prussians at Sedan but their army was badly led and
their rifles were less effective than the new Prussian artillery. Perhaps the most important factor was that the Prussian officers were more skilful than their enemies and the campaigns were carefully planned. Railways were used to transport soldiers quickly over large distances. Bismarck did not go to war until he believed that the Army was ready and that it had clear plans of action.
The importance of the Army to Bismarck was a contrast to the events of 1848. One of the reasons why the revolutionaries had failed to unify Germany in 1848 was that they lacked a powerful army that could defeat Austria. They depended on Prussian leadership but Frederick William IV withdrew his support and he used the Prussian army to crush the Liberals in the Frankfurt Parliament. Therefore, ‘blood and iron’ helped to prevent German unification at
one point and achieve it at another. Bismarck wanted to make Prussia the most important state in Germany but there is much debate whether he always wanted to unify Germany. Some historians believe that this was always his aim and that the wars were pre-planned. Others believe that he adapted his ideas and would have preferred to unite only north Germany under Prussia until the victory over Austria and fears of French influence in the southern German states.
‘Coal and iron’ were important because Prussia led the Zollverein. This was a free trade agreement between German states from which Austria was excluded. The Prussian economy became the richest and most important in Germany. In 1862, a free trade agreement was made with France and this also excluded Austria. This made other German states dependent on Prussia and helped to persuade them to support Prussia in the war against Austria. The
North German Confederation proved the importance of the Prussian economy and Prussia became the economic, as well as the political, centre of Germany in 1871. However, ‘coal
and iron’ was not as important as ‘blood and iron’.
