Bismark & Germany 1862 1890

Seminar Studies in History...provide a means of bridging the gap between specialist articles and monographs and textbooks. They are written by acknowledged experts on the subject who are not only familiar with current thinking but have often contributed to it. Their format, well-tried and effective, combines information, analysis and assessment effectively. The selections of documents, included from the outset of the series when document work was hardly in vogue in schools, not merely illustrates points made in the text but provides an effective medium for discussion on the issues raised. The further reading guide has stimulated countless students to take their interests further. The structure of the series may not have changed through time but the format has, with attractive four-colour covers and larger pages....Seminar Studies are still, despite all the opposition, a market leader.

Teaching History

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The aim of this enormously popular Seminar Study is to provide students with a concise, up-to-date and analytical account of Bismarck s role in German history. Unlike other short studies available the book offers readers a balanced coverage of the period 1862 to 1890, with equal weight given to events before and after 1871. First published in 1986, Longman is delighted to reissue the book as a Second Edition. The author has taken the opportunity of updating the original text in the light of the new research and, in particular, has added new material on the relationship between economics and Bismarck s diplomacy; the social and constitutional history of Germany after 1871; and the historical debate surrounding Bismarck in the 1990s. The bibliography has been brought up-to-date and two new maps have also been added.

The book opens with an introductory section which sets Bismarck s policies to secure Prussian hegemony into the context of German economic and political developments, particularly the German Customs Union (the Zollverein) and the rise of Liberalism in Prussia. Readers are then guided through the complex events leading to the defeats of Austria and France in 1866 and 1870 and the subsequent creation of a united Germany in January 1871. The book then explores the domestic and foreign problems Bismarck faced up to 1890 in consolidating unification. Thus, Bismarck s relations with the Catholics and Socialists, the consequences of the Great Depression and the question of whether there really was a second foundation of the Reich in 1878-9 are all looked at. Chapters on Bismarck s foreign and colonial policies trace his attempts to reconcile Austrian and Russian interests in the Balkans and the reasons for the creation of the German colonial empire in Africa and the Far East.

• Bismarck’s role in the unification and consolidation of Germany is central to any understanding of Germany's development as a nation and its consequent role as aggressor in two world wars.
• This classic Seminar Study, now in the popular new format, offers a complete introduction to the topic which will be indispensible to any A Level or Undergraduate student of modern Europe or the build up to the World Wars
• The author is a recognised authority in the field.
• Contains all the pedagogical features of a Seminar Study in History – glossary of terms, who’s who, timelines, and documents

David Williamson’s Bismarck and Germany has long been a definitive guide to Bismarck’s role in German history. A comprehensive and readable study, the book provides a balanced account of Bismarck as the father of the first 'unified' Germany and examines how he consolidated this new state.

Williamson shows how Bismarck skilfully exploited the economic strength of Prussia and the defeats of Austria and France in 1866 and 1870 to create a united Germany by 1871. The state Bismarck created was initially a workable compromise between the demands of the Liberals, the Prussian Crown and the individual states. However, by the 1880s the Bismarckian constitution had become a straitjacket that distorted the constitutional development of Germany up to 1918, despite the fact that it had many modern characteristics such as universal (manhood) suffrage and, by the standards of the time, an exemplary welfare system.

In this third edition, revised and updated to include recent studies of Bismarck, an expanded introduction extending back to 1815 allows students to place Bismarck's remarkable achievement of German unification in the context of political and economic developments in the preceding decades.

Supported by a comprehensive Documents section, and with a new colour plate section, this new edition of a classic text will be an invaluable resource for students and lecturers alike.

David Williamson has written extensively on modern German and International history. Among his publications are and Poland Betrayed: The Nazi Soviet Invasions of 1939 (2009), and The Third Reich (fourth edition 2010). Formerly head of History at Highgate School, he is now a writer and freelance lecturer.

Chronology

Who’s who

Glossary

Maps

PART ONE: THE SETTING

1 The Background, 1815- 1862

The German Confederation

The Zollverein

The Growth of German Nationalism

The Growth of Liberalism

Conservative Acceptance of Nationalism

Catholicism and Nationalism

The 1848 Revolutions

The Radowitz Initiative and the Revival of the Confederation

Austro-Prussian Relations, 1853-1859

The Constitutional Conflict in Prussia

Bismarck

Bismarck’s Appointment as Prussian Minister-President

PART TWO DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS

2 The Constitutional Conflict

Confrontation with the Liberals

The Liberals Divided

3 The German Question, 1860-66

Public Opinion and German Unity: The Nationalverein and Reformverein

Austro-Prussian rivalry and the reform of the Confederation, 1860-62

Bismack and Austria, 1862-3

The Schleswig Holstein Crisis, 1863-4

The Options facing Bismarck

From Schönbrunn to Bad Gastein

Austria’s ‘Economic Königgratz’

On the Brink of War

The Austro-Prussian War

The Home Front

PART THREE: THE NORTH GERMAN CONFEDERATION

4. THE CREATION OF THE NORTH GERMAN CONFEDERATION, 1866–67

The Prussian Indemnity Bill

The Spoils of War

The Constitution of the North German Confederation

5. BISMARCK, NAPOLEON AND THE SOUTHERN STATES

The Luxemburg Crisis

The Southern States and German Integration

6. THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR AND THE UNIFICATION OF

GERMANY, 1870–71

The Hohenzollern Candidature

The Outbreak of War

The unification of Kleindeutschland

The Armistice and the Treaty of Frankfurt

PART FOUR: THE ECONOMIC AND CONSTITUTIONAL

CONTEXT, 1871–90

7. THE SECOND REICH: A HYBRID STATE

The Administrative and Legislative Infrastructure

The Problem of Prussia

8. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS, 1871-90

The impact on the Economy of the ‘Great Depression’

Structural Changes in the German Economy

The Political Consequences of the ‘Great Depression’

PART FIVE: DOMESTIC POLITICS

9. THE KULTURKAMPF AND THE DECLINE OF THE NATIONAL LIBERALS

A Bismarck-Liberal Axis?

The Kulturkampf

Protectionism and the End of the Liberal Era

The Tariff Act of 1879

10. THE CONSERVATIVE EMPIRE

The Second Foundation of the Reich

Bismarck’s Loss of Control over the Reichstag

Bismarck and the SPD

Bismarck’s Social Welfare Programme

Jews and Poles and the Policy of Germanisation

The Formation of the Kartell and a Brief Period of Stabilization

Bismarck’s Fall

PART SIX: GERMAN FOREIGN AND COLONIAL POLICY

11. GERMANY AND EUROPE, 1871–90

The League of the Three Emperors

The Eastern Crisis, 1875–78

The Dual Alliance and Three Emperors’ Alliance

The Franco-German Entente

The Bulgarian Crisis and its Consequences

12. THE CREATION OF THE GERMAN COLONIAL EMPIRE

Bismarck’s Motives

The Annexations in Africa and the Far East

Bismarck’s Disillusion with the Colonies

PART SEVEN: ASSESSMENT

13. BISMARCK IN MYTH AND REALITY

Bismarck in Retirement

His Achievements

Bismarck and the Historians

Conclusion

PART EIGHT: DOCUMENTS

1 Arminius Riemann’s speech at the Wartburg Festival in 1817

2 The Historian A.J.P. Taylor on the 1848 Revolutions

3 The Economy and National Unity

4 The Nationalverein Programme, 1859

5 The Prussian Liberals Long for a German Cavour, 1861

6 King William and the Army Bill

7 Bismarck Foresees war with Austria

8 Bismarck and the German Confederation

9 Blood and Iron

10 Bismarck and Commercial Reform, 1865

11 The Internal Impact of Düppel

12 Liberal opposition to the War of 1866

13 Bismarck and Schleswig-Holstein

14 Bismarck Defends the Austria Alliance, February 1865

15 Financing mobilization, July 1865

16 The Gastein Convention, 14 August, 1865

17 Bismarck’s Peace Policy, July 1866

18 Russian and British views on Prussia’s victory, 1866

19The National Liberals and the North German Confederation

20 Bismarck on War, March 1867

21 Bismarck and German Unity in 1869

22 The Ems Telegram

23 French Partisans, December 1870

24 Military Impatience with Bismarck, December 1870

25 Alsace-Lorraine

26 Bismarck’s Power

27 Speculation Mania

28 The Industrialization of Germany

29 The Flight from the Land

30 Grain Prices

31 The Foundation of the Association for Reform of Taxation and Economy

32 Grassroots Support for Protection

33 Condition of the Urban Working Class in Germany, 1893

34 Reichstag Elections, 1871-1890

35 Annual Earnings of workers in Industries, Commerce and Transport, 1871-1913

36 Bismarck Attacks the Catholic Clergy

37 Bismarck’s Guiding Principle in Domestic Policy

38 A Liberal Academic Asseses Bismarck

39 Extracts from the Ant-Socialist Law, 1878

40 German Grain Tariffs

41 Rumours of a coup

42 The Conservative Bias of the Prussian Civil Service

43 Disagreement between WilliamII and Bismarck, January 1890

44 Bismarck declares Germany a satiated Power

45 Bismarck Defends the Dual Alliance

46 Separate Protocol to the Three Emperors’ Alliance, 18 June 1881

47 Atmosphere at St Petersburg, Autumn, 1886

48 Angra Pequena

49 German Historians as History

50 Hans-Ulrich Wehler’s interpretation of Bismarck’s Politics after 1871

Guide to Further Reading

References

Index