annotated timeline germany world history 10 h

8/14/2019 Annotated Timeline Germany World History 10 H

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Moriah SonMs. Hartmann/ Period 7

Annotated Timeline #1: Germany

1807 – 1812: Napoleon organized a number of German states

into a French Controlled Rhine Confederation. Germans fightingagainst French rule led to a feeling of nationalism and a demand for aunified German State. When the Napoleonic Era fell, the Germansthought they had hope and wished for a unified German State.However, this hope was crushed when the Congress of Vienna decidedto separate the German states and put them under one ruler, theAustrians. Metternich, an Austria statesman said that if Germany wentthrough unification it would be horrible and many problems wouldarise. However, the real reason for opposing German unification wasbecause Germany had everything they needed. They just needed torefine their economy and unite their government. But the people knew

that once Germany was unified, it would become the strongest countryand they were afraid that this would upset the balance of power.

1834: A custom union called the Zollverein was established. This allowed the 39 sovereign states to maintain a uniform tariff onimports from other countries, and free trading among themselves. Thisunion was established because Germany was in need of a strongeconomy, to develop a strong economy they adopted Prussia’seconomic program to strengthen their economy. This was the secondstep to nationalism. Unification is important when trying to build up

any nationalistic feeling. Unifying states that are of the same ethnicitygives them a sense of being one.

1848: Frankfurt Assembly. King Frederick William IV of Prussiacreated an all-German Parliament. He created this because of hisexpectations as an emperor. He was a liberal man that also offered the“Vorparlament” which was the creation of a union of any Germanstates that wished to join Prussia. A new constitution and a Parliamentwere established, however, Austria was still the main power of Germany. Austria brought back the confederation of Rhine and took

control over Germany’s government. By trying to make a newconstitution, the Germans are trying to make themselves separatefrom the Austrians. They want their own identity, which point out thatidentity although it is a third step toward nationalism, it is alsonecessary for them.



1852: Bismarck and his theories. Otto Bismarck becomes thechancellor of Prussia. He wanted to make a Prussian domination of northern Germany. In order to achieve more power for the Prussians,he had to achieve this through unifying the German states. Byenforcing the blood and iron policy, he used military means to achieve

this unification. Also, to gain favor he used “Realpolitik”. Realpolitik iswhen the realistic politics is based on the needs of the state. Thegrowth of nationalism is on its fourth step. Bismarck organizes armiesto protect Prussia and its territories. A sense of protection shows thatthe people must fight for something, and the something they arefighting for is their country. A country symbolizes that the people aregoing to fight for the land of where they were born and raised.Everybody was born and raised in Germany and it gives them somekind of title or nationality, so they can announce that they are fightingfor Germany. Again, unification is emphasized by Bismarck.

1864: The Danish War (Schleswig and Holstein). The king of Denmark decided to annex two territories that were made up of majority of the German population: Schleswig and Holstein. Thiscaused uproar because by annexing these two territories meant therewould be a loss of German population. This angered Bismarck, but heknew he could not fight Denmark alone and decided to make analliance with Austria and destroy the forces of Denmark. The outcomeof the Danish war was a victory for both Austria and Prussia. They woncontrol over Schleswig and Holstein and put the Dutch under theirpower. However, Bismarck did not achieve everything he wanted.

Because of the Convention of Gastein, Austria had control overHolstein and Prussia had control over Schleswig. But Bismarck’s maingoal was to have control over both territories. When Germany lost twoof their territories why were they angered? Because nationalism isstarting to affect them. The loss of two German provinces angeredthem because they were losing their own minor population whichmeant there would be less Germans and less German provinces. Thepride of being a German has finally had an impact on them; this is whythey tried to fight the Dutch to obtain their own lands back once more.

1866: 7 Weeks War (Prusso –Austrian War). Bismarck wasunhappy with the turnout of the Danish war and sought to provokeAustria into leading them into a war. Bismarck sent troops to Holsteinand also tried to dissolve the German bund in order to try to eliminateAustrian power in Germany. The Austrians took up this challenge anddeclared war on Prussia. Bismarck immediately formed an alliance withItaly during this time. He promised to give Venetia to Italy in return, tohave their support for he war. Austria underestimated the power of



Bismarck and Italy. Austria had to fight on both fronts; after 7-weeksshe surrendered to Prussia and Italy. However, Bismarck did notcompletely humiliate the Austrians after the defeat because he did notwant a major European confrontation because of an upset in thebalance of power. He allowed Austria to remain as an independent

country and caused them no more suffering. This even also relateswith the Danish war. Bismarck did not want another rule to govern theGerman states. He wanted an entire Germany to himself so it can be aunified control that is under the control of a Prussian government.Slowly, the borderlines around Germany begin to thicken as Bismarcktries to make sure no other country tries to usurp any states that arepart of Germany.

1870: Ems Telegram. The Prussian, King Wilhelm I, of Ems joined onone of his walks by the French Ambassador Benedetti who raised the

issue of the Spanish succession. Wilhelm's account of the exchangewas telegraphed by Heinrich Abeken. This telegraph was received byBismarck. Bismarck had seen this of a way to exploit hostility againstFrance and particularly against Napoleon III. He edited the Ems Telegram to lead the Germans to believe that France had delivered achallenge to King Wilhelm and the French to believe that Wilhelm hadrudely rebuffed a French effort to resolve the diplomatic crisis. Thetelegram was published in Paris on the eve of the national holiday,Bastille Day and the feeling of insult combined with French nationalpride led to a quick declaration of war. This is probably the climax of German’s unification. The day when the Ems Telegram was published,

the Germans were proud and looked up to their king with reverence.Once the war with French was established, although there was a bit of hesitation, the Germans/Prussians were ready to fight against theFrench and win them over. This even is similar to the FrenchRevolution. When Napoleon led the French through many war victories,nationalism rise and a sense of unity became stronger. This conceptcan now be applied to what is happening to Germany in 1870.

1870 – 1871: Franco-Prussian War. The German forces proved to befar superior to the French, who were badly commanded and armed

with inferior weaponry. The war was quickly over. By September 1870Napoleon III surrendered to the German army. In Paris a revolutionproclaimed another republic but continued the war under siege until January 1871. Bismarck, however, refused to sign a peace treaty until anew National Assembly had been elected which could enforce the treatobligations. The conditions of the Treaty of Frankfurt were thereforeaccepted only in May 1871. Because Germany had gone through manysteps to reach their final and last step of nationalism, they had the



power to fight and win over the French army. Without the build up tothis point, Germany would never have brought the French down totheir knees. Nationalism is the most powerful weapon a country canhave, and because Germany experienced many victories, they slowlybuilt confidence in themselves. This confidence slowly developed into

nationalism.

1871: Aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War. The Treaty of Frankfurt was harsh on France. The provinces Alsace and Lorraine hadto be surrendered to Germany and a war indemnity of 5 billion francshad to be paid in three years. Until payment was made, a Germanarmy would occupy France. As a consequence of the war, Germanunification was completed because the South German Confederationbecame united with the north. Nationalism has finally been completed.Germany is unified and the borderline surrounding it has become

permanent once the South German Confederation became united withthe north. The stairway to nationalism has ended but the problem is,Germany is too powerful now and sooner or later Germany will becomea huge problem, this time to the World.

1871: William was crowned as the emperor of Germany in theFrench Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. This marks the beginning of the Second Reich. German nationalist called it this because theyconsidered it heir to the Holy Roman Empire founded by King Otto theGreat in the 900s and abolished by Napoleon in 1806. William still had

Bismarck by his side to guide him into making decisions. Williambecame the German Emperor and restarted a whole new life for theGermans. Germany is now considered a country and a country usuallyhas a nationalistic feeling because the people living in Germany noware known as Germans and they call themselves Germans. Therefore,all the steps of acquiring nationalism have been achieved through apainful but an effective process lay out by Bismarck.

annotated timeline germany world history 10 h

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