The year 1850 – 1870 witnessed one of the most remarkable changes in European history. With the treaty of Utmutz further emphasising Austria’s supremacy in Germany, obviously dashing the hopes of nationalist idealists and even the Prussian monarchy for an highly anticipated united Germany, it appeared there was still a lot of waiting to exercised.
The arrangement resulting from Congress of Vienna in 1814–15 after the Napoleonic Wars endorsed Austrian dominance in Central Europe. However, the negotiators at Vienna took no account of Prussia's growing strength within and among the German states, failing to foresee that Prussia would challenge Austria for leadership within the German states. There became the German question which presented two solutions to the problem of unification: Germany solution (Germany without Austria), or greater Germany solution (Germany with Austria).
The first major steps or effort made at unifying German states was the widespread German revolution of 1848 – 1849 which stressed for or targeted unification and a single German constitution. The revolutionaries pressured various state governments, particularly strong in the Rhineland, for a parliamentary assembly which would have the responsibility to draft constitution.
As a follow up, in 1949 the Frankfurt Parliament offered the title of Emperor to the Prussian king, Frederick William IV. He refused for a variety of reasons. Publicly, he replied that he could not accept a crown without the consent of the actual states, by which he meant the princes. He feared the opposition of the other German princes and the military intervention of Austria and Russia. Therefore, it seemed the Frankfurt Parliament ended in partial failure. While the liberals did not achieve the unification they sought, they did manage to work through many constitutional issues and collaborative reforms with the German princes.
After the Frankfurt Parliament disbanded, Frederick William IV, under the influence of General Joseph Maria von Radowitz, supported the establishment of the Erfurt Union, a federation of German states, excluding Austria, by the free agreement of the German princes. This limited union under Prussia would have almost entirely eliminated the Austrian influence among the other German states. However, combined diplomatic pressure from Austria and from Russia (a guarantor of the Vienna 1815 agreements that established European spheres of influence) forced Prussia to abandon the idea of the Erfurt Union. This was more of a humiliation to the Prussians.
Although this event seemed minor, the Erfurt Union proposal brought the problems of influence in the German states into sharp focus. The question of unification became not a matter of if, but when; but more seriously for Prussia was that “when” was dependent upon strength.
It must be noted that the possibility of German unification challenged the fundamental principles of balance laid out in 1815 and guaranteed by four powers: Great Britain, France, Russia, and Austria. Each power had its geographic sphere of influence; for France, this sphere included the Iberian peninsula and shared influence in the Italian states; for the Russians, the eastern regions of Central Europe, and balancing influence in the Balkans; for the Austrians, this sphere included much of the Central European territories of the old Reich (Holy Roman Empire); and for the British, the rest of the world, especially the seas which accounted for her dominance of the international trade and her naval strength.
As for the matter of the German unification depending on strength, Prussia had began to maximise her potentials in many important areas. By 1859, Wilhelm had become regent for his ailing brother Fredrick William IV. He made two very significant appointments. Albrecht Von Roon became minister of war and Helmuth Von Moltke was chief of the General Staff. These two ministers were strongly anti-liberal and anti-Austria and their two Immediate programme was to strengthen the Prussian army by increasing its number from 500,000 -750,000. For this purpose, they demanded from the Prussian parliament a considerable increase in taxation. This was to meet a brick-wall as a result of strong liberal opposition on the Prussian parliament until the appointment of Otto Von Bismarck as Minister-President, who resolved the crisis in favor of the war minister.
Bismarck showed no compromise with the liberals. His statement to the Prussian parliament which read “Germany has its eyes not on Prussian’s liberalism but on its might. The great question of the day will not be decided by speeches and resolution of majorities, but by blood and iron”. This statement seemed to have hit the liberals and Bismarck had had a major home victory which eventually lead to a smooth run for Bismarck in his foreign policy. This foreign policy which was firstly, to unite Germany under Prussian control. Uniting Germany meant firstly, to defeat Austria and expel her from German confederation. Furthermore, Bismarck wanted to make Germany the strongest state in Europe and this meant he would have to defeat France lead by Napoleon III as the latter was seriously a threat to this ambition.
The Crimean War of 1854–1855 and the Italian War of 1859 disrupted relations among Great Britain, France, Austria and Russia. In the upshot of this hysteria, the convergence of Von Moltke's operational redesign, Von Roon and Wilhelm's restructuring of the army, and Bismarck's diplomacy influenced the restructuring of the European balance of power. Their combined agenda established Prussia as the leading German power through a combination of foreign diplomatic triumphs, backed up by the possible use of Prussian military might and real politicking as engineered by Bismarck.
The first opportunity to achieving the Prussian foreign policy agenda came with the threat of Danish ambition which actually served as a curtain-raiser for Bismarck. On 18 November 1863, King Christian IX of Denmark signed the Danish November Constitution, and declared the Duchy of Schleswig a part of Denmark. The German Confederation saw this act as a violation of the London Protocol of 1852 which emphasized the status of the kingdom of Denmark as distinct from the independent duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. Furthermore, the Schleswig and Holstein populations valued their separate status as well: a large portion of the duchy of Holstein was of German origin and spoke German in everyday life; the population was more mixed in Schleswig, with a sizable Danish minority. Diplomatic attempts to have the November Constitution repealed collapsed and fighting began when Prussian and Austrian troops crossed the border into Schleswig on 1 February 1864. Originally, the Danes attempted to defend their country using the Danewerk, an ancient earthen wall, but it proved indefensible. The Danes were no match for the combined Prussian and Austrian forces and could count on no help from their allies in the other Scandinavian states (Denmark had violated the Protocols). The Needle Gun, one of the first bolt action rifles to be used in conflict, aided the Prussians in both this war and the Austro-Prussian War two years later. The gun enabled a Prussian soldier to fire five shots while laying prone, while his muzzle-loading counterpart fired one shot and reloaded while standing. The Second Schleswig War resulted in victory for the combined armies of Prussia and Austria and the two countries won control of Schleswig and Holstein in the concluding peace settlement signed on 30 October 1864 in Vienna.
Even with Austria and Prussia fighting side by side to conquering the Danes, Bismarck was still very interesting in ousting the Austrians from the German confederation altogether. He was to use the Schleswig-Holstein question. Austria had been seeded administration of Holstein while Prussia Schleswig in the arrangement that followed the end of the Danish adventure. In 1866, in concert with the newly-formed Italy, Bismarck created a diplomatic environment in which Austria declared war on Prussia. He skillfully played upon the hatred between the new kingdom of Italy and Austria, who still held the territory of Venetia. He promised the Italians the territory of Venetia as a result of successful war against Austria. The Italians were to assist Bismarck if war is declared within three months of the agreement.
Also, Bismarck ensured that Russia and France would not involve the war. Prussia was actually in the good book of Czar Alexander of Russia at this time. The Poles had risen in revolt against Russia in an attempt to overthrow the Vienna settlement of 1815 and gain independence. This revolt was crushed by the Russian army and refugees attempted to cross to Prussia in great numbers. Bismarck had turned them back and several important leaders of this revolt were capture as a result. The Czar was therefore very grateful for Bismarck’s assistance. As for France, Bismarck hinted to Napoleon through the Prussian ambassador that he would be willing to consider concessions of territory to Napoleon along the Rhine.
The Austrians had supported the claims of the Duke of Augustenburg to rule Schleswig-Holstein and this was highly opposed by Prussia. Bismarck now accused the Austrians of stirring up trouble for Prussia in Schleswig and in June 1866, Prussian troop took over Holstein which led Austria to declaring war against Prussia. The Prussian armament was far more sophisticated. While the Austria used the old muzzle-loading rifles, Prussia had the new breech-loading needle gun.
Although several German states initially had sided with Austria, Prussian troops intercepted their soldiers and sent them home and Austria, with support only from Saxony, faced Prussia alone; although France promised support, it came late and was insufficient. Complicating the situation for Austria, the Italian mobilization on the border in the south required their army to fight the Third Italian War of Independence on a second front and on the Adriatic Sea. The day-long Battle of Königgrätz, near the village of Sadová, gave Prussia an uncontested and decisive victory.
Having successfully ousted Austria, It was then time to face France. With skillful manipulation of European affairs, Bismarck created a situation in which France played the role of aggressor in German affairs, and Prussia, that of protector of German rights and liberties.
In 1868, a revolution had occurred in Spain overthrown Queen Isabella II, and the throne had remained empty and in 1870 the Regency offered the crown to Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a prince of the Catholic cadet Hohenzollern line. Bismarck encouraged Leopold to accept the offer, as a successful installment of a Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen king in Spain would mean that two countries on either side of France both had kings of German descent, which may have been a pleasing prospect for Bismarck, but was unacceptable to Napoleon III. It was this subject matter and ensuing events that led France to declaring war against Prussia.
Napoleon III of France developed a ‘divide and conquer’ strategy similar to that of his uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte. He hoped that Austria would join in a war of revenge, and that her former allies, particularly the south German states would join in the cause, but the 1866 treaty came into effect which allowed all German states unite militarily and France engaged in a war against the German states, supported by no one. By 1st of September 1870, the French emperor had been captured and France had been defeated. On 18 January 1871, the German princes and senior military commanders proclaimed Wilhelm "German Emperor" in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles.
The successful unification of German states into one federation placed her in pole position in the European affairs afterward. There were great improvements in the Industrial sector and her population increased tremendously. Infact, Germany became a major power in Europe which was now to put her forward as a participant in the scramble for oversea colonies and was later to enable her prosecute and sustain two world wars.
