German Unification: Austria vs. Prussia

• Prussia: Zollverein stimulated German trade/wealth
• William I: double size of military/institute 3-year draft
• (1862) Bismarck: practitioner of Realpolitik
• Collected taxes/built up army despite 2nd rejection of bill

Bismarck's Foreign Policy: The Danish War (1864)

• Strategy: isolated opponent (political, diplomatic & military)
• Schleswig & Holstein: Danish attempt to annex duchies
• Prussia & Austria defeated Denmark quickly
• Groundwork set to fight war with Austria

The Austro-Prussian War (1866):

• Bismarck secured Russian neutrality/alliance with Italy
• Austria defeated in 7 weeks
• Avoided Austrian hostility:
  Austria only lost Venetia/excluded from German affairs
• North German Confederation controlled by Prussia

The Franco-Prussian War (1870-71):

• France threatened by Hohenzollern on Spanish throne
• Ems Telegram: altered by Bismarck to provoke war with France
• German forces defeated France:
  Settlement: 5 billion franc indemnity & Alsace/Lorraine
• (1871) Kaiser Wilhelm I of the Second Reich
  Authoritarian/militaristic values triumphed over liberalism

Germany: Domestic Divisions (Chapter 23, pp. 676-677)

• Bundesrat (upper house): represented states of Germany
  Reichstag (lower house): universal male suffrage
• Kulturkampf: "struggle for civilization" vs. Catholic Church
  
• Outlawed Social Democratic Party/repressed socialist groups
• Social Welfare: accident/disability benefits & old age pensions
• (1890) Bismarck retired by Kaiser Wilhelm II