GERMANY 



3503 



GERMANY 



was continued by one or other, with 

 Germany as the chief battleground. 

 In 1800 the emperor Francis II 

 resigned the imperial crown, and 

 the Holy Roman Empire came to 

 an end. Germany was now in 

 theory, what she had long been in 

 practice, a geographical expression, 

 while her master, one who carved 

 her into pieces as he liked, was 

 Bonaparte. In 1806 the Prussians 

 were beaten at Jena, and in the 

 years following a new spirit arose 

 in that country, and to some extent 

 in other parts of Germany. It re- 

 sulted in a rising, the war of libera- 

 tion, against Napoleon, and his final 

 defeat at Waterloo. 



Napoleon, in 1806, had formed 

 a confederation of German states, 

 the confederation of the Rhine, 

 but a more lasting one came into 

 being at the peace of 1814. This 

 sealed and stamped a territorial 

 revolution of the first magnitude, 

 for the Germany of the Middle 

 Ages, with its prince -bishops and 

 the like, had finally disappeared. 

 Most of the 300 states had van- 

 ished, so the boundaries of the 

 others were altered beyond all re- 

 cognition. Only 39 remained, and 

 these formed the new German Con- 

 federation, or Bund. Austria and 

 Prussia were its chief members ; 

 among the others were the kings 

 of Bavaria, Hanover, Saxony, and 

 Wurttemberg. 



The history of the next fifty 

 years is mainly a struggle for con- 

 stitutional liberty. Several of the 

 states had a landtag, or other as- 

 sembly of nobles and prelates, but 

 there "was nothing in the way of 

 representative institutions, nor had 

 any government any idea of its 

 responsibility to the people in the 

 modern sense. The rulers fought 

 hard against this movement, but 

 it was too strong to be crushed. 

 Saxe-Weimar leading the way, 

 several rulers granted constitu- 

 tions to their people. 



The Frankfort Parliament 

 Another movement of the time 

 was towards uniformity in com- 

 mercial matters. Trade could never 

 flourish in a country where import 

 duties varied with each state, and 

 where every few miles a new 

 boundary with the inevitable 

 custom house appeared. The first 

 attempts led to the formation of 

 three distinct trading areas, but 

 soon these were united into the 

 Zollverein of 1834. Austria stood 

 outside this, making Prussian 

 dominance easier. In 1848, as 

 there had been to a lesser extent 

 in 1830, there were revolutions 

 throughout Germany. The passion 

 for union was by no means 

 satisfied with the association of 

 1814, and consequently a powerful 



agitation compelled the Bundestag 

 to agree to the meeting of a 

 national parliament at Frankfort. 

 The members, who were elected by 

 a wide franchise, met to draw up 

 a constitution for a united Ger- 

 many. Having decided to have an 

 emperor, the honour was offered 

 to the king of Prussia, but he de- 

 clined it, and as far as immediate 

 results went the Frankfort parlia- 

 ment was a failure. 



The duel between Austria and 

 Prussia for the headship of Ger- 

 many was now entering upon its 

 final stage. In 1849 Prussia man- 

 aged to form a union, but here she 

 met with a rebuff ; troubles in 

 Hesse led to the entrance of Aus- 

 trian and Prussian troops, called 

 in by conflicting authorities. War 

 seemed inevitable, but at the de- 

 cisive moment Prussia gave way, 

 and among other things the new 

 union was dissolved. The terms 

 of Austria's diplomatic victory 

 were in the convention of Olmiitz, 

 and the Bund received new life. 

 Annexation of Slesvig-Holstein 



Other attempts at a union 

 followed, but meanwhile the Sles- 

 vig-Holstein question had domi- 

 nated German politics. The war 

 of 1850 against Denmark was 

 waged nominally by the Bund, 

 but in reality by Prussia, aided by 

 some of the other states. This soon 

 came to an end, but diplomacy 

 continued its efforts at a settle- 

 ment. In 1863, this not having 

 been reached, the Bund again in- 

 terfered ; this time Saxony and 

 Hanover took the lead, Prussia 

 and Austria disapproving of their 

 action. The two latter powers, 

 however, fearing for their prestige, 

 announced their intention of acting 

 as independent states, invaded 

 Denmark, crushed the Danes, and 

 took over Slesvig and Holstein. 



This action led to the inevitable 

 war. Austria wanted the Bundestag 

 to decide the future of the cap- 

 tured duchies, but, refusing to 

 agree, Prussia suggested instead a 

 drastic reform of the confedera- 

 tion, from which Austria should 

 be excluded. Both presented their 

 suggestions to the federal diet, 

 which accepted that of Austria. 

 War was at once declared by Prus- 

 sia, and in a few weeks Austria 

 was totally crushed at Sadowa. 

 The majority of the German states, 

 including Hanover, Saxony, and 

 Bavaria, shared this humiliation, 

 for they had fought against Prussia. 

 The war ended the connexion of 

 Austria with the other states of 

 Germany and led to other changes, 

 mainly in the direction of increas- 

 ing Prussia's power and size. A 

 new union was set up, called the 

 North German Confederation; its 



head was the king of Prussia, and 

 it included all the states N. of the 

 Main. 



The final step in the union of 

 Germany followed the Franco- 

 Prussian War. The Prussian army, 

 this time aided, not opposed, by 

 those of Bavaria and the other 

 German states, again proved its 

 prowess. In Jan., 1871, the North 

 German Confederation gave way 

 to the German empire, or Reich, 

 with William I of Prussia as its 

 first emperor. To this was given 

 the federal constitution which, 

 except for the disappearance of the 

 emperor, it retained in the main 

 after the revolution of 1918. The 

 Reich consisted of 26 states, 

 although one of these, Alsace-Lor- 

 raine, was not given equal privi- 

 leges with the others. Save it, all 

 were represented in the Bundestag, 

 while the people sent their repre- 

 sentatives to the Reichstag, but 

 the affairs of the empire were 

 mainly controlled by Prussia. 

 Policy of William II 



The history of Germany from 

 1871 to 1914 was first a policy, 

 that of Bismarck, of unifying the 

 country on the Prussian model, 

 and later that of William II, one 

 of ambitious plans of world do- 

 minion that led to war. Under Bis- 

 marck a supreme court of justice 

 was set up at Leipzig, and a com- 

 mon monetary system was estab- 

 lished. Education was organized 

 on Prussian lines, while under her 

 control came most of the armies 

 and the railways of the other Ger- 

 man states. 



William I died in 1888, and Bis- 

 marck resigned in 1890. William 

 II had his chancellors, but he 

 took a large share himself in the 

 work of government. Socialism 

 made great strides; for instance, 

 at the general election of 1912 that 

 party polled more votes than any 

 other. More remarkable was the 

 industrial progress of Germany. 



The exact share of the emperor 

 and his advisers in bringing on the 

 war in July, 1914, is perhaps 

 doubtful, but it is certain that the 

 German people heartily supported 

 it, and that they believed they 

 would win. They fought well and 

 endured well, although the peace 



froposals put forward in Dec., 

 916, were a sign of something 

 wrong. In Jan., 1918, there were 

 risings in Hamburg, Munich, and 

 elsewhere, but the collapse did not 

 come until Oct. There was a revo- 

 lution, almost bloodless ; on Nov. 

 9 the emperor abdicated, and soon 

 a republic was proclaimed. The 

 other German rulers followed his 

 example ; Germany became a 

 federation of republics. See N.V. 

 A. W. HolUmd 



