User:Atcovi/AP European History/German Unification


 * Zollverein - 1834
 * Prussia and Austria have a noticeable rivalry
 * 1848 - attempt to unite Germany by giving a crown to a certain dynasty. Doesn't work.
 * Kaiser Wilhem I
 * Chancellor Otto von Bismarck - Iron Chancellor, Realpolitik (advocated social policies in order to render the socialistic party invalid)

Step 1

 * The Danish War - Ethnic Germans in Denmark, Danes lose. Austria will get Holstein while Prussia will get Schleswig.

Step 2

 * The Austro-Prussian War - 7 weeks war, 1866; The Austro-Prussian War united the north German States under Prussia against Austria. Italy fights with Prussia and gets Venetia.

Step 3

 * Creation of the Northern German Confederation, 1867 - shortly following Prussia's victory, Bismarck eliminated the Austrian led German confederation. He then established a Northern German Confederation which Prussia controlled.

Step 4

 * EMS Dispatch [1870], Catalyst for War - Bismarck edited the telegram so that it sounded as though the king had insulted the French ambassador. It was then published and it infuriated the French.

Step 5
City of Paris does not surrender, they hold on for a whole year while the Prussians besiege Paris.
 * Franco Prussian War, 1870-71.

Treaty of Frankfurt, 1871

 * The Second French Empire collapsed and was replaced by the Third French Republic.
 * The Italians took Rome and made it their capital
 * Russia put warships in the Black Sea [in defiance of the 1856 Treaty of Paris that ended the Crimean War]

France paid a huge indemnity and was occupied by German troops until it was paid. France ceded Alsace-Lorraine to Germany [a region rich in iron deposits with a flourishing textile industry].

Kaiser Wilhem I, rules 1871-88

Bismarck's Kulturkampf Anti-Catholic Program

 * Take education and marriage out of the hands of the clergy --> civil marriages only.
 * Jesuits expelled from DE
 * Education of Catholic priests would be under supervision of the DE gov't.

Bismarck's Domestic Agenda
Kaiser Wilhem II, rules 1888-1918
 * National gov't in hands of Chancellor and Reichstag, popularly elected lower house.
 * Outlaws - the SPD, Social Democratic Party
 * Bismarck won over support of many workers with social programs
 * 1883 and 1884 laws established national sickness and accident insurance, 1889 old age pensions and retirement benefits - first social security system of its kind anywhere.