German Unification

JAN 18 1871 · 12:00

Anton von Werner, 'Proclamation of the German Empire' at Versailles, 18 January 1871 (1885 version). Place: Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles Figures: Wilhelm I of Prussia, proclaimed German Emperor · Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor, in the white uniform of a Prussian cuirassier · Helmuth von Moltke, Chief of the General Staff · the assembled German princes, ratifying by acclamation Three Wars in Six Years Bismarck arrives at the Prussian ministerial presidency in September 1862 with a constitutional crisis on his hands and a strategy in his pocket: the German question will be answered by iron and blood. The Second Schleswig War of 1864 against Denmark, fought jointly with Austria, produces an occupation condominium designed to generate conflict with Austria. The Austro-Prussian War of 1866 settles that conflict at Königgrätz in a single afternoon, ejecting Austria from German affairs and producing the North German Confederation under Prussian leadership. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 absorbs the South German states (Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, Hesse) into a unified German Empire. The proclamation ceremony is staged with deliberate symbolism in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, the palace built by Louis XIV to overawe Europe and now the headquarters of the besieging German armies. Wilhelm I is reluctant (he had wanted Emperor of Germany; Bismarck insists on German Emperor to placate the other princes). The ceremony is held on 18 January 1871, the 170th anniversary of the day the first King in Prussia was crowned in Königsberg. The European Balance Is Over The new German Empire contains 41 million people, possesses the strongest army in Europe, leads the continent in steel production within a decade, and sits squarely in the center of the European map. The Vienna settlement (see [[congress-of-vienna-1815]]) had been designed precisely to prevent any single continental power from achieving this position. The Holy Roman Empire's loose confederation of three hundred sovereignties, dissolved by Napoleon in 1806, is now replaced by a single Prussian-dominated industrial Great Power. Bismarck spends the next nineteen years building an alliance system designed to keep France diplomatically isolated and to manage Russian and Austrian rivalries in the Balkans (the Three Emperors' League, the Reinsurance Treaty, the Dual and Triple Alliances). The system requires continuous personal attention from Bismarck and a willingness to maintain contradictory commitments. After his dismissal by Wilhelm II in March 1890, the system unravels. The Franco-Russian alliance (see [[franco-russian-alliance-1894]]) follows within four years. The Concert is dead; the alliance blocs that produce 1914 are taking shape. Alsace and Lorraine, annexed from France in 18 Video: Real Time History's full documentary on the war that ended with Wilhelm I crowned German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors, the keystone of Bismarck's three-war unification project.