Unification of Germany
|
The German Empire of 1871. By excluding Austria, Bismarck chose a "little German" solution. |
The
Unification of Germany took place on
January 18,
1871, when
Prussian Premier
Prince Otto von Bismarck managed to unify a number of independent states into one nation, and thus created the
German Empire from which all of the modern states bearing the name of
Germany descend.
The German Empire was founded in the wake of the Prussian victory in the
Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), through which France was obliged to cede
Alsace and the German-speaking part of
Lorraine to Germany. On
January 18, 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors of the
Palace of Versailles, the
Prussian King Wilhelm I was proclaimed "Emperor of Germany". The German Empire was founded, with 25 states, three of which were
Hanseatic cities. It was a realization of the
Kleindeutsche Lösung, (
German for "Little German solution"), since
Austria had been excluded, as opposed to a
Großdeutsche Lösung or "Greater German solution", which would have included Austria.
Through the
Kulturkampf (1872-1878), Bismarck as Chancellor tried without much success to limit the influence of the
Roman Catholic Church and of its political arm, the
Catholic Centre Party. A policy of
Germanization discriminated against non-German sections of the empire's population, including the
Polish,
Danish and
French minorities .
For a more detailed look at how German unification occurred see
German Empire.
*
German reunification at the end of the Cold War
*
The Unification of Germany, part of The Seeds of Evil: Germany 1919 - 1933 on schoolshistory.org.uk.
