Otto von Bismarck was indeed a leading figure of the unification of Germany. In fact, as a Prussian prime minister, a patriot and a monarchist, his primer goal was to unite Germany under the Prussian leadership. Bismarck managed to implement his plan using diplomacy, economic measures and wars. To begin with, Bismarck was a supporter of Realpolitik, or the politics of reality , and he applied it to diplomacy. He was a tough-mined person who valued the outcome over the principles.
This encouraged Germany to increase its strength in navy because of the rivalry between Great Britain and Germany. Because of this, Germany and Austro-Hungarian Empire allied themselves together, protecting them from Russia. Italy
However, many other factors played a role in the demise of the Parliament such as the fact that they were ill-organised, the lack of popular support and their inability to enforce decisions. Frederick William IV was partially responsible for the failure of the Frankfurt Parliament as he was unwilling to accept the ‘crown from the gutter’. William IV was aware that acceptance of the leadership may lead to war with Austria. Austria had no wish to see a united Germany and wanted to keep it weak and divided in order to dominate. Frederick William shared this view and was unwilling to potentially cause a war with such a powerful state.
How far was Nicholas II responsible for the fall of the Romanovs in 1917? While Nicholas II was a major factor in the fall of the Romanovs there were other reasons such as the removal of the Dumas and him losing the support of the armed forces. Nicholas II became commander in chief of the army during world war one and in doing so left his wife Alexandra to rule the country. The fact that he had let someone so inexperienced take control angered many people due to the Tsar not leaving someone more experienced to rule and also due to her being unpopular as a result of her German nationality. Alexandra appointed Rasputin, who had saved her sons life, as her personal adviser.
Conscripted peasants had begun to lose interest, and their welfare was harmed with the conscription of animals, meaning beasts of burden and the like were deposed to military use. Most of the officers had bought their positions for reasons of prestige and glory, meaning that they were inexperienced and not fit to lead armies into war. He, despite the warnings of his advisors, joined the front ranks. Nicholas believed he was doing the right thing, rather than realizing the incompetence of his own aggressive nationalism. This led to Russia being in the control of the German Alexandria, who was hated by the Russian people because of her inability to speak Russian, her reliance on Grigory Rasputin, a mystic who claimed to heal her son, her antisocial, depressed attitude and a general political incompetence to rival Nicholas’s.
This basic form of opposition was never truly effective as their actions were simply put down by the government partly due to their failure to unite and lack of ideology and political demands. This was, however, not the only internal opposition to Tsar Alexander II with the “Going to the People” movement emerging in 1874. Here young members of the Russia intelligentsia went to the peasants breaching to them about their ideas about how life should be lived. This proved unsuccessful, they failed to appeal to the peasantry and the regime managed to arrest members showing them to be ineffective at this point. However, the populist movement developed from here, eventually splitting into two groups; the Black Partition and the People’s Will.
The Monarchy of Austria also established a hybrid national state. While the Russia aimed to achieve a national state with the approach to eliminate all slavery and other reforms. British had its glory day when their nationalism was high and pride. All in all, nationalism was a great success in Europe and the United States. The emotions of the American Revolution affected the state rather than to nation.
He had no rigidly defined programme when he became Prime Minister in 1862." Since 1848, there were several favourable international situations facilitated Bismarck in completing unification. First of all, Metternich’s resign in 1848 helped a lot as Austria was an obstacle to unification. Bismarck took advantages in the weakening Austria after the Crimean War and the Italian Unification. Second, Bismarck developed good relationships with numerous powers so that they would assist Prussia and help Bismarck to isolate its enemies.
How successful were successive German Chancellors in protecting the position of the Second Reich's ruling elite? Germany's ruling elite were made up primarily of Prussians, land owning aristocrats or high ranking military leaders. It also consisted of leading industrialists and the judiciary. However, their position as the ruling elite was under threat. Although the industrial revolution had a huge positive impact on German economy, it also lead to a rise in socialism which meant the emergence of pressure groups, such as the Nationalist pressure groups and the Economic pressure groups.
During the years 1900-1914 the Kaiser faced many potential threats to the extent of his power. These ranged from demands for social reform, from the SPD, to the demands for constitutional change, from the liberals, to demands for more power, from the Centre Party and finally to demands for a more aggressive foreign policy. Despite these threats ultimate power remained in the hands of the Kaiser in 1914. This retention of power was primarily due to the sense of patriotism and nationalism that existed in Germany and can most clearly be seen in the support that was apparent for nationalist foreign policies. The exact workings of the political structure of Germany also allowed the Kaiser to retain control but this structure could only remain because of the patriotism and nationalism that the Kaiser both exploited and enjoyed.