CHAPTER 1 QUESTION 6

Germany was unified due to a number of reasons. As it joined with smaller states it gained power and wanted to expand due to nationalistic and economic factors. Conditions had to be right though, and organization was necessary. Otto von Bismarck took control of the situation. Bismarck’s role was essential to the unification of Germany.

Though Bismarck may not have intentionally done so, he managed to set in motion the events that lead to Germany’s unification. “There was no fixed plan, but Bismarck was brilliant at exploiting circumstances ” (Kitson 16). He supports this with his own past words: “Politics are not a science based on logic; they are the capacity of always choosing at each instant, in constantly changing situations, the least harmful, the most useful” (Bismarck np). Bismarck did however seem to have a vague idea of what he was doing, according to his conversation with the British politician in Disraeli. A listener quotes: “ ‘I shall soon’, said in effect the Prussian statesman, ‘ be compelled to undertake the conduct of the Prussian Government. My first care will be to organize the army, with or without the help of the Landtag [Prussian Parliament]. The King was right in undertaking this task, but he cannot accomplish it with his present advisers. As soon as the army have been brought into such a condition as to inspire respect, I shall seize the first pretext to declare war against Austria, dissolve the German Diet, subdue the minor states and give national unity to Germany under Prussian leadership’ ” (Count Eckstadt np). By following these steps, Bismarck was able to achieve his perhaps goal of creating the North German Confederation after the defeat of Austria,

Evidently Bismarck’s actions contributed to the unification of Germany. Whether they were done on purpose or not will remain a mystery, but the result still stays the same. He managed to maneuver the situation into its final outcome. If he had not stepped up one can only guess if the unification of Germany would have ever occurred. Bismarck affected and allowed the unification of Germany to take place.