GERMANY’SWARS OF UNIFICATION
January-June 1864: War with Denmark over Schleswig-Holstein
June-July 1866: Seven Weeks’ War between Prussia and Austria; Battle of Königgrätz (Sadowa), July 3, 1866
September 1866: Indemnity Bill ends the Prussian Constitutional Crisis
1867: Foundation of North German Confederation; Liberals and Conservatives split between pro- and anti-Bismarck factions.
July 15, 1870: The Ems Dispatch prompts Napoleon III to declare war on Prussia
September 2, 1870: Battle of Sedan & capture of Napoleon III
January 1871: Foundation of the German Empire
Count Helmuth von Moltke
(1800-1891). Appointed chief of the Prussian Army
general staff in 1858, he
expanded the authority of that office in 1864.
Victory parade through the Brandenburg Gate, December 7, 1864--- but Crown and Parliament
remained at odds.
“Fateful Encounter,” Kladderadatsch, March 19, 1865:Bismarck and the
Speaker of the Prussian House of Representatives, Wilhelm Grabow, meet on the “Via
mala,” a path through the Swiss
Alps next to a 2,000-foot drop….
“The Positions of Austria and Prussia in the Matter of Schleswig-Holstein,” Kladderadatsch, 20 August
1865
“The Art of Cooking of the Great: What
They Cook Up Above Must Be Eaten by Those
Below,” Kladderadatsch,
20 May 1866.Why did Bismarck
seek war with Austria?
(See Lerman, 102-09)
“The Opportunity is Favorable” (June 1866): Bismarck could become “great” by implementing reforms, but he
would instantly become the most popular man in Germany if he simply resigned!
Georg Bleibtreu, “The Battle of Königgratz, July 3, 1866:”William I, Bismarck, and Moltke observe the final phase
of the struggle between 200,000 Prussian and 180,000 Austrian and Saxon troops
After Königgrätz the liberals insist that they had always been “pulling on the same rope” as
Bismarck
THE INDEMNITY BILL(passed by a vote of 230 : 75 in the Prussian
Houseof Representatives on September 3, 1866)
ARTICLE 1. The government is granted indemnity for all administrative acts undertaken since the beginning of the year 1862 without a legally established state budget, on the condition that the Landtag approves the accounts presented by the government for this period.
ARTICLE 2. The government is authorized to expend up to 154 million Taler on administration for the year 1866.
First meeting of the “Reichstag” of the North German Confederation, February 1867 (see Lerman, 128-30)
French cartoon of King William as a cannibal, devouring the
princes of northern
Germany (early 1867)
“The Black Ghost,” Kladderadatsch, 20 June 1869: Did Bismarck exploit fears of France for his own ends?
“The National Liberal
Gravediggers:All this now rests
in peace.Freedom of
speech;Struggle to control the
military budget;Self-
determination for Schleswig-
Holstein; the Hessian
constitution”(Munich, April
1868)
Anti-Prussian sentiment: Election Day in the Bavarian Alps, February 1870, when the clericalist “Patriot
Party” won big
Bismarck sensed an opening when the French Ambassador Benedetti approached King William I in
Bad Ems on July 13, 1870, with a strident demand….
Anton von Werner, “The German Headquarters in Versailles” (December
1870):Bismarck & the Crown Prince quarrel with Moltke &
Roon
September 2, the day of Sedan, became Imperial Germany’s national holiday (the Brandenburg Gate,
1895)