Transcript GERMAN UNIFICATION - Mentor Public Schools

GERMAN UNIFICATION
POST-l848
• 1. A. William I (1861-1888):
• Regent in Prussia 1857-1861. Initial
support for the Constitution of 1848 (he
eased restrictions on political
expression and on the press) but he
came into conflict with the Chamber of
Deputies over his reorganizing the
army to increase efficiency and political
reliability (1862). To deal with the
opposition, he appointed Otto von
Bismarck prime minister. He
commanded the army with the advice
of his other chief advisor, Helmuth K. B.
von Moltke.
POST-l848
• B. Bismarck takes command
• 1. Bismarck was an
ultraconservative Junker politician
whose main goal was to strengthen
Prussia's power and status.
• 2. He concluded that the path to this
goal was to weaken Austria by
supporting German nationalism.
• 3. He practiced Realpolitik, the
politics of reality. He was willing to
use any means to obtain his goals.
POST-l848
• 4. Bismarck needed to weaken the power of the
parliament since it repeatedly refused his request for
additional funds to build up the army.. Bismarck collected
the needed taxes anyway. His view was that middle
class parliamentary liberalism was not the way to unify
Germany. He said ''Not by speeches and majority votes
are the great questions of the day decided - that was the
great error of 1848 and 1849 - but by blood and iron".
Bismarck believed the middle class could be led to prefer
national unity to liberal institutions. He outmaneuvered
the liberals in the Parliament, and the middle class
ended up supporting monarchial authority.
POST-l848
• 2. War with Denmark (1864):
Initiated by Bismarck over
Denmark's attempted annexation
of Schleswig-Holstein; led to a
German alliance with Austria
against Denmark (led by Christian
IX). The Treaty of Vienna provided
for joint administration of the
provinces, but Bismarck
complained about Austrian
administration and provoked a
war in 1866.
POST 1848
• 3. War with Austria (1866): Bismarck convinced Italy
to join with Prussia against Austria with the promise of
gaining Venetia. The Seven Weeks War began with a
Prussian invasion of Bohemia, a quick victory at the
Battle of Sadowa. Austria surrendered. In the Peace
of Prague, the German Confederation was dissolved
and a new North German Confederation, led by
Prussia, was formed in 1867. Austria paid an
indemnity to Prussia and withdrew from German
affairs. Bismarck's goal of Prussian expansion was
being realized.
POST 1848
• 4. The Dual Monarchy:
Nationalists Hungarians saw the
defeat of Austria as an opportunity
to demand freedom. Emperor
Francis Joseph I accepted a
compromise which granted
Hungarian independence, but the
Austrian emperor remained their
king. Thus was born AustriaHungary, ruled by a Dual
Monarchy. This agreement was
called the Ausgleich. (compromise)
POST 1848
• 5. The Franco-Prussian War
(1870-71): Prussia's rise to power
alarmed Napoleon III plus he
believed fighting German
unification would unite the French
people behind his faltering rule.
The two nations went to war
nominally over the candidacy of a
Hohenzollern prince for the
Spanish throne, but actually over
Prussia's growing power in
Germany. In 1870 Bismarck used
the issue of the Spanish
succession to provoke France into
an act of war (He knew France
was the next obstacle to German
unification)
POST 1848
• A. EMS dispatch: Bismarck released a doctored
telegram to the press which described a meeting
between the King of Prussia and the French ambassador
at the German city of Ems. The careful editing made the
French believe their country had been insulted by the
Germans and made the Germans believe they were
being threatened by France. Napoleon III declared war
on Prussia.
• B. Prussian troops invaded France. Southern German
states, Catholic and resistant to Prussian control, now
allied themselves with Prussia to avoid French
domination. Bismarck had used war to bring southern
Germany into the union.
POST 1848
• C. Battle of Sedan: The French
were outnumbered and
outgeneraled. Napoleon III was
captured and surrendered Sept. 2,
1870.
• D. Fall of Paris: When news of
Sedan reached Paris on
September 4, republicans
proclaimed the Third Republic and
established the Government of
National Defense to carry on the
war. From September 23 to
January 28, Paris was besieged
and for the last 23 days was
bombarded by German artillery.
Napoleon III and Bismarck
POST 1848
• E. Treaty of Frankfurt: May
l0, 1871, France was
required to cede Alsace and
part of Lorraine to Germany
(two provinces rich in coal
and iron ore) and to pay an
indemnity of unprecedented
size--% billion francs
(considered immoral by the
rest of Europe).
THE GERMAN EMPIRE
• A. Kaiser Wilhelm I:
William was proclaimed
emperor on January 18,
1871 at ceremonies held
at the hall of Mirrors at
Versailles - a great
humiliation for France.
Bismarck became his
chancellor.
• William survived two
assassination attempts
in 1878.
THE GERMAN EMPIRE
• B. Structure: The German
Empire was a federation of 25
German states 71 governed
by the Kaiser, a chancellor
responsible to the Kaiser, and
a its two-house parliament
composed of the upper
chamber (Bundesrat), 43
appointed members and a
lower chamber (Reichstag),
400 members elected by
universal male suffrage.
THE GERMAN EMPIRE
• C. Policies
• 1. Industrialization promoted by
Bismarck, particularly the steel
industry. French indemnity was
used to consolidate railroads, build
canals.
• 2. Bismarck established a
common monetary system, a
central bank, a unified postal
system.
THE GERMAN EMPIRE
• 3. Kulterkampf: ''struggle for culture";
Inspired by 1870 claim of papal
infallibility made by Pius IX; Bismarck
attacked the Catholic church in an effort
to maintain the superiority of state over
church; Jesuits expelled, priests had to
be Germans, Catholic children had to
attend German schools; he abandoned
the attack in 1878 because of rising
opposition.
• 4. Worldwide agricultural depression
after 1873 resulted in the policy of
economic protectionism in Germany.
THE GERMAN EMPIRE
• 5. Socialism grew in Germany and
the Social Democratic Party was
established. Bismarck outlawed
socialist parties in 1878. Bismarck
gave Germany an impressive
system of social-welfare legislation
(sickness and accident insurance,
shorter working hours, improved
working conditions), partly to
weaken socialism's appeal to the
workers. FIRST SOCIAL
SECURITY SYSTEM IN THE
WORLD.
THE GERMAN EMPIRE
• D. Frederick III (1888): Son
of William I, he had
protested Bismarck's
reactionary policy in relation
to constitutional questions
and the press. He served
as regent in 1878 when his
father was wounded in an
attempted assassination.
When his father died,
Frederick was already ill
with cancer of the throat.
He died in the same year
he succeeded to the throne.
THE GERMAN EMPIRE
• E. Wilhelm II (18881918): Frederick III's
eldest son, he began a
long period of personal
rule after dismissing
Bismarck in 1890 to try to
win the support of the
workers, but he couldn't
stem the rising tide of
socialism.
THE GERMAN EMPIRE
• 1. Social Democratic Party:
In the elections of 1912, this
Socialist party becomes the
largest party in the
Reichstag.
• 2. It was strongly
nationalistic and patriotic not
revolutionary.
THE GERMAN EMPIRE
• 3. Wilhelm II pledged full
support to Austria after the
assassination of Archduke
Francis Ferdinand. He was a
figurehead during World War
I and abdicated following
Germany's defeat fleeing to
the Netherlands where he
lived until his death in 1941.