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During 1806-1812 Napoleon made crucial territorial changes in German- speaking lands. He took over the land along the Rhine River for France, he crushed the Holy Roman empire, and he organized numerous German states into the Rhine Confederation. During this time someGermans liked Napoleon while others did not appreciate his changes.
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The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states. The conference was held in Vienna, Austria. The point of this was to settle the issues of the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, and the ending of the Holy Roman Empire.
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On April 1, 1815 Otto Von Bismarck was born in Schonhausen, Germany.
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In the 1830's, Prussia made an economic union called the Zollverein. The Zollverein dismantled tariff barriers between several German states.
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In 1848, a liberals meeting demaned German political unity during the Frankfurt Assembly. They are demanding this again because it still hasn't happened.
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In 1848, at the liberals meeting Fredrick William IV was offered the throne of a united German state. The Prussian ruler, did not want to take the throne, that was offered by "the people".
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Bismarck first served Prussia as a diplomat in France and Russia. In 1862, King William I made Bismarck prime minister.
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In 1862, Prussian legislators waited restlessly for Otto Von Bismarck to make his Blood and Iron speech. He had said that the questions of the day should not be decided by speeches and majority resolutions. That was their mistake in 1848 and 1849. They should be decided by blood and iron.
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In 1864, Bismarck had an alliance with Prussia and Austria. They had a war with the provices of Schlegwig and Holstein from Denmark. They won the war and took control of them.
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In 1866, Bismarck had an excuse to attack Austria. This war lasted seven weeks and ended in a decisive Prussian victory. Then Prussia took control of several other north German states.
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After the Prussian victory over Austria, over in France Napoleon III got angry. His anger led to a growing rivalry between the two nations. This rival was led to the Franco Prussian War of 1870.
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In about 1870, after the victory over France, the princess from the southern German states and the North German Confederation came to see William I. She ended up persuading him to become emperor.
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During the 1870's there was a campaign against socialists. This campaign starrted because Bismarck feared that socailists would sabotage the loyalty of German workers and turn them toward revolution. Due to this Bismarck had laws passed that dissolved socialist groups, shut down their newspapers, and banned their meetings. Oce again, this backfired on Bismarck.
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In 1871, the German governemnt issued a single currency for Germany, reorganized the banking system, and coordinated railroads built by various German states. Leaders of the German empire were decided to maintian economic strength, and military power.
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This constitution drafted by Bismarck set up two-house legislature. The Bundersrat or the upper house, was assigned by the rulers of the German states. The lower house or the Reichstag was elected by universal male suffrarge. The upper house could veto any of the decisins of the lower house, because of this the real power remained in the hands of the emperor and his chancellor.
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In 1871, the House of Krupp boomed. It became a huge industrial complex that produced steel. It also produced weapons for a world market.
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The German middle class and educated professionals helped to make a productive and efficient society that prided itself on its sense of deference to authority and responsibility. This created rapid population growth, In 1871 there was 41 million people and in 1914 there was 67 million people. This also provided a bug home market and a larger supply of industrial workers.
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There was a Catholic threat, and in response to that threat Bismarck launched the Kulturkampf, which is the battle for civilization. This battle lasted from 1871-1878. The goal of this battle was to make Catholics put loyalty to the state above allegiance to the Church. This battle failed, due to the fact that the Church had faithful Catholics to rally. Bismarck ended up seeing his mistake and worked to make piece with the Church.
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After William I became emperor, another big event happened. In January 1871, German nationalists celebrated the birth of the Second Reich. Reich is an empire. They called it Reich because they considered it heir to the Holy Roman Empire.
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Within, ten years after becoming prime minister Bismarck had become chancellor. Chancellor is the highest official of a monarch. He used his policy of blood and iron to unite the German states under Prussia rule.
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In 1888, William II achieved his grandfather as kaiser. William II the new emperor was supremely confident in his abilities. He wished to put his on stamp on Germany
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On March 18, 1890 Bismarck resigned. After the dealth of William I in 1888, differences between William II and Bismarck had provoked him to resign.
