The German confederation was formed after the Vienna Settlement in 1815. During the 1860’s and 1870 Bismarck came into power and led Prussia in working with the German confederation to ascend in power and unify the confederation into a country. The German country would then be led by Prussia, with Bismarck in power. By 1871, this goal was eventually achieved after many contributing factors. The wars in which Prussia fought were undoubtedly significant to the unification of Germany, but however, I feel that it was not the sole factor that contributed to the unification of Germany.
France might have also been frightenend by the progressing German unification. There were other more politically domestic long term reasons for the war. These were that Bismarck wanted to unify the land that he had won as a result of the Austrian and Prussian war in 1866. Bismarck also used France as a common enemy of Germany all together so that unification could take place much more easily. France thought the war would not only help by stopping Germany’s increase in power.
They did this through aggressive policies, which they hoped would achieve their aim and build up their empire. In 1897 Germany introduced Weltpolitik (World policy). This was a militaristic strategy and the aim of it was for Germany to become a world power and to create an empire to rival Britain’s. They tried to build up their empire but only managed to gain minor colonies, which offered little gain to Germany and did little to assert their authority in Europe. They clashed with the main powers of Europe over territory like morocco, which ultimately strengthened Franco-Anglo relationships.
Therefore Liberals wanted constitutional reform and more power to be given to the Reichstag. Whereas socialists demanded social reform and power to the workers and trade unions. However conservatives, such as Bismarck wanted to conserve to the Junkers – the elite class. To do this he proposed the Anti-Socialist Law in 1879 and also passed the Tariff Law, which appeased the liberals. The years leading up to the war the German people were dreading it, there were protests in Berlin in July 1914.
It can be argued that the ’Weimar Republic’ , the outcome of the revolution was a facade of the old authoritarian regime, carrying out change under false pretences of a democratic institution, with the Right Wing Conservatives still in control. This essay will look at the revolutionary movement and to what prevail they fought their battle for a more democratic Germany. Some would dismiss M.Hughes claim as they believe the German revolution ultimately resulted in a shift of power. The years of Autocracy were over and the dynasty of Kaisers would no longer be at the head of German politics. William Carr states ‘ A revolutionary situation did exist in 1918 as long as the people were no longer prepared to obey the old rulers’ This highlights the disruption amongst the people, an awareness that there was a shift of power but whether this new awareness constitutes a revolution can be questioned.
Was Germany to blame for the start of world war one? Germany was to blame for the First World War, but only to a certain extent. Germany was not solely to blame, but did contribute greatly to the sequence of events that led to war. Germany were a major contributor to the Arms Race, caused tension between many European countries, made alliances, were extremely nationalistic and encouraged Austria – Hungary to declare war on Serbia. In 1904, Germans were encouraged to become nationalists.
The reason why Germany needed the Weltpolitik is that it craved to became a World Power. It had already become a big power in the fields of commerce and industry and what it wanted was an empire to reflect its status so that it would be considered equivalent to other large empires, like Britain and Russia. Others believe that Weltpolitik was the only solution to the problems caused by the
Fischer’s argument that the outbreak of the First World War was due to Germany’s aggressive foreign policy, with a harsh focus on annexation, can be regarded as one of much significance. This theory has been backed up by historians such as Berghahn who claims that Germany ‘[tried] to shift the balance of power in their favour’, and did this through a weltpolitik policy of aggressiveness. This, it can be argued, can be shown by The Navy Race, in which Germany attempted to expand their navy in order to compete with Britain. Despite this being regarded by some as an attempt to
However, the nature of their victory incited bitter indignation from the French and unsettled the European balance of power. Because of this, the act of 'German Unification' is credited widely as the cause of the First World War. Due to the economical excellence of the Zollverein, Prussia (who were first to abolish the domestic tariff
Both the Allies and Germany wanted to expand their territory. So their national interests were the same. Since Germany had lost the war they had to follow the orders of the Allies. Germany had lost much land to the Allies. They put restrictions on the German military, to make Germany weak and a second-rate power.