1871, Prussia defeated France and announced the establishment of the German Empire in the Hall of Mirror in Versailles. Only then did Germany appear in front of the world as a unified person, and before that German was just a geographical noun. Looking back on Germany's journey towards unification, many people would highly appreciate Prussia's practice of forcibly blending states by relying on force, but few people would understand that there were originally three plans for German unification. The leaders of these three solutions are the German Federation, Kingdom of Prussia and Austrian Empire . The most important reason why Austria was eliminated in the later competition was the German choice to establish a pure Germanic national concept.
Before the German Federation stepped onto the stage of history, what appeared on the land of Central Europe was the same loose and sandy Holy Roman Empire , and the person who put an end to it was the French emperor Napoleon , who had turned Europe upside down. With the collapse of several anti-French alliances, Napoleon's troops pointed directly at Berlin and Vienna. In this case, most German states began to join the French-led " Rhine Federation ". From the origin, the "Rhine Federation" is purely a political entity artificially created by Napoleon, and its members are basically small scattered states in the Holy Roman Empire. The emperor of the First French Empire also served as the head of the "Rhine Federation", and the latter had to provide France with a considerable number of troops to fight in concert during the war.
At first, there were only sixteen participants in the "Rhine Federation", but as more and more German states joined, there were only a handful of members left within the framework of the Holy Roman Empire, and in the end, there were even only Prussia, Austria and some trivial small states. In 1806, Napoleon announced that he would no longer recognize the Holy Roman Empire, and the Habsburg Dynasty, which had been drained from the pot, could only accept the facts helplessly. So Franz, a descendant of the 54th generation of Emperor Charles the Great, announced his abdication, and the empire no longer existed. Franz, who took off the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, retained the title of Emperor of the Austrian Empire. At this time, Austria was no different from Prussia, Fertenburg, Hanover, Bavarian , etc., they were all just a member of Germany.
After Napoleon's destruction, the German states formed the "German Federation" again, but they were also in a mess. Although Austria tried to restore its leadership within the German Federation, it was strongly resisted by Prussia. Previously, after the baptism of Napoleonic Wars , the national consciousness of all European nations has begun to awaken, which is prominently reflected in the Germans' recognition of the country. What does it mean? In short, the Germanic people of Alsace Lorraine think they are French; the Germanic people living in Berlin think they are Prussian; the Germanic people of Swiss and the German-speaking areas of the Czech Republic think they are Swiss or Czech . Although everyone has the same language and ethnicity, no one regards himself as a German. Obviously, if we do not achieve unity, Germany may really become a historical term.
1848, Germany convened the Constitutional Conference. Representatives from various states gathered in Frankfurt to discuss the founding plan, but there were three completely different plans around the unification of Germany.
The first type is the "Greater German Plan" proposed by the German Federation, which stipulates that the new Germany only includes the original "Rhine Federation" and the German-speaking areas of Prussia and Austria, and all non-German-speaking territories should be thrown away. It is obvious that if this plan is adopted, Germany's territory will definitely be larger than later, but Prussia and Austria have to bear the pain of abandoning the non-German-speaking areas they have worked hard to build. And in comparison, Austria's losses are much greater than that of Prussia, because the ethnic composition of Prussia is much more single than Austria.
The second type is the "Little German Plan" proposed by Prussia, which includes the original "Rhine Federation" and Prussia, which directly excludes Austria.
The third type is the "Great Austrian Plan" proposed by Austria, which includes the original "Rhine Federation", the entire Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia.
Although the "Greater Austrian Plan" has the broadest territory in terms of area, the ethnic component is the most complex, which is unacceptable to the representatives of states who pursue a single Germanic country, so the plan was first rejected. However, diplomacy has always spoken based on strength. The German small states were unable to resist Austria and could only settle for the second best, and placed their hopes on Prussia, so the "Little German Plan" became the only choice in history.
After that, the Prussian War, the Prussian-Austria War, and the Franco-Prussian War won one after another. Prussia cleared all obstacles to German reunification through a series of dynasty wars. In the end, a German Second Empire, , was modeled on "Little Germany", was born in iron and blood.
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