Figure 1.--German national spirit was aroused by the French invasions during the Napoleonic War. Demands for unification countinued growing throughout the 19th century. This drawing is entitled, "Die Wacht am Rhein" (Watch or Guard on the Rhine). The caption reads, "Ave princeps, futuri le salutant! I have no idea what that means. I am not sure who the illustrator was or when it was drawn. I am also not sure if the flag is the Prussian or German flag. Hopefully our German readers will help us here.

Bismarck for most of his life was not an ardent prpponent of German unification. His love was for Prussia. Interestingly, the movement for German unifications came primarily from democratically minded liberals within Germany and not the Prussian junker class. Perhaps in part because unification was so promoted by the liberals, Busmarck in his early career had no enthusiasm for it. One of the tragedies of German history is that it was not the liberals that united Germany. It could have been very different. Crown Prince Frederick and his English wife Victoria were liberally minded. King Wilhelm's rule, however, was very long and Frderick ruled only a few before dieing of cancer and bdeing replaced by his son Wilhelm II. Germany was, however, united by Bismarck pushing and cajoling the King Wilhelm. Bismarck eventually devoted himself to the task of unifying the German states. This was accomplished through both diplomatic persuasion backed by a series of successful wars, earning him the title of "The IronnChncellor" and stamping the character of the new German Empire with Prussian anti-democratic military traditions.

Pruso-Danish War (1864)

Danish King Friedrich VII died in 1864. Many European royals were the soverign of more than one kingdom or principality. Often these territorities were not united and were separated phyically and by differentlaws, customs, and even lnguage. When Friedrich died, the personnell union of Schleswig-Holstein with the Danish crown had to end, because his successor Christian IX was not a direct descended and, as a result, not entitled to inherit the principality of Schleswig-Holstein. Bismarcks's first step was to gain an Austrain alliance to deal with this situation. Prussia did not need an Austrian alliance to defeat Denmark, but diplomatically it was essential.

German Civil War/Austro-Prussian War (1866)

Bismarck than used Schleswig-Holstein as an issue to quarel with Austria. The Prussian stategy in the War was mastemined by Bismarck. He used the War as an opportunity to rearrange the map of Germany and establish itself The Prussiand not only declared war on Austria, but all of the German states in the Federation that had remained neutral. (Some Germans thus call the War th German Civil War or the Prusso-German War.) Bismarck succeeded in defeating Austria and excluding it from the rest of Germany. Without Austria, Prissia was the dominant force in Germany.

North German Confederation (1866)

After the victory over Austria, Bismarck organized the North German Confederation in 1866. It was composed of Prussia and 17 small northern German states. Each of these small states were dependent on Prussia. The states like Hannover and Hesse-Kassel that had not joined the Prussians in the War against Austria had been annexed by Prussia. The remaining Gerrman states were eventually forced to join, including Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt. Bismarck was now ready to taken on France.

Franco-Prussian War (1870-71)

The Franco-Prussian War is the 1870-71, conflict between France and Prussia that permitted the unification of a united Germany under the Prussian kingdom, overwealming the more liberal traditions of some other German states. The War was largely provoked by Bismarck as part of his carefully crafted plan to unify German under Prussian leadership. The French defeat in the War led to the declaration of the German Empire (Deutsches Reich) in 1870 and the proclamation of King William I of Prussia as German Emperor in Versailles in 1871. This result was a huge, poweful state imbued with Prussian militarism and with the power to aggressively persue the new Germany's imperial ambitions. This fundmentally changed the European power ballance. The defeat and capture of Louis Napoleon by the Prussians in 1870 brought the Third Republic to power in 1871. One of the reforms they introduced were smocks for schoolboys, part of the new Republican ideal to reduce the influence of class and privlidge. The two northeastern provinces of France, Alsace-Loraine, were ceded to Germany in the Treaty of Frankfurt. Bismarck advised against taking the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine from France. These were both border provinces and there were already large numbers of German-speakers in both provinces, especially Alsace. The population was, however, largely French orientened--even some of the German families. The loss to France was so heart-felt in France that it almost made another war inevitable. One impact on boys' clothing was that when the Third Republic in 1871 mandated smocks in French schools, Alsace-Loraine were no longer part of France.

Sources

Gall, Lothar. Bismarck: The White Revolutionary. 2 vol. (1986).

Hoffman, J.H. Otto von Bismarck, 1998.

Ludwig, Emil. Bismarck: The Story of a Fighter (Little, Brown, and Company, 1927).

Pflanze, Otto. Bismarck and the Development of Germany. 3 vol. (1990).

Taylor, Alan J. Bismarck. The Man and the Statesman.

Created: July 2, 2002
Last updated: September 25, 2002