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| Proclamation of the German Empire in the Palace of Versailles. |
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| von Bismarck |
After the 1848
revolution, it appeared as if German Unification was reached when the Frankfurt
Parliament offered the crown to the King of Prussia, but Frederick William's
refusal delayed such dreams. Prussia had a number of significant advantages.
Prussia, thanks to the Zollverein had achieved economic preeminence over the
other member states. Prussia also achieved a significant measure of Industrialization.
Most importantly, Prussia had one of the most remarkable statesmen of the 19th
century, Otto von Bismarck. When William I took the throne of Prussia in 1861,
he made the most important decision for German unification when he named
Bismarck as his Prime Minister. Bismarck was a member of Junker who was known
for his arch-conservative views. Bismarck delivered his famous "Blood and
Iron" speech . According to Bismarck, “Germany is not looking to Prussia's
liberalism but to her power. The great questions of our time will not be
decided by speeches and majority resolutions, that was the mistake of 1848-9,
but by Iron and Blood." Bismarck needed to modernize the Prussian army by
giving them the latest weapons. In 1864, he entered an alliance with Austria
against Denmark, over the territories of Schleswig and Holstein. Schleswig came
under Prussian control, while Holstein came under Austrian Control. His first
stage of the plan was to start a war with Austria. In 1866 after securing an
alliance with Italy and securing a promise of non-participation from the French
, Prussia then under the orders of the Bismark declared war on Austria, citing
disputes over Holstein as a reason for the attack. Prussian forces brought upon
the defeat of Austria in a matter of 7 weeks. Bismarck wisely treated Austria
with leniency to keep them out of the next stage of his plan, war with France.
After the defeat of Austria he annexed the small German states in the north
that supported Austria. Other German states were convinced to join Prussia in
the creation of the North German Confederation. The states of southern Germany
concluded a military alliance with Prussia in case of French aggression. In
1870, Bismarck provoked war with France. Bismarck made it to seem as if France
was the outward aggressor in a conflict that began when a prince, who was a
kinsman of the Prussian King (Hohenzollern) was invited to take the throne of
Spain. To Napoleon III, the thought of having Hohenzollerns on two fronts was
too much to bear. Napoleon III thought he had won when he removed the name of
his cousin for heir apparent to the Spanish throne. Yet Bismarck who wanted
war, rewrote the "Ems Dispatch" a telegram sent by the Prussian King
to Bismarck informing him of what had happened between the King and the French
ambassador, to make it look like as if the King had insulted France. The French
were so angered that Napoleon III declared war on Prussia. At Sedan, France,
the "finest army in the world" was defeated by Prussia. On January
18,1871, William I was proclaimed German Emperor in the Palace of Versailles and thus German Unification was complete.
