German Unification

A detailed Summary of German Unification

Events in history often become associated with single individuals, such as Hitler and World War II, or Cavour, Mazzini and Garibaldi with Italian unification. The same seems to be true for German unification, with which Prince Otto Edward Leopold von Bismarck is generally associated. It is often argued that it was due to Bismarck's foresighted and planed actions that Germany became unified. Although Bismarck's action undoubtedly played a most fundamental role in German unification, it would give a distorted picture of history to assume that Bismarck had planned these from the beginning of his courier. It would also be false, to state that Bismarck achieved ultimate German unification for although he was able to unite much of 'German' territory, this was by no means a full-fledged unification.

Even before the Vienna Settlement in 1815, Germany was divided. With the Vienna Settlement, the German Confederation came into existence, being made of 39 states including Austria and Prussia. This confederation was basically little more that an alliance between independent states, each determined to keep their sovereignty. The Diet which met in Frankfurt, was a assembly with delegates from each of the members of the confederation. Head

Without his action German unification may well have taken place, put it seems unlikely that it would have happened with such speed. Bismarck played no role in creating the initial situation that was vital to allow German unification but he did act as a catalyser, accelerating the process. As mentioned before, it must be noted that it is unlikely that Bismarck had planned his action before hand, rather it seems more likely that he was able to manipulate the events that occurred to benefit his cause. It must also be considered that the unification that had taken place by '71 was by no means complete. Germany still faced many problems reaching from economical through to political, and the resolution of these was by no means due to Bismarck.

Napoleon III, Emperor of France, was looking for compensation in return for his neutrality during the Austro-Prussia war. It seems parts of the Rhineland, Belgium, or Luxembourg were possible territories for this. This played a role in the last major action that Bismarck took towards further incorporation of German territory. Towards the end of the 1860s, Spain, having recently deposed its queen, offered Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern, a relative of William I of Prussia, the Spanish throne. Napoleon III, fearing encirclement by Prussia, protested, and Leopold withdrew his candidature under pressure from William. Napoleon then insisted that the King of Prussia provide assurances that the Hohenzollern candidacy would never be renewed. Accordingly, the French ambassador to Prussia visited King William at Ems. William, after his meeting with the ambassador sent a telegraph to Bismarck known as the Elms telegraph. In this, William stated that he had refused to give the French ambassador further assurances and had sent the ambassador away. Once again Bismarck took advantage of the situation and deleted sections of the telegraph making it seem

of the Diet was Austria. This, and the fact that virtually all leaders of the members states wished to keep there independence made a unified German seem unlikely. Although politically, unification seemed unlikely, it should be considered that the 'Zollverein' (customs union) provided a economic backbone for the unification that would follow. The Zollverein was initially only established under Prussian territory but by 1834, it included 17 members and in the next ten years nearly all other members joined. Most notabl

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Approximate Word count = 1621
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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