Before Bismarck helmed the German stewardship, the German areas were fragmented into many a piece— this included two major exceptions: Hanover governed by the United Kingdom and the duchy of Holstein under the aegis of the King of Denmark. All the duchies, Kingdoms and city-states came under the umbrella of the Holy Roman Empire.
The incessant victories of Napoleon Bonaparte in Europe resulted in the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. Napoleon formed the Confederation of Rhine which was, after Napoleon, supplanted by the German confederation devised by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.The Congress awarded the heterogenous Austria with the presidency of the German Confederation, Kingdom of Prussia was set aside.
Prussia endeavored economically to coalesce the fragmented German states within a common customs union. This onerous task was hard to achieve. Before 1818, each district in Prussia had its own customs and there were as many as 67 tariff areas in Prussia alone.[1]First of all, Prussia effaced the custom barricades in her own boundaries and then other German areas merged into it. The Customs Union was known as Zollverein—Austria ostracized from it.
The revolution of 1830 sparked protests in Europe, however, with the help of the Carlsbad decrees Metternich was able to curb the revolutionary elements in its milieu. Metternich did not allow the revolutionary elements to harbor in Central Europe. He orchestrated the Metternich system to obliterate any revolutionary activities. This upended in 1848, Amidst the revolution,Metternich fled from Austria.
In the period before march 1848, known as the Vormärz, the futility of the German Confederation became self-evident. Its diet declined into little more than a court of appeal. It was still preoccupied in settling debts from the Thirty Years War.[2]The German Confederation ceased to exist and a new Frankfurt Parliament, under the aegis of Prussia, came into being. The parliament promulgated a constitution with a constitutional monarchy as its bedrock.
The parliament wanted King Frederick William IV of Prussia to accept the throne. He was, however, adamant in accepting the constitution because of his autocratic idiosyncrasies and absolutist predilections. This was a historic mistake— Metternich was out of the scene; France was enmeshed in the revolution and England was against the suppression done by the Concert of Europe. Notwithstanding the rejection to helm the leadership by constitutional means, he decided to take on the task of Unifying the Germanic hierarchy in Erfurt. It morphed into a fiasco as the situation in Europe changed. Metternich was back — Austria had suppressed the revolutionary elements from Hungary to German lands. These events led Frederick to capitulate at Olmutz. The dream of German Union was given up and the erstwhile German Confederation was restored under the leadership of Austria.
Bismarck’s Foreign Policy
It became evident to the new King that as long as Austria was in power, the dream of German unification could not be achieved. King William I came to the Prussian throne which reinvigorated the dream of a United Germany. He wanted to strengthen the Prussian military might, however, the landtag was interested in constitutional reforms. The crown-landtag crevice started to widen. In this peculiar situation, the King called on Bismarck to become the Minister-President of Prussia. In 1862, Otto Von Bismarck was appointed Premier to sort out the resultant crisis, if necessary, by unconstitutional measures.
Before becoming the Minister-President, he served as an ambassador to Russia and France— where he harboured amicable relations with the Tsar and Napoleon III. His first foreign policy challenge was the annexation of Schleswig by the King Frederick VII of Denmark.
King Frederick, yielding to the pressure of Danish Nationalists and contrary to the Protocol of 1852, separated Schleswig from Holstein, annexing the former and introducing a new constitution for the latter.
The developments led to the second Schleswig war. Bismarck drew Austria is her ambit and jointly fought Denmark. The coalition won the war and the treaty of Vienna awarded Schleswig to Prussia and, the purely German, Holstein to Austria to administer. Austria soon realized that administering Holstein, a purely German land, would be incongruous as it was environed by Prussia from all sides. Therefore, Austria started to propound the right of the Duke of Augustenburg to the Duchies.
This caused a rift between Prussia and Austria as it was contrary to their agreement. Bismarck saw this opportunity to accede both the duchies to Prussia. Before starting the war, Prussia isolated Austria diplomatically. He won over the Tsar during the Polish Revolt — Although he had nationalist predilections, he did not support the Polish nationalists. There were two reasons behind it — Firstly, he wanted to win over the Tsar against Austria and the second reason was the danger of a powerful Poland near the German borders. Austria, after the Crimean war and the demise of the Concert of Europe, did not have cordial relations with Russia. Italy’s risorgemento movement tethered Italy with Germany against Austria — Austria had to fight on two fronts. Italy wanted the Venetian lands as part of her plan to unify Italy. Furthermore, He met Napoleon III and secured his neutrality.
Soon, War started between Austria and Prussia that lasted seven weeks this is why it is called the Seven Week’s war. Prussia Won the War and incorporated the Northern Germany including Hanover, Schleswig and Holstein. The erstwhile German confederation ceased to exist and the North German Confederation superseded Prussia.
The last barricade between the North-South Union was France. France did not allow a strong German Federation in its vicinity and King William I did not want to fight France. It was the revolution in Spain that brought both the powers at loggerhead. After the Spanish Revolution, the Spanish throne was being offered to the Prince Leopold, House of Hohenzollern. Napoleon III became indignant as it would place France between two German Princes. Benedetti, the French Ambassador, asked King William I to retire the Hohenzollern Claim from Spain at Ems. This interview, when dispatched to Bismarck, was published in such a way that rose jingoism on both side of the border —both sides believed that they had been treated undiplomatically.
France, like Austria, had been isolated before the war. The Crimean war theater assured Russian neutrality, Italy hopped the bandwagon again and Austria was not interested in buttressing France after her defeat. Napoleon wanted to increase in his glory as he failed to receive fanfare during his tenure. France was defeated by Prussia and subsequently the south Germany amalgamated with the North. This resulted in the Unification of Germany in 1871.
[1]Mahajan, V.D; History of Modern Europe Since 1789. (P. 197)
[2] Davies, Norman; Europe: A History. Oxford University Press. (P. 824)
