The German Empire period was divided into The First Empire (Holy Roman Empire), the Second Empire ( German Empire ), and the Third Empire (Nazi Germany).
Now we are going to talk about the path of unification of the German Empire, the second empire in modern times!
In the mid-19th century, Germany was not unified, and it was still a consortium of nearly 40 states and free cities in form.
The German Empire period was divided into The First Empire (Holy Roman Empire), the Second Empire ( German Empire ), and the Third Empire (Nazi Germany).
Now we are going to talk about the path of unification of the German Empire, the second empire in modern times!
In the mid-19th century, Germany was not unified, and it was still a consortium of nearly 40 states and free cities in form.(There were at most more than a thousand states during the Holy Roman Empire, but just like the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period in China, due to mutual annexation, external wars and other reasons, these were the only ones left in the 19th century) Among them, Austria, the long-standing German chief state, and Prussia, which gradually rose up to be powerful military, were the two states that had the most strength to unify Germany! The two states fought countless wars to compete for the leadership of Germany!
With Napoleonic Wars , after the British Industrial Revolution spread to Germany, the call for the people of German states to unify is getting higher and higher!
In this case, both Prussia and Austria wanted to unify Germany, but proposed two different plans respectively. Prussia's plan was the small German plan that excluded Austria, while Austria proposed a large German plan including Austria!
The comprehensive strength of the two strongest people is similar, so which of these two solutions can be realized depends on the political and military talents of the leaders of the two strong people!
And fate favored Prussia. In 1862, the King of Prussia appointed Otto von Bismarck as the Prime Minister of Prussia. He is the famous " Iron-Blooded Prime Minister "! Later facts proved that no one could outperform his political talents in that era!
He firmly believed that the unification of Germany could not be stopped, and Prussia was Germany! After he became Prime Minister, he vigorously promoted military reform because he believed that only by establishing a strong army and using force could Germany achieve unification! His famous saying "The major issues of contemporary times cannot be solved by speeches and majority resolutions... they can only be solved by iron and blood!" That is, the "iron-blooded policy", so he is also called the "iron-blooded prime minister"!
In 1864, he fooled Austria and Prussia into threatening Prussia's north, Denmark launched the first dynasty war ! He quickly defeated Denmark and snatched back two states from Denmark, Schleswig (attributed to Prussia) and Holstein (attributed to Austria)!
Afterwards, he began to prepare for the war against Austria, claiming that Holstein should belong to Prussia (Didn’t it mean to fool Austria? Let me tell you that Holstein is an enclave to Austria, and Prussia is intertwined. Bismarck had already thought of asking Austria to help him solve Denmark, which was still a Nordic power at the time, eliminate the threat behind it, and then pretended to give him a good place. When he was about to take action, he used this territory that Austria could not get as an excuse to start a war with Austria. For Austria, he contributed his own efforts to help Prussia solve the threat behind it, but he didn’t get anything, and strengthened the power of Prussia. It can be seen that Bismarck’s terrifying political mind was obvious). Austria certainly refused, Bismarck was even more ruthless, and he also wooed Italy to attack Austria from behind, stabilize France and Russia, and tried his best to prevent them from intervening!
In 1866, the Prussian War (Second Dynasty War) broke out. The Prussian army was well-equipped and was the highest-quality army in the world at that time (the result of Bismarck's military reform). Its movements were very fast and quickly captured small states supporting Austria, such as Saxony , Hannover , and controlled the entire North Germany. Later, on July 3, he fought with the Austrian army in Sardova, and Prussia finally won!
Originally, the King of Prussia wanted to enter the Austrian capital Vienna , but Bismarck insisted on peace talks and insisted on the Little German plan. In the end, Austria was excluded from Germany!
After this war, under the planning of Bismarck, the North German League was established, and the actual leader was naturally Prussia!
But the four states of Southern Germany have not yet been unified, and France does not want a powerful, unified Germany to appear next to it to influence its hegemony in the European continent!
In 1870, the French-Prussian War (the Third Dynasty War) broke out, but the French army was no longer the army that destroyed Europe during the Napoleon period, and the command was not Napoleon who could fight well, but the nephew of the god of war Napoleon Napoleon III !
The French army was passively beaten everywhere and kept failing. In September, the two armies fought in the battle of seclusion, and the French army was defeated! Even French Emperor Napoleon III was captured!
After France was defeated, there were no more obstacles to preventing German reunification.In 1871, King William I of Prussia became the emperor of the German Empire at the Palace of Versailles in France. A powerful and unified German Empire was born!
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