Question

Briefly trace the process of German unification.

Answer 1

Hint: The feeling of nationalism in Europe spread after the French revolution. People from almost all over Europe started mobilising to promote state power as they all wanted to make a nation-state by an elected parliament. Revolutionaries and other middle-classes also participated in the German Revolution from 1848-1849 to unify Germany.

Complete answer: The feeling of nationalism was widespread among middle-class Germans, who in 1848 tried to unite different regions under a single constitution. Revolutionaries started pressuring the government for a parliamentary assembly that would further draft the constitution. They wanted to replace the previous German confederation and the highly decentralized Holy Roman power but it was repressed by the combined force of monarchy and the military supported by junkers( large landowners) of Prussia. Looking at this condition, Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national unification as it was the strongest of all German states. The chief minister, Otto Von Bismarck led this process and with the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy carried it out.
Three wars over seven years with Austria, Denmark and France happened. Austria-Prussia war of 1866, and the French defeat in Franco- Prussian war, ended in Prussian victory and completed the process of Unification. On 18 January 1871, the Prussian king William I, was declared as the German emperor.
After the nation-building process, the new states started working on modernising the currency, Banking, Legal and judicial system.

Note: After the unification of Germany, the new German empire included 26 political entities in which 25 were a constituent state with different forms of government and one imperial territory.