The Seven Weeks War and its Effects
Germany, a country hundreds of years in the making, was unified in 1871. After years of being separate states and loose confederations, Germany became a whole, unified nation through Prussian strength in the economy and more importantly strength in the military. The might of the Prussia's military was in its army, which it used in wars to bring together the separate German states into a unified Germany. The Seven Weeks War against Austria was the first example of this. When Prussia won that war, the Northern German Confederation was formed with Prussia at the head and Austria not included, thus creating the first unified Germany, even if not completely, and changing war and politics of Europe forever.
In 1818 Prussia established the Zollverein, a free trade agreement between German states. Quickly many other states joined the Zollverein, including twenty-five of the northern German states. As a result of the Zollverein, common customs were adopted, internal boarders abolished, and a common currency and weights system were used. The internal customs duties were replaced by a single tariff charge at the Prussian State frontier, and a customs union was established with Prussia at the head. The Zollverein opened up the many different independent German states to each other, making them economically dependent on each other and Prussia. One reason Germany was unified under Prussia was partially because of the economic power and control granted it through the Zollverein.
In 1863 the Danish king tried to annex Schleswig, which has been a duchy of Denmark along with Holstein for some time. Since the Danish king was duke of Schleswig he was not supposed to annex it. As a result of his actions...
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...giving a general background to find more books from.
Schirp, Francis M. Ph.D. Short History of Germany. St Louis: B. Herder, 1915- this book, although before 1955, gave the movements of armies and information on the armies and fighting that surpassing that of the later books.
Stern, Fritz Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichroder, and the Building of the German Empire. New York: Knopf, 1977- this book about Bismarck supplied background, and helped in my understanding of the workings of the unification, from money, to some of Bismarck's thoughts, and the working of the Prussian government.
"The Road to National Unification" 1 March 1997: n pag. Online. Internet. 26 Jan 2000. Available www.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/churchillhs/sslwpimants/unification.html -- this site gave the best information on what was going on in the world outside of Germany that related Germany.
After World War II, many countries have serious problems in almost all areas, political, social and economic. At one of the winners of the major issues after the war were the German question and the reason for the conflict between them, and led to the division of Germany and Europe.
The biographical approach to German unification in Bruce Waller’s Bismarck leaves the reader without much information on the European political picture as a whole and by no means provides a plethora of information on many of the political power players outside of Bismarck’s Germany. For example, Waller’s approach to Bismarck’s economic foreign policy is clearly lacking an explanation of outside factors, and those factors of the European economic situat...
The first war was a bit 'weird´ as Bismarck´s goal was to get Austria out of Germany but it was the start of a long plan, he teamed up with Austria and together they quickly defeated the Danish. The duchies of Holstein were to be controlled by Austria and the duchies of Schleswig were to be controlled by Prussia. This was to be a major decision to let Austria control Holstein. Bismarck overcame the barrier that was the threat of Austria. Bismarck was very clever in the way that he provoked war with Austria he complained that Austria was not running Holstein properly.
Benz, Wolfgang, A Concise History of the Third Reich (University of California Press, California; 2007)
The German nation was born in January 1871 at the Palace of Versailles. Many factors have been noted by historians as to what led to the eventual unification of Germany such as; economic and industrial factors and the role of Otto Von Bismarck. A debate that has emerged over German Unification is whether it was united by ‘coal and iron’ or ‘blood and iron’; this looks at whether economic or political factors were the main driving force behind unification. In this essay I will explore these factors and gain an understanding of how these factors contributed to German Unification and come to a decision as to whether it was a nation unified by economic
Germany experienced a lot of economic changes after Germany was split into East Germany and West Germany. Initially, West Germany was established as a federal republic but was established as it’s own independent nation in 1955. Many events happened in West Germany from the 1950s to the 1980s before Germany became one nation again. There were events such as “oils price shocks, generous social programs, rising deficits and loss of control.” East Germany’s economy was strong due to the Soviet Union’s reliance on Eastern Germany’s production of machine tools, chemicals and electronics. It became appealing to reunite with West Germany when the value of East Germany’s currency became “worthless” outside of it’s country because Eastern Germany was relying on the Soviet Union’s demand (Marketline).
Berghahn, Volker R.. Germany and the approach of war in 1914. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1973.
Leick, Romain, Matthias Schreiber and Hans-Ulrich Stoldt. "Out of the Ashes: A New Look at Germany's Postwar Reconstruction.". 2010. 20 March 2014.
Spielvogel, Jackson. Hitler and Nazi Germany: A History. 6th ed. United Kingdom: Pearson, 2009. Print.
- Jarman, T. L. The Rise and Fall of Nazi Germany. New York: New York University
Since the unification of Germany in the late 19th century, attitudes of nationalism, Prussian militarism and expansionism saturated German society. As one can clearly see in the writings of the influential German historian, Heinrich von Treitschke, war and territorial expansion were seen as being necessary to the preservation and advancement of German society. He states that, “War is for an afflicted people the only remedy… Those who preach the nonsense about everlasting peace do not understand the life of the Aryan race, the Aryans are before all brave.” The mobilization of the people and resources, for the purpose of making war, were believed to be the means of preservation and advancement of German society. These ultra-nationalistic attitudes and beliefs resulted in widespread German enthusiasm with the coming of war in 1914. As expressed in a German newspaper, The Post, “Another forty years of peace would be a national misfortune for Germany.”
In the 17th century, before the Seven Years’ War, the common soldier was just an unpaid citizen who fought for the local militia with his own weapon, but the Seven Years’ War totally changed in military system. The Seven Years’ War was very significant because it forced all of the European countries to focus less on commerce and more territory. This new shift in focus is what caused Britain to send so many more troops to America; the British politicians believed it was vital to militarize their colonies like America, West Africa, and Asia. This is because they believed that soldiers could acquire and defend new territories, as well as build important structures as a cheap
Turner, Henry Ashby. Germany from Partition to Reunification. New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 1992. Print.
... US and the British zones joined to become the Bizonia, shortly after, Bizonia and the French quarter launch a common currency, the Deutsche Mark. On the other hand, the soviet side of Germany had communist influences and was the complete opposite from the other parts, that’s the reason of the 1948 Berlin Blockade. Later on, the rising of the Berlin Wall in 1961 was an anti-fascist barrier, as they thought the west hadn’t been completely de-nazified. Nevertheless, ever since the demolition of the wall Germany has become one of the global powers and an example of stability and organization.
Manson, K J. Second Edition, Republic to Reich: A History of Germany 1918-1945, McGraw Hill 2003