Voltaire commented that the empire was neither sacred, nor Roman, nor empire. However, Germany is now a unified country.
Under Bismarck's leadership, Prussia gradually rose from an obscure small state to a powerful military power. However, Prussia's position during the Holy Roman Empire was inconspicuous, far from rich Austria, the land was barren, and the coastline was only tidal flats, which could not be used for seafaring.
For this reason, Prussia was called "the sandstone cans of the Holy Roman Empire".
During the HRE Empire in 1512, Prussia, a small country in a remote corner, rose rapidly and became a division with Austria in the process of unifying Germany.
In the end, under the leadership of the iron-blooded chancellor Bismarck, Germany was successfully reunified and the great cause of German reunification was completed. Austria, on the other hand, was excluded in the process.
Therefore, it can be said that the current Germany was unified from Prussia.
Although the Kingdom of Prussia was established relatively late among European countries, appearing on the banks of the Elbe in the northeastern corner of Germany until the 12th century, this did not hinder its development.
After all, among the many states of the Holy Roman Empire, Brandenburg was nothing more than a small place in the middle of nowhere. However, it was this small place that later developed into the powerful Kingdom of Prussia.
The Marquis of Brandenburg, this place is almost a barren land. The soil there is barren and full of sandy lowlands and swamps, which cannot be compared with the French Plain or the Eastern European Plain.
Although it is located near the Baltic Sea, its shores are all tidal flats, and it is not possible to develop the seafaring industry that Europe is proud of. In the agrarian era, the land here could have been initially developed, but in the eyes of others, it was a typical wilderness.
In addition, this place has no natural barriers, and it is vulnerable to the invasion of Viking and cannot accumulate enough strength to resist external harassment, so it has been in the midst of war for a long time, and it has become a place that is not loved by abandoned fathers and mothers.
However, in 1415, the HRE Emperor Sigismund bestowed the poor land, along with the title of Elector, to Frederick VI, the head of the Hohenzollern family.
At the time, the Hohenzollerns were only vassals of the HRE Emperor, but with years of loyalty and constant money and gifts to the HRE Emperor, Sigismund reluctantly gave them a piece of land, and also gave them the title of Elector.
Not content with living in remote and barren Brandenburg, the Hohenzollerns were eager to develop. With the title of Elector, they can participate in the election of the Emperor of the HRE, which is their chance.
Soon after arriving in Brandenburg, they gained a foothold and then began to actively expand abroad. However, due to the small size of Brandenburg and the lack of population, they could only expand their territory through marriage and purchase.
Eventually, they quietly annexed many territories within the HRE, including the Prussian region. Prussia was originally a principality founded by Albrecht, the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, and was subject to Poland.
In 1618, the Duchy of Prussia became extinct, which gave Johann Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg at the time, an opportunity. He quickly incorporated the Duchy of Prussia into his territory, which was not uncommon in Europe at the time.
In order to obtain the consent of Poland, he spent a lot of money and finally succeeded in taking over the Prussian region.
Although the Brandenburg-Prussia union was successful in 1618, a large-scale Thirty Years' War broke out in Europe. Since the newly merged Brandenburg-Prussia was too weak to participate in the war, it declared neutrality and did not participate in the wars of other countries.
However, other countries did not recognize its neutral status and directly launched the war. By the end of the war, the population of Brandenburg-Prussia had been decimated by two-thirds.
After the end of the Thirty Years' War, Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg-Prussia. Deeply aware of the cruelty of war, William decided to reform the domestic system and create a powerful monarchical kingdom.
He attached great importance to army building, cultivating an army capable of fighting well, and coerced and suppressed the nobles to swear allegiance to him. In addition, he actively attracted Protestants, especially Huguenots, who brought not only population and technology to Brandenburg-Prussia, but also financial support.
Through army expansion and diplomacy, Frederick. Wilhelm succeeded in removing Polish suzerainty over Prussia and making Prussia his own. In 1700, the HRE Emperor Leopold I was at war with France, but he was short on troops, at which point Frederick III offered to provide 8,000 troops, but on the condition that he be given the title of king.
Leopold I agreed without hesitation, believing that the title of king was not important, but that it was important to be able to get more troops.
On January 18, 1701, Frederick III officially founded the Kingdom of Prussia and renamed it "Elector of Landenberg and King of Prussia", becoming the first king of the Kingdom of Prussia, Frederick I.
From then on, Prussia became the general name for all the Hohenzollern family fiefdoms and began to expand into the surrounding countries. In particular, after the end of the War for the Spanish Throne in 1714, Europe entered a period of relative peace, and Prussia took this opportunity to frantically develop its military power in an attempt to unify the German region, and repeatedly clashed with Austria.
In pre-unified Germany, the Holy Roman Empire was a confederation of peoples who relied only on religious beliefs to maintain their identity. As a result, clerical power prevails over secular power.
However, with the development of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, the authority of the Holy See gradually declined, and the New Thinkers shook the foundation on which the Holy See maintained its authority. As religious mysteries continued to be revealed, the influence and appeal of the Holy See declined dramatically, and its control over secular states such as Austria was greatly reduced.
Subsequently, the French Revolution swept across Europe, shaking the foundations of royal power, and many countries began to carry out reforms. During this period, Prussia and Austria simultaneously began the reforms of the enlightened monarchs**.
Austria had long been under the control of the aristocracy, the land and serfdom problems had not been resolved, and the reform resistance was great, and in the end only a medieval monarchy remained. Soon after the establishment of the Kingdom of Prussia, there was little resistance to reform, and after the successful reform, the national strength increased.
However, a powerful figure emerged in Europe, Napoleon, who not only unified the European countries, but also promoted the currents of nationalism and revolution, which eventually led to the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire.
Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to call Napoleon the Internet the father of the German Empire, after all, it was precisely because of the disappearance of the HRE that Prussia had the opportunity to unify the German regions.
In the process of fighting Napoleon, Prussia, Austria and other countries participated in the anti-French alliance many times. Despite repeated defeats, they began to realize that the backward feudal monarchy could not withstand the rise of the new bourgeoisie.
With the rise of the Industrial Revolution, Prussia underwent comprehensive reforms, industry developed, and its political influence gradually expanded. In 1834, Prussia took the lead in creating the German Customs Union, intending to unify Germany economically, to the exclusion of Austria.
In 1862, after Bismarck became Chancellor of the Kingdom of Prussia, he immediately began the project of German unification with his strong economic power and military rise. At the same time, Austria, which had been a direct territory of the HRE, also had a unified idea.
As the two largest kingdoms in Germany, both Prussia and Austria tried to see themselves as allies in the German region, co-opting other states. Prussia pursued an iron-blooded policy, which caused discontent among the other states.
The goal of the iron-blooded Chancellor Bismarck was not to start a war with Austria, but to solve external problems first. One of the most important issues is the dispute with the Danish regions of Schleswig and Sulstein.
The place was inhabited by a large number of Germans, but was controlled by Denmark. As early as 1848, the secession movement from Denmark broke out here. In 1864, Bismarck seized the opportunity of the death of the old Danish king to use the interests of Schleswig and Holstein as a bait to get Austria into the war.
As a result, the Prussian-Austrian forces launched an attack on Denmark, which was defeated and forced to hand over the Schleswig and Holstein regions to Germany and Prussia.
Would Bismarck give Austria the territories he had acquired after his victory in the Prussian-Danish War? The answer is no. As a matter of fact, he had long been suspicious of Austria, and as early as the third year after the victory in the Prussian-Danish War, he induced Austria to declare war on Prussia under the pretext of having the right to jointly possess Schleswig and Holstey.
Prussia and Austria had their own ideas on the question of German unification, with Austria advocating the establishment of a Greater German Reich dominated by Austria, while Prussia wished to establish a small German Reich excluding Austria.
Since we can't talk about it, we can only solve the problem by war. In 1866, Prussia mobilized 600,000 men to fight against the Austrian coalition, and the victory in the Prussian-Danish War aroused the national consciousness of the Germans, and their combat effectiveness was significantly improved.
In addition, Prussia also made use of the well-developed railway network to deploy troops, and was equipped with advanced breech guns and powerful heavy artillery, which greatly improved the efficiency of operations. The Prussian army, led by Moltke, divided its forces and fought together, and finally defeated the Austrian coalition.
Upon learning that Moltke was going to attack the Austrian capital Vienna, Moltke Bismarck immediately ordered the operation to be halted. His goal was to annex some Austrian territories. However, King Wilhelm I of Prussia decided to abandon territorial claims, with the condition that Austria must not obstruct Prussia's plans to unify the German regions.
In this way, Austria was excluded from Germany and disgraced. Faced with ethnic separation at home, Austria had no choice but to compromise and establish a dualist Austro-Hungarian Empire with Hungary.
France, fearing the rise of Prussia, frequently colluded with other countries to obstruct the unification of Prussia. This made Bismarck realize that if he wanted to achieve the unification of Germany, he had to solve the French question first.
At this time, the Spanish throne was vacant, and Napoleon III expressed his displeasure with Prince Leopold of the Hohenzollern family taking over the Spanish throne, as this would put France in a dangerous position to be caught between Germany and Spain.
Napoleon III, for the sake of the Germans' chances of ascending to the throne, began to directly threaten Wilhelm I that if he supported Prince Leopold, then Napoleon III would declare war on Prussia.
Under pressure, William I was forced to withdraw his statement of support for Prince Leopold. However, Bismarck was very angry about this, and slightly modified the telegram of Wilhelm I renounced the struggle for the Spanish throne, claiming to support Prince Leopold, and even sent it to other countries, which completely angered France, and the Franco-Prussian War broke out.
In July 1870, France declared war on Prussia. Under Bismarck's vigorous propaganda, German national sentiment was stirred up and united with the outside world. The states fought against France under the banner of the King of Prussia, and the German region began a national war of resistance against France.
In just a month, the French army was defeated. The Prussian army then attacked mainland France, and Napoleon III was completely surrounded at the Battle of Sedan in September, and 100,000 French troops were forced to surrender after only one day of resistance.
The defeat of Napoleon III and the victory of Prussia greatly inspired the German nation. Bismarck was convinced that the Prussian army should continue its advance on Paris, and eventually succeeded in encircling the city, thus defeating France, an external rival that had long hindered German unification.
In 1871, Wilhelm I was crowned Emperor of Germany at Versailles, marking the completion of the political unification of Germany and entering the imperial era as the new overlord of the European continent, replacing the previous France.