The unification of Germany. I don't understand how it went down.... Can anyone help me?

Question

I read articles and surfed the web to find out more about the unification of Germany, but I don't understand what went down. Can someone explaine to me so I can understand it easily?

Not re-unification, but the first unification is what I want

Answer 1

The Unification of Germany goes to the credit of one man known as the Iron man of Germany, Otto Von Bismarck. He was virtually known as the ruler of Germany because he united the warring princes into a state and was able rule.

Answer 2

You should state the time scale you are speaking of. Germany was united several times. You could for example call Arminius the Cheruscan from 9 AD the first man who united Germany, in a sense. Later, the Franks united Germany, especially Charlemagne by conquering the Saxons around 800 AD. This created the "Holy Roman Empire" of Germany which lasted until 1806. However, this was not really a united empire, it was rather a loose collection of multiple smaller kingdoms and domains, rules by a more or less powerful dynasty. Then, in 1871, the second German empire was founded, mainly by Otto von Bismarck who pulled the strings. After this one was defeated in the first world war, Hitler tried to reconstruct it and to reunite it with Austria, and then blew it all up big time in the second world war. Finally in 1990, the two remaining parts were reunited to form the present Germany.

Now, what's your specific question? :)

Answer 3

The reunification of Germany happened many years after WWII ended. The Communist Government which controlled East Germany and East Berlin held the people under tight controll. Families were seperated and the people longed to be united again. But there was a fear that since Germany helped start WWI and started WWII that if allowed to unite they would start another war.
In the late eighties, when Gorbachoff was in power in the Soviet Union, he saw how the ruling by fear was not working. He believed in Communism, but not in the ruling by fear. He also knew that the Cold War between the US and USSR was over and the US had won. So broke down the barriers between the people and the Government. Demolished the Soviet controll over the Government and allowed democracy to have a chance. His party, the Communist party was of course voted out. When this happened, the Communist party in East Germany had no one to help them controll the people, so they also adopted the democracy idea. The Germans immediately demanded the country be united. This was allowed with the stipulation that they not have a military except for self defense. In 1989, the wall that seperated East and West Berlin came down, the fence that seperated East and West Germany was torn apart.

You wanted quick and simple and in history there is no quick and simple.

Answer 4

Hmmmm..... is this homework? If so, concentrate on the History of a state formerly known as Prussia, Kaiser Wilhelm I, Otto Von Bismarck, and the FrancoPrussian war to get an idea of what happened.

Basicaly, the Prussian empire decided to create a German state after the Napoleonic Wars, and spent the greater part of the 19th century consolidating the many realms and areas under its control by defeating Austria, Denmark and France. Germany was formed afther the FrancoPrussian war was won by Prussia.

Answer 5

The other posters are certainly right on the money. I would add to read up on the Zollverein, the German Customs Union. Economic determinists have tended to argue the inevitability of German unification due to the fiscal might of Prussia especially compared to the other German states, but I don't think that is the dominant view today.

Answer 6

a key figure who was the principal driver of the unification of germany was otto van bismarck, who has expertly handled bringing all broken kingdoms of germany under prussian control and led to german unification. The strategy of geting into a franco-prussian war by rising german nationalistic sentiments into german kingdoms to rally them together and become one was an interesting read for me. Unfortunately, my source is my school history texts which I cannot share here, but any search on bismarck should throw more light for you on germany's unification.