In the 1840’s German nationalism was on the rise, however, rather than being a strong desire for a German nation, this sense of nationalism was often just a response to the political situation at the time; such as the 1840 crisis of France wishing to expand by through the German states along the Rhine, and when Denmark tried incorporate Schleswig and Holstein into its kingdom. When faced with these “threats to the Fatherland” the people of the German states would protest through German songs, poems and German newspapers.
By May 1848, the Frankfurt Parliament met as a whole bodied representative for the German states, with 596 members, from across all 39 German states.
Although the Frankfurt Parliament failed to create an actual German nation – mainly due to its near complete lack of financial and military strength and lack of dedication from the two biggest German states; Austria and Prussia – it did lay down the ideas of a Grossdeutschland and a Kleindeutschland, and more importantly; it represented the desires for a unified Germany in pre-Bismarck times.
By the time that Otto von Bismarck was appointed as Chief Minister in 1862, Prussia was already in a strong position, economically and politically, to potentially become the head of a German nation, although Austria still held the support of the majority of the German states at the time. It should be noted that Austria, as the other large German state also sought supremacy over the German states and was always Prussia’s rival in this quest; “Germany is clearly too small for us both…In the not too distant future we shall have to fight for our existence against Austria,” as Bismarck put it in 1856.
Bismarck was appointed as Chief Minister by William I, under the advice of General Roon, and was assigned the task of winning over the Prussian Parliament to pass the new army reform bill. The Prussian king, William I, too had the idea that a country’s strength relied on its military prowess. Bismarck’s Realpolitik attitude made him agree with the Prussian monarch.
It is hard to say that Bismarck did not have any plans of uniting Germany from when he came to power; in his first speech to Parliament Bismarck shares his views on what Prussia needs to do if it hopes to lead the German states; “Germany does not look to Prussia’s liberalism, but to its power…” You can therefore, if you choose, look at all of Bismarck’s actions as the steps to achieving the long-standing goal of Prussian military power, and through it, the unity of the German people under Prussian rule.
Otto von Bismarck, however, did not succeed in swaying the people of parliament into passing the money bill for the army; instead he told them that they were not needed and that the money could be raised through taxation. To convince them Bismarck told them that he had 200’000 troops to persuade them.
In late 1863, a new Danish king was chosen (King Frederick VII had left no children). The duchies of Holstein and Schleswig said that inheritance was forbidden as it came through a female relative, and they put forward their own heir to the throne; the Duke of Augustenburg. After Denmark rejected their ultimatum to drop claims to the two duchies, Germany and Austria went to war against Denmark together in January 1864, with very different motives. Austria supported the Augustenburg claim to the throne, as did Prussia at first. However, it later called for the annexation of the duchies rather than a new monarch.
After Denmark surrendered in July and gave up their claims to the two duchies, the decision of who was to rule these two duchies became a political battle between Austria and Prussia. In the end it was decided that Holstein would be administered by Austria and Schleswig by Prussia. This left Bismarck with the option of being able to pick a quarrel with Austria over Holstein when he felt the time was right.
In 1865-66 Austria wanted war with Prussia. This was to be the long awaited conflict between the two sovereign German states, but even though Austria still had the bigger army, Bismarck had politically prepared for the conflict; by 1866 Bismarck had succeeded in securing French neutrality in the case of war with Austria, as well as creating a secret alliance between Italy and Prussia should the conflict rise. This war was crucial in deciding which of the two nations would gain supremacy over the German states, therefore Bismarck’s goal of a united Germany under Prussian rule now depended on the strength of the Prussian army.
Several factors allowed Prussia to beat Austria in what was to be known as the Seven Weeks’ War. Firstly, the army reforms had been successfully carried out under General Roon, the Prussian Minister of War and the army was under command of General Moltke, who was a gifted military commander. Secondly the secret alliance with Italy forced Austria to fight a two front war. Although they managed to defeat the weak and inefficient Italian army quickly, it was not enough to defeat the transportation system of troops and guns with five times the fire rate of the Austrian weapons available to Prussia.
It is important to note the treatment of Austria after its defeat. Most of the Prussian leaders wanted to humiliate Austria; however, Bismarck would not allow this and even threatened to commit suicide if they did not heed his advice. Bismarck saw the importance in maintaining good terms with Austria as it still had the support of many of the German states. The only territory that Austria lost in the Seven Weeks’ War was Venetia that was given to Italy as part of the alliance deal. The Treaty of Prague (August 1866), however, was bent on remodelling northern Germany. Several German states were annexed and all the ones north of the River Main were formed into the North German Confederation in 1867, leaving only the south German states independent, but even these agreed to sign a military alliance with Prussia. Bismarck now had two-thirds of Germany under Prussian rule and was a Prussian hero even in Parliament.
As Bismarck saw it, to fully unify Germany, he needed another war that would bring all the German states together and create a strong sense of nationalism; this war was to be the Franco-Prussian / Franco-German War.
By 1870, Bismarck had let French-Prussian relations deteriorate as France now feared the very feasible idea of a unified Germany, and through the Luxemburg crisis of 1867, where Bismarck went from encouraging France to expand into Luxemburg to whip up anti-French nationalism in Germany, and finally the candidature for the Spanish throne that ended with the Ems telegram from William I to Napoleon III that Bismarck edited by removing words making it sound hostile rather than the parley it was meant to be. This telegram, published in newspapers across Germany and France, led directly to war.
As to secure that Austria did not decide to join France in an attempt at a war of vengeance, Bismarck managed to make Russia promise that they would join the war if Austria did.
Fighting started in July 1870; the war was to be a series of Prussian victories on the battle field due to their railway systems, military tactics and Krupp’s (the big Prussian arms manufacturer) artillery. By August 180’000 French troops were being besieged in the fortress of Metz. The French General MacMahon quickly gathered 130’000 troops and marched in an attempt to break the siege of Metz.
Napoleon III, General MacMahon and their troops were instead intercepted by German forces and fought the decisive battle of the war in Sedan on the 1st of September. France lost the battle and Napoleon surrendered. Under the terms of surrender Germany took over 104’000 prisoners, including Napoleon III.
Even though the war had been decided at Sedan the fighting went on for another 6 months as the Germans sought to starve the city of Paris into an armistice. It came on the 28th of January, 1871.
Bismarck’s war to create a strong enough feeling of nationalism to form a German nation had been a success. Although he had to use a lot of skill and German nationalist feelings to convince the southern German states to join the German Empire and to make William I of Prussia the Keiser of Germany, he succeeded in creating a Unified Germany.
On the 18th of January, 1871, King William of Prussia took on the title (shouted out by the Grand Duke of Baden) of Imperial and Royal Majesty, Keiser William of Germany, in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
“Blood and Iron” is a phrase that has become synonymous to Otto von Bismarck, the man who has been acclaimed as the master-planner behind the German Unification in 1871. Since his appointment as Chief Minister of Prussia in 1862, Bismarck’s main goal was to increase the strength of the Prussian nation, and as he saw it, military strength was what defined a strong nation. “It is not through speeches and majority decisions that the great questions of the day are decided…It is by iron and blood,” was how Bismarck strongly Bismarck felt towards increasing the strength of a nation. It is quite possible that when Bismarck looked at Germany he saw simply the best opportunity to create a powerful nation of military importance and therefore he spent the years leading up till 1871 trying to create a unified Germany under Prussian leadership.
Bismarck did not lay down the groundwork and ideas for a unified Germany, but what he did do was make one possible. Military reforms that allowed successful wars, speeches made to rattle the feeling of nationalism inside the German people and the final victory over Austria as the head of the German states; all these factors that led to a German Unification under Prussia in 1871 were orchestrated by a Prussian Chief Minister and a German Chancellor named Otto von Bismarck. If any the factors helping Bismarck unify Germany had not been there, it may not have been possible to have done it in 1871, but Bismarck’s significance lies in the manner in which he led all these factors together, whether as a master-planner or a master-opportunist, Bismarck managed to lead Prussia into becoming the German Empire of 1871.
Word Count: 1966
Bibliography:
Farmer, Alan and Stiles, Andrina. The Unification of Germany 1815-1919. London, England: Hodder Murray, 2007.
Tankard, Dr. Keith, “Prussian Militarism.” Knowledge 4 Africa [online] Available , 21 June, 2006.
Excerpt from Bismarck’s first speech to the Prussian Parliament after his appointment as the Prussian Chief Minister.