Transcript Bismarck: The Founding of A German Empire

Chapter 25:
Nation Building in
Germany
McKay 829-832,
Palmer 13.65
German Unification
Napoleon
Forms
Confederation
on the Rhine
1806
-Revolutions
in Vienna,
Prague, Berlin
-Frankfurt
Assembly
fails to create
a United
Germany
1815
Wilhelm I
appoints Otto
Von Bismarck
chancellor
1848
Zollverien
created (1834)
Congress of
Vienna creates
German
Confederation
German
Constitution
created in
Prussia
FrancoPrussian
War
North German
Confederation
formed (1867)
1862
Crimean
War (185356)
Danish War
(1864)
1866
1871
Ems
Dispatch
(1870
Seven
Weeks
War
German
Empire
declared
The German States after 1848
•
•
•
•
•
•
Revolutions of 1848
unseated several gov of
Germany
Private citizens assembled
at Frankfurt in hope of
creating a united Germany
via constitutional methods
Frankfurt Assembly failed
because it had no power
(Prussian Military)
–
not revolutionary enough
–
Liberal, law-abiding
orderly, sober, respectful
Frederick William IV
placated liberals by granting
the Constitution of 1850
Creates an “estates system”
of voting
39 state German
Confederation (Bund)
restored 1850
Prussian Power Declining
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Had always been the smallest
and most precarious of the great
powers
owed its international influence
and character to its military
Used the army to expand by
conquest or diplomacy
Silesia in 1740
Poland in the late 1770s, 90s
Sentinel of the Rhine after 1815
–
Received land on France’s
border to keep eye on them
Power had declined by 1850
–
Gov. was shaken by
Revolution
–
Crimean War and Congress of
Paris 1856 Prussia was
ignored
–
Military strength had declined
–
Italy was unified to the south
without any Prussian yes or
no
Prussian Parliament
•
Prussia’s parliament was led
by the wealthy liberals
Had power of the purse
Nationalistic
•
•
–
•
Wanted Parliamentary
supremacy
–
•
•
Control of military (Junkers)
Wanted to emulate Piedmont
Sardinia’s liberalism
–
•
Still dreamed of a unified German
state
Believed it would attract other
German states
William I (New Kaiser) asked
Parliament for $$ to build up
military (1861)
Liberals Parliament refused
appropriations($$)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Otto Von Bismarck
Appointed Chancellor 1862
Junker-class yet intellectual
Pro Prussia
Conservative at heart
– Stressed duty, service, order (ordun)
– “there has to be order”
Pro modernization
– Saw Prussian power waning as other
unified nations grew strong
Realpolitik incarnate
Machiavellian
Had no ideology, No set principles
– would act like a
liberal/republican/socialist if it served
him
Not necessarily a German nationalist
– German unification is a means to
elevating Prussian power
Blood and Iron Speech
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Parliament refused to pass taxes for
military
Bismarck sent civil servants to collect them
anyway
People paid them (orderliness)
– Docile population who had exaggerated
respect for officialdom
Liberals lack of power was exposed
Parliament called his policies
unconstitutional
Liberal Parliament hoped Prussia’s
liberalism would attract other German
states
Bismarck gave speech in Sept 1862
Said that the German unification would be
achieved not by Prussian liberalism but by
its military power
German states would be attracted to
Prussian power
Blood and Iron Speech
• The position of Prussia in Germany will not be
determined by its liberalism but by its power ...
Prussia must concentrate its strength and hold it
for the favourable moment, which has already
come and gone several times. Since the treaties
of Vienna, our frontiers have been ill-designed
for a healthy body politic. Not through speeches
and majority decisions will the great questions of
the day be decided - that was the great mistake
of 1848 and 1849 - but by iron and blood.
The Danish War (1864)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Tension remained high
between Parliament and
Bismarck until Otto saw an
opportunity
Danes wanted to make the
duchy of Schleswig part of
Denmark
Population was mixed (Dane
and German)
German Confederation called
for all-German war on Danes
Bismarck (not wanting to
strengthen the Diet) joined only
with Austria and invaded
Schleswig and Holstein
Bismarck arranged that Prussia
would occupy Schles and
Austria Holstein
Austrian troops had to pass
through Prussian territory to
occupy Holstein
–
Harassed by Prussian
soldiers
Austro-Prussian War (1866)
• Austria was isolated as Bismarck
nurtured a relationship with
Napoleon III
– Had charmed Nap at Biarritz
• Russia had its own problems and
liked Bismarck
– Had supported them during a
Polish uprising
• England was following
nonintervention policy
• Bis secretly offered Venetia to
Italy
• Bismarck (under the pretense of
democracy) proposed to reform
the German Confederation
(universal male-suffrage)
• He knew that most Germans
weren’t loyal to their existing
governments and used
democracy as his wedge
Clip for Clip
Seven Weeks’ War (Austro-Prussian War)
• Austria brought quarrel over
Schleswig-Holstein to German
federal diet (Bund)
• Bismarck said that this was an
aggressive move, the diet had no
authority, and moved in Holstein
• Austria appealed to all Germany
(Baden, Württemberg, Bavaria)
• Prussian army showed its
superiority
– Defeated the combined force at
Sadowa
– Needles guns (allowed infantryman to
deliver five rounds a minute)
– Used RR
– German von Moltke led capable army
to victory in seven weeks
Result of 7 Weeks’ War
• Prussia annexed
Schleswig-Holstein,
Hanover, Nassau, HesseCassel, Frankfurt
• German federal union
disappeared & was
replaced by Northern
Confederation (21 small
states)
• German states south of
river Main (Austria, Baden,
Bavaria, Wurttemberg,
Hesse-Darmastadt were
outside the North Confed
• Italy got Venetia for its
neutrality
• But not territory was taken
from Austria
– Did not want to create a
permanent enemy
Constitution of 1867
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Bismarck proposed new
constitution
Lower house (Reichstag) was
elected by universal suffrage
This seemed crazy to the
conservative Junkers
Bismarck believed that he could
use the masses as a key ally
against private interests
Could bypass the Liberals
He worked with socialists to
improve working class conditions
– Socialist followed Ferdinand
Lassalle who unlike Marx said
that improvement could be
attained via parliamentary
means
Bismarck the SocialistRepublican??
Ferdinand Lassalle
Political Zeitgeist (1867-1871)
•
•
•
•
Who would the small south
German states gravitate to (France,
Prussia, or Austria)
Napoleon III was under heavy
pressure in France for:
– His Mexico intervention
– Allowing a united Italy to emerge
– Allowing a large German state to
emerge
– More liberal reform
Bismarck believed war with France
would bring southern German
states into the confederation and
leave Austria out of the loop
Napoleon III felt a victory against
Prussia would revive his position in
France
The Ems Dispatch
• Revolution in Spain drove reigning queen into exile
• Provisional gov invited Prince Leopold (a Hohenzollern), king of
Prussia’s cousin, to be king of Spain
• He declined offer (2 times)
• Bismarck persuaded Spanish to ask once more
• French ambassador to Prussia, Benedetti
– met king of Prussia at resort (Ems)
– Asked Leo to decline
• He already had
– Asked for commitment from Hohenzollerns never to rule Spain Ems
Telegram
• King politely refused
– King telegrammed conversation to Bismarck
• Ems dispatch
• Bismarck cleverly edited dispatch
• He saw a chance “to wave a red flag before the Gallic bull”
• Made it seem that King was insulted (Germany was insulted)
• Made it seem that the ambassador of France was snubbed
• War parties gathered in both countries
• 7/19/1870 Napoleon declares war on Prussia
Unedited Ems Dispatch
• His Majesty the King has written to me(namely, Heinrich
Abeken, of the Foreign office)
"Count Benedetti intercepted me on the promenade and ended
by demanding of me in a very importunate manner that I should
authorize him to telegraph at once that I bound myself in
perpetuity never again to give my consent if the Hohenzollerns
renewed their candidature. I rejected this demand somewhat
sternly as it is neither right nor possible to undertake
engagements of this kind [for ever and ever]. Naturally I told
him that I had not yet received any news and since he had been
better informed via Paris and Madrid than I was, he must surely
see that my government was not concerned in the matter."
[The King, on the advice of one of his ministers] "decided in
view of the above-mentioned demands not to receive Count
Benedetti any more, but to have him informed by an adjutant
that His Majesty had now received from [Leopold] confirmation
of the news which Benedetti had already had from Paris and
had nothing further to say to the ambassador. His Majesty
suggests to Your Excellency that Benedetti's new demand and
its rejection might well be communicated both to our
ambassadors and to the Press."
Bismarck’s edited version
• "After the news of the renunciation of the
Prince von Hohenzollern had been
communicated to the Imperial French
government by the Royal Spanish government,
the French Ambassador in Ems made a further
demand on His Majesty the King that he should
authorize him to telegraph to Paris that His
Majesty the King undertook for all time never
again to give his assent should the
Hohenzollerns once more take up their
candidature. His Majesty the King thereupon
refused to receive the Ambassador again and
had the latter informed by the adjutant of the
day that His Majesty had no further
communication to make to the Ambassador."
England
-Bismarck published
document that Nap III
had previously wanted
Luxembourg &
Belgium
France
is
Alone
Austria
-Angry for the
Austro-Piedmont
War & loss of
Lombardy
Russia
-waiting for a chance to
get a naval presence in
the Black Sea
-Remembered
Bismarck’s support to
Russia during Polish
rebellion & Crimean War
Italians
-Not happy for losing Nice
and Savoy
-Not happy that Nap had
made his own peace with
Austria (Villafranca)
-Wanted to seize Rome
(1870)
Franco-Prussian War
• At Sedan the
French were
defeated
• Napoleon III was
taken prisoner
• Riots in Paris
deposed the
government and
declared the Third
Republic
• Prussia took Paris
after laying siege
for 4 months
Prussian Siege of Paris Commune
German victory parade in Paris. The Parisians were defiant in the face of defeat
and were prepared to fight if the entry of the German army into the city . Before
the Germans entered Paris, National Guards removed large numbers of
cannons away from the Germans' path and store them in "safe" districts. This
was to be one of the factors leading to the Paris Commune .
The Paris suburb of St. Cloud after the siege
Siegfried
(Germany)
defeats
Joan of Arc
(France) in the
FrancoPrussian War,
1870-71
The German Empire, 1871
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The German rulers
assembled at Versailles
The Prussian King is
proclaimed Emperor, German
Empire is proclaimed
Paris surrendered (starving)
No government existed for
Germany to negotiate with
Bismarck called for the
election of a Constituent
Assembly (by universal
suffrage)
Demanded reparations of 5
billion gold francs
Seized Alsace and Lorraine
(They were not asked)
Clip for a unique summary
Victorious German troops march through the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on
June 16, 1871. Ever since this day it was traditional for German troops to march
through the gate on their return from war .
The Strength of the German State
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
War reversed the dictum of the Peace of Vienna
(1815) and Westphalia (1648)
Germany became at its birth the strongest state on
the continent
Continued its rapid industrialization
Bis had outsmarted everyone (even the Germans)
Bismarck and the Parliament made amends
– He admitted to high handedness during the
constitutional struggles and they passed his
taxes (ex post facto)
Liberalism was derailed by nationalism
German Empire was a federation of monarchies
(divine right)
But the Reichstag was elected by universal male
suffrage
Ministers were responsible to the emperor, not the
elected chamber
The rulers, not the people joined the empire
Each state kept its own laws and gov
Emperor (the king of Prussia) had legal control over
foreign and military policy
The Emperor was the king of Prussia and magnified
Prussian influence