Prussia, Part Two
Wars of Unification
In 1862 King Wilhelm I appointed Otto von Bismarck as Prime Minister of Prussia.
Bismarck was determined to defeat both the liberals and conservatives and increase Prussian supremacy and influence among the German states.
There has been much debate as to whether Bismarck actually planned to create a united Germany when he set out on this journey, or whether he simply took advantage of the circumstances that fell into place.
Schleswig Wars
The Kingdom of Denmark was at the time in personal union with the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, both of which had close ties with each other, although only Holstein was part of the German Confederation.
When the Danish government tried to integrate Schleswig, but not Holstein, into the Danish state, Prussia led the German Confederation against Denmark in the First War of Schleswig (1848–1851).
Because Russia supported Austria, Prussia also conceded predominance in the German Confederation to Austria in the Punctation of Olmütz in 1850.
In 1863, Denmark introduced a shared constitution for Denmark and Schleswig.
This led to conflict with the German Confederation, which authorised the occupation of Holstein by the Confederation, from which Danish forces withdrew.
In 1864, Prussian and Austrian forces crossed the border between Holstein and Schleswig initiating the Second War of Schleswig.
The Austro-Prussian forces defeated the Danes, who surrendered both territories.
In the resulting Gastein Convention of 1865 Prussia took over the administration of Schleswig while Austria assumed that of Holstein.
Austro-Prussian War
Bismarck realised that the dual administration of Schleswig and Holstein was only a temporary solution, and tensions rose between Prussia and Austria.
The struggle for supremacy in Germany then led to the Austro-Prussian War (1866), triggered by the dispute over Schleswig and Holstein.
Bismarck desired Austria as an ally in the future, and so he declined to annex any Austrian territory.
But in the Peace of Prague in 1866, Prussia annexed four of Austria's allies in northern and central Germany—Hanover, Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), Nassau and Frankfurt.
Prussia also won full control of Schleswig-Holstein.
As a result of these territorial gains, Prussia now stretched uninterrupted across the northern two-thirds of Germany and contained two-thirds of Germany's population.
The German Confederation was dissolved, and Prussia impelled the 21 states north of the Main River into forming the North German Confederation
Prussia was the dominant state in the new confederation, as the kingdom comprised almost four-fifths of the new state's territory and population. Prussia's near-total control over the confederation was secured in the constitution drafted for it by Bismarck in 1867.
Executive power was held by a president, assisted by a chancellor responsible only to him.
The presidency was a hereditary office of the Hohenzollern rulers of Prussia.
There was also a two-house parliament.
The lower house, or Reichstag (Diet), was elected by universal male suffrage.
The upper house, or Bundesrat (Federal Council) was appointed by the state governments.
The Bundesrat was, in practice, the stronger chamber.
Prussia had 17 of 43 votes, and could easily control proceedings through alliances with the other states.
As a result of the peace negotiations, the states south of the Main remained theoretically independent, but received the (compulsory) protection of Prussia.
Additionally, mutual defence treaties were concluded.
However, the existence of these treaties was kept secret until Bismarck made them public in 1867, when France tried to acquire Luxembourg.
Franco-Prussian War
The controversy with the Second French Empire over the candidacy of a Hohenzollern to the Spanish throne was escalated both by France and Bismarck.
With his Ems Dispatch, Bismarck took advantage of an incident in which the French ambassador had approached William.
The government of Napoleon III, expecting another civil war among the German states, declared war against Prussia, continuing Franco-German enmity.
Honouring their treaties, however, the German states joined forces and quickly defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.
Following victory under Bismarck's and Prussia's leadership, Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria — which had remained outside the North German Confederation — accepted incorporation into a united German Empire.
The empire was a "Lesser German" solution (in German, "kleindeutsche Lösung") to the question of uniting all German-speaking peoples into one state, because it excluded Austria, which remained connected to Hungary and whose territories included non-German populations.
On 18 January 1871 (the 170th anniversary of the coronation of King Frederick I), William was proclaimed "German Emperor" (not "Emperor of Germany") in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles outside Paris, while the French capital was still under siege.
German Empire
The two decades after the unification of Germany were the peak of Prussia's fortunes, but the seeds for potential strife were built into the Prusso-German political system.
The constitution of the German Empire was a slightly amended version of the North German Confederation's constitution.
Officially, the German Empire was a federal state.
In practice, Prussia's relationship with the rest of the empire was somewhat confusing.
The Hohenzollern kingdom included three-fifths of the German territory and two-thirds of its population.
The Imperial German Army was, in practice, an enlarged Prussian army, although the other kingdoms (Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg) retained their own armies.
The imperial crown was a hereditary office of the House of Hohenzollern, the royal house of Prussia.
The prime minister of Prussia was, except for two brief periods (January–November 1873 and 1892–94), also imperial chancellor.
But the empire itself had no right to collect taxes directly from its subjects; the only incomes fully under federal control were the customs duties, common excise duties, and the revenue from postal and telegraph services. While all men above age 25 were eligible to vote in imperial elections, Prussia retained its restrictive three-class voting system.
This effectively required the king/emperor and prime minister/chancellor to seek majorities from legislatures elected by two different franchises.
In both the kingdom and the empire, the original constituencies were never redrawn to reflect changes in population, meaning that rural areas were grossly overrepresented by the turn of the 20th century.
Emperor Frederick III
As a result, Prussia and the German Empire were something of a paradox. Bismarck knew that his new German Reich was now a colossus out of all proportion to the rest of the continent.
With this in mind, he declared Germany a satisfied power, using his talents to preserve peace, for example at the Congress of Berlin.
Bismarck had barely any success in some of his domestic policies, such as the anti-Catholic Kulturkampf, but he also had mixed success on ones like Germanisation or expulsion of Poles of foreign nationality (Russian or Austro-Hungarian).
Frederick III was emperor for just 99 days in 1888 upon the death of his father, dying from cancer.
At age 29, William became Emperor William II after a difficult youth and conflicts with his British mother Victoria, Princess Royal.
He turned out to be a man of limited experience, narrow and reactionary views, poor judgment, and occasional bad temper, which alienated former friends and allies
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