Founding of a German State

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.

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.

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.  

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.

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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