GERMAN UNIFICATION: CAUSES, CHARACTERISTICS, STAGES - HISTORY - 2025

The German unification was a historical process that occurred during the second half of the 19th century and that concluded with the creation of the German Empire in January 1871. Before the unification, there were 39 different States in that territory, the Austrian Empire standing out for its importance and Prussia.

The idea of ​​bringing all these territories together under the same state gained strength at the beginning of the century. Various causes contributed to this, from the ideological, with the emergence of German nationalist romanticism, to the economic and strategic, such as the dispute between Austria and Prussia to gain supremacy in Central Europe.

Guillermo I - Source: Kabinett-Fotografie under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license

The unification was carried out by means of arms. There were three wars that expanded the Prussian territory and led to the creation of the Empire. Austria and France were the ones who suffered the most, since they were forced to give up some territories and, in addition, their political power was reduced.

The result of the unification was the appearance of a new great power. The Empire tried to get colonies in Africa, clashing with the British and French. Along with other circumstances, this led to the creation of several international alliances that lasted until the outbreak of the First World War.

Causes

At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the idea of ​​unifying all the territories that had belonged to the Holy German Empire under the same state began to prevail. The Congress of Vienna, held in 1815, had not met the nationalist demands for that goal.

Before its unification, Germany was divided into 39 different states. The most prominent, both politically, economically and militarily, were the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia.

The two protagonists of the unification process were the Prussian king, William I, and his Chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck. Both began to maneuver to achieve the objective of a united Germany and that it became the great power of the center of the continent.

Otto Von Bismarck

One of the most important figures in European history during the second half of the 18th century was Otto Von Bismarck, nicknamed the Iron Chancellor. Not only for his role in German unification, but for being the architect of the armed Peace, a system of alliances that maintained a tense balance for several decades.

Bismarck was born in 1815 and ruled for almost thirty years. Of conservative tendency, the politician was, first, minister of the king of Prussia and, later, minister of the emperor of Germany. During the unification process he led the three wars that led to the formation of the German Empire.

The Chancellor was also the ideologue of the military reform that William I wanted. To carry it out, he established a true dictatorship, dispensing with the parliament between 1862 and 1866. With the taxes set by the king, Bismarck managed to turn his country into a power able to successfully face Austrians and French.

Romanticism and nationalism

At the ideological level, German unification was preceded by the appearance of German romanticism, more specifically that which was linked to nationalism. This conjunction affirmed that the legitimacy of the State comes from the homogeneity of its inhabitants.

This type of nationalism based the existence of a State on aspects such as the language, culture, religion and customs of its inhabitants. This ideological current had an important reflection in culture, from music to philosophy, passing through literature.

In Prussia this nationalist sentiment had been strengthened during the war against Napoleon's troops. Thus appeared the concept "volkssturm", which meant "the condition of being a nation" in the sense of being a people.

Between 1815 and 1948, this romantic nationalism had a liberal character, with strong intellectual roots. Philosophers like Hegel and Fichte, poets like Heine or storytellers like the Brothers Grimm stood out. However, the failed revolution of 1848 caused the liberal project to fail.

Beginning in 1848, nationalist groups began political campaigns to encourage the unification of Germany into one state. Bismarck and William I shared that desire, but from an authoritarian rather than a liberal point of view.

German Confederation

The victorious powers in the war against Napoleon met at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to reorganize the continent and its borders. The resulting agreement contemplated the creation of the Germanic Confederation, which grouped 39 German states that had been part of the Holy Germanic Empire.

This Confederation was under the presidency of the House of Austria and did not satisfy the growing German nationalism. The Diet, a kind of Parliament, was made up of delegates appointed by the governments of each State, who continued to retain their sovereignty.

When the German Revolution of 1848 broke out, with great popular repercussion, it was clear that the unification would come sooner or later. The question was who would lead it, Prussia or Austria.

This rivalry could be seen in the very operation of the Confederacy. Agreements and unity of action were only possible when Prussia and Austria were in agreement, which ultimately led to the Seven Weeks War.

The Prussian victory meant the end of the German Confederation and its replacement, in 1867, by the North German Confederation.

Customs Union or Zollverein

The only area in which the majority of German states agreed was the economic one. At the proposal of Prussia, the Customs Union was created in 1834. Also known as Zollverein, it was a free trade zone in northern Germany.

Starting in 1852, the Zollverein was extended to the rest of the German states, with the exception of Austria. This market allowed the region to develop industrially, as well as the increased influence of the bourgeoisie and the growth of the working class.

Failure of the 1830 and 1848 revolutions

Within the framework of the so-called bourgeois revolutions, there were two outbreaks in Germany: in 1830 and in 1840. However, their failure ended the pretense of bringing a more democratic system to the region, consolidating absolutism.

Part of this failure was due to the alliance that the German bourgeoisie established with the aristocracy, since they feared the triumph of the labor and democratic movements.

Even so, the influence of the revolutionaries was noted in the matter of possible unification. The liberals defended the creation of a federal state, with an Emperor at the head. Meanwhile, the Democrats were betting on a centralized state.

In addition, there were two other sensitivities: those who preferred a Little Germany, without Austria, and those who advocated a Greater Germany, with Austria as an integral part.

The rivalry between Prussia and Austria

The differences between Prussia and the Austrian Empire were due to the attempt of both powers to control the process of unification and, above all, the power once it occurred.

The Prussians, under the reign of William I and with Bismarck as Prime Minister, sought the creation of a united Germany under Prussian hegemony.

It was the Iron Chancellor who affirmed that the unification was justified by a reason of State. This motive allowed, according to Bismarck, to use any measure to achieve it, regardless of cost.

In its confrontation with Austria, the Prussian tactic was to isolate its rival through the support of France. At the same time, he diplomatically isolated Russia so that it could not aid the Austrians.

On the other hand, Prussia devoted its efforts to overcome Austria militarily, preparing for when the inevitable war came. Finally, it was only a matter of waiting for the pretext to start hostilities.

characteristics

German unification, as befitted the country's politics, was conservative and authoritarian in character. Apart from the aristocracy and the landed nobility, it received the support of the industrial gentry.

The new State was governed under a monarchical and federal system, called II Reich. Its first emperor was William I. With this, Prussian supremacy within the German Empire was established.

Undemocratic

German unification was decided by the Prussian elites, although they had the support of a large part of the population. The people were not consulted and, in some areas, were forced to change their religion and language.

Achieved with war

The creation of the German Empire was by no means a peaceful process. In order to unify the Germanic states, three wars were developed. Peace did not come until the unification took effect.

Stages

As noted above, it took three wars for German unification to occur. Each of them marks a different stage in the process.

These warlike confrontations served for Prussia to extend its territory, especially to consists of Austria and France. The protagonist of these wars was Otto Von Bismarck, who designed the strategy, political and military, for his country to control the unified territory.

War of the Duchies

The first conflict pitted Austria and Prussia against Denmark: the War of the Duchies. The reason that originated the conflict, developed in 1864, was the fight for control of two duchies, Schleswig and Holstein.

The antecedents of this war go back to 1863, when the Germanic Confederation presented a protest against the attempt of the king of Denmark to annex the Duchy of Schleswig, then under German control.

According to an agreement signed in 1852, Schleswig had been united to Holstein, another duchy that belonged to the Germanic Confederation. Bismarck convinced the Austrian monarch to defend this agreement and, on January 16, 1864, they issued an ultimatum to Denmark to desist from its purpose.

The war ended with the victory of Prussia and Austria. The Duchy of Schleswig came under Prussian administration, while Holstein came under Austria.

Bismarck, however, took advantage of the commercial appeal of the Zollverein to impose his influence on Holstein as well. Its justification was the right of self-determination of the peoples, by which the desire of the inhabitants to join Prussia had to be respected.

Austro-Prussian War

Chancellor Bismarck continued his strategy to establish Prussian supremacy over the Austrians. Thus, he managed to get Napoleon III to declare his neutrality in the event of a possible confrontation and allied himself with Victor Emmanuel II.

Having accomplished this, he declared war on Austria. Her intention was to take away some territories and, for this, she had prepared herself by greatly boosting its industrial and military development.

In a few weeks, the Prussian troops defeated their enemies. The final battle took place in 1866, at Sadowa. After the victory, Prussia and Austria signed the Peace of Prague, which allowed the Prussian territorial expansion.

On the other hand, Austria definitively resigned to form part of a future unified Germany and accepted the dissolution of the Germanic Confederation.

Franco-Prussian War

The last stage of unification, and the last war, confronted Prussia with one of its traditional enemies: France.

The reason for the conflict was the request of the Spanish nobility for Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern, cousin of the King of Prussia, to accept the crown of Spain, vacant at that time. France, fearful of being between two countries dominated by the Prussian nobility, opposed this possibility.

Soon after, Napoleon III declared war on Prussia, claiming that William I had despised the French ambassador by refusing to receive him at his palace.

The Prussians, anticipating events, had already mobilized 500,000 men and defeated the French overwhelmingly in several battles. Napoleon III himself had been taken prisoner during the war.

The Treaty between the two rivals was signed in Sedan, on September 2, 1870. The defeat caused a great insurrection in Paris, where the French Third Republic was declared.

The new republican government tried to continue the fight against the Prussians, but they advanced unstoppable until occupying Paris. France had no choice but to sign a new Treaty, this time in Frankfurt. This agreement, endorsed in May 1871, established the cession to Prussia of Alsace and Lorraine.

Consequences

With the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine, Prussia, henceforth called Germany, the unification was completed. The next step was the founding of the German Empire on January 18, 1871.

The Prussian monarch, William I, was named Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, something considered a humiliation for France. Bismarck, for his part, held the post of Chancellor.

The newly created Empire took the form of a confederation, endowed with a Constitution. It had two chambers of government, the Bundesrat, made up of representatives of all the states, and the Reichstag, elected by universal suffrage.

Birth of a great power

Germany lived through a time of economic and demographic growth that made it one of the main European powers.

This made it begin to participate in the race to colonize African and Asian territories, in competition with the United Kingdom. The tensions caused by this fact was one of the causes of the First World War.

Cultural imposition

Inside the Empire, the government promoted a cultural campaign to homogenize the States that were part of the new nation.

Among the effects of this cultural unification were the elimination of some non-German languages ​​from education and public life, as well as the obligation for the non-German population to abandon their own customs or, otherwise, to leave the territory.

Formation of the Triple Alliance

Bismarck began a diplomatic effort to strengthen the position of his country against the rest of the European powers. To do this, he promoted the creation of international alliances that would counteract the danger of new wars on the continent.

In this way, he negotiated with Austria and Italy the formation of a coalition, called Triple Alliance. Initially, the agreement between these countries was to provide military support in the event of a conflict with France. Later, when the French signed their own alliances, this was extended to Britain and Russia.

Apart from this, the Chancellor boosted military spending to further strengthen his army. This period, known as the Armed Peace, culminated years later in the First World War.

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