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German unification
GERMAN UNIFICATION (1850-1871)

I. International aspects of German Unification: Aims of the Great Powers
A. Russia
B. Britain
C. Austria
D. France: conservatism at home; nationalistic activism abroad
E. Prussia: conservatism at home; hegemony in Germany
1. Contradictions in 1848-50
a. Radowitz plan + Erfurt parliament
b. The Punctation/Humiliation of Olmutz
2. Bismarck as a personification of these contradictions
II Options for German unification in the early 1860s
A. The status quo:
1. Confederal union, dual hegemony of Prussia and Austria
2. Unrealistic, because economic evolution, and the Zollverein is creating an economic Kleindeutschland
B. A national uprising => unification
C. A parliamentary movement in the states => a liberal and united Germany
1. The Nationalverein
2. Liberal revival in the late 1850s
a. Prussian elections of 1858
b. The Prussian Army Bill of 1859
D. Conquest and coercion by Prussia => an illiberal united Germany

III Rise of Bismarck and the constitutional conflict of 1859-61
A. Roon's Army Bill, 1859: the issues:
1. Military reform
2. Political implications of military reform
a. Resistance to military domination of Prussian society
b. Control of the purse by Parliament
B. Bismarck's handling of the issue
a. The "gap" theory
b. Brazening it out, help from bankers
c. The search for distraction in German issues

IV Bismarck and German Unification 1863-66
A. Wrecking rival attempts for union and reform
1. Beust (Saxony) and Pfadten (Bavaria) plan
2. Austrian encouragement of the Reformverein:
3. Austrian attempts to enter Zollverein: the 1863 crisis
B. Securing international support
1. Russia (Alvensleben convention, 1863)
2. France (Biarritz meeting, 18965; Italian pact 1866)
C. Schleswig-Holstein affair 1864
1. International background
2. Annexation by Danes 1863 => war (Feb.-April 1864), Danes defeated by Austria & Prussia
3. Convention of Gastein (August, 1865):
a. joint sovereignty
b. divided responsibility: Austria runs Holstein; Prussia, Schleswig
D. War with Austria => Austrian defeat at Koniggratz/Sadowa (3 July 1866)
E. Treaty of Prague (23 August 1866) and North German Confederation (23 August 1866)
F. Blood and Iron: the bill of Indemnity, (Sept., 1866): Prussian liberals enthusiastically accept their own defeat

V Epilogue: the Franco-Prussian War and the founding of the
Second Reich (1866-71)
A. Alienation of the French
1. Leaks over Luxembourg annexation plans (winter 1866-7)
2. The Spanish succession & the Ems dispatch
B. War with the French, 1870: why did South Germany(Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt) cooperate, then join the new Reich?

VI - The Conquest of Germany by Prussia
A. Exclusion of Austria from Germany
B. Domination of the new state by the Prussian old regime

People:

Kathi Orlow
Eider Danes (nationalists)
Augustenberg ( German Diet's candidate in Schleswig-Holstein)
Christian of Glucksberg (Danish heir)
Gustav Mevissen (Prussian liberal)
Ludwig II : Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria (Castle Neuschwanstein,
Wagner, Mahler, etc)

Holnstein (his chamberlain)
Grillparzer (Austrian poet)

Institutions

Bundestag
Reichstag