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Speaker 1

00:00

1805 and the Austrian army is on the march against Napoleon, Idinga great. The man leading this army was Francis II, the Holy Roman Emperor. He was also the Emperor of Austria, a title he created in response to Napoleon declaring himself the Emperor of France, because he wasn't about to be out-emperored by anyone. So, as far as empires go, the Austrian Empire was fairly run-of-the-mill.

Speaker 1

00:20

The Holy Roman Empire however was not so normal. It was comprised of hundreds of mostly German speaking states who swore allegiance to an emperor. The most powerful state in the Holy Roman Empire was Austria, followed by Prussia, and both of these had territory inside and outside of the Empire because it was... Complicated.

Speaker 1

00:35

Having been defeated by Napoleon, France gave up his title of Holy Roman Emperor, and the Holy Roman Empire itself was dissolved in 1806. Most of its former states, except notably Prussia and Austria, were brought into the Confederation of the Rhine, which was a French puppet state. The people that lived in these states were somewhat unhappy living under the dominance of France, and many quickly began to resent everything French. 1 way to counter French influence was to emphasize just how German they were.

Speaker 1

01:00

So, side note, the term German was used to refer to people that spoke German. There were Germans, but no Germany. In some respects, there was a sense of shared identity and culture, but Germans were also very divided by religion, economics and politics. So, long story short, after Napoleon had been defeated by the Russians, Prussia and Austria rose up against him and by 1815 he had been firmly defeated.

Speaker 1

01:20

After Napoleon's defeat, the Congress of Vienna was called to establish and maintain a balance of power so that no country could become too powerful. This balance of power is known as the Concert of Europe. A man called Clemens von Metternich was very important to the establishment of this new order. Metternich was an Austrian diplomat who was instrumental in protecting Austria from Napoleon's harsher punishments.

Speaker 1

01:39

As a result of the congress, Prussia gained this territory, most notably the Rhineland, and Austria gained this territory in Italy, but lost the Austrian Netherlands. Importantly, the German Confederation was formed. It was led by a president who was also the Emperor of Austria, had these borders which included some of Prussia and Austria, but not all of Prussia and Austria, but was also totally not the Holy Roman Empire under a different name. The German Confederation was quite a loose alliance and as such was seen as quite weak in comparison to other powers such as France and Russia.

Speaker 1

02:06

This led to some calls for political unification which would help protect the smaller German states and prevent a repeat of Napoleon. Prussia was keen on the idea of German unification because it, being the largest German state, would be in charge. In 1819 Prussia formed the Zollverein, which was a customs and trading union which sought to make commerce between German states easier. This was not just an economic union, Austria was excluded from joining, which meant that there was no economic counterbalance to Prussia, and by 1848 the Zollverein looked like this.

Speaker 1

02:32

Throughout the early 19th century, liberal ideas were spreading throughout the continent and the new middle class wanted reform, such as political representation and freedom of speech. In Austria, these calls for reform had been repressed by Metternich via censorship and prosecution. The cries for reform continued to grow and in 1848 riots broke out across the German Confederation and Austria. In Austria the reforms were short-lived, but Metternich was forced to resign and fled to Britain.

Speaker 1

02:55

Riots in Berlin were suppressed by Prince Wilhelm of Prussia via cannons, which earned him the nickname the Prince of Grapeshot. So the King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, begrudgingly agreed to the establishment of a parliament which could advise him. The liberal factions involved in the rioting believed that the best way to secure these reforms was via a unified Germany. As such, liberals across the German confederation called the Frankfurt Parliament, which planned to unify Germany and declare Friedrich Wilhelm IV as its emperor.

Speaker 1

03:20

He said no, and by late 1849 the reform movement had died down. Most of the reforms implemented by the Frankfurt Parliament were quickly abandoned, but the idea of a unified Germany persisted. There were 2 proposals for a unified German state, Kleindeutschland, which means small Germany, and Großdeutschland, which means large Germany. The difference was that Großdeutschland included the German-speaking parts of the Austrian Empire, whereas Kleindeutschland did not.

Speaker 1

03:43

This idea of a shared ethnic, cultural, and linguistic heritage or destination is an important part of nationalism. For more homogenous places like Germany or Italy, nationalism was a uniting factor. For ethnically diverse empires such as Russia or Austria, it was a destabilizing force. For example, in Austria, the Hungarians attempted to break away in 1848, but this was prevented due to intervention from the Russians.

Speaker 1

04:05

The Austrians were opposed to a unified Germany, which they weren't in charge of. Austria wasn't the only opponent of a unified Germany, France and Russia were quite nervous about the idea as well. Austria was able to rely on Russian pressure to dissuade the Prussians from pursuing Kleindeutschland and maintain the German Confederation. Russian support for Austria ended in 1854 when Austria refused to help Russia in the Crimean War against Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire.

Speaker 1

04:27

A few years later, Austria was defeated by France and Sardinia and thus lost this territory in Northern Italy. Whilst Austria was weakening, Prussia found itself gaining strength. Prussia was rapidly industrialising, had access to a great amount of natural resources such as coal, and was a major producer of iron. The silver iron also allowed Prussia to export these products, and its economy grew in strength.

Speaker 1

04:46

So in 1861 Friedrich Wilhelm died and was succeeded by his brother Wilhelm I, the aforementioned Prince of Grapeshot. The next year he appointed a man called Otto von Bismarck as the Minister-President of Prussia. Bismarck was a very gifted statesman and firmly opposed to the liberal forces in Prussia. He sought to unify the northern German states, remove Austria from the German Confederation, and strengthen the position and prestige of the Prussian king.

Speaker 1

05:08

1 of the first things that Bismarck did was to modernize and increase the size of the Prussian military in case his plans led to war. They did. The first broke out in 1864 after Denmark had declared that both Schleswig and Holstein were Danish territory. Holstein was in the German Confederation, and in retaliation Prussia and Austria declared war on Denmark, which they quickly won.

Speaker 1

05:26

So, Prussia received Schleswig and Austria received Holstein. Austria was unhappy with the results of the war because the new territories were part of the Solverein and Austria needed to travel through Prussian territory to get to its own. Bismarck knew that this arrangement would lead to war with Austria and so made sure that the other European nations stayed out of it. He made a defensive pact with the newly unified Kingdom of Italy on the condition that Italy would gain Veneto from Austria.

Speaker 1

05:49

He was also supported for French and Russian ambitions to keep them neutral. Eventually, Austria tried to resolve the issue surrounding Holstein and Bismarck accused the Austrians of treating them like enemies. Prussian troops occupied Holstein in June 1866. Most of the German Confederation backed Austria and war broke out shortly afterwards.

Speaker 1

06:05

Fortunately for Prussia, the Italians mobilized on the Austrian border and declared war 5 days later. Prussia quickly defeated Austria's northern allies and Austria had lost the war within 2 months. 1 of the reasons for this was that Prussian troops were armed with a new type of rifle, the needle gun. The Austrians fared much better against the Italians, but their losses against Prussia led them to surrender.

Speaker 1

06:24

In the end, Prussia gained all of this territory, which became the North German Confederation with its own parliament. Austria also agreed to give up the Nito, but because they had generally outperformed the Italians, they gave it to France instead, who then gave it to Italy, because 19th century war was weird. So the rapid rise of Prussia was something that the French had not anticipated. In 1870, the German Prince Leopold, Wilhelm I's cousin, was offered the Spanish crown.

Speaker 1

06:46

The French Emperor Napoleon III did not want the North German confederation to gain Spain as an ally and demanded that Wilhelm order his cousin not to take the crown. Wilhelm told the French he'll get back to them and so sent a telegram to Bismarck. Bismarck edited the telegram so it sounded like Wilhelm rudely brushed the French off and published it. This made the French look weak and silly, so they declared war.

Speaker 1

07:06

So the French declaring war made them the aggressors, and thus the Prussians were able to gain the support of the southern German states. So to summarize the war, the French couldn't mobilize as many men, the French Emperor was captured, the French had another revolution because it was the 19th century and so at this point, why not? The Germans pushed this far into French territory and on the 18th of January 1871 at the Palace of Versailles the German leaders declared the creation of the German Empire with Wilhelm I as Emperor. The French soon after surrendered, agreeing to pay indemnities and giving Germany the territory of Alsace-Lorraine.

Speaker 1

07:36

So, 1 of the great debates surrounding the German Empire is to what extent it was unification, or simply Prussian dominance. The smaller German states felt that they were unable to protect themselves from their larger neighbours, but in return for protection, found themselves dominated by Prussia. Except for Liechtenstein. Which was fine.

Speaker 1

07:52

The dominance of Prussia is best seen through what is known as the Kulturkampf, the culture struggle. So, Northern Germany was mostly Protestant, whilst the South had a large Catholic population. The Catholic Church had immense political authority and Bismarck wished to remove its influence and strengthen the central government. Catholic bishops were arrested en masse and Catholic institutions were sidelined, but ultimately it persevered.

Speaker 1

08:13

A unified Germany quickly became a great power. Bismarck negotiated an alliance with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and managed to secure some African colonies by calling the Berlin Conference with the other European powers. It experienced a population boom alongside rapid industrialization and urbanization and also became a global center of science. Wilhelm I died in 1888, he was replaced by Friedrich III, who died 99 days later, and he was followed by Wilhelm II.

Speaker 1

08:37

Wilhelm wanted to assert his own independence and so encouraged Bismarck to resign in 1890. Unlike his predecessors, Wilhelm II was very hot-headed and prone to immediate reaction. He was also determined to increase the prestige of Germany. He did this by undertaking a major naval build-up in the early 20th century.

Speaker 1

08:53

This upset Britain. Britain had previously kept itself out of European affairs, but a large German navy posed a threat to its naval hegemony and could even threaten the British mainland. So in 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist and the established series of alliances and counter-alliances plunged Europe into World War I. Long story short, Germany was unable to break the stalemate that formed, its allies collapsed and a British blockade meant that a major food shortage occurred.

Speaker 1

09:19

War fatigue and hunger led many to protest and eventually revolt. Revolt became full-on revolution and Wilhelm abdicated on the 9th of November 1918. A republic was declared, which soon after accepted the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which ultimately led to the conditions which precipitated the rise of the Nazi party. In conclusion, it's hard to overstate the effect of German unification.

Speaker 1

09:38

The rise of Prussia ended Austria's dominance over central Europe and ushered in the end of the balance of power established at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The strength of the new German Empire, alongside its foreign policy, paved the way for World War I and the new world which was left in its wake. I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for watching.