Coal and Iron and the Unification of Germany in 1871
In 1862, Bismarck said that ‘the great questions of the day will be
settled by blood and iron.’ Although there is undoubtedly some degree
of accuracy in this statement, the most important reason for the
unification of Germany, which ended ‘the great questions of the day,’
was ‘coal and iron.’ This is a quote from British economist John
Maynard Keynes, who argued that the industrial and economic
preparation before the wars, which united Germany, were more
important. This is because the economic strength created by the rapid
industrialisation enabled the creation of a powerful Prussia. It was
under this powerful Prussia, with some skilful diplomacy and
opportunism, that Germany was successfully united in the wars of
German Unification. Without such economic development and prosperity,
it is questionable whether Germany would have been united by 1871.
The main reason for the unification of Germany by 1871 was ‘coal and
iron.’ This includes important factors such as the presence of raw
materials in Prussia, the development of the railways and the
Zollverein in Germany, and the industrialisation, which took place in
Prussia, particularly in the 1850s. This economic strength, stems back
to the Congress of Vienna, where Prussia was given mineral rich land.
It gave Prussia the coal and iron producing areas of the Rhineland,
and the mineral rich Ruhr and Saar. The availability of such natural
resources created an economic take off in Prussia in the 1850s. As a
result, Germany became Europe’s largest producer of key industrial
commodities, such as coal and iron. New mines and iron works w...
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...d, stable financial environment. This enabled a strong
and successful Prussia to emerge. Prussia was then able to progress to
unite Germany. This was because the strong economy permitted the
establishment of a strong military force. This strong military force
was then able to go forward and unite Germany by ‘blood and iron.’
This process was undoubtedly assisted by the skilful negotiation and
opportunism of Bismarck. The longer-term factors – the economic and
industrial factors – enabled the shorter-term reasons for unification
to occur. Without a strong financial backdrop, Prussia would not have
had such a powerful and efficient army, which was clearly important in
the unification of Germany. It was ‘iron and coal’ that enabled the
new German Reich to be proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles
on 18th June 1871.
Bismarck believed that Germany should be united under Prussian leadership and that Austria should have nothing to do with Germany. Bismarck was chosen as chancellor by the Prussian king as he had a proven record as a monarchist and had little time for liberal and excessive parliamentary ideas. Bismarck helped his long term plan to unite Germany and to be the ruler by getting in a strong position with the king. The king owned Bismarck a 'favour´ as Bismarck had solved the king´s constitutional crisis. Bismarck played a crucial part in the unification of Germany as he helped to set up the Northern German Confederation after defeating Austria in the second of three wars.
The German state was forged out of the fires of the Franco-Prussian war in 1871 by the Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Prussia was by far the largest and most dominant state of the 25 unified in the creation of Germany, with the King of Prussia automatically becoming the Kaiser (Emperor) of the German Reich. In 1888, Kaiser Wilhelm II ascended to the throne, obtaining absolute and total control of the country. However, there is still debate as to whether Wilhelm II exercised full control of Germany or if true power lay in the hands of others in the years preceding the First World War.
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He brought in the Carlsbad Decree, banning the teaching of nationalism and liberalism. Lecturers were expelled for teaching nationalism and students were not allowed to talk about liberal and nationalist ideas. On the other hand, the second most powerful Germanic state, Prussia was open to the idea of liberalism and nationalism. Prussia welcomed the idea of one German nation. Other states grew closer to Prussia and an economic union called Zollverein was created that did included Austria in it. This economic union allowed Prussia to improve its economic situation and its military. An attempt to unify Germany was made in 1848, which ended up in a partial failure. The 1848 attempt made it clear that the German’s wanted Germany without Austria. The attempt was partially a failure because Prussian king did not take the title of German Emperor since the commoners were giving it and it made the Prussian King feel
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Germany was already on its way to unification in the early 1800s. The Congress of Vienna in 1815 had set up the German Confederation, with both Prussia and Austria-Hungary lacking the power to impose their rule over the area (Greusel 71). Austria-Hungary was generally seen as the more dominant of the German states. The capital of the German Confederation was Frankfurt, in the Austrian state of Hesse-Kassel (Headlam 87). Two solutions were considered to this duality: "Großdeutsche" and "Kleindeutsche." The Großdeutsche approach suggested a unification of all Ger...
The division of Germany into West Germany and East Germany emerged as a stopgap solution for the woeful state of the nation following its defeat in the Second World War. With the United States (US) ultimately gaining full control over West Germany, East Germany increasingly became alienated towards it, as it went under the influence of the Soviet Union (USSR). West Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), rapidly grew into one of the most politically and economically influential nations in Europe representing the democratic interests of the US in the region, while East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR), went seemingly the other way. East Germans became increasingly disillusioned by the way their politicians have promoted communism in the GDR, characterized by oppressive measures and sheer inequality in living standards. The Stasi, the secret police unit of the GDR, closely monitored East Germans and purged those who are suspected or proven dissidents, while politicians of the nation enjoyed living standards that are way superior compared to the average East German. West Germans, on the other hand, enjoyed the benefits of political and economic reforms brought forth by the democratic influence of the US. Therefore, discontentment among East Germans increased the prospect of unification of the FRG and GDR – an issue that was never written off in consideration, only further complicated by political differences. Nevertheless, eventual unification of the FRG and GDR following the symbolic collapse of the Berlin Wall did not completely result to favorable circumstances, as problems that continued to alienate matters between the Western and Eastern sections of Germany remain unresolved (Brockman ...
that as soon as a radical group such as the Nazi’s who were wiling to
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The Congress of Vienna in 1814-15 created the so-called German Confederation under Austrian and Prussian hegemony, but this unit disappointed the dreams of nationalists. The rivalry of Austria and Prussia paralyzed it in a way comparable to the effects of Soviet-American dualism on the United Nations during the Cold War. Almost everywhere, the old rulers repressed the nationalist movement after 1815. The German princes realized that nationalism required ...
So, the unification of Germany in 1871 was achieved through a combination of factors; the idea held by the German people of a unified nation (nationalism), the fear held by the German aristocracy of anything which may result in a reduction to their power, such as liberalism and the ‘Napoleonic Fear’, the Prussian King William the first whose most important roles were appointing Bismarck and the introduction of the army reforms, and of course, Otto Von Bismarck. Bismarck was the reason for the three wars against Austria, France and Denmark, the implication of the Prussian army reforms and he made sure that the German states finally unified under the rule of a Prussian monarch, or ‘German Kaiser’, ruler of the newly founded German Empire in 1871.
Prior to unification in 1871 the territory that would become Germany was comprised of thirty-nine independent states and city states joined together in a loose German Confederation. The most powerful among these states was Prussia, both geographically the largest state and that with the largest population. The influential politicians and policies that came out of Prussia were instrumental in the gradual formation of a united Germany. Beginning with the rise of Napoleon, the nineteenth century was a time of incredible change which dramatically altered the political balance of Europe. In order to understand the factors that culminated in official German unification on January 18 1871, it is necessary to examine the preceding decades. No single factor can be credited for the unification of the German states. Rather, the combined forces of social change, economic strength within a unified customs union, the moral justifications provided by nationalism, Bismarck’s careful manipulation of internal politics and the advantages gained through military action resulted in the unification of Germany.