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Napoleon Invades Russia
Napoleon's army crossed the Neman River in an attempt to defeat the Russian army Napoleon hoped to compel Tsar Alexander I of Russia to cease trading with British merchants through proxies in an effort to pressure the United Kingdom to sue for peace. -
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Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and the main objective of the Congress was to provide a long-term peace for Europe by settling critical issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. -
The Birth of Otto Von Bismarck
Bismarck was born in Schönhausen, a wealthy family estate situated west of Berlin in the Prussian province of Saxony. -
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought near Waterloo in present-day Belgium. A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by the armies of the Seventh Coalition, comprising an army under the command of the Duke of Wellington combined with a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard von Blücher. -
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Battle Of Waterloo
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Zollverein
The Zollverein or German Customs Union was a coalition of German states formed to manage tariffs and economic policies within their territories. -
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Frankfurt Assembly
The Frankfurt Assembly was the first freely elected parliament for Germany as a unfiied country. -
Frederick William IV is offered the throne
In April 1849, the Frankfurt Parliament offered the title of Emperor to King Frederick William IV. Fearing the opposition of the other German princes and the military intervention of Austria and Russia, the King refused this popular mandate. -
Bismarck becomes Chancellor
Otto Von Bismarck was appointed as the first Imperial Chancellor of the German Empire. -
Blood and Iron Speech
"Prussia must concentrate and maintain its power for the favorable moment which has already slipped by several times. Prussia's boundaries according to the Vienna treaties are not favorable to a healthy state life. The great questions of the time will not be resolved by speeches and majority decisions—that was the great mistake of 1848 and 1849—but by iron and blood." - Otto Von Bismarck -
Bismarck declares war on Denmark
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Bismarck declares war on Austria
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German Constitution drafted by Bismarck
The North German Constitution was the constitution of the North German Confederation, which existed from 1867 to 1871. The Constitution of the German Empire was closely based upon it. -
Ems dispatch
The Ems Dispatch sometimes called the Ems Telegram, incited France to declare the Franco-Prussian War in July 1870. -
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Franco-Prussian War
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Population Growth
The signifcant population growth in the late 1800's and early 1900's was enormous. It went from 41 million in 1871 to 67 million in 1914. -
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Economic Growth
Examples of Economic Growth in the late 19th century and early 20th century include the creation of a national market, territorial exposition, technological innovation, mass production, labor conflict, urbanization and immigration. -
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Kulturekampf
A German term meaning culture struggle, Kulturekampf, refers to German policies in relation to secularity and reducing the role and power of the Roman Catholic Church in Prussia, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. -
Germany is created
The formal unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred at the Versailles Palace's Hall of Mirrors in France. -
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Bismarck Reigns
Otto Von Bismarck changed a lot of different policies and unified Germany as a country throughout his reign. -
Campaign against Socialists
The Anti-Socialist Law was perhaps the most important repressive law of Bismarck’s chancellorship. Bismarck, who had never hidden his distaste for the teachings of socialism, made several attempts to curtail the growth of German Social Democracy during the 1870s – for instance through restrictions on the press and the revision of Germany’s Criminal Code. -
Wilhelm II becomes Kaiser
Crowned in 1888, Wilhelm II dismissed the Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, in 1890 and launched Germany on a "New Course" in foreign affairs that culminated in his support for Austria-Hungary in the crisis of July 1914 that led to the First World War.