1. HIST2086 Bismarck: The Iron Chancellor North German Bund and Dual Monarchy, 1867-71 Lecture 12 14 October 2010

2. North German Confederation (Norddeutscher Bund) Prussia (4/5 of population, most of territory) Saxony Hesse-Darmstadt Braunschweig Oldenburg Saxe-Weimar and Coburg Free cities of Hamburg, Lübeck, Bremen Mecklenburg-Schwerin and M.-Strelitz Princedoms of Thuringia and Meiningen

3. Bismarck’s position (1) Bismarck told Prussian Crown Prince in Jan 1867 that … The North German Bund is only a Provisorium His real energies are directed toward the unification of the whole of Germany This objective will be gained in the not too distant future In order to attain it, however, it was above all essential that the north come together in a firmer whole

4. Bismarck’s position (2) Opposed to idea of parliamentary government + of crown only of symbolic status (= no British model) Regarded powerful monarchy as essential Believed in traditional loyalties of peasants to monarchy + in concept of universal suffrage (French model “Bonapartism”) Kept Reichstag in weak position without real power NGC constitution with dual-goal: To appeal to national patriots in South + to look favourable to Southern governments & dynasties

5. NGC Constitution, Jul 1867 King of Prussia = President of NGC, commander-in-chief, power of declaring war + making peace, appointed/dismissed Federal Chancellor Federal Council (Bundesrat) = Representation of NGC Federal States (Bundesstaaten) Parliament (Reichstag) = Elected by universal manhood suffrage (step into democracy!) Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler) = Chief Minister + representative of Prussian King in Bundesrat

6. NGC’s economic unity Prussian taler to dominate over Austrian gulden Berlin the hub of German finance Bismarck’s initiative for fundamental reorganisation of Customs Union (Zollverein): Bicameral legislature with certain competences; its members elected by universal + equal manhood suffrage = Economic ‘community of interest’ of all NGC members = To overcome any future foreign objection to develop CU into political ‘community of interest’

8. Habsburg Empire A family concern A collection of estates on huge, international scale Largest state in 19th c. Europe apart from Russia Consisted mainly of kingdoms & duchies, acquired through marriage or war Austrian, Bohemian, Hungarian Lands + Lombardy-Venetia most important = Raison d’être of Habsburgs to acquire new territories = Habsburg Empire to provide power base for family-based monarchy

9. Main pillars Imperial army Catholic church Imperial bureaucracy = Tools of Germanization until 1867 → Germans 24% of population but strong dominance in all political & economic key sectors = Slowly declining dominance of Germans after 1867 → Germans regarded themselves as leading force + as culturally superior towards Slavs & Magyars

10. Franz Joseph I Absolutism as basic faith Only accepted constitutional reforms after military defeats (war with F + Piedmont, 1859) + financial pressures in early 1860s Accepted Ausgleich (compromise) with Hungary (1867) as final outcome of reforms Became devoted adherent to Ausgleich after Austria’s final exclusion from Germany, 1871

11. Austro-Hungarian Compromise (Ausgleich) Recognised 2 independent states united by common interests + monarch = Dual Monarchy One monarch as Emperor of Austria + King of Hungary (k. u. k. = Imperial and Royal) New constitution: bicameral legislature, extended basic rights but option to suspend in emergency = Strengthened Franz Joseph in foreign policy = Caused intense problems in domestic policy = Gave no political rights to each nationality: Problems of Slavs, etc. remained unresolved

12. Position of Magyars and Slavs Magyars: Ausgleich as best one possible deal because Hungary strongly protected by Austria vs. Russia or Prussia Slavs: Not satisfied but feared absorption by Russia or Prussia if Habsburg Empire broke up = Habsburg Monarchy by both seen as best “Third Way” in Central Europe between much worse Russian and Prussian alternatives