Does anyone have any information on the unification of Germany?

Question

I need this for my history homework

it happened before the secong world war because of prussia, but i'm really not sure of the details

Answer 1

During the 19th century- after the Vienna Congress- there was an uprising liberal movement in most of the German kindgoms/states. Within this debate one of the most important issues was that the German people claimed national unity (>>> Hambacher Fest) leading to the Revolution of 1848...which finally failed (>>> see Frankfurt Parliament/ Paulskirchenversammlung).

During that Revolution mainly two solutions of a united German state in order to replace the German Confederation were discussed: the großdeutsche Lösung (integrating Austria etc- crown to Vienna) and the kleindeutsche Lösung (without Austria- crown to Berlin).

The Revolution finally failed and Prussia created the North German Alliance and issued its own constitution which brought up a conflict between Prussia and Austria (+Russia).
Austria feared a Prussian domination in Germany and being concerned of war with Austria and Russia, Prussia gave up its attempts to take the leadership role in Germany and agreed to restore the German Confederation in the Olmütz Conference in 1850.

The tension between Prussia and Austria remained though and led to the Austro- Prussian war in 1866 which finally was lost by Austria and its allies (Italy + most of the other German states). Prussia annexed a couple of northern German states after its victory and finally created the Northern German Alliance.
By this and some other conflicts which kept Austria busy, Prussia s way to dominate the German states was open.

Finally in 1870, France declared war on Prussia- after a quarrel about the heir of the throne in Spain- which was won by the Northern German Alliance and by most of the other German states which joined (they had to be "convinced") Prussia during the war.
In 1871, the 2nd German Empire was founded in Paris after the Bavarian King Ludwig II proposed the crown to Prussia s king (in Germany, the emperors- and most of the kings- were always elected).... here you go.

Answer 2

Under the "Iron Chancellor", Otto von Bismarck, Germany grew from a loose confederation of weak states to a unified powerful empire.

In 1867 the North German Confederation was established. It was an unbelievable political success at that time. On the other hand, Bismarck's wish to see Germany united would not have been totally satisfied without the southern states attached to it. Thus Bismarck set about trying to add the southern states to the Confederation. The beginning negotiations, including the offer of all-German parliament and the joint military training, failed just like in case of Austria. Bismarck supposed that the war with France could speed up the events. A great diplomat, Bismarck arranged that Russia and Austria stay away from the coming conflict.
In July 1870, France started war with Prussia. In the battle by Sedan the Prussian troops defeated the French, and the war seemed to be over. However France managed to hold out till January 1871, when the anti-French mood (caused by Bismarck) achieved its highest peak, and four southern states joined the North German Confederation to create the German Empire.

This is just a small view of the events that led to the unification of Germany prior to WWI. Go to the link to get the full background to Bismark's origins and the complete background to, and history of, the unification of Germany.

Interesting stuff, studied it at school before History became all PC.

Answer 3

First unification, I quote;

'The Unification of Germany took place on 18 January 1871, when Prussian Premier Prince Otto von Bismarck managed to unify a number of independent states into one nation, and thus created the German Empire from which all of the modern states bearing the name of Germany descend.

The German Empire was founded in the wake of the Prussian victory in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), through which France was obliged to cede Alsace and the German-speaking part of Lorraine to Germany. On 18 January, 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles, the Prussian King Wilhelm I was proclaimed "Emperor of Germany". The German Empire was founded, with 25 states, three of which were Hanseatic cities. It was a realization of the Kleindeutsche Lösung, (German for "Little German solution"), since Austria had been excluded, as opposed to a Großdeutsche Lösung or "Greater German solution", which would have included Austria.

Through the Kulturkampf (1872-1878), Bismarck as Chancellor tried without much success to limit the influence of the Roman Catholic Church and of its political arm, the Catholic Centre Party. A policy of Germanization discriminated against non-German sections of the empire's population, including the Polish, Danish and French minorities.'

Second unification, was the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the Russian Empire or East Block countries.

Answer 4

Its really best described a prussification as Prussia dominated the alliance of a number of states under the Kaiser which really means Emperor so it was more an Empire than a kingdom. For a good account try either schools-history net or get hold of a copy of "Questions in History" by Anthony White on German History.

Answer 5

In the early 1860's, a conflict about army reforms caused a constitutional crisis in Prussia. The Prussian king, Wilhelm I, appointed Otto von Bismarck prime minister in 1862. Bismarck hoped he could resolve the constitutional crisis with foreign triumphs. He also wanted to establish Prussia as the leading German power.

Between 1864 and 1870, Bismarck had the German states fight three short, victorious wars. In the first, Austria and Prussia, in the name of the German Confederation, took the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark. In 1866, Bismarck picked a quarrel with Austria. His army easily defeated Austria at Koniggratz in what was called the Seven Weeks' War. Bismarck then dissolved the German Confederation, annexed some territory to Prussia, and established the North German Confederation under Prussian leadership. The four German states south of the Main River remained independent, but made military alliances with Prussia. Austria's defeat left it greatly weakened. In 1867, the Austrian emperor was forced to give equal status to his Hungarian holdings, creating the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. Austria was never again a power in Germany.

To complete the unification of Germany, Bismarck knew that he needed to overcome the opposition of France. In 1870, he encouraged a Hohenzollern prince to accept the throne of Spain. As Bismarck expected, France objected. Although the prince withdrew as a candidate, Bismarck used the dispute to start the Franco-Prussian War. This conflict pitted France against the North German Confederation and its south German allies. After several battles, the Germans defeated the main French armies at Sedan in September 1870. The German army captured Paris in January 1871. Under the peace treaty, France gave up almost all of Alsace and part of Lorraine.

During the Franco-Prussian War, the four south German states agreed to join a united German nation under Prussian leadership. On Jan. 18, 1871, Wilhelm I was crowned the first kaiser (emperor) of the new German Empire. Wilhelm appointed Bismarck chancellor and head of government.

Answer 6

German Unification was guided Count Otto von Bismark.
He was Chancellor of Prussia. Remember Germany then was composed of many different states, under the leadership of Austria( a major European power in 1800's). It was to the benefit of both Austria and France to smaller and weaker divided German states

Answer 7

ok this is it in short bismark cheif minster of prussia managed it two stages first fought a war with austrohungary and won in 1866 united northern germany to prussia then 1870 he took on france and won united southern gemany with prussia the 2 geraman empire or 2nd riech was proclaimed versialies in france in 1870 the german state which made it up signigant entities until the rise of hitler,if you want more look it up

Answer 8

It was to do with Bismark - the German chancellor in the 1870's. He was a Prussian and had wars with other countries like France and Denmark and evetually unified Germany at the end of the wars 1873 possibly. The Prussians were the strongest and their head became the Kaiser.

Answer 9

1871

Answer 10

Yes, just do a search for the Berlin Wall on Wikipedia. Also, I think there's something good on the BBC website.