German nationalism became a powerful force among German liberals, but the princes were very conservative. A true opportunity for a united Germany would not come up until the revolutions of 1848, which is a tremendously complex topic. However, nothing had been solved in 1848, and the nationalistic desire for the unification of Germany and the liberal goal of more representative government remained (Biesinger, Joseph A.). German unification would not happen until 1871, when Otto Von Bismarck’s statecraft and cascade of Prussian victories allows them to. Joseph A. Biesinger’s article Otto von Bismarck and German Unification looks at the events leading up to the unification of Germany and how Bismarck was able to achieve this
But the most significant challenge towards Germany’s industrial revolution was its political set up. Germany before 1871 was made of numerous German States with Prussia being biggest. And so trade was difficult and circulation of raw materials to factories was also hard. Only with the unification of Germany that she truly became an industrial powerhouse. Among the German states, Prussia emerged as
The ones elected wanted to unite with Germany to challenge Russia. The March Revolution’s little success was later squashed because Frederick changed his mind and got rid of the whole assembly. Along with the Prussian revolution was the German revolution since they wanted to unite. The goals for the German revolution, discussed at the Frankfurt Assembly, was to unify a Liberal Germany that was governed with a constitution. The German Revolution had some success because a Declaration of the Rights of German People was created.
Germany had always been a divided country from the start of the Potstam meeting where that Berlin, the capital of Germany would be divided into four zones of occupation where the Allies (France, Britain and America) would occupy the Western Zones and the Soviets would occupy the Eastern zones. Whilst Russia’s aim was to cripple Germany, the other allies wanted to build it up into a strong country. It was due to this plan of Russia’s to cripple Germany that the Berlin blockade and airlift occurred. After Western Germany began to flourish in terms of economy the USSR decided to close all rail roads, canals and other forms of transport to Western Berlin in order to cripple them and 2.5 million people were cut off from food supplies. The result
He accomplished his first goal (wanting to prevent future French aggression by surrounding France with strong countries) by making the countries around France stronger (the Austrian Netherlands and Dutch Republic united to form the Kingdom of the Netherlands; thirty-nine German states were loosely joined to create the German Confederation, which was dominated by Austria; Switzerland became an independent state; and the Kingdom of Sardinia was strengthened by annexing Genoa). Metternich’s second goal (wanting to restore a balance of power) was
The Western Allies quickly realized they couldn’t “kick a dog when its already down”, and that Germany was in desperate need of help.” Therefore, the Allies’ aim was to rebuild Germany’s economy. The Soviet Union disagreed with this plan immensely, and instead, they became busy with setting up Communist dictatorships in their conquered areas, such as the zone of East Germany. This major difference among these powers marked the beginning of the Cold War. The war was not of physical battle but of international diplomacy. Germany now became the prize struggle between enemies.
They thought that if they could block any way of the allies from coming into West Berlin by land, they would eventually give up and stop supporting them. In order to do this, Stalin built a blockade on roads, railways, and rivers between the three allied sectors of West Germany and West Berlin. Stalin soon realizes that
After the 7 Years War, the alliance did not make much sense as an aggregation of power given the disparate objectives of the two nations. France’s primary concern was its rivalry with the British, which played out on the sea and in their colonial empires, both arenas in which the Austrians were little help. On the other hand, Austria was primarily concerned with a rising Prussian power and gaining territory in Bavaria, yet the French were continuously unwilling to intervene against Prussia to help Austria achieve its aims, and refused to help Austria take Bavaria, even in exchange for new French territory in the Netherlands. (Hardman and Price 113) With Schroeder’s insight, it is clear that this alliance functioned as a tool for the allies to block each other as potential threats more than it served as a tool to build a military coalition. France benefited from the alliance because with Austria as an ally, they could focus on their goals overseas, by both reducing Austrian support of the British in the colonies and allowing Austria to balance Prussian power on the continent, creating a stable domestic environment for France.
The leaders of the republic including Renner put great emphasis on Heimat Austria to restore their confidence and build up the distinct national and cultural identity. In order to establish their new identity, they reactivated its great heritage by connecting the second republic with the habsburg era, which is considered to be the best days in the history. In addition to the rich historical, they stressed that they were blessed with the beautiful nature. As it was implied in the concept of Heimat Austria, the natural beauty means a lot to Austrians. Especially, snow-capped mountains such as Alpine have had big influence on Austrians’
Known as the Second Reich, it quickly gained power and colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. The empire was subsequently dismantled following their defeat in World War I, leading to economic depression, massive unemployment rates, and the country was verging on civil war for years. Establishing the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler changed this by first taking power in 1933. He and his new Nazi party quickly went on a crusade to conquer Europe and exterminate everyone who he thought were beneath him and not part of the superior race. He felt that these races, particularly Jews, were responsible for their loss in World War I.