Upheaval And Unification Of Germany Chapter Summary

The book, “Upheaval and Continuity A century of German History,” walks us through the events taken place between 1817 and 1971 in Germany. It takes us from the unification of Germany to their stand as a nation during their postwar period. The book opens up with the chapter titled, “The second German Empire,” focused on the very beginning of the country we know today as Germany. Before Germany became “Germany,” it was known as “The Holy Roman Empire,” a group of about 300 city states that functioned through their interdependence of each other. In the 17th century, the more well known city states, Prussia and Austria, began gaining power and authority as they began incorporating more German territory under their names. In the early 1800s, Napoleon

Since Prussia and Austria contained the most land and authority, they possessed great power within the Confederation. In the mid 1800s, a German nationalist named Otto Von Bismarck rose to power as the chancellor of Prussia. Although he strongly supported the creation of a unified German nation, he was more so aligned with the idea of one dominated by Prussia. Thus, he worked to improve the Prussian army in addition to developing alliances with foreign nations that would be capable of aiding Prussia with the unification of German nationalism. He also embarked on his goal of improving Prussia’s diplomatic standing in an effort to triumph his enemy and competitor, Austria. Amidst his efforts in ensuring Prussian dominance, tensions arose when Bismarck demanded occupation and rights of passage through the Holstein, an area controlled by the Austrians. In 1886, the Seven Weeks War, or the Austro-Prussian war, broke out, resulting in a victory for Prussia. Now that Prussia was seen as the dominant power, Bismarck began carrying out his plan to unite the German states by constructing a war against their common enemy of