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The Unification of GermanyA. The Unification of Germany

In 1815 there were 39 independent German states. By 1871, these German states, exceptAustria and Switzerland had united into a single nation.

1. Steps toward Unity

The Congress of Vienna created the German Confederation in 1815. It was designed to keepthe French from expanding as they had under Napoleon. These states met in Frankfurt withAustria dominating the diet, Prussia rising quickly. Prussia was well organized and powerful.The majority of her power lay in the hands of an aristocratic group of landholders called theJunkers. They were opposed by a group of liberals who wanted to rise to power. Theeconomic union called Zollverein further empowered Prussia, causing the liberals to move torevolt. Internal feuding caused the Liberal control to waver and allowed the Conservatives tokeep control.

2. Rise of BismarckThe Prussian control of the German state was furthered by the new King of Prussia, William Iin 1861. His objective was to increase the size of the military. To do this William went to the

German people who rejected his proposal. The Liberal assembly overrode his plans andWilliam appointed Otto Von Bismarck to the office of Prime Minister. His policy of Realpolitik

was Machiavelli all over again. Realpolitik means that a nation-state has the right to pursueits advantage by any means. In 1862, he is quoted as saying that great issues of the timeswill not be decided by speeches and majority decisions but by blood and iron.

3. Three WarsBismarck had several objectives in declaring war when he did. First was the objective ofraising money for army expansion. Secondly he wanted to limit the control of Austria andfinally to bring all German states under Prussian control.

a. Danish warWhen the Danes gained the territories of Schleswig and Holstein, the Germans who lived therewere unhappy about it and appealed to the German confederation. Eager to gain land andpower, the Germans quickly declared war on Denmark and won. The Austrians would governHolstein while Prussia would control Schleswig. This did not last long as Prussia wanted both.Because of this she declares war on Austria.

b. 7 Weeks warBismarck is looking for a fight with Austria over Holstein. Prussia plans carefully to assure thatAustria does not have any allies. Russia is promised help with her control of Polish rebels.France is promised compensations for remaining neutral. Italy is promised the Italianprovince of Venetia in the case of a Prussian win. War begins on June 15th, 1866 when Prussiadeclares war on Austria for invading Holstein. The Seven Week war ends with the surrender ofthe Austrians and the formation of a new organization called the North German Confederationthat allowed the German countries north of the Main River to govern themselves internally butput foreign policy in the hands of Prussia.

c. Franco-Prussian WarThe countries south of the Main River were mostly catholic and not interested in beingcontrolled by the Protestant Prussians. France was unhappy with the new situation having notreceived their land that was promised by Bismarck in the Seven Weeks war. The issue of theSpanish succession to the throne was the topic of a telegraph that Bismarck issued to the

press. The countries went to war and it seemed that the French as declared the war althoughthe real culprit was Bismarck. The Southern German countries were working with Prussiainstead of France. The French were quickly defeated.

4. Formation of an Empire- Kaiser/ chancellorWilliam became Kaiser or emperor of Germany in 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian war.

Bismarck was the Chancellor. There were 25 German states each of which had their owndomestic policies and leaders but the head of the whole was William I. When William I died,his son Frederick, a liberal took over and began to change the country.

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Bismarcks RealmGermans were not united, because they were religiously, economically, socially and politicallydivided. Bismarck took charge of policy in the German Empire.

Bismarck and the ChurchBismarck makes a campaign against the church by expelling the Jesuits from Germany in1872. Germany then passed the May Laws to destroy Catholic influence.

Industry and socialismAt the end of the 1800s, Germany became a major industrial power, from the investmentcapital from Great Britain, France and Belgium.

Bismarck and the socialistsBelieved that any Socialist party was out to change the government, posing a treat to theGermany Empire. He banned all Socialist movements, but his reforms did not last long.

The fall of BismarckWilliam I dies at the age of 91 and his son, Frederick III takes over. 100 days later, Frederickdies and his son takes over. His name is William II. William II and Bismarcks ideas aboutabsolute authority and the divine right of kings clashed, so Bismarck threatened to resign andWilliam II accepted.

Empire of the CzarsRussia- In the early 1800s stretched from Europe to Pacific. The country had 60

Nationalities, 100 languages, 2/3rds Slavs or Russians but also Middle Easterners and Asians.Serfdom governed agricultural economy, little industrialization. Government was anAutocracy, a type of government in which one person rules with unlimited authority.Alexander I ruled from 1801 to 1825 and attempted reform. When he died in 1825, some ofthe military staged the Decembrist Revolt due to the transfer of power. There were twothings that came from the revolt:

1. Those who died were considered martyrs2. The resolution of Nicholas I to oppose any opposition became stronger. Secret

police were given the authority and freedom was thwarted.

Nicholas I died in 1855 and his son, Alexander II became Czar.

Russia was backward because of its serf system. To modernize Russia needed toindustrialize and to do that she needed the labor force of the serfs. To this end the Czaremancipated the serfs from the land on March 3rd, 1861 granting them legal but noteconomic freedom. For this he became known as the Czar Liberator. To leave the mirs(village community) the ex-serfs had to help pay off the land which they did and moved to thecities. From this came a new system of government. In 1864, a new system was made intolaw. This new system was called zemstvos that ran local matters. These were divided intothree voting parts: the Nobility, the wealthy and the peasants. As usual the first twodominated the third. Although Alexander II was known for his benevolent policies, he failed tosatisfy the Russian people and their appetite for reform.

Those opposed to the Czar were the intellectuals and the students. Without politicalexperience or contacts with the people of Russia. Michael Bakunin advocated Anarchy or

elimination of all institutions including state, family, property, law and other institutions.Nihilists believed that Russia should start from the beginning again. By the 1870s, thePopulist Movement had gathered power. This group believed that the Peasants would lead a

revolt and overthrow the Czar. The students and intellectuals who led this movement traveledfrom village to village to gather power and were unsuccessful and eventually turned to violenttactics. Because of this pressure Czar Alexander II drafted a plan to establish a nationalassembly but before he could put his plan into effect he was killed by a bombing 1881.Alexander IIs son Alexander II reversed the reforms of his father, re-installed governmentcontrol and attempted to establish nationalism with a program called Russification. Thisbecame a policy of intolerance and mass prosecution. Jewish people in particular were singled

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out and massive Pogroms or organized massacres of a minority group were carried out.

When Alexander III died in 1894, his son Nicholas II continued his strict policies.Unfortunately for Nicholas I, a revolutionary mood swept Russia. Followers of Karl Marxbelieved that the working class would rise up in the Revolution not the peasants. TheMensheviks believed that the time was not right for a revolution (not enough workers yet)

but the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov- known as Lenin thought that theworkers could be led by a small group of professional revolutionaries. As the anti-governmentfeelings grew worse as the time went on. On January 22, 1905, 200,000 workers marched inSt. Petersburg and the palace guards opened fire. This became known as Bloody Sunday andsparked many political protests. Organizations drew up programs for political reform. In 1905the first Soviet or workers council was formed to voice workers grievances. A representativegovernment with universal suffrage was what the workers wanted.

In October 1905, workers seized control of the major cities and demanded change. Inresponse, Nicholas II announced a law providing for the election of a Duma or legislature thatwould serve as an advisory body. The lack of power afforded the Duma only made peopleangrier. As a result, Nicholas issued the October Manifesto that granted civil rights to thecitizens and power to the Duma. But before the Duma could act, Nicholas dissolved it. By thebeginning of W.W.I, the problems of Russia had not only been unsolved but also intensified.Have the students draw evidence from the text to support the following statement: Tsarist

reforms were incomplete, aroused opposition, and were always followed by reactionarymeasures. Be sure to include the emancipation, the Duma, and the Zemstvos as examples ofTsarist reforms.

Discuss Russification, pogroms, secret police, and censorship as reactions to the growth ofrevolutionary forces.

Austria Hungarys DeclineA. The Revolution of 1848

Prince Klemens von Metternich is the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1809-1848. He believed that democracy and nationalism would weaken the peace of Europe, theConcert of Europe and the Metternich System. In 1848 Nationalist groups began to form anddemanded:

Freedom of SpeechFreedom of PressPeasant relief of Feudal DuesRepresentation in the government of Austria.

Infighting among the protest groups kept the groups from challenging the establishedgovernment. In October of 1848 Emperor Francis Ferdinand resigned the throne and hisnephew, Francis Joseph became emperor at the age of 18. He attempted to hold together adiverse empire that slowly slips from his grasp. In 1859 he loses Lombardy to the Italians, in1866 there is a loss of influence over the German States and a loss of Venetia to the Italiansin the Austrian/Prussian war.

B. The Dual MonarchyThe Magyars of Hungary challenged Francis Joseph. In 1848, Hungarian Nationalists

declared their independence. With the help of Russia, Francis Joseph put down the revolt. By1866, Joseph realizes that he will need Hungary and works with the Hungarian leader, FrancisDeak to compromise. In 1867, a compromise is reached, an AUSGLEICH (compromise) that is

the Dual Monarchy. Emperor Francis Joseph is the Emperor of Austria and the King ofHungary. The two countries shared a Ministry of Foreign Affairs, War and Finance.Independent were the two Constitutions, Prime Ministers and Parliaments. The two countriesdepended upon each other with Austria providing the industrial base and Hungary providingthe Agricultural one.

Conflict arises over the groups of people in the combined monarchy. Bohemia andMoravia become industrialized and urban faster than the rest of the country. AustrianGermans and Hungarian Magyars are happy but 3/5ths of the population is unrepresented in

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the government. The Slavs, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs and Bosnians have no say in thegovernment and hold the common goal of wanting to break away and form a Slav kingdom.

C. Powder Keg in the Balkans.The Ottoman Empire is falling apart. Greece becomes independent in 1829. Moldavia andWallachia fall under Russian control and Algeria to France in 1850. Egypt, Arabia and otherBalkans gain their independence. The Crimean War is a thinly veiled attempt on the part of

the Russians to overtake the Ottoman holdings in the area and the European nations enter thewar based on the idea of eliminating Russian influence. In 1875, the Serbs, Bulgarian andRomanians rise up against Turkey and are brutally put down. In 1877, Russia declared war onTurkey to liberate the Slavs under the control of the Ottomans. The Russo-Turkish war wasended in 1878 by the Treaty of San Stefano (1887) that gave Russia a large Bulgarian state.The English heard the news and led the protest of the Treaty. Meeting in Berlin they rewrotethe treaty dividing Bulgaria into three parts:

D. Under Ottoman Rule

Serbia, Montenegro and Romania won their independence Britain get Cyprus and AustriaHungary gets Bosnia and Herzegovina

D. Congress of BerlinBy 1912 the Balkan states including Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia declare war on

Turkey and drive the Turks back to Istanbul. 1913 is the Second Balkan War. Bulgaria vs.Greece and Serbia and Montenegro then Romania then the Ottoman Empire. The Treaty ofBucharest ends the 2nd Balkan war. We end up the war with all European countries are tryingto stop Austria/Hungary or Russia from taking the whole continent.

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Explain that each has cultural and ethnic ties with populations within the empire andthreatened the coherence of the empire.

Prepare a chart of the diversities of AH. Use their text to fill in facts for each groupunder three headings: language, culture and religion.

Make a timeline of Austria and the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1806-1867.