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German Unification Timeline

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    Napoleon invades German lands

    Napoleon had the German campaign where he invaded German lands and which ended the War of the Sixth Coalition. This invasion of German lands took part in the Napoleanic Wars.
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    House of Krupp

    A successful bussiness formed by Alfred Krupp and the Krupp family, Alfred Krupp and the House of Krupp was a major producer of steel in Germany. After the France-Prussian War, Krup became a large supplier of steel and railroad equipment for Germany. Made the country a leader in steel production regarding quantity and quality. Merged with competitor into ThyssenKrupp AG in 1999.
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    Congress of Vienna

    The Congress of Vienna goal is to put together Europe as it once was and create lasting peace with restored hereditary monarchs, not to make a change or create new countries. Created the German Confederation which was a group of 38 states, this brought Unification closer because they were apart of the German Confederation.
  • Otto Von Bismark Birth

    Otto Von Bismark Birth
    Born in Schönhausen, Germany. His father was a Prussian landowning noble and his mother came from a successful academic family. His father was a junker, and Bismark came from junker family roots.
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    Zollverein

    Zollverein was a German Customs union and it created free trade area much through Germany. And it diminished tariff barriers between different German speaking states. It affected the German Unification because it strengethed Prussia and help to spread nationalism amoung the German states. Having all the different German states trading and communicating together in a system created a sense of nationalism and togetherness.
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    Frankfurt Assembly demads unity

    It was a German National Parliment made up of nationalist groups that tried and failed to unify Germany. They created a Constitiution to unify Germany but this was rejected by Austria and Prussia causing the assembly to fall apart. It affected German Unifictaion because it twas a step towards unifying Germany even being a unsuccessful attempt.
  • Frederick William IV offered the throne.

    Frederick William IV offered the throne.
    Frederick William refused the crown of unified Germany because it was offered to him by a elected assembly and the people and believed a king of divine right could not recieve authority from the people. He did agree on German unification and the idea of Prussia ruling. This affected the German Unification because if Prussia did rule they would oppress the other states and not bring around German nationalism as states joining together instead of being led by Prussia.
  • Blood and Iron Speech

    Blood and Iron Speech
    Bismark gave the blood and Iron speech because the Prussian Landtag or Prussian legislature was denying more military spending or budget for King William I. Bismark was sent to make sure he got the military budget. He went to a Budget Commitee and spoke his Blood and Iron speech, emphasizing the desicion was not made by the majority descions and speeches and votes but by blood and iron.
  • Bismark became Chancellor

    Bismark became Chancellor
    Bismark was appointed chancellor by Wiliam I and was determined to unify Gemany under one national identity. With his intellect he influenced William I and was the real builder of a unified German nation, and was the creator of Germany.
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    Bismark declares war on Denmark

    Bismark a chancellor of Prussia, he was determined to unite the German states ,he created a Austro-Prussian Alliance to siezes land owned by Denmark, Schleswig and Holstein. Prussia gets Scheleswig and Austria gets Holstein in the Convention of Gastein. This affected the German Unification because this event occuring and having Austria have Holstein helped Bismark complete his task of uniting the German states and ridding Austria from all German affiars, affecting the German Unification.
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    Bismark declares war on Austria

    This war is also known as the Austro - Prussian War, Bismark delibertly challenged Austria to gain control of the German Confederation and to get rid of Austria in uniting Germany. Bismark planned this war, he provoked Emperor Franz-Josef of Austria into war. Prussia defeated Austria in a "Seven Week War", and by doing this he excluded Austria from any German affairs. This war was a step towards German Unification by it replaced the German Confederation with the North German Confederation.
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    Franco- Prussian War

    Bismark wanted merge the german confederations to unite Germany. To do so he caused political tensions by editing a telegram between a Prussian man insulting a French man. This caused France to declare war on Prussia, igniting German nationalism in Southern German states. Prussia won with a humility peace from France. This war made Prussia a powerful European country and unified the German states by nationalism into one German empire.
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    Population Growth

    The society was growing and changing, there was a powerful successful German empire building. Industrialization was allowing more jobs and money for families and to expand families. The result was that Germany’s population, from 41 million in 1871, grew to 49.7 million by 1891 and increased to 65.3 million by 1911.
  • William I of Prussia becomes emperor

    William I of Prussia becomes emperor
    William I was declared German emperor of a new unified German nation-state. Formally the king of Prussia, he was persuaded to take the seat of emperor, and was proclaimed king at the military headquarters in Versailles.
  • Second Reich

    Second Reich
    The Second Reich was the newly united German Empire. When William I had become the emperor of Germany the Second Reich or new German Empire was formed. After the oly Roman Empire collapsed it was considered heir to the Holy Roman Empire.
  • Constitution drafted by Bismark

    Constitution drafted by Bismark
    Bismark formed constitution included two house legislatures, the Bundesrat house, the upper house, which was appointed by the rulers of the German states. And the Reichstag, or lower house which was elected by universal male suffrage. The Bundesrat house could veto any desicion made by the Reichstag house, allowing real power to stay in the hands of emperor and chancellor. This was the constitution of the unified German Empire. Historians often refer it to Bismarck's Imperial Constitution.
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    Economic Developement

    Germany boomed in steel production, while Britain produced about twice as much steel as Germany during the early 1870s, Germany was producing more than twice as much steel as Britain by 1914. Also industrialization was occuring, and they created railroads that connected the German states and there own currency, along with tarrifs to protect bussinesses. By 1900 it had the largest economy in Europe.
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    Campaign against the church (Kulturekampf)

    A bitter struggle by Bismark to subject the Roman Catholic Church to state controls. Bismark, a Protestant, never trusted the Catholic church, and was afraid the people of Germany would be more loyal to the Roman Catholic Church and to the Pope then to Germany. He created many anti- Catholic laws, but this was to backfire on him, he faced a strong Catholic resistence against him from the 1/3 German Catholic population, and sees this and quickly makes peace with the church.
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    Campaign against the Socialists

    Bismarck, who did not support the teachings of socialism, worried that the socialist party may cause a Revolution amoung German workers. He targeted socialists through restrictions on the press, shutting down there newspapers and banning there groups and meetings. When these attemps failed he made laws to support workers to take the attention away from the socialists and support the workers and socialist ideas. Germany became a leader in reform, created health and old age insurance.
  • William II becomes Kaiser

    William II becomes Kaiser
    Wilhelm’s father became Kaiser Frederick III of Germany in March 1888. Originally ill with terminal throat cancer, he died after a reign of only a couple months. William II then took Kaiser of Germany at the age of 29.
  • Bismark resigns

    Bismark resigns
    William felt threatened by Bismark, afraid the people will follow Bismark over him even being king. And within two years of William II of being king, he dismisses Bismark and breaks off with him, making Bismark resign from being chancellor at age 75. Bismark predicted that William II would lead to Germany's ruin.