Prior to 1866 there were 30 or so German states and a rivalry between the two major states Austria and Prussia for influence. Prussia advocated what was known as the Kleindeutsch plan (small Germany) which envisioned uniting the German states under her auspices, exclusive of Austria. Austria, which was the lead state in the Austrian (and later Austro-Hungarian) Empire, advocated the Grossedeutsch plan (large Germany) in which she would hold sway over a loose affiliation of the German states.
In the 1830s the Prussians established the Prussian Customs Union to unite the German states on an economic basis which was reasonably effective, but Austria continued to exert considerable diplomatic and political influence, as many of the lesser states feared Prussian domination. However, the matter of who would unify the Germanies was settled in 1866 when Prussia, under the leadership of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm I, soundly defeated the Austrians in the Austro-Prussian War of that year and assumed the role of uniting the other states under Prussian aegis.
France, nevertheless, did not wish to see a powerful German state on her border, and continued to attempt to frustrate Prussia efforts at hegemony, appealing among other things, to the Catholic majorities in many of the lesser states, and, holding control over some territories within eastern France with significant German minorities, or in some cases even majorities, notably Alsace-Lorraine.
In 1871 matters came to a head, some say Bismarck induced them to do so, and France improvidently declared war on Prussia, hoping to quash the German state's pretentions. Much to France's surprise, as she was considered until that point to have the finest army in Europe, the Prussians proved very well prepared for war indeed, and soundly defeated the French in very short order in the Franco-Prussian War, at which point Prussia siezed the Alsace Lorrraine and created the modern German state. That endured until 1918 when Germany's defeat in WWI led to a significant partition of Germany, with France reclaiming the Alsace Lorraine, and Germany being stripped of other territories as well, including the so called Polish Corridor, which was carved out of East Prussia to give Poland access to the sea.
These territorial punishments, incidentally, were among the many reasons Germany rearmed leading up to the outbreak of WWII, so as to relcaim her former territories. Of course, under Hitler, Germany's territorial appetitie far exceeded her original borders created by Bismarck and Wilhelm I.
2007-10-30 06:41:11
·
answer #1
·
answered by anonymourati 5
·
0⤊
0⤋
Try to imagine what it would be like if the United States was not unified, that you had 50 different countries instead.
While all the states might speak the same language, each would be a separate country. Think of needing a passport to go from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, the currency of South Carolina being different from that of North Carolina, or war breaking out between Texas and Oklahoma over a border dispute.
You then have a kind of idea how it was in Germany prior to unification.
2007-10-30 11:23:08
·
answer #2
·
answered by Chrispy 7
·
1⤊
0⤋
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mikebartelt/maproom/germany-1870.jpg
Maps are helpful, see the link above.
The German states were being pulled towards unification, but it was still up for grabs whether France or Prussia would pull in the Catholic parts of Germany. There was also the question of whether all German peoples would be pulled together, in essence uniting the small German states, Prussia, and Austria; or whether a limited union of German states would occur under Prussia.
2007-10-30 11:06:27
·
answer #3
·
answered by 29 characters to work with...... 5
·
1⤊
0⤋
Paranoia about the French Revolution, the Germans not wanting to get involved in the war but happy to get the land if there weren't enough survivors on either side to claim the land.
2007-10-30 18:15:05
·
answer #4
·
answered by isis 4
·
0⤊
0⤋