Germany has a long history. Central Europe used to be
divided into hundreds of small states including territories, free cities, and
ecclesiastical states, inhabited by German-speaking people. The Peace of Westphalia left the German-speaking Europe divided
into about 40 many small states. Prussia and Austria competed for dominance, being
the two largest of these states. There were many rulers over territories which
lead to wars. The Protestant Reformation caused separation of religions. The
population of what is now known as Germany became divided into Roman Catholic,
Lutheran, and Calvinist. These separations only escalated during the Thirty
Years War.
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| King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia |
Scholars, bureaucrats, students, journalists and businessmen,
all had a large impact on the unification of Germany. The pressures for a
united Germany came with these individuals wanting uniform laws and a single currency
that would remove the dictatorship of insignificant German states and bring
democracy. When offered the crown of a united Germany, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, rejected it. He, like the
other rulers of German kingdoms, didn’t agree with German unity because he
viewed it as a threat to his power. “The
crown offered to him by the delegation from the assembly was ‘filthy,’ he wrote
to the Grand Duke of Hesse, ‘a diadem of foul dirt’ with the ‘stench of
revolution’ clinging to it. In addition he rightly feared that accepting it would
arouse protest from the other European powers and lead Austria to intervene.”
(Schulze 129). The king had no interest in starting another Seven Years’ War by
accepting this crown.
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| Otto Von Bismarck |
In 1871, following the Franco-Prussian War, Germany was
unified and transformed into an empire under Emperor Wilhelm I, King of
Prussia. A Prussian aristocrat, known as Otto
von Bismarck, influenced the unification and conquered most of
German-speaking Europe He achieved a
united Germany without Austria by bringing together Prussia and the remaining
German states, becoming part of a Germany ruled by a Prussian emperor. Germany
had a parliament, known as the Reichstag.
The parliament could contest the governments decisions but in the end the
emperor could choose to govern as he saw fit, leaving the new unified Germany in
Prussian domination.
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| The Reichstag |
In World War I, Germany’s military strategy failed. This
meant the end of the German empire because of the Treaty of Versailles. This
was the peace settlement negotiated by the victors; Britain, France, and the United
States, that imposed consequences on Germany that consisted of the loss of
territory, financial reparations and a diminished military. These conditions lead
to World War II.
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| Hitler as Chancellor |
After World War II, Germany attempted to become a democratic
republic, but the Weimar Republic proved
to be only a short-lived prelude to the rise of Hitler and the dictatorial “Third
Reich” of the Nazis.
After World War II, Germany came to consist of two states;
East Germany and West Germany. East Germany continued to fall farther behind
economically and had to use force to prevent its population from fleeing to the
West. While East Germany struggled, West Germany was undeniably successful.
West Germany quickly became one of the world’s richest nations.
The German identity today is still so diverse. Germany is
known for its very long history, and its ability to overcome such dissimilar
ideas and become unified. Today the cultures of all areas that were once separated,
have a better understanding for the others differences. It has grown and
developed into the European Union’s most populous nation.
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