His major goal was to have a united Germany, with Prussia in control. He realised that German Unification would not be achieved through spontaneous revolts or liberal reform. Instead, Germany would be united through “iron and blood”. He was a master of power politics and achieved his goals by skilfully fighting three wars, uniting Germany into a single nation under Prussian leadership. In doing so, Bismarck strengthened German nationalism and gave it a conservative and anti-liberal thrust.
The Unification of Germany began when Napoleon stimulated Nationalism by temporarily uniting them in the Confederation of the Rhine. Power was divided among the fifteen rulers of the larger states who agreed to support him. After the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna redivided the confederation into thirty-nine states which were loosely associated as the new German Confederation. Each state was self-governed with Austria maintaining dominance. This did not go over well with the ever-improving Prussia. They did not approve of Austria domination.
Prussia’s next step was to push forward with an economic union, the Zollverein, that adopted a trade policy that removed international barriers and set established common tariffs against British and French manufacturers. Over twenty German states belonged to union but Austria was not included. Increasingly, Prussia was assuming the dominant leadership role over Austria within the Confederation. In addition, the Zollverein was working so well that they was lots of support for national unity.
In 1864, he fought the first of the three wars necessary to achieve his goals. He had a brief alliance with Austria, which was necessary to defeat Denmark in a war over the duchies Schleswig-Holstein. This victory only led to more conflicts between the two German power houses, with the joint occupation of the land. Bismarck with his great foresight, saw this coming and was already preparing for this. His strategy with Austria was to already have them isolated, then provoke them into declaring war. This is exactly what he did through secret deals and promises. He had Russia and Italy’s support and France’s promise of neutrality. In 1866, Bismarck fought and won a war against Austria. This was know as the Seven Weeks’ War and the speed of the Prussian victory surprised many. After this war, The Treaty of Prague was signed. It was extremely generous, but strictly excluded Austria from German affairs. Also, Prussia won control of Schleswig-Holstein.
The old German Confederation was dissolved and the twenty-two states north of the River Main were united into the North German Confederation, under Prussian domination. The remaining seventeen southern German states were technically independent, but they quickly allied themselves with the new federation. Before, they were able to join, Prussia had to defeat their last opponent, France.
As he had with Austria, Bismarck had carefully isolated France from outside support. He then provoked France who were already feeling manipulated by the Prussians after the Seven Weeks’ War with its unfulfilled promises. Then in 1870, a cousin of King William I of Prussia, was nominated for the thrown of Spain. France feared that they would be surrounded by two powerful allied states, and decided to meet with William to convince him to withdraw his cousin’s name. He agreed, but didn’t promised that it was forever. This all took place in the resort town of Ems. You may have heard of the Em’s telegram. By altering the telegram, Bismarck provoked France into declaring war. The Franco-Prussian War only lasted six months. The results were a very humiliating defeat for France, causing them to pay tons of money and losing Alsace and Lorraine. This completed the unification with the southern states joining the Confederation. The unification of German Empire was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. This greatly changed the balance of power on the European continent.
In conclusion, I completely agree that the Unification of Germany by 1871 was a result of Bismarck’s foresight and careful planning. Bismarck always knew when a war was going to breaking out ( because usually he provoked it) and was ready to destroy his opponent. He always planned what needed to happen, but never appeared as the aggressor. He used many secret deals and promises to isolate his opponent. He was single-handedly the most successful promoter of German Unification.
