Within the Context of Germany 1789 – 1890 How Important a Role Did Bismarck Play in the Unification of Germany?

Germany started out as a divided nation fighting for dominance in Europe. Otto Von Bismarck was able to take this struggling complexity and unify it. During this process Bismarck turned the small country of Prussia into a powerhouse, growing the population from 11 to 18 million. Bismarck sprung from a landlord class and moved his way up the political ladder as realpolitik, realistic Politician. He was a man of simple ideals; he stressed duty, service, order, and the fear of God. These ideals along with manipulative tactics are what lead Bismarck on his journey of the unification of Germany, proving that without Bismarck’s diplomatic efforts between 1871 and 1890 Europe would not be the stabilized continent it is today.

During the period of 1864 to 1871, Bismarck led Prussia into three significant wars. As said by G.A Craig in The Germans, 1991, the unified Germany was “created in 1871 by Bismarck’s diplomacy and Prussian military power.” The first of these wars was the war with Denmark over the provinces of Schleswig-Holstein in 1864. Prussia and Austria combined their military forces and won against the much weaker Denmark with considerable ease. This was a contributing factor in the second of the three wars, which was fought against Austria, as the two states

Otto von Bismarck is widely known as the first modern politician. Because of this, his interpretation of conservatism is different and is the first of its kind. The reason Bismarck represents a new and different kind of conservatism is that unlike traditional conservatives, Bismarck is willing to adapt his views to fit the people's current needs. While Bismarck's methods can be considered traditionally conservative in his early days as a political leader, with things such as the Anti-Socialist Acts, by looking deeper and analyzing what he did later in life shows that he was a more modern conservative. Some examples of Bismarck’s modern conservatism were his restraint on letting Germany go to war with any other country, and his policy of separation of church and state. Compared to other leaders like Napoleon III, Bismarck had the ability to plan and invest in Germany’s future. Bismarck supported this by being able to change his views and ideas when it became necessary. Bismarck’s time was born when the Franco-Prussian war began. This is what led to Bismarck becoming so famous at the time, as his military victories were heard of all over

The German states realized it was futile to live in industrially and commercially segregated communities. The German states put together the Zollverein. The Zollverein is another name for the German Customs Union. It came into existence in 1834. It was the most important free trade agreement of the 19th century.

While the religious division of the Prussia Protestant and that of the dominating Austria Catholics was an important factor, the opposition from Austria and the rulers were more important. Nationalism became this progressively intensifying cycle that eventually climaxes into war. Many began to put aside the idealistic ideas of society and began to embrace the realities of society as competitive and combative. Under the calculated guidance of Otto von Bismarck, Germany would finally be on the promising path of unification.

However, some historians argue that Bismarck was a catalyst and he simply sped up the process of German unification. Prussia gained land in the Rhineland, which was many miles away from Prussian mainland. German States prompted the Prussian authorities to abolish all internal taxes within Prussia itself in 1818. This led to the creation of a large free trade area. Prussia’s control of the rivers of the Rhine and Elbe encouraged other German states

Prince Otto von Bismarck was seen as both a political genius and a power monger, like a German version of Alexander the Great by the people. Bismarck was a conservative, who used the people around him to reach his goals; and in doing so, he pitted people against one another. According to the book 19th Century Germany by John Breuilly, modern historians have found it very hard “to separate the man from his achievements” (Breuilly 172). The historians have run into a roadblock that consists mostly of “Bismarck’s individuality and his responsibility for the political development of the Empire” (Breuilly 172). Bismarck was known to support nationalism and patriotism, and he believed in the Burschenschaften or student organizations. He also believed in the concept of faith in power, more in ideas. Bismarck only cared for two things: Prussia and Prussian power, and he would do anything to obtain Prussian domination. Although Bismarck did not care for Germany, he was all for German Unification. Historians cannot decide if Bismarck’s legacy is positive or negative but they agree that he was a “brilliant and shrewd tactician who succeeded in postponing the problem of political mobilization for 60 years” (Breuilly 172). In Otto von Bismarck, some people saw a great man who was ahead of his time, while others saw nothing more than a bloodthirsty power monger, who wanted a united Germany to

Bismarck’s political successes were remarkable, but he demonstrated an undeniably unethical way of treating internal opposition, coupled by significant opportunism. However, he was succumbing to the broad demands of the public only to be able to carry out the foreign politics necessary to secure the German Reich for the future.

Otto von Bismarck, a brilliant diplomat and creative statesman, served as _ of Prussia from _. He would later serve as the first chancellor of the German nation that he helped to create. The German states were swelling with nationalism during the mid-nineteenth century, best exemplified by the Revolution of 1848. Perhaps the German states would have eventually unified on their own, but Otto von Bismarck certainly smoothed and hastened the process. His insightful unification tactics resulted in a desirable outcome: Kleindeutschland, or a German Empire that deliberately excluded Austria. Bismarck expedited the process of German Unification by employing legendary diplomatic skills and by emphasizing military prowess in order to annex German-speaking territories.

Otto von Bismarck was the prime minister of Prussia and later became the first chancellor of the German Empire in which he initiated. When the German Empire was established, Bismarck was adept in representing its domestic and foreign policies. According to Kissinger (1968) this was Bismarck’s legacy in which he was victorious domestically in his pursuit for German unification. Bismarck’s views were more conservative, which he believed maintained the status quo. He did not favor liberalism in the German Confederacy because he believed the common man did not have the right to bargain with nobility. Revolutionary changes were reserved for the educated and the wealthy landowners. Common people such as peasants and crafts workers were subjects to

The first war lead by Otto von Bismarck was the Danish-Prussian war in 1864. It started with Denmark wanting to invade North German States, Schleswig and Holstein. Prussian power wasn’t going to let this happen because they wanted control of those North German States. They Proceeded to have a war with Denmark over these states and Prussia had the help of Austria. In the end, Prussia and Austria did end up winning the war and they gained control of the German States, Schleswig and Holstein. With “The Treaty of Gastein”, Austria got

Prussia played a large and important role in the unification of Germany. Without Prussia pushing unification along, Germany as we know it today would not exist. The Germanic states would not have unified as they did and the resulting wars that came about never would have played out. World history, not just European history, would be far different without modern day Germany, and the state that led to its emergence; however, Prussia did not unify Germany overnight. Prussia worked up to unification with a series of wars and interactions throughout their history.

The land given to Prussia contained large coal and iron mineral deposits and were welcomed for their advantageous, monetary and military value. Industry grew rapidly from the mineral deposit regions like the Saar and Ruhr valleys and eventually 80% of the total iron and coal production, in the zollverien states, was Prussian. Two primary and almost parallel economic developments enabled the growth and stability of the German speaking states and one significant development was the formation of a customs union in 1834. With Prussian lands distributed in different areas on the European map due to the Vienna congress, the commencement of the zollverien was of enormous importance and as we can see in the following description it was one, not only of liberated trade, but of national identity: "On all the highways of Central Germany heavily laden wagons surrounded by noisy and merry crowds waited in long queues at the customs houses.

After the 1881 elections, his party no longer controlled the Reichstag (The German House of Representatives). He had to do something to regain some of the lost power since the elections (Sempell 148). Bismarck did not see the need for colonies in Africa, but public opinion forced him to enter upon the global game of imperialism (150). This pleased Germany's constituents, and it eventually led to the obtainment of many valuable resources.

Bismarck was the man who did the most to unify Germany. It was clear that unification was one of his major objective which he announced in his famous ‘Blood and Iron speech’. I was fascinated by how he managed to unify the so many divided states. Thus, my historical investigation examines the question, to what extent was the Franco-Prussian war Bismarck’s final step to unify Germany? To assess whether the Franco-Prussian war was Bismarck’s final step for unifying the loose net of 39 German states or not, the investigation analyses the previous steps made by Bismarck to unify Germany. It investigates the events between 1962, when Bismarck became Minister president of Prussia and 1971, when Germany became officially unified. The events analyzed are the Danish war, The Prussian Austrian war and the Franco Prussian war.