The Negative Impact of the Unification of Germany on Europe

The Negative Impact of the Unification of Germany on Europe

November 2015

In this essay I will examine the impact of the unification of Germany in 1871 and the negative consequences of this unification on Europe. The negative consequences were a result of the conflicts during the lead up to unification as well as the major shift in power as a result of unification and the instability caused by this shift in power.

Prior to unification Germany was a Confederation of small states. Each state had its own Duke, Prince or King. There were many different forms of leadership and rule throughout these states leading to instability and conflicts within the states. In 1848 during what is known as the, Liberal Revolutions in Europe, a group of liberals representing each of the German states met in Frankfurt to hold elections to create a national German Assembly.

The authority of the National Assembly was not unanimously accepted throughout Germany and it took a year before a proposed constitution could be agreed upon. The proposed constitution called for Germany to be headed by an ancestral monarch, an elected parliament, to have a national currency and national rules for trade and customs. Each state was to retain local power to govern local issues.

Austria who made up a significant part of the new proposed Germany and held a position of power within the region did not accept this proposed constitution and at the same time proposed their own constitution, stating that either all of Austria would join Germany or none of it would. This created a divide within the region and a movement to create a Germany without Austria resulted. The region was no longer unified in the way that it was originally envisioned.

A German unification with the seat of power coming from Prussia became the new alternative. An election was held in which Fredrick William of Prussia was elected to be the Emperor of Germany. Frederick refused to accept this appointment as it did not have the backing of all of Germany and its Princes. Prussia also declined this proposal and Germany’s efforts for unification were left in a shambles as a result. The actions of Austria were blamed for the unsuccessful unification attempt. These feelings would not be quickly forgotten.

By 1861 disagreement within the German Confederation was again at play. King Wilhelm I of Prussia was newly ascended to the throne and soon after Otto Von Bismarck was appointed to be the Prime Minister of Prussian.

Bismarck was very interested in the unification of Germany. In 1962 he made his famous Blood and Iron speech in which he sums up his feeling on the past attempts at unification and hints at what he sees in the future, “it is not by speeches and majority resolutions that the great questions of the time are decided – that was the big mistake of 1848 and 1849 – but by iron and blood.” It is clear from this statement that Bismarck sees military action as the way to secure unification.

In 1866 tensions came to a head between Austria and Germany when the Prussians challenged the Austrians over the administration of Schleswig and Holstein, territories that has been captured by both the Prussians and the Austrians in a war with Denmark during the second Schleswig war. Bismarck also pushed Austria into war by making a proposal to the German Assembly for Germany unification that explicitly excluded Austria. Austria could not ignore this move and was forced into war with Prussia. The majority of German states sided with Austria in the war but they were unable to defeat the military power of Prussian.

Bismarck then made a strategic diplomatic move in creating a treaty with Austria in which the two countries would be allies in any future conflicts. Prussia and the Northern German states created the North German Confederation. In which 21 German states maintained self-rule but had diplomatic ties to Prussia. This was seen as the first step in the move towards a unified Germany and many of the other European nations began to have concerns about what was happening in Germany and the foreign policies of Bismarck.

France had concerns about the Growth of Germany. There had traditionally been tension between France and the German states along the border. It was popular thought that a war between the two countries was likely.

France became even more concerned when a Prussian prince, Leopold of Hohenzollern, became a candidate for the throne of Spain. If Leopold became king of Spain and an alliance was made between Spain and Prussia the result would be that France would be surrounded by allied countries and in a very weak position if a war broke out. French diplomats convinced Leopold to not take the throne. In response to this Bismarck published an edited version of a telegraph from the German Emperor Wilhelm I, designed to insult the French and to bring them into war. He was successful and this culminated in the Franco-Prussian war.

Both Northern Germany and Southern Germany combined efforts to defeat France. This show of power created by the alliance of the North