2. The Germanic States
In the early 1800s present-day Germany was made up of many separate Germanic states or kingdoms.
Germanic States
In the 1800s poets, philosophers, and students spread the idea of a unifying German “Fatherland,” which caused German nationalism to rise.

3. The Germanic States
As with Italy, Napoleon’s invasion caused many Germans to desire a unified nation. However, instead of forming one German nation the Congress of Vienna created a weak “German Confederation” of 39 states led by Austria.
Congress of Vienna

4. The Germanic States
Prussia was the strongest German state because it had the largest coal deposits in Europe, which fueled Prussia’s iron and steel industries.

5. The Germanic States
Prussia had highly skilled workers and extensive railroads for trade. Prussia’s king, parliament, and chancellor were all talented leaders.

6. The Germanic States
Prussia was a militaristic state with an army that was strong, disciplined, and well equipped.
Militarism – the glorification of the military and a readiness for war.

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

8. Otto von Bismarck
Bismarck was a military officer who cared little for the parliament and liberalism, but instead believed in Wilhelm’s conservative Prussian monarchy.
Bismarck insisted unification would be achieved “not with speeches and majority decisions…but with blood and iron.”

9. Otto von Bismarck
Bismarck’s Realpolitik, or “realistic politics” meant taking the most practical path to unification, even if it meant dishonest alliances or starting wars.
Believing “the ends justify the means,” or that wrong actions can be used to attain good outcomes, Bismarck led Prussia through three wars to unite Germany.

10. Bismarck at War 1. Denmark (Danish War) 2. Austria
(Austro-Prussian War)
3. France
(Franco-Prussian War)

11. Bismarck at War Danish War
In 1864 Bismarck allied with Austria, Prussia’s rival, to defeat Denmark in a brief war to gain land. Austria gained the province of Holstein while Prussia gained Schleswig, which was inhabited mostly by Germans.
AUSTRIA

12. Bismarck at War Austro-Prussian War
Although allies against Denmark, the Austrian empire opposed a Prussian-led German unification. To instigate a war Bismarck invaded Austria’s newly acquired territory of Holstein in Austria declared war and Prussia decisively defeated its rival in 7 weeks, gaining several German states.

13. Bismarck at War
Bismarck ended the Austrian-led “German Confederation” and created the new Prussian-led North German Confederation. Now only France stood between Bismarck and total German unification.

14. Bismarck at War
To start this war Bismarck edited the “Ems telegram,” which made it seem as though Prussia’s King Wilhelm I had insulted France. Napoleon III declared war in 1870, and Bismarck rallied the southern German states to join Prussia.
Franco-Prussian War

15. Bismarck at War
Prussia defeated the French in two months and France was forced to give up the industrial border territories of Alsace and Lorraine, and pay huge reparations, or fines.

16. Bismarck at War
In 1871 Bismarck assembled the German princes in France’s Versailles Palace where they declared Wilhelm I Kaiser, or emperor, of the newly unified powerful German Empire.