In the 18th century, Germany was divided into a number of states. Some of these states were very small and did not extend beyond the limits of a city. During the Napoleonic wars, many of these states ceased to exist. At the end of the wars there were still thirty-eight independent states in Germany. Among them Prussia, Wurttemberg, Bavaria, and Saxony were fairly large.

Prussia was the most powerful state militarily and in territorial extent. It was also the most reactionary. The big landlords of Prussia known as Junkers formed the dominant section in Prussian society. Prussia was also one of the leaders of the Holy Alliance (which was formed after the Napoleonic defeat by the conservative monarchies of the Europe to stamp out the revolutionary ideas and to suppress any attempt by the people to overthrow a ruler whom these monarchies considered the ‘legitimate’ ruler of the country).

Problems of divided Germany

The division of Germany into a number of states had hampered the economic development of Germany. The social and political system in these states was also very backward.

With the growth of national consciousness, particularly after the French Revolution, the people of these states had started demanding the national unification of Germany, establishment of democratic government and social and economic reforms.

In 1815, the German states along with Austria were organised into a German Confederation. However, each state tried to preserve its independence and its oppressive political and social system. Moreover, Austria had overbearing influence on the Confederation which brought her in conflict with the dominant German state of Prussia.

The 1848 Revolutions

In 1848 revolts occurred in every German state and the rulers were forced to grant democratic constitutions. To unite Germany and to frame a constitution for the united Germany, a constituent assembly met in Frankfurt. The initial success of the revolts had made the German democrats and nationalists think that victory had been achieved. While they debated the clauses of the constitution, the rulers prepared themselves to suppress the movement.

The Frankfurt Assembly proposed the unification of Germany as a constitutional monarchy under the King of Prussia who would become emperor of Germany. However, the King of Prussia declined the offer. He did not wish to accept the crown from the elected representatives of the people. Repression soon followed and even the rights that people had won in the initial stages of the revolution were taken away. Thousands of German revolutionaries had to flee the country and live in exile. The failed revolution was a drawback for the national cause, but the demand for unification revived in the late 1850s as a consequence of industrial and economic development.

Industrial take-off, 1850-1870

After 1850 the industrial revolution in Germany entered its decisive phase. New factories were built at a breath-taking rate, the production of textiles and iron soared, railroads grew and started to connect many distant regions, and coal production and export reached record levels every year.

Industrialization was accompanied by rapid population growth and urbanization, the expansion of the middle classes and of the proletariat (the industrial working class), which began to constitute independent organizations. After having lagged behind Western Europe for three hundred years, Germany caught up economically within two decades.

Economic progress was most powerful in Prussia and less impressive in Austria. Prussia now started to dominate many of the smaller German states economically, and the smaller states -- often hesitantly -- adapted their economies to Prussia. Prussia also developed great interest in facilitating trade with other German lands. This was to some extent a geographic issue since Prussia remained divided into two major regions: the large lands of traditional Prussia in the East and the smaller, but economically very powerful, area of the Rhineland and Ruhr district in the west.

To facilitate trade between its own unconnected parts, Prussia had lower trade barriers with other German states located in between its territories. This process led to an inconspicuous economic unification of Germany on the basis of a customs union (Zollverein), founded already in 1834 but expanded to most area later belonging to united Germany.

Austria, watching the Prussian economic policies in Germany with mistrust and finding little to gain from participating in the customs union, stood aloof. Railroad building followed the lines of trade, and so Germany was economically well on its way to unification already before 1871.

Bismarck

Otto von Bismarck, who became Prussian Minister President in 1862, accepted the necessity of national unification without Austria and was determined to bring united Germany under the hegemony of the conservative, anti-liberal Prussian monarchy. Now Germany was to be unified not into a democratic country by the efforts of revolutionaries but by the rulers into an empire.

Bismarck probably had no long-term scheme for German unification, although it appears so in retrospect; he practiced Realpolitik, an opportunistic and pragmatic approach to politics. He always insisted on the importance of power: unification would not come about through speeches and declarations but by "blood and iron." The policy of ‘blood and iron’ meant a policy of war. For this he mobilized all resources and built up a strong army.

The wars against Denmark and Austria

The first aim he pursued was the elimination of Austria from the German Confederation. He aligned with Austria in a war against Denmark (1863) over the possession of the German duchies of Schleswig and Holstein which were under the control of the Danes.

After Denmark’s defeat, he entered into an alliance with Italy against Austria, defeated Austria in the Seven Weeks’ War (1866) and dissolved the German Confederation. Thus Austria was separated from other German states.

In place of the old Confederation, he united 22 states of Germany into North German Confederation in 1866. The constitution of this Confederation made the King of Prussia the hereditary head of the Confederation. It also granted universal and equal manhood suffrage to the parliament of the North German Confederation. Many liberals welcomed the North German Confederation as a step toward national unification, while the Prussian conservatives rejoiced in the aggrandizement of Prussia.

The Franco-German war

The outcome of the Prussian war against Austria came as a bad surprise to France. For centuries French policy-makers had aimed to keep Germany divided and weak; suddenly a strong German power had been allowed to expand through much of Germany. Alarmed, France tried to renew its traditional ties with the South German states.

Napoleon III, hoping for a military victory to stabilize his weakening régime, declared war on Prussia on 19 July 1870. France was isolated diplomatically, and the well-organized Prussian army with its allies destroyed the main French army in September. After war, France had to cede the coal rich provinces of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany. The humiliating defeat and post war treaty went on to play a major role in igniting the First World War as the French Revaunchists wanted to seek revenge.

Germany’s unification was completed as a result of the war which enabled Bismarck to absorb the remaining German states into a united Germany. The formal ceremony at which King William I of Prussia took the title of German Emperor was held Versailles in France.

After her unification, Germany emerged as a very strong power in Europe. It underwent heavy industrialization in a very short period and soon joined the scramble for colonies. However, the militarism which made Germany into a great power was to prove disastrous to the people of Germany in the years to come.