GERMANY 



2478 



GERMANY 



Vienna formed all the German states into a 

 confederacy, with Austria at its head. 



Rivalry of Austria and Prussia. The plans 

 for the confederation included the promise of 

 constitutions for the different states, but this 

 provision was in the main ignored, and there 

 were constant disturbances, owing to the de- 

 mands of the people for constitutional govern- 

 ment. It was in 1830 and 1848, those years 

 when the revolutionary spirit was felt through- 

 out all Europe, that these disturbances culmi- 

 nated, many of them successfully. In 1830 

 was formed the customs union or Zollverein 

 (which see) among the states, and this fostered 

 the growing feeling of nationality which in 

 1848 resulted in the assembling of a national 

 parliament at Frankfort. But Austria and 

 Prussia, by their rivalry, brought to naught the 

 federation plans, and the Prussian king, Fred- 

 erick William IV, refused to accept the title 

 of emperor of the Germans. 



In the year 1861 a new king, William I, came 

 to the throne of Prussia, and he was a man 

 of bolder spirit. He called to his aid Bismarck, 

 chief among the nation-builders of modern 

 Europe, and under the direction of that deter- 

 mined minister the unification of Germany 

 proceeded apace. Bismarck's deliberate plans 

 for breaking with Austria are described in the 

 article under his name and in that on the 

 Seven Weeks' War. Emerging from this strug- 

 gle with new prestige, Prussia gathered about 

 her the neighboring states in a North German 

 Confederation, of which the king of Prussia 

 was president; but even then the ambition of 

 Bismarck was not satisfied. 



The Birth of a Nation. He saw ahead a war 

 with France, and prepared for it carefully, 

 so when the latter nation, jealous of the 

 growing power of the Hohenzollerns, forced 

 the issue, the victory of Germany was sure 

 (see FRANCO-GERMAN WAR). France paid a 

 large indemnity and gave back to Germany 

 Alsace and Lorraine, those much prized terri- 

 tories which had belonged to Germany through 

 a thousand years but which Louis XIV had 

 conquered for France. More important to 

 Germany than any territorial gain was the 

 awakening of an intense national feeling among 

 the states, which made it possible to change the 

 confederation into an empire and to proclaim 

 William I as German emperor. This was done 

 on January 1&, 1871, and the state was launched 

 on its new career. Bismarck kept the helm 

 during the lifetime of William I and during 

 the short reign of his son, Frederick III, who 



succeeded in 1888 and died in the same year; 

 and the colonial power of Germany, the for- 

 mation in 1883 of the Triple Alliance, including 

 Germany, Austria and Italy, and the anti- 

 Socialist agitation were all his work. 



The Reign of William II. But the Iron 

 Chancellor, as Bismarck was called, did not 

 find favor with the aggressive William II, who 

 came to the throne in 1888 and showed at once 

 his determination to be the real ruler of 

 Germany, so far as the constitution would 

 permit. Bismarck therefore resigned in 1890, 

 and the list of his successors includes Caprivi, 

 Hohenlohe, Von Billow and Von Bethmann- 

 Hollweg, who became chancellor in 1909. Ger- 

 many took an active part in Eastern affairs 

 in 1898 when, after the murder of two German 

 missionaries in China, the port of Kiao-chau 

 in Shantung was seized and made the center 

 of a German protectorate in that region (see 

 KIAO-CHAU). Two years later German troops 

 were prominent in the suppression of the Boxer 

 Rebellion (which see). 



Germany and the War of the Nations. In 

 the summer of 1914 there began in Europe 

 that greatest struggle of all times, known as 

 'the War of the Nations. The causes, both 

 ulterior and immediate, and the events of the 

 war are treated in the article under that head. 



Germany claimed itself not the primary ag- 



ORMER 

 RUSSIA 



NOW 

 POLAND 



FORMER 

 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 



GERMANY'S LOSSES 



(a) Alsace; (6) Lorraine; (c) 382 square 

 miles to Belgium; (d) the Saar coal fields for 

 fifteen years; (e) Southwestern Silesia and parts 

 of Posen and West Prussia, to Poland; (/) 2,787 

 square miles to Denmark; (g) a part of East 

 Prussia to vote upon its future connection; (h) 

 shaded area remains a part of Germany but with- 

 out fortifications. 



gressor in the war, but its responsibility was 

 clearly proved later. At first interest centered 

 chiefly in Germany and England, between which 

 powers the struggle was intense. Germany as- 

 serted that Great Britain was its most malignant 



