Unification of Germany
german unificationThere were many states in Germany which were dominated by Austria. These states could not go against Austria. Nevertheless, the German states were influenced by the nationalist principles of the French Revolution and the history of Germany from 1815 to 1870 is the history of this victory. In the Vienna Congress of 1815, reactionaries were dominant, Germany was again divided into 38 states and a loose union was formed, whose president was the emperor of Austria . But, German patriots were not satisfied with this and they continued the effort of nationalism and political unity by forming many types of committees.
The revolution of 1830 also led to rebellion in German states. Many rulers had to implement liberal constitutions. But, this situation was not tolerable to Metternich, soon under the pressure of Metternich these states had to throw these constitutions in the dustbin and had to pass many laws to suppress the nationalist sentiment.
The revolution of 1848 and the fall of Metternich encouraged the German states and a new awakening took place there. Many German kings were forced to give the constitution to the people. Meanwhile, on the basis of universal suffrage, 568 representatives were elected in the German and United German states and in Frankfurt they made a constitution and the King of Prussia was made the King of United Germany. The King of Prussia did not want to be crowned by the people, so he did not accept this constitution. Meanwhile, the Austrian army started crushing the revolutionaries. Prussia also started crushing the revolutionaries with its army and the revolution of 1848 failed in Germany. There was a reign of reaction all around.
William I became the emperor of Prussia in 1861. He believed in the power of the army and looked at constitutional monarchy with distrust. He was eager for the unification of Germany , for which he considered a strong army necessary. But, when he demanded money from the parliament to strengthen the army and to do compulsory military service, the liberal MPs refused to give the money. For this reason, he dissolved the parliament, but the condition of the second parliament was also the same. In such a difficult situation, William appointed Otto von Bismarck as Chancellor in 1862. Bismarck also believed in the power of the army and considered it necessary to fight a war for the unification of Germany
Unification of Germany by Bismarck in 1862.
Bismarck became Chancellor of Prussia in 1862. He believed in the power and army of Prussia. He dreamed of unifying Germany under the leadership of Prussia. Bismarck knew that Germany was looking towards Prussia not for liberal ideals but for power. He used to say that the solution to Germany's problem would not be intellectual speeches, idealism or majority decisions but victory would have to be achieved by making sacrifices under the leadership of Prussia. In fact, until Bismarck achieved victory, the hope of unifying Germany lay in the contemporary European political system. german unification
The then influential countries of Europe - England, Russia, France and Austria - were not in favour of the unification of Germany, because a powerful unified Germany was the biggest threat to the balance of power in Europe. In such a situation, Bismarck did not expect foreign aid for the unity of Germany, nor did he expect that the small kings of Germany would help in the german unification
Bismarck believed that Prussia would have to fight for the unity of Germany and through these wars, by arousing the feeling of nationalism in Germany, Germany would have to be made to revolt against its kings and inspire them to join Prussia. Apart from this, he believed in the greatness of Prussia and he also believed in the monarchy. Despite this, he wanted to use nationalist sentiments and liberal or idealistic sentiments as weapons, and not give maximum importance to them and make Prussia's strategic importance secondary in the unification of Germany.
Bismarck had told Gladstone long ago that he could have unified Germany through three wars. In fact, he wanted Prussia to conquer other German states and annex them to Germany. For this purpose, he made full use of Prussia's army, the growing feeling of nationalism and his diplomatic skills. Bismarck's policy of 'blood and war' was in sync with Prussia's strategic policy. In fact, Frederick the Great had tried to make Prussia a superior state from a strategic point of view and its strategic superiority was still intact. In addition, by 1862, the northern states had clearly seen that it was not in their power to expel Austria from the German Confederation unless Prussia openly decided to fight Austria. This policy was also in sync with Bismarck's policy; because in reality, Bismarck wanted to unify Germany by defeating the whole of Germany, i.e., in his unification plan, Germany was to be unified with the Prussian states.
Frederick IV was the king of Prussia. Due to illness, he handed over the reins of governance to his brother William I. William believed in the greatness of Prussia, but the Diet - the Prussian parliament had a majority of progressives who considered it their duty to curb the power of the king. There was a debate between liberals and reactionaries on issues like voting rights, military budget, etc. William wanted to satisfy the liberals and obtain funds to strengthen the Prussian army for the unity of Germany, but he could not succeed.
To deal with such a difficult situation, he appointed Bismarck as Chancellor. Bismarck understood very well that Austria was the biggest hurdle in the path of Germany's unification and it could not be expelled from the German Confederation without defeating it in a war. He also feared that in the Austria-Prussian war, it was possible that France might intervene in the war on Austria's side. Keeping in mind the possibility of such an emergency, Bismarck started making diplomatic moves to isolate Austria in advance.
When Bismarck went to St. Petersburg (the then capital of Russia) as Prussia's ambassador, he very skillfully befriended the Czar and the Russian officials. He used this friendship in the wars during Germany's unification and against France. Prussia's neutrality in the Crimean War, his successful work as an ambassador in St. Petersburg and his faith in monarchy were enough to please the Russian emperor.