COMMON NATIONALITY• LATE 18TH CENTURY
(DISTINCT PEOPLE) WANTED BY GERMAN EDUCATORS, WRITERS, HISTORIANS, & PHILOSOPHERS
JOHANN FICHTE (1762-1814)• PHILOSOPHER
AROUSED BY NAPOLEON
• CLAIMED EXISTENCE OF A “GERMAN SPIRIT”
• GERMANY MORE NOBLE & MUST LEAD CIVILIZED WORLD
GEORG HEGEL (1762-1831)
• PREDICTED UNIFICATION OF GERMANY
• STATE NOT BOUND TO RESPECT ANY INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
JAKOB & WILHELM GRIMM
• LINGUISTS TRAVELING GERMANY RESEARCHING DIALECTS & FOLK TALES
• PROCLAIMED GERMAN LANGUAGE WAS PRE-EMINENT OVER OTHER LANGUAGES
NAPOLEON’S INFLUENCE• UNIFIED GERMAN
PEOPLES AGAINST HIM
• WEAKENED AUSTRIAN INFLUENCES OVER GERMANY
• 300 GERMAN STATES COMBINED
CONGRESS OF VIENNA (1815)
• GERMAN STATES REDUCED TO 39 DOMINATED BY AUSTRIA
• CONFEDERATION (Bund) WAS WEAK & INEFFECTIVE STIRRING NATIONALIST FEELINGS
ZOLLVEREIN (1819)• GERMAN TARIFFS
• ENCOURAGED FREE TRADE AMONG GERMAN STATES & MAINTAINED HIGH TARIFFS AGAINST NON-MEMBERS
• BENEFITED GERMAN WORKERS, MERCHANTS, & MANUFACTURERS
FAILURE OF THE 1848 REVOLUTION
• GERMAN LIBERALS LEAD A SERIES OF REVOLTS AIMED AT ENDING AUTOCRACY & UNIFYING GERMANY
• FRANKFURT ASSEMBLY (PARLIAMENT) CONVENED TO INSTITUTE DEMOCRATIC RULE; PROCLAIMED GERMAN UNIFICATION;
• OFFERED KING OF PRUSSIA TO BE EMPEROR OF UNIFIED GERMANY
OTTO von BISMARCK• CHIEF MINISTER
OF PRUSSIA-1862
• MEMBER OF LANDOWNING ARISTOCRACY (JUNKERS)
• PLANNED TO UNITE GERMANY WITH BLOOD & IRON
KAISER WILLIAM I
• HOHENZOLLERN KING OF PRUSSIA (1861-1888)
• BECAME EMPEROR OF GERMANY -1871
• SUPPORTER OF BISMARCK
HELMUTH von MOLTKE• PRUSSIAN GENERAL
& CHIEF OF STAFF
• ASSURED BISMARCK’S SUCCESS BY BUILDING LARGE, POWERFUL ARMY & ACHIEVING MILITARY SUCCESS
CREATION OF PRUSSIAN MILITARY POWER: STEP 1
• 1862-BISMARCK REQUESTED THE BUILD-UP OF GERMAN MILITARY
• PRUSSIAN LEGISLATURE REFUSED
• BISMARCK IGNORED LAW MAKERS & VIOLATED PRUSSIAN CONSTITUTION BY RULING AS DICTATOR UNTIL 1867
• BISMARCK & von MOLTKE CREATE STRONG & POWERFUL MILITARY
ELIMINATION OF AUSTRIAN INFLUENCE: STEP 2
• DANISH WAR (1864)
• BISMARCK BROUGHT ABOUT WAR W/ DENMARK OVER CONTROL OF SCHLESWIG & HOLSTEIN
• WITH HELP FROM AUSTRIA, DENMARK IS DEFEATED
• PRUSSIA & AUSTRIA SHARE OWNERSHIP OF THE TWO REGIONS
AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN WAR (1866)
•BISMARK STARTS WAR W/ AUSTRIA OVER CONTROL OF CONQUERED REGIONS
•von MOLTKE’S ARMIES QUICKLY DEFEAT AUSTRIA
•PRUSSIA GAINS CONTROL OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN & AUSTRIA LOOSES CONTROL OF GERMANY
NORTH GERMAN CONFEDERATION (1867) STEP 3
• BISMARCK ANNEXED SEVERAL NORTH GERMAN STATES & COMPELLED THE REMAINING ONES TO JOIN IN A PRUSSIAN-DOMINATED NORTH GERMAN CONFEDERATION
• SOUTHERN GERMAN STATES REMAIN UNDER PRUSSIAN INFLUENCE DUE TO THE ZOLLVEREIN
FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR (1867-1871)
• BISMARCK STARTS WAR W/ FRANCE TO UNIFY SOUTHERN GERMAN STATES WITH PRUSSIA (NATIONALISTIC FEELINGS)
• GENERAL von MOLTKE’S ARMIES INVADED FRANCE & DEFEATED FRENCH AT BATTLE OF SEDAN
WITH THE TREATY OF FRANKFURT
• FRANCE CEDED TO GERMANY THE PROVINCES OF ALSACE & LORRAINE (COAL & IRON)
• PAY GERMANY HUGE WAR INDEMNITY
• CONSENTED TO GERMAN MILITARY OCCUPATION UNTIL INDEMNITY WAS PAID
• PLANTED SEEDS FOR WORLD WAR I
ESTABLISHMENT OF GERMAN EMPIRE (1871)
• DURING FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR, SOUTHERN GERMAN STATES UNIFIED W/ PRUSSIA
• 1871- AT PALACE OF VERSAILLES, BISMARCK PROCLAIMED WILLIAM I AS EMPEROR (KAISER) OF GERMAN EMPIRE