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The making of Germany --Can army be the architect of a Nation?
After 1848 nationalism in Europe moved away from its association with democracy and revolution. Nationalist sentiments are often mobilized by the conservatives for promoting State Power and achieving political domination over Europe. This can be observed in the process by which Germany came to be unified as nation state.
Nationalist feelings were widespread among middle-class Germans, who in 1848 tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation into a nation state government by an elected parliament. This liberal initiative to nation building was however repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military, supported by the large landowners (called junkers) of Prussia. from then on Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national unification. It's chief minister Otto von Bismarck was the architect of this process carried out with the help of the Prussian army and the bureaucracy. Three wars over 7 years with Austria, Denmark and France ended with Prussian victory and completed the process of unification. In January 1871 the Prussian king William 1 was proclaimed German emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles.
On the bitterly cold morning of 18 January 1871 an assembly comprising the princess of the German States, representative of the army, important Prussian ministers including the chief minister Otto von Bismarck gathered in the unheated Hall of Mirrors in the palace of Versailles to proclaim the new German Empire headed by Kaiser William 1 of prussia.
The nation building process in Germany had demonstrated the dominance of Prussian State Power. The new state placed a strong emphasis on modernizing the currency, banking, legal and judicial system in Germany. Prussian measures and practices often became a model for the rest of the Germany.
© Vivian
Nationalist feelings were widespread among middle-class Germans, who in 1848 tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation into a nation state government by an elected parliament. This liberal initiative to nation building was however repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military, supported by the large landowners (called junkers) of Prussia. from then on Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national unification. It's chief minister Otto von Bismarck was the architect of this process carried out with the help of the Prussian army and the bureaucracy. Three wars over 7 years with Austria, Denmark and France ended with Prussian victory and completed the process of unification. In January 1871 the Prussian king William 1 was proclaimed German emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles.
On the bitterly cold morning of 18 January 1871 an assembly comprising the princess of the German States, representative of the army, important Prussian ministers including the chief minister Otto von Bismarck gathered in the unheated Hall of Mirrors in the palace of Versailles to proclaim the new German Empire headed by Kaiser William 1 of prussia.
The nation building process in Germany had demonstrated the dominance of Prussian State Power. The new state placed a strong emphasis on modernizing the currency, banking, legal and judicial system in Germany. Prussian measures and practices often became a model for the rest of the Germany.
© Vivian
