Nationalism Triumphs in Europe

1
Nationalism Triumphs in Europe

• Bellwork 1
• To be allowed to the game I had to finish my math
  doing my chores and helping my Dad at the station

2
Building a German Nation

• The early calls to nationhood came mostly form
  students and intellectuals.
• In the mid 1800s however, an aggressive leader
  named Otto von Bismarck imposed a Prussian brand
  of nationhood on all of Germany.

3
First Steps

• Between 1807 and 1812, Napoleon made important
  territorial changes in the German speaking lands.
  He added lands along the Rhine River to France.
  He dissolved the Holy Roman Empire and organized
  a number of German states into a French
  controlled Rhine Confederation.
• At the same time, Napoleons conquests sparked
  German nationalism. People who had fought to free
  their lands from French rule began to demand a
  unified German state.
• At Congress of Vienna, Metternich pointed out
  that a united Germany would require dismantling
  the governments of the many separate German
  states. Instead, the conservative peacemakers
  created the German Confederation, a weak body
  headed by Austria.

4
Prussian Leadership

• 1830s, Prussia took the lead in creating an
  economic union called the Zollverein.
• Zollverein- dismantled tariff barriers between
  many of the German states. Still Germany remained
  politically fragmented.
• 1848, liberals meeting tin the Frankfurt Assembly
  once more took up the demand for German political
  unity. They offered the throne to King Frederick
  William IV of Prussia. He rejected the throne
  because it was by the people. Again Germany
  remained divided.

5
Bismarck Architect of German Unity

• Otto von Bismarck came from Prussias Junker
  class, which was made up of conservative
  landowning nobles. Bismarck served Prussia as a
  diplomat in Russia and France before King William
  made him prime minister
• 1862, the prime minister used his policy of
  blood and iron to unite the German states under
  Prussian rule.

6
Master of Realpolitik

• Bismarcks success was due to his strong will and
  his ability to manipulate others. He was a master
  of Realpolitik, or realistic politics based on a
  tough minded evaluation of the needs of the
  state.
• He was not really a German nationalist. His
  primary loyalty was to Prussia. He regarded
  uniting Germany as a means to make the
  Hohenzollerns master of all the German states.

7
Strengthening the Army

• As Prime Minister, Bismarck moved first to build
  up the Prussian army.
• The liberal legislature refused to vote funds for
  the military.
• Bismarck, simply used money that had been
  collected for other purposes to strengthen the
  army. With a powerful, well equipped military, he
  was ready to pursue and aggressive foreign policy.

8
Victory in Three Wars

• Bismarck led Prussia into three wars. Which would
  increase Prussian prestige and power while paving
  the way for German unity.
• Schleswig and Holstein- Bismarcks first maneuver
  was to form an alliance in 1864 with Austria.
  They then moved to seize the provinces of
  Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark. Austria was
  to administer Holstein and Prussia was to
  administer Schleswig.

9

• Austria- 1866, Bismarck invented an excuse to
  attack Austria. The Austro-Prussian War lasted
  just seven weeks and ended in a decisive Prussian
  victory. Prussia then added Holstein and several
  other North German states.
• Franco-Prussian War- The Prussian victory worried
  napoleon III in France. A growing rivalry between
  the two nations led to the Franco-Prussian War of
  1870. The cause was a struggle over the vacant
  Spanish throne. Bismarck seized on the situation
  to rally all Germans no matter where they lived
  against Napoleon III.

10

• Bismarck helped the crisis by rewriting and then
  releasing to the press a telegram Ems dispath
  which made it seem that William I had insulted
  the Frenchman. Furious, Napoleon III declared war
  on Prussia, as Bismarck hoped. Cries of On to
  Berlin! filled the streets of Paris. The
  fighting, however, quickly proved otherwise.
• A superior Prussian force, helped by troops from
  other German states, smashed the badly organized,
  poorly supplied French soldiers. Napoleon III,
  surrendered after a few weeks of fighting. France
  had to accept a humiliation peace. The French
  defeat led to the down fall of the Second Empire.

11
The German Empire

• Delighted by the victory over France, princes
  from the southern German states and the North
  German Confederation persuaded William I to take
  the title Kaiser, or emperor. In January 1871,
  German nationalist celebrated the birth of the
  Second empire.
• A Constitution drafted by Bismarck set up a two
  house legislature for the second empire. Still,
  the new German nation was far from democratic,
  since the Bundesrat which was the upper house
  could veto any decisions of the Reichstag which
  was the lower house. Real power remained in the
  hands of the emperor and his Prime Minister.