GERMAN UNIFICATION
From the Napoleonic Era to 1871
CHAPTER 22: SECTION 2 GOALS
1. Identify major events in Germany’s unification
2. Describe the system of government of the
German Empire
BACKGROUND: LIBERALISM AND NATIONALISM
• The French Revolution causes the ideals of liberalism and
nationalism to spread
• Liberty, equality, fraternity
• Classical Liberalism
• Man has inalienable rights (U.S. Declaration of
Independence.) Freedom of movement, association,
minimal government, could develop himself to the
fullest
• Social Contract: Sovereignty resided in the people
and rulers had to respect that.
*FRENCH REVOLUTION AND NATIONALISM
• A nation of equal citizens
• Secular state recognizing no higher authority
• Citizen enjoyed certain rights but also had to
give to the state (his life included)
DEFINE THE FOLLOWING IN DETAIL IN YOUR NOTES
•
Look up the following event, person, or concept and write a brief summary of why it is
important to German Unification: Include important dates when applicable
•
Battle of Jena
•
Stein-Hardenberg Reforms
•
Congress of Vienna
•
Carlsbad Decrees
•
Hambach Festival
•
Pan-Germanism
•
Zollverein
•
Frankfurt Parliament
•
Erfurt Union
•
Kleindeutschland-Grossdeutschland
•
Otto Von Bismarck
•
The Danish War
•
The Seven Weeks’ War
GOAL 1: MAJOR EVENTS *NAPOLEONIC WARS
• War with large parts of Germany by 1793-94
• Western Germany conquered
• 112 German states disappeared
• Ideas of Nationalism and Liberalism forced on
Germany
• *1806 Confederation of the Rhine created by Napoleon
• Holy Roman Empire eliminated.
• 15,000,000 subjects
• Counter to Prussian and Austrian Power
*GOAL 1. CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE
Prussia
France----
Austrian Empire
How would the geographic position of the Confederation aid France?
Goal 1. Confederation challenges Prussia
*Battle of Jena
1806 Battle of Jena: Prussia
defeated
• Treaty of Tilsit
• Massive payments to be
made to France (reparations)
• Reform necessary to pay
it
RESULTS: *STEIN-HARDENBERG REFORMS GOAL1
• Uniform tax systems
• Efficient Government stressed (bureaucracy developed)
• Education reforms encouraging the teaching of history and
language
• Power of nobility curtailed but land left in their hands
• Serfs freed to encourage agricultural growth and landownership
• Guilds power broken and industrial competition encouraged
• *Military reform was geared toward war with France.
• Conscription
• 3 years with line regiment
• 2 years reserve
• 7 years landwehr
• Promotion on merit not birth
WHAT DOES THIS PAINTING TELL US?
The military was held in the highest esteem in Prussia following the Napoleonic wars and
Wars of Unification!
GOAL 1: CONGRESS OF VIENNA
• As a result of Stein-Hardenberg, Prussian forces helped defeat
Napoleon
• 1815 Congress of Vienna
• Confederation of the Rhine becomes the German Confederation
• Prussia most powerful N. German state
• Rival is Austria
• German Nationalism strongest in the North (Why?)
• Austria was divided among several nationalities
• 39 independent states still exist
*PAN-GERMANISM
• Idea of a peaceful unification of all German-speaking
areas including Austria
• Grossdeutschland (Large Germany)
• *May 1832 Hambach Festival
• 30,000 attend to hear speeches about unification
and democracy. First time in GER.
• Brothers Grimm!
HAMBACH
GOAL 1: ZOLLVEREIN: ANALYZE THIS!
*ZOLLVEREIN (1834)
• Tariffs: tax on imported goods
• Hurt sales (How?)
• 1818-1834 gradually German states end tariffs and form
Customs Union
• Lower-uniform prices
• Standardized weights and measures
• Increased Industrialization
How did Stein-Hardenberg make this last bullet
possible?
GOAL 1: TECHNOLOGY, FINANCE, AND
UNIFICATION
• Railroads:
• 1835 (3.5 miles of track)
• 1848 (3,000 miles of track)
• 1855 (8,500 miles of track)
• 1880 (1880, 9,400
locomotives pulling 43,000
passengers and 30,000
tons of freight
• Telegraph
• Stock Companies
INDUSTRIAL GROWTH
• Coal
• Iron
• Steel
• Chemicals
Description of Krupp Industries: 1900;
“A great city with its own streets, its own
police force, fire department and traffic
laws. There are 150 kilometers of rail, 60
different factory buildings, 8,500 machine
tools, seven electrical stations, 140
kilometers of underground cable and 46
overhead."
Population of Berlin (1907) doubles from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 in 30 years!!!!
*1848 REVOLUTIONS (WANTED UNIFICATION AND
PARLIAMENT) CONFEDERATION DISSOLVED
• Democratic and Nationalistic
• Middle class and Working
Class led
• Elected National Assembly in
Frankfurt attempts to unify
Germany
• Constitution:
Kleindeutschland model
• Failure due to….
• Rivalry between Pr. And Aus.
• Middle class and Working
Class Rivalry
ERFURT UNION (1849)
• Prussian attempts to form a union with German states excluding
Austria
• Prussia humiliated by Austria
• Adds to Prussia’s desire to eliminate Austrian influence
PRUSSIAN GOVERNMENT BEFORE UNIFICATION
• Frederick Wilhelm issued Prussia's first constitution in 1850. (Goal 1)
• two-house parliament.
•
lower house (Landtag) elected by all taxpayers
• divided into three classes -votes were weighted according to
the amount of taxes paid.
• Women and those who paid no taxes had no vote.,
• The Upper House: Herrenhaus ("House of Lords")
appointed by the king. He retained full executive authority
and ministers were responsible only to him.
• the landowning classes, the Junkers, remained
powerful
OTTO VON BISMARCK
• "The great questions of
the time will not be
resolved by speeches
and majority
decisions—that was the
great mistake of 1848
and 1849—but by iron
and blood."
BISMARCK AND WILHELM I
• Prussian military reforms
create a powerful force
• Railroads
• New artillery
• Other Weapons
• Long service and large
reserves
• Telegraph
• Bismarck named chancellor
1862
Dryse Needle Gun
UNIFORMS OF THE DAY
Color Print
Actual Photo
BISMARCK’S GOALS
1.limit democracy
2.Unify Germany under Prussian leadership
3.Destroy Austrian power
1. Believed foreign policy could unify the
people or at least distract them from
dissent
THREE WARS OF UNIFICATION
• Danish War: 1864
• Austria and Prussia
take SchleswigHolstein
• Seven Weeks War(1866)
• Treaty of Prague ends
Austrian domination of
Germany
What is going on here?
Hint: What other traditional enemy of Austria might gain from her loss in the 7 Weeks War?
Italy! The Lion of St. Mark is the symbol of Venice
FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR
• 1870 Spain seeks a new King
related to the Prussian Royal
family
• France protests
• Bismarck edits the Ems dispatch
and War is declared by France
• Major French defeats at Metz
and Sedan, Paris surrounded
• Reparations to be paid to
Germany
• Alsace-Lorraine lost
• Large indemnity (5 billion gold
francs in 5 years
• Pays for further growth of
railroads, etc…. In
Germany
WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?
JANUARY 1871 GERMAN EMPIRE DECLARED
JANUARY 18TH 1871 GERMAN EMPIRE DECLARED
Analyze this…. Look closely!