German Unification

 

The Germanic States

 

In the early 1800s present-day Germany was made up of many ___________ Germanic states or kingdoms.

 

In the 1800s poets, philosophers, and students spread the idea of a unifying German “_____________,” which caused German ______________ to rise.

 

As with Italy, Napoleon’s invasion caused many Germans to desire a unified _________.  However, instead of forming one German nation the Congress of Vienna created a weak “German _____________” of 39 states led by _______.

 

Prussia was the ______________ German state because it had the largest ________ deposits in Europe, which fueled Prussia’s iron and steel industries.

 

Prussia had highly skilled ___________ and extensive ____________ for trade.  Prussia’s king, parliament, and chancellor were all talented leaders.

 

Prussia was a _____________ state with an army that was strong, disciplined, and well equipped.

 

Militarism – the glorification of the military and a readiness for war.

 

Otto von Bismarck

 

In 1861 Wilhelm I became King of Prussia and appointed the strong and skillful Otto von _____________ as Prime Minister to lead German __________________.

 

Bismarck was a military __________ who cared little for the parliament and ______________, but instead believed in Wilhelm’s conservative Prussian monarchy.

 

Bismarck insisted unification would be achieved “not with speeches and majority decisions…but with _____ and ___.”

Bismarck’s ____________, or “realistic politics” meant taking the most practical path to unification, even if it meant dishonest alliances or starting wars. 

 

Believing “the _____ justify the _________,” or that wrong actions can be used to attain good outcomes, Bismarck led Prussia through three _______ to unite Germany.

 

Bismarck at War

 

Danish War

In 1864 Bismarck allied with Austria, Prussia’s rival, to defeat ____________ in a brief war to gain land.  Austria gained the province of Holstein while Prussia gained ______________, which was inhabited mostly by Germans.   

 

Austro-Prussian War

Although allies against Denmark, the ___________ empire opposed a Prussian-led German unification.  To instigate a war Bismarck invaded Austria’s newly acquired territory of _____________ in 1866.  Austria declared war and Prussia decisively defeated its rival in _____________, gaining several German states.

 

Bismarck ended the Austrian-led “German Confederation” and created the new Prussian-led _______ German Confederation.  Now only ___________ stood between Bismarck and total German unification.

 

Franco-Prussian War

To start this war Bismarck edited the “________________,” which made it seem as though Prussia’s King Wilhelm I had ______________ France.  Napoleon III declared war in 1870, and Bismarck ___________ the southern German states to join Prussia.

 

Prussia defeated the French in __________ and France was forced to give up the industrial border territories of Alsace and Lorraine, and pay huge ________________, or fines.

 

In 1871 Bismarck assembled the German princes in France’s ______________ Palace where they declared Wilhelm I ___________, or emperor, of the newly unified

powerful German Empire.