জার্মানির ঐক্য আন্দোলন ও বিসমার্ক
The Movement for German Unification and Bismarck
One of the most significant political events in nineteenth-century Europe was the rise of German nationalism and the unification of Germany through the expansion of Prussia under the leadership of Bismarck. Germany had long remained a fragmented territory under Austrian dominance. Thereafter came Napoleon’s conquest of Germany; following Napoleon’s fall, Austrian supremacy and the old order were restored. Strong nationalist sentiments grew, and finally, Germany was unified through Bismarck’s policy of “blood and iron.”
Even long before Napoleon’s conquest, German nationalism had begun to develop against Austrian domination. Napoleon’s occupation, however, gave Germany its first taste of unity, while at the same time protests against foreign rule flared up against Napoleon. After Napoleon’s fall, the Congress of Vienna (1815) ignored German nationalism and once again divided Germany into thirty-nine small states, forming the German Confederation under Austrian dominance. Several revolutionary organizations emerged in opposition to the conservatism of the Austrian Chancellor Prince Metternich. The Burschenschaften were one such revolutionary student organization, which set an example of patriotism by assassinating the conservative writer Kotzebue. To suppress revolutionary ideas, Metternich issued the Carlsbad Decrees, dissolving student organizations, censoring the press, and placing revolutionaries under surveillance. As a result of these laws, intellectuals were harassed. Although movements revived in Germany in 1832 under the influence of the July Revolution, they failed in the face of Metternich’s autocracy; many revolutionaries were forced into exile or went underground.
When political movements subsided under severe repression, a customs union called the Zollverein was formed in 1834 under Prussian leadership. Its primary purpose was commercial competition with Britain. Seventeen German states joined this union and abolished internal customs duties to facilitate free trade among themselves. Austria was excluded. Although it was a customs union, Prussia’s influence over the German states increased through it.
Meanwhile, different ideological currents emerged in Germany. The Rhine region and the southern German states hoped for bourgeois liberal rule, while Prussia supported a Lutheran absolute monarchy. One of the leading advocates of liberalism was Rotteck, who was greatly influenced by the French Revolution and opposed despotism and militarism. On the other hand, Professor Dahlmann of Bonn University favored the primacy of German traditions. There were also some radical leftists influenced by Hegel who wanted to establish a republic based on universal suffrage.
By 1846, during an economic depression, liberals became more active and sought to secure a constitution. In February 1848, the Prussian king Frederick collaborated with the liberals to draft a constitution, but genuine liberal governance was not established. In March of the same year, representatives of the German states voluntarily met in Frankfurt with the aim of deciding the territorial boundaries of a future unified Germany. However, they failed to reach a consensus. Subsequent attempts at unification—the Erfurt Union, the Olmütz Conference, and the Dresden Conference—also failed. Meanwhile, Austria was defeated in the Crimean War (1854–56) and in its war with Piedmont (1859–60), becoming financially and politically weakened. It was in this context that Bismarck emerged.
In 1862, Bismarck became the Prime Minister of Prussia. In a speech before the budget committee of the Reichstag, he declared: “It is not by speeches and majority resolutions that the great questions of our time are decided; it is by iron and blood.” He regarded liberation from Austrian domination under Prussian leadership as true German independence. Earlier, in 1853, going against prevailing European sentiment, he had supported Russia in suppressing the Polish uprising in Russian-occupied Poland in order to secure Russian support, though the Tsar showed little enthusiasm.
Bismarck’s next step was war against Denmark (1864). Schleswig and Holstein, though autonomous duchies, were regarded as the personal possessions of the Danish king. Holstein was German-speaking and part of the German Confederation, while Schleswig was largely Danish and wished to join Denmark. When the Danish king declared Schleswig’s annexation to Denmark, Germans in southern Schleswig began protesting. At the request of the German Confederation and the claimant to the Danish throne, Augustenburg, Prussia and Austria jointly went to war against Denmark and defeated it. According to the Treaty of Gastein, Schleswig came under Prussian control and Holstein under Austrian control.
Bismarck was dissatisfied with the Gastein arrangement. Despite the king’s reluctance, he prepared for war, demanding the dissolution of the German Confederation’s parliament at Frankfurt and Austria’s withdrawal from Germany. Austria accused Prussia of violating the Vienna settlement and the Gastein Treaty and went to war. With the support of nine German states, Bismarck defeated Austria at the Battle of Sadowa (1866). The war ended with the Treaty of Prague. Excluding Austria, Bismarck formed the North German Confederation with the remaining states of the old German Federation. Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Schleswig, Holstein, and the city of Frankfurt were annexed to Prussia. The Prussian king became President of the North German Confederation, thus expelling Austria from Germany.
France could not accept Prussia’s victory in the Austro-Prussian War. Although France had consistently opposed Austria and the Vienna settlement, it actually desired a prolonged conflict between Austria and Prussia so that it could mediate and maintain its leadership, which required a weak German Confederation. However, Prussia’s growing power influenced French public opinion, fostering anti-German sentiment. Under public pressure, Emperor Napoleon III opposed the integration of the German states with Prussia and demanded territories near Belgium. This created conditions for another war, which Bismarck was eager to exploit.
Meanwhile, in the Spanish succession question, Prince Leopold of the Prussian royal family was proposed as a claimant. France opposed this. Lengthy discussions took place between the French ambassador Benedetti and King William of Prussia, which were communicated to Bismarck via a telegram—the Ems Telegram. Bismarck edited the telegram before publishing it, making it appear that the French ambassador had been gravely insulted by the Prussian king. After its publication, war broke out between France and Prussia. France was defeated at the Battle of Sedan (1870), and under the Treaty of Frankfurt (1871) was forced to cede Alsace and Lorraine to Germany. At the Palace of Versailles, King William I of Prussia was proclaimed Kaiser. The southern German states then joined Germany, completing German unification.
In evaluating Bismarck’s role in German unification, many historians have described his actions as deliberate and pre-planned, citing his conversations with British Prime Minister Disraeli. However, doubts remain as to whether such far-reaching planning was possible for any individual. David Thomson therefore described Bismarck as an opportunist with sharp political realism, who exploited every political situation. A. J. P. Taylor attributed Bismarck’s success largely to luck, arguing that he had no grand plan to reshape Europe but responded pragmatically to events. Bruce Wawro, however, rejected Taylor’s emphasis on luck, asserting that although fortune played a role, Bismarck’s realistic politics were the key to his success.
David Thomson further noted that Bismarck’s objective was to establish Prussian dominance north of the River Main. The terms of his treaties show his intention to control the northern German states. He did not want to unite the southern German states with Protestant Prussia and thereby provoke Catholic-Protestant tensions, yet he could not ignore the possibility of their alignment with France. L. C. B. Seaman argued that Bismarck pursued limited objectives and that historians have overemphasized the “blood and iron” policy to the point of myth. Bismarck, he contended, resorted to war only when no alternative existed. In the war against Denmark, Bismarck was under considerable pressure from German public opinion; in the war against France, Napoleon III was as responsible as Bismarck, being pressured by French public opinion. Moreover, although Bismarck fought three wars in the ten years before 1871, he avoided war and relied on diplomacy for the next twenty years while in power. In essence, he used diplomacy wherever possible and military force only when necessary—a form of politics aptly described as Realpolitik.
মন্তব্যসমূহ
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন