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Austrian Empire Loses Against Napoleon
The Austrian Empire led by Francis II, the Holy Roman Emperor and the Austrian Emperor tries to stop Napoleon's conquest but they fail. Francis II abdicates his title as Holy Roman Emperor, leaving states behind such Austria and Prussia. Austria and Prussia were brought into French puppet states known as the Confederation of Rhine. -
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Russia Defeat Napoleon, Freeing Austria and Prussia from Confederation of Rhine, and forming Congress of Vienna
Russia defeated Napoleon, freeing the Austria and Prussia from the Confederation of Rhine. Congress of Vienna was formed, a group of European countries that met to provide a long-term peace plan to provide a balance of power to prevent a situation like Napoleon's conquests to happen again. Austria and Prussia were frightened that they were far too weak to fight against other powers so this led for a call for the unification of German states. Prussia would be in charge of the German States. -
Zollverein
The Zollverein was a German customs union established under Prussian leadership. It created a free-trade area throughout much of Germany and is often seen as an important step in German reunification. -
Austrian Riots
Austrian Riots broke out because the people wanted freedom of speech. King Metternich responded with censorship, but later fled. Frederich Wilhelm IV, the king of Prussia, took over with an advising parliament. Liberals wanted to unify Germany and appoint Wilhelm as its emperor, but he said no and the idea was quickly abandoned. There were two propsals: Kleindeutschland: Small Germany (Did not include Austrian speaking parts). Großdeutschland: Large Germany (Included Austrian speaking parts). -
Frederich Wilhelm dies, Frederich Wilhelm I appoints Otto von Bismarck as Prime Minister of Prussia
Frederich Wilhelm I appoints Otto von Bismarck, a Prussian ambassador, as Prussian ambassador after Frederich Wilhelm IV's death. Otto von Bismarck's goals were to: unify Germany, drive Austria out of Germany to unify Germany because Austria were an obstacle, weaken the liberal factions because he was a conservative, and to strengthen position and prestige of the Prussian King. -
Second Schleswig War
The Second Schleswig War was a war that broke out between Prussia and Austria vs Denmark after Denmark declared Holstein and Schleswig as Danish territory. Both territories were inside the German Confederation so the war resulted in a Prussia-Austria victory. Schleswig became Prussian territory and Holstein became Austrian Territory. The fact that mainland Austria had to go through Prussia to get to Holstein angered Austria. Wilhelm knew that Austria's anger would lead to conflict. -
7 Weeks War: Prusso-Austrian War
Since conflict was bound to happen, Prussian troops started occupy Holstein. When Austria got angry, Prussia declared war when Austria started treating them like enemies. Bismarck made a pact with Italy and promised that it would gain Venetia from Italy. When war started it lasted only seven weeks because Italy was mobile on Austrian border and they couldn't fare against both. When Prussia won, it gained most northern German states and it became the Northern German Confederation. -
Prusso-Franco War Beginning
Prussia and France had conflict because Wilhelm was offered the Spanish crown but Napoleon III, emperor of France, did not want him to take it because Spain would then become a Prussian ally. Napoleon did not want this because he thought that Prussian was becoming too powerful. Otto von Bismarck published a telegram that Napoleon III sent to Wilhelm that made Napoleon look foolish. In retaliation, France declared war on Prussia. -
Prusso-Franco War Outcome - German Declaration as an Empire
The war went terribly for France due to its ill-mobilization. Prussia took advantage of this so they captured Napoleon III and pushed into the Palace of Versailles where they declared themselves the German Empire and appointed Wilhelm I as its emperor. France surrendered soon after this so they paid indemnities to Germany and gave them the territory of Alsace-Lorraine. -
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Kulturkampf
The Kulturkampf was a culture struggle in a newly-formed Germany. This struggle started because northern states were mainly protestant and the southern states were mainly catholic. Bismarck started to arrest catholic bishops in mass and sideline catholic institutions so that the Church's political would be gone and he could create a stronger central government. Although the southern states were upset, Germany persevered and became a great power. -
Wilhelm II appointed emperor after Friedrich III's death
After the then ruler of Germany, Friedrich III, died, Wilhelm I was appointed as emperor of Germany. Wilhelm wanted to assert his own independence away from Prussia, so he encouraged Bismarck to resign in 1890. Wilhelm was very hot-headed and prone to immediate aggressive reaction unlike his predecessors. -
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Naval Arms Race
Wilhelm II’s goal was to increase the prestige in Germany and he did by upgrading Germany’s navy. Wilhelm focused on the construction of dreadnoughts, large battleships that dominated the seas for a while. Wilhelm forced Britain to make an alliance with France and Russia.This upset Britain because they kept themselves out of European affairs and they saw Germany as a threat that can threaten the mainland even across the English Channel. -
Franz Ferdinand Assassination Causing WWI
In 1814, the assassination of a Serbian Archduke Franz Ferdinand sparked the beginning of World War I, otherwise known as, The Great War. Certain alliances and counter-alliances plunged Germany into World War I.
