Otto von, Bismarck (1815-1898)
Bismarck was responsible for 19th-century German unification. Bismarck first made
an impression as a diehard reactionary during the Revolutions of 1848. Keen to
strengthen the Prussian army, William I appointed (1862) him chancellor of Prussia.
Bismarck dissolved parliament and raised taxes to pay for military improvements.
The status of Schleswig-Holstein enabled him to engineer the Austro-Prussian War
(1866) and expel Austria from the German Confederation. Through the infamous Ems
dispatch, Bismarck then provoked the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) in order to
bring the S German states into the Prussian-led North German Confederation. Victory
saw Bismarck become (1871) the first chancellor of the German Empire. Through
skillful diplomacy and alliance-building, he consolidated Germany's position in the
heart of Europe. In 1882 Bismarck formed the Triple Alliance with Austro-Hungary
and Italy. The rapid process of industrialization encouraged colonialism and the
building of a German overseas empire. Bismarck's domestic policies were similarly based on the principle of
"divide-and-rule." In 1873 he issued the May Decrees that attempted to place the Roman Catholic Church under
state control. The next 13 years witnessed a Kulturkampf (Ger. "conflict of cultures") between church and state.
In 1878 Bismarck banned the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in a bid to stem the rise of German socialism. He
also adopted a paternalist program (1883–87) of social welfare to weaken support for the SPD. The accession
(1888) of William II saw the demise of Bismarck's political influence, and in 1890 the "iron chancellor" was
forced to resign.
Text Citation:
O'Brien, Patrick K., gen. ed. "Bismarck, Otto von." Encyclopedia of World History. Copyright George Philip Limited. New York: Facts On File, Inc.,
2000. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? (accessed July 3, 2007).
German Immigration to the United States (Post Civil War)
Immigration to the United States peaked proportionally in the 1850s, with nearly a million German speakers
emigrating to escape the effects of the abortive democratic Revolutions of 1848, to flee social or religious
persecution, or simply to take advantage of the burgeoning American economy. The economic downturn of the
late 1850s and the American Civil War discouraged immigration for a decade, but it rebounded with the revival
of the U.S. economy (1866–73). With endemic low wages in Germany and the unsettling effects of Prussian
statesman Otto von Bismarck's wars of German unification (1863–71), many Germans believed that prosperity
would never return to their homeland. Almost 1.5 million emigrated in the 1880s. As German industry
developed in the 1890s, displaced rural workers more often migrated to German industrial centers than to
America, although almost 1 million still came between 1890 and 1914.
Most of the 5 million Germans who immigrated to America in the 19th century were agriculturalists, seeking
land, and thus were attracted to the Midwest—Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Missouri.
After the Civil War, some whose families had migrated to Russia in the late 18th century began to immigrate to
America. Like their cultural brethren from Germany, they were divided, based on location (Black Sea area,
Caucasus area, Volga area, Volhynia area) and religious affiliation (Lutheran, Mennonite, Hutterite Brethren).
The freeing of Russian serfs (1862), the introduction of compulsory military service (1871), and attempts to
force Russian education upon their communities drove a substantial minority of the 1.5 million Germanspeaking Russians to the United States, where they tended to settle in the Great Plains states. By 1920, 45
percent of the more than 300,000 German-speaking Russians lived in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska,
and Colorado. No matter the country of origin, however, German immigrants usually resisted assimilation.
German-language parochial schools were common. In rural areas, the immigrants clustered around their
particular churches—Lutheran, Reform, Catholic, or one of the Pietist denominations. In cities such as
Milwaukee, Wisconsin; St. Louis, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; and Cincinnati, Ohio, where Germans
sometimes numbered more than a quarter of the population, they played a large role in shaping urban culture,
establishing newspapers, educational clubs, beer gardens, and mutual-benefit societies. Whether in rural or
urban centers, German clannishness had by mid-century already led to the rise of a strong nativist feeling, which
increased in the years prior to World War I.
Text Citation:
Powell, John. "German immigration." Encyclopedia of North American Immigration. Facts On File, Inc., 2005. American History Online. Facts On File,
Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? (accessed July 3, 2007).