STAGES IN THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY

STAGES IN THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY

I) NAPOLEONICERA 1807-1815:

In 1807, Napoleon conquered the German states from the Austrian Habsburg rulers. He re-organised the states and merged them in what is called the Confederation of the Rhine. He introduced some reforms such as Universal Education and Constitutional Parliament. As a true son of the French revolution, Napoleon preached and strengthened the French revolutionary ideas of equality, liberty and nationalism. It's these reforms and revolutionary ideas that the Germans adopted and started agitating for the unification of their motherland.

2) THEREVOLUTIONARY ERA 1817-1848

After the downfall of Napoleon, the Vienna powers created some positive changes that favoured the unification of Germany. The Settlement imposed Austria's control over the German affairs and the diet itself was under the Presidency of an Austrian Representative. Metternich and Austria's rule were very oppressive and exploitative to the Germans. These provoked a series of revolutionary movements that were intended to end Austria's control and unify the German states. For example, the intellectual movements of 1817-1819, which was suppressed using force and the Carlsbad Decree. There were also the 1830 uprisings and the 1848 revolutions, which were brutally suppressed by Austria as the earlier ones.

These taught the German nationalists some lessons and they adopted better strategies for the unification after 1850.

However, the practical unification of Germany was achieved between 1864-1871 by Prince Otto Von Bismarck. Bismarck was a Prussian Junker (landlord) born in 1815, in an aristocratic family at Brudenburg. By birth and orientation, Bismarck was a conservative anti-liberal and not a friend to democracy. By nature. Bismarck was passionate and volcanic. He was a man of indomitable will power with a quick and sensitive mind. He prophesied about the unification when he told the British Prime Minister, Disraeli that he,"... would attack Denmark in order to get possession of Schleswig and Holstein, put Austria out of the German Confederation and finally attack France".

This is exactly the stages and manner in which Bismarck planned and achieved the unification of Germany between 1864-1870.

Bismarck graduated at the Universities of Gottens and Berlin and joined the Prussian army in 1835 after his education. However, he returned to farming in his vast land estates in 1840. Although Bismarck studied Law, he was equally interested in History and novels that made him a cosmopolitan academician.

In 1847, Bismarck was elected a member of the Prussian Provincial Parliament. While in Parliament, his tongue was so bitter against the liberals and Austrian's domination. This threatened King William IV who referred to Bismarck as "a man,... only to be employed when the Bayonet reigns".

In 1851, Bismarck was again elected a Prussian representative to the German Confederation Parliament at Frankfurt. Again, Bismarck's views were that the unification of Germany would start from the north under Prussian leadership. However, King Fredrick William IV who was afraid of Austrian intervention deliberately appointed Bismarck an Ambassador to St. Petersburg in Russia (1859) and transferred him to France in 1862.

However, King Fredrick William IV died in 1861 and was replaced by William I. Like Bismarck, the new King William I was reactionary, despotic, a firm believer in divine rule and not afraid of Austria unlike his predecessor King William IV. The new King William I appointed Von-Roon as Minister of War and Von Moltek as Chief of Staff. They decided to embark on army reforms. Accordingly, in 1862, William I called the Prussian Parliament to vote for money to increase taxation, expand the army and introduce military Laws. All these were vetoed (rejected) by the liberals. It is at this point that Von-Roon sent Bismarck a telegram that

"COME, THE PEER IS RIPE, DANGER INDELAY''

Bismarck immediately left France for Prussia where he was made the Minister President. It is this position that Bismarck used to plan and achieve the unification of German in three (3) quick wars.

STAGES THROUGH WHICH BISMARCK UNITED GERMANY / ROLE OF BISMARCK IN THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY

3) Bismarck started by addressing the past internal problems in Prussia that had hindered the unification of Germany by 1850. Bismarck's plan was to strengthen Prussia politically, economically and militarily so that she spearheads the unification of Germany. He held a passionate (strong feelings) view that,"

Germany has its eyes not on Prussian liberalism but on its might. The great questions of the day shall not be decided by speeches and resolutions of the majority but by blood and iron". These made Bismarck to start with his home province of Prussia as a base for the unification of Germany.

a. He started by counseling the King not to resign inspite of liberal opposition to his administrative and military reforms. The liberals had obstructed important and sensitive reforms like expanding the army from 500.000 - 750.000 soldiers and increasing taxation to maintain and strengthen the army. They had also vetoed the appointments of Von Roon and Von Moltek as Chief of staff and Minister of War respectively. But when Bismarck was made the Minster President, he encouraged the King not to resign his reforms. These reforms made Prussia the hope and centre for the Germany unification.

b. Bismarck suppressed the liberals from the Prussian Provincial Parliament who were blocking reforms that were intended for the unification. He systematically dismissed and eliminated liberals who dominated key positions in the army, civil service and censored the press to contain liberal opposition. He also dissolved the Parliament and organized fresh election that saw a small number of liberals resume their seat in the Parliament. These measures gradually and systematically destroyed the influence of the liberals in the Prussian as well as German politics. This also helped Bismarck and King William I to consolidate their power over Prussia and implement pro-unification reforms like increasing taxation and expanding the army, which was used to challenge Denmark in 1864and Austrian 1866.

c. Bismarck improved the military capacity of Prussia. He was aware that Germany had its eyes not on Prussian liberalism but on its might and that the great question of the day shall not be resolved by mere speeches and resolutions of the majorities but by blood and iron, When the liberals objected King William I's army reforms, Bismarck and the King ignored and went ahead with the reforms. They increased and collected taxes and expanded the army from 500.000 to 750.000 troops. The army was well motivated, trained, armed and modernized under the effective command of Von Moltek and Von Roon. By 1870, the Prussian army was only second to Britain. The army was used to suppress internal oppositions and fight external enemies. It is this army that was used to defeat Denmark in 1864 for the liberation of Schleswig; Austria in 1866 for the liberation of Holstein and France in 1871 for the liberation of the southern German states.

d. Bismarck reorganized the Prussian economy. He constructed roads, telegraphic and railway networks, most of which were extended towards Austria. These were later used to mobilize and transport troops during the 1866 war with Austria. Bismarck also promoted trade and industrialization. He signed free commercial treaties with industrialized countries like Britain, Belgium and France. The strong economy created by Bismarck helped in financing and sustaining the three quick wars through which Germany unified.

After successfully re-organising Prussia to lead the unification, Bismarck turned his attention to foreign policy. His great enemies were Denmark that was holding Schleswig and Holstein; Austria that had political influence in German affairs; and France who besides having claims over the southern German states never wanted a powerful and united Germany across her borders.

4). However, before Bismarck embarked on putting into practice his policy of blood and iron, he secured friendship and diplomatic co-operation from other foreign powers. In 1861, he signed an agreement with Disraeli of Britain. In 1863, he got Russian friendship by handing the Polish rebels who had fled to Prussia back to the Russian Tsar Alexander II. These isolated Britain and Russia from Bismarck's enemies and made Prussia diplomatically strong to begin the actual unification using his policy of blood and iron.

Besides, Italy was still disorganised with enough internal problems that she could not intervene; France could also not intervene because Napoleon III had signed the Truce of Villafranca with Austria in 1860.

5). Between 1863-1864, Bismarck handled the Schleswig-Holstein question. It was so complex which Palmerstone maintained that only three people knew about it. To him, the first person was Prince Consort who was dead; the second person was a German Professor who was in a lunatic asylum, the third person was Palmerstone himself who had even forgotten about it. However, inspite of its intricacy and complexity, Bismarck succeeded in solving the question in the interest of German unification.

Historically, the two provinces were governed by Denmark as semi-independent states. Schleswig was dominated by Danes but had some Germans in the northern part. The Germans and Slavs mainly inhabited Holstein. There was a period of armed and diplomatic rivalry between the Danes and the German nationalists to incorporate both territories in their respective state boundaries. This crisis was settled by the London Treaty of 1850 in which the big powers of Europe agreed that the King of Denmark should continue to rule the two provinces separately.

However in 1863, the new King of Denmark Prince Christian violated the London Treaty of 1852. He enacted a constitution in which he incorporated Schleswig as part of Denmark. This provoked opposition from the Germans in northern Schleswig, Holstein and other German states and Austria. Bismarck took advantage of this to gain full support from the German nationalists and ally with Austria against Denmark.

In 1864, a joint of Austro-Prussian troops invaded, defeated and expelled Denmark from the two provinces.

In the treaty of Vienna 1864, Denmark gave up all claims over Schleswig and Holstein. Later in the Gastein Convention of 1865, Schleswig was annexed to Prussia and this was the first territorial achievement in the unification of Germany. Bismarck tactfully gave Austria Holstein, which was dominated by Germans to make it easy to scheme a war and finally eliminate Austria out of German affairs.

Nevertheless, although Bismarck succeeded against Denmark in 1864, his efforts were complemented by other factors. The alliance with Austria who was a signatory of the 1852 London treaty greatly boosted his military and diplomatic position against Denmark. Besides, Denmark was militarily very weak and could have even been defeated by Prussian troops alone without Austria. He was also favoured by the disunity between the 1852 London powers and the absence of a capable international organisation to maintain peace.

6. In 1866, Bismarck defeated Austria and annexed Holstein in the famous Austro-Prussian war. The war was to eliminate Austria out of Holstein and German affairs. As usual, he decided to isolate Austria in order to deny her foreign assistance from those powers likely to assist her. He gave a verbal promise to Napoleon III of France at the Biarritz meeting of October 1865 that he (Bismarck) would reward him with the south German states in return for his neutrality in the war. He was assured of British support based on the 1861 agreement and Russia's support because of his actions against the Polish rebels in 1863. In April 1866, Bismarck signed an agreement with Italy in which he promised to help the Italians to liberate Venetia from Austria.

With all the above safeguards, Bismarck was left with the task of provoking Austria in order to make her appear the aggressor. He incited the Germans in Schleswig to rebel against Austria's authority. Austria violently quelled down the rebellion and imprisoned the participants with a heavy death toll. Bismarck then appealed to the Confederation Parliament to expel Austria out of German affairs. This appeal prompted Austria to declare war against Prussia on June 14th 1866. Italy joined Prussia and Austria was finally defeated within only seven weeks (hence seven week's war) at the battle of Sodowa.

Bismarck finally concluded the war by signing the Treaty of Prague with Austria on23rd August 1866. By the treaty, Austria was forced to surrender all her claims in the German Confederation. She handed Holstein to Prussia. Prussia also annexed the smaller northern German states (that had supported Austria) of Hanover, Nassau, Hessel-Casse and the free city of Frankfurt. This brought more morale and hope in the Germans for the unification.

It should be noted that Bismarck was so lenient to Austria in the Treaty of Prague. He did not annex any of her territory and even stopped the Prussian soldiers from over running the whole of Austria during the war.

This is because he did not wish to make Austria irreconcilable to Prussia. His fears were the big powers of Europe especially France that could ally with Austria against Prussia. His other fear was the smaller states that had their roots in Austria and who had even supported Austria during the war.

7).In 1867, Bismarck completed the unification of the northern German states. He abolished the

Confederation Parliament and formed a Confederation of Northern German states with a new Constitution.

Its President was King William I of Prussia and Bismarck was the Chancellor of the Confederation. This eliminated Austria out of German affairs forever, it also inspired the southern states of Bavaria, Wurttemberg and Saxony with nationalistic feelings to join the north and be part of a united Germany.

This therefore made it easy to mobilise them for war against France in 1870.

Although Bismarck and Prussia shares the responsibility for the victory against Austria in the 1866 war, they were somehow favoured by other factors. Austria by 1866 had not yet fully recovered from the humiliating defeat ofl859 at the battles of Magenta and Salfarino. She was also weakened by nationalistic uprisings within her empire. Besides, she fought alongside small and weak coalition members who frustrated her efforts. For example, Hanover soldiers surrendered to Prussian troops on 28th June 1866 and this disintegrated Austria's coalition.

8). The last event that completed the unification of Germany was the Franco- Prussian war of 1870-1871.

Bismarck's main occupation (task) after 1867 was the incorporation of the southern German states of Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Baden, Saxony etc into a united Germany. But the problem was France that had claims over these states based on the 1865 Biarritz promise and historical connection. France was also openly opposed to the unification of Germany for the fear that it would alter the balance of power against her. This is why Thiers confessed that, The unification of Germany must not go further. This made Bismarck, who had once remarked that, War with France lay in the logic of history to prepare for war.

Napoleon III fell into Bismarck's trap when he demanded for the Biarritz promise of1865. Bismarck again duped him to make his claims in writing. He then published Napoleon Ill's claims of the southern German states to cause anti-French enmity and detach them from France. This made it easy for Bismarck to mobilise the south German states to fight France in 1870. He also published Napoleon Ill's claims to other

European powers, which made them to hate him. They started seeing in him the aggression of Napoleon I especially that he was claiming the southern German states, Luxemburg and the "neutral" Belgium.

Bismarck moved ahead and secured Russia's neutrality by promising to support her in violating the Black Sea Clause. He was assured of Austria's non-intervention following the lenient treaty of Prague of1866.

The Italians and the Germans were birds of the same feather because the French troops in Rome were the last obstacle to the unification of Italy. Thus, there was no problem with Italy.

However, the immediate cause of the war was the Spanish succession dispute. In 1869, there was a revolution in Spain, which led to the overthrow of the King and the Queen. The throne was offered to Leopold Sigmaritse of the Hohenzollem family who was a relative of King Leopold of Prussia. France pretested and rejected this arrangement for the fear that it would leave her encircled by the Hohenzollem family in Prussia and Spain and generally encircled by the Germans. Napoleon's protest forced William I to withdraw from the Spanish throne, which was Napoleon's victory over Prussia.

Astonishingly, (very surprisingly) Napoleon IB sent the French Ambassador, Bernadette to King William to demand for a written apology and a promise that Leopold's candidature would never again be renewed in future. Bernadette requested to meet William 1 over the issue, but the King (William) declined to meet him since he regarded the matter as already settled (closed). King William sent an EMS telegram to Bismarck informing him of what had transpired (happened). Bismarck who was disgusted with the withdrawal of Leopold's candidature deliberately altered the telegram to appear that King William I had insulted the French Ambassador by deliberately refusing to meet him as he had requested. The telegram raised war hysteria and tension in both countries. It made France to declare war on Prussia on 14^th July

1870. However, on 3^rd September 1870, the French troops were defeated at the battle of Sedan. The Prussian troops besieged Paris up to January 1871.

The war was concluded by the Frankfurt treaty of1871 in which all the southern German states plus the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine were annexed to the northern German states to form a united German empire. The empire was proclaimed at Versailles in France.

Although Bismarck played the most significant role in the unification of Germany, it is important to note that other factors also played a role in the unification of Germany. Bismarck was favoured by special opportunities, which he utilized. For instance, the liberal opposition to the army reforms is what made him to be recalled from France and promoted to the post of Minister President. Had it not been because of the liberal opposition, probably Bismarck would have remained a Prussian Ambassador or retired to his estate and consequently died a reactionary bigot with all his rare diplomatic talents untapped.

King William's insanity and death was a blessing in disguise for Bismarck. He was fortunate that King William I who replaced Fredrick IV was more authoritative, decisive, tolerant, not afraid of Austria and loyal to his ministers. It was the new King William I who appointed Bismarck Minister President which post he used to unify Germany. It was even the same King who supported Bismarck's domestic reforms and foreign policies that led to the unification of Germany. All these made Bismarck's efforts in the unification of Germany successful by 1871.

Bismarck's three quick wars were successful partly because Von roon and Von Moltek had helped in the re-organization of the army. If they had not done so, Prussia would have remained militarily weak and probably have not been successful in the three wars. Similarly, if the Schleswig-Holstein Question had not arisen, Bismarck would have found it impossible to quarrel with Austria and expel her from the German Confederation.

Napoleon Ill's ignorance also favoured Bismarck's success. He was duped by Bismarck in the 1865 Biarritz verbal agreement and he could not even realize the risk of verbal promises. He was even fooled to put his claims in writing, which gave Bismarck an opportunity to publish his demands and isolate him.

Napoleon Ill's insistence on a written apology made it very easy for Bismarck to fight him. Even if both Napoleon and Bismarck were prepared for war by 1870, the excuse of the war came through the Spanish succession dispute. Thus, the Spanish succession dispute became yet another event that complimented Bismarck's role in the unification of Germany.

Internally, Bismarck has been criticized for his tough measures against Prussian liberals. He dismissed them from the civil service, imprisoned some of them and forced many to exile. This made the liberals to be a problem in a united Germany after 1871.

Lastly, Bismarck united Germany on Prussian terms at the expense of other states. This made Prussia dominant in the united Germany, which other states protested. It also made the Prussian Protestant religion dominant in the united German empire. This was equally protested by the Catholics, which led to a crisis known as the Kulturkamp after 1871.