Chapter 23 Nationalism Triumphs in Europe

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Chapter 23 Nationalism Triumphs in Europe

• Section 1
• Building a
• German Nation

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• Setting the Scene
• The Prussian legislators waited restlessly for
  Otto von Bismarck to speak. They knew he wanted
  them to vote more money to build up the Prussian
  army. Liberal members of the parliament, however,
  opposed the move. At last, Bismarck rose and
  dismissed their concerns
• "Germany does not look to Prussia's liberalism,
  but to her power. . . . The great questions of
  the day are not to be decided by speeches and
  majority resolutionsthat was the mistake of 1848
  and 1849but by blood and iron!"
• Bismarck delivered his "blood and iron" speech in
  1862. It set the tone for his policies in the
  years ahead. Bismarck was determined to build a
  strong, unified German state, with Prussia at its
  head.

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I. Steps Toward Unity

• In the early 1800s, German-speaking people lived
  in a number of kingdoms including Prussia and the
  Austrian Hapsburg empire

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I. Steps Toward Unity

• Between 1807 and 1812,
• Napoleon organized many German states into the
  Confederation of the Rhine

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I. Steps Toward Unity

• 1815 - The Congress of Vienna created the German
  Confederation, a weak alliance of the 39 German
  states headed by Austria

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I. Steps Toward Unity

• In the 1830s, Prussia created an
• economic union between German states
• called the Zollverein

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I. Steps Toward Unity

• 1848 The Frankfurt Assembly demanded a united
  Germany under Prussia, and offered the throne to
  Frederick William IV but he turned it down

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II. Bismarck and German Unity

• 1862 - Otto von Bismarck, a diplomat from
  Prussia's Junker class, was named as chancellor
  (prime minister)

Chancellor of Germany Period in office
18711890 Date of birth 1 April 1815 Date
of death 30 July 1898
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II. Bismarck and German Unity

• As Chancellor, Bismarck would succeed in uniting
  the German states under Prussian rule

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II. Bismarck and German Unity

• Bismarck was a master of Realpolitikrealistic
  politics based on the needs of the state

This 1887 American political cartoon depicts
Bismarck balancing the figures of war and peace
on a teeter-totter made up of a powder keg and a
board named "European politics". At the same
time, he is juggling the great powers of Europe.
An artillery piece lies in the foreground.
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II. Bismarck and German Unity

• Bismarck built up the army and
• fought three wars,
• increasing Prussian power and
• paving the way for German unity

Franco-Prussian War
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II. Bismarck and German Unity

• 1864 - Bismarck formed an alliance with Austria
  and they seized the provinces of Schleswig and
  Holstein from Denmark. Prussia gained Schleswig
  and Austria gained Holstein.

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II. Bismarck and German Unity

• 1866-The Austro-Prussian War (Seven Weeks War)
  was fought between Prussia and Austria. Prussia
  was victorious and annexed Holstein and several
  other north German states

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II. Bismarck and German Unity

• Bismarck dissolved the German Confederation and
  created the North German Confederation dominated
  by Prussia

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II. Bismarck and German Unity

• A growing rivalry between France and Prussia led
  to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870

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II. Bismarck and German Unity

• Napoleon III declared war on Prussia due to the
  vacant Spanish throne and the Ems dispatch but
  France was defeated within a few weeks

Stone of Benedetti - Ems dispatchA memorial
stone reminding of the fatal correspondence
between King Wilhelm I of Prussia and the French
ambassador Earl Benedetti. The telegraphic
message of the Prussian king to Berlin, which
entered history books  under the name of "Ems
Dispatch" and the shortened version of the
contents, which was published in the press by
Bismarck on July 13, 1870, led to the outbreak of
the Franco-Prussian War 1870/1871.
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II. Bismarck and German Unity

• Results of the Franco-Prussian War
• Treaty of Frankfurt, Feb. 1871
• -France surrenders the provinces of Alsace and
  Lorraine ?national humiliation for France
• -France must pay Germany a large indemnity
• Frances defeat in the Franco-Prussian War
• and the loss of Alsace and Lorraine
• ? France would desire revenge on Germany
• ?one of the causes of the outbreak
• of WWI in 1914

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III. The German Empire

• January 1871 - William I of Prussia took the
  title Kaiser or emperor and German nationalists
  celebrated the birth of the Second Reich

On the 18th January 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors
at Versailles, King William I of Prussia was
proclaimed by all the states of Germany to be
their emperor.
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III. The German Empire

• A constitution was drafted which set up a
  two-house legislature - the appointed Bundesrat
  (upper house) and the elected Reichstag (lower
  house)