, , UPSC STUDY MATERIAL, 0
  • After 1848, nationalism in Europe moved away from its association with democracy and revolution.
  • Nationalist sentiments were often mobilized by conservatives for promoting state power and achieving political domination over Europe.
  • Nationalist feelings were widespread among middle-class Germans, who in 1848 tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation into a nation-state governed by an elected parliament.
  • This liberal initiative to nation-building was, however, repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military, supported by the large landowners (called Junkers) of Prussia.
  • From then on, Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national unification.
  • Otto von Bismarck was the architect of the unification process carried out with the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy.
  • Three wars over seven years with Austria, Denmark and France ended in Prussian victory and completed the process of unification.
  • The formal unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred on 18 January 1871 at the Versailles Palace’s Hall of Mirrors in France.
  • Princes of the German states gathered there to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as Emperor Wilhelm of the German Empire after the French capitulation in the Franco-Prussian War.
  • Unofficially, the transition of most of the German-speaking populations into a federated organization of states occurred over nearly a century of experimentation.
  • Unification exposed several glaring religious, linguistic, social, and cultural differences between and among the inhabitants of the new nation, suggesting that 1871 only represents one moment in a continuum of the larger unification processes.
  • Bismarck’s victory led to the support he needed from his people to create a united Germany.
  • In general the constitution stayed the same as Northern Germany before unification; Bismarck only made a few changes.
  • The three major changes were a German national Parliament, the Reichstag was now elected by the German people, and Germany developed a federal council.
  • Also the country now had budgetary rights, but could not overthrow the government. Bismarck had succeeded in making Prussia in control of all important decisions.
  • An example of this is that each German State still had separate armies, but the armies were under Prussian order.
  • Although Germans were pleased with unification, the rest of Europe felt that Germany was going to offset the European balance of power.
  • The Unification of Germany made it a European power along with France, Great Britain, Austria, the United States, and Russia. By Germany gaining power it allowed Bismarck to control most of Europe.
  • Germany economically had a major impact and Bismarck’s foreign policy created an intricate map of alliances preventing Germany to enter any wars after unification.
Related Articles
0 Comments

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

©[2025] iTopper

Log in with your credentials

Forgot your details?