Chapter 39 German Unification
Chapter 39 German Unification
"What would I have done differently if I unified Germany? Well I would have not given so much power to the Liberals, that's for damn sure."- German Foreign Minister Otto von Bismarck 1863
"I fear that events within Central Europe have gone too far this time. It is time for us to intervene."- Tsar Nicholas I 1846
"We should've never given Prussia control of Silesia. If unchecked they might one day seek to destroy the Hapsburg throne."- Empress Maria Theresa 1748
After a near millennia of disunity Germany was finally one nation. When news of the Frankfurt Parliment spread on September 16th, hundreds of thousands of Germans took to the streets across their new nation to celebrate in rejoice for the unification. Much of the common people were also immensely pleased that the Constitution of the German Empire, while not entirely answering their demands, satisfied the common concerns of the masses and guaranteed much of their basic freedoms while setting up a basic legislative branch where the people would have the power. One group who was visibly not pleased with this arrangement were the monarchists and the South Germans, specifically Bavaria, Saxony, Wurttemburg, Baden, and Hanover. The passing of the constitution had only happened with a slim majority, the above mentioned providing the opposition. Their reasons for going against the constitution were numerous, the chief among them being the domination of Germany by a Protestant Prussia with the noble classes seemingly losing their rights. Even though the German Constitution still set up for a Federal system, many still feared that South Germany would be a mere puppet to Prussia's whims. Thus in the aftermath the delegates of the opposition swiftly went back to their home countries so that the leaders could plot their next course of action. What they did not expect was for Kaiser Wilhelm to foresee this.
General makeup of Germany following the Frankfurt Parliment. Red was Pro-Austrian or independent. Blue Pro-Prussian. Green Neutral. Schlieswig-Holstein is highlighted in Yellow
When Wilhelm had been playing peacemaker and nationbuilder in Frankfurt he hadn't just spent his time focused on the new constitution and discussions of the Imperial Monarchy. During the recess sessions he had met with multiple revolutionaries and Liberals, while also having separate meetings with representatives from the Prussian High Command. Wilhelm knew that Prussia would face much opposition to taking control of the empire, thus in order to take control of his new nation he needed to act fast in the aftermath and secure his reign from all potential opposition and threats. On September 16th before the monarchies of South Germany could mobilize in support of Austria, millions of Germans were martialed and re-ignited the revolutionary sentiment that had been present earlier in the year, surrounding the army barracks and the royal palaces of their nations. At the same time the Prussian Army mobilized and sent multiple divisions to different parts of Germany to support the revolutionaries and enforce unification and the enactment of the German Constitution. All of these actions came from the mind of King/Kaiser Wilhelm as he managed to convince the revolutionaries that unless they acted now that all of their efforts will be lost and German Unification pushed back decades later. With Prussia having the largest and most modern military in all of Germany, their support was sure to help the revolution to succeed. Within days all of Southern Germany was blitzkrieged in quick order with the national armies of the opposition being unable to mobilize due to popular support for Germany and the prospect of having to face the elite Prussian troops in battle. While the situation never got out of hand as it did in France, there were several times that many royal families were near execution or deposement, only to be stopped by the Prussians in order to maintain order. For all monarchs Wilhelm gave one ultimatum; surrender and swear allegiance to Wilhelm or be stripped of their lands and titles. One by one all of the opposing monarchs swore fealty to Wilhelm as the new Emperor of the Germans, with the last being King Maximilian II of Bavaria on October 9th. The one unique exception though was Hanover. At the moment the Kingdom was in a virtual stalemate as the revolutionaries had taken to the streets yet the Prussian Army refused to advance into their borders. The reason for this was due to Wilhelm's wish to not start a war with the British over Hanover's annexation into the German Empire. While the Kingdom was no longer in a personal Union with Great Britain its monarch Ernst Augustus, was an Uncle to Queen Victoria, maintaining great ties through the House of Hanover. With the rest of Germany secured negotiations were underway over the status of Hanover which would end next year with the Russian intervention, until then Hanover would be transformed into an unofficial protectorate of the German Empire.
Prussian Army in the midst of the Unification Campaigns
While all this was being done Austria did not sit quietly on the sidelines. When being given news of the Frankfurt Parliment, Emperor Franz Joseph reportedly shot a painting of Kaiser Wilhelm with a colt revolver that he had been gifted to from Texas the year before. To say that the Emperor was furious is quite the understatement. In his viewpoint Prussia had committed the most undeniable treason by usurping power from Austria and unifying Germany under its banner rather than that of the Hapsburgs. Franz Joseph already had enough on his hands with the Hungarian Rebellion and the then ongoing Italian war. Both conflicts however paled in comparison to the potential threat that existed from Germany. Since Austria was potentially a part of Germany then one day Wilhelm could use this as a casus belli to annex Austria directly, forcing the Hapsburg's to kneel before the Hohenzollern dynasty. In order to deal with the threat to the north, Emperor Franz Joseph ordered for the formation of a new army with hundreds of thousands of troops being taken away from the Hungarian and Italian fronts. Commanding the Army was Archduke Albrecht, he was Franz-Joseph's cousin and had received his rank of Field Marshall in only 6 years through apparent nepotism and his noble status rather than any actual qualifications on his part. On October 11th, the hodgepodge Austrian army of 250,000 men set off from Prague in order to bring Prussia to heel and possibly make Austria head of Germany. On October 13th the Austrians had crossed the border and were quickly heading towards Berlin in order to capture the capitol and prevent a prolonged war so that matters could return to Italy and Hungary. Standing in the way of this was the Prussian first army and the Prussian reserves under the command of Prussian Field Marshall Siegfried Lohengramm. Lohengramn was a 64 year old general who was present at the Battle of Waterloo and since then had been making his way through the ranks of the Prussian army for his superior tactics and strategic theory compared to the Prussian nobles at the time. Though most of the regular Prussian forces had been sent to South Germany, Lohengramm still had access to the first army and since the outbreak of the revolution in March had been training tens of thousands of new recruits who joined out of new patriotism and dedication to the new empire. Not wanting Austria to get any close to Berlin, Lohengramm sought to make a stand midway in a field near the city of Breslau with his army of 175,000 men. Initially before the battle the Austrians thought they would be the victors as they were battle experienced and had a larger force. However, there was an old saying that one Prussian is worth 10 Austrians, never was it more proven than the Battle of Breslau On October 18th. The battle was initially began evenly with both sides meeting each other on the field of battle and beginning a stalemate that would last for the next three hours. As time went on however, the Prussians stood their ground and fought fiercely in order to protect the fatherland that had just been created. The Austrians on the other hand, were beginning to disintegrate. Most of the Army was tired from the long march and their fight against both the Hungarians and the Italians, the fact that they were already losing to the two other opponents kept the armies morale at a low point in the beginning. Additionally all non-Slavic troops slowly gave up the fight as they saw this as a conflict between Germans that had no effect on them at all, with the Czechs being a notable exception due to their fears of German annexation. The worst reaction of all was the main Austrian regiments where entire battalions surrendered en mass to the Prussians as they did not want to fight their supposed brothers and wanted to join this new Germany. Even the troops who wanted to fight for the Hapsburg's were hampered by miscommunication from a dozen different languages being spoken by the troops as well as poor training in comparison to the Prussian model. By the end of the day Prussia had Austria under a rout with the main Prussian cavalry and infantry advancing as an unstoppable force while terror reigned from above with the well trained Prussian artillery. The end of the battle was entirely one-sided as Prussia suffered only 8,753 KIA with 12,390 WIA; while this was large it paled in comparison to the Austrians with 32,219 KIA, 30,803 WIA, and 54,467 POW. The untrained Austrians were absolutely no match for the premier army of Europe, the battle proving once and for all who the main power in Germany was. For the next two weeks in what would be called the Halloween campaign, Field Marshal Lohengrammm chased Archduke Albrecht and the Austrians all over Silesia and across the border, winning multiple small victories and capturing even more prisoners. For his valiant leadership and success at Breslau, Seigfreid Lohengramm was promoted to the Prussian nobility and given the title of Count. This would start the von Lohengramm family that would come into prominence with Reinhard von Lohengramm's role in the Great War and its aftermath. In comparison Field Marshal Albrecht was met with a furious Franz Joseph, stripped of his rank and forbidden from entering Vienna again. With the key victory at the Battle of Breslau South Germany gave up and pledged their allegiance to Prussia. Giving Wilehlm the go ahead to be officially corononated on November 11th. Unknown to the new Kaiser of Germany however was the fact that the battle was key in finally steering Tsar Nicholas in the direction of intervention to save the Austrian Empire and prevent the rise of a German Superpower. In 1847 the second phase of the First War for German Unification would begin.
Battle of Breslau
A/N: Hello everyone. I must apologize immensely for this long delay however there are several reasons for it. Last week during the weekdays I had received writer's block and when that ended I received a ton of school work that I had to complete. From Friday to Sunday I was also in a competition for the Model United Nations, luckily though I won an award so that wasn't for naught. I would've updated last night but the bus I was on broke down and we had to wait 3 hours for another one to come pick us up. I'll try to update near daily for the rest of the week since I'm off for thanksgiving. The goal is to have 1846/1847 done by the end of the month, so we'll see how that goes. By the way for you ASB readers I am posting a new timeline within the next 24 hours. It's called "Mobile Suit Gundam: Gihren's Glory", a SI/ISOT of myself into the body of Gihren Zabi from Mobile Suit Gundam (Universal Century). If anyone is interested in it then feel free to check it out and give it a read. Thanks everyone who's read until now and will continue to do so in the future. Long live Texas!
"What would I have done differently if I unified Germany? Well I would have not given so much power to the Liberals, that's for damn sure."- German Foreign Minister Otto von Bismarck 1863
"I fear that events within Central Europe have gone too far this time. It is time for us to intervene."- Tsar Nicholas I 1846
"We should've never given Prussia control of Silesia. If unchecked they might one day seek to destroy the Hapsburg throne."- Empress Maria Theresa 1748
After a near millennia of disunity Germany was finally one nation. When news of the Frankfurt Parliment spread on September 16th, hundreds of thousands of Germans took to the streets across their new nation to celebrate in rejoice for the unification. Much of the common people were also immensely pleased that the Constitution of the German Empire, while not entirely answering their demands, satisfied the common concerns of the masses and guaranteed much of their basic freedoms while setting up a basic legislative branch where the people would have the power. One group who was visibly not pleased with this arrangement were the monarchists and the South Germans, specifically Bavaria, Saxony, Wurttemburg, Baden, and Hanover. The passing of the constitution had only happened with a slim majority, the above mentioned providing the opposition. Their reasons for going against the constitution were numerous, the chief among them being the domination of Germany by a Protestant Prussia with the noble classes seemingly losing their rights. Even though the German Constitution still set up for a Federal system, many still feared that South Germany would be a mere puppet to Prussia's whims. Thus in the aftermath the delegates of the opposition swiftly went back to their home countries so that the leaders could plot their next course of action. What they did not expect was for Kaiser Wilhelm to foresee this.
General makeup of Germany following the Frankfurt Parliment. Red was Pro-Austrian or independent. Blue Pro-Prussian. Green Neutral. Schlieswig-Holstein is highlighted in Yellow
When Wilhelm had been playing peacemaker and nationbuilder in Frankfurt he hadn't just spent his time focused on the new constitution and discussions of the Imperial Monarchy. During the recess sessions he had met with multiple revolutionaries and Liberals, while also having separate meetings with representatives from the Prussian High Command. Wilhelm knew that Prussia would face much opposition to taking control of the empire, thus in order to take control of his new nation he needed to act fast in the aftermath and secure his reign from all potential opposition and threats. On September 16th before the monarchies of South Germany could mobilize in support of Austria, millions of Germans were martialed and re-ignited the revolutionary sentiment that had been present earlier in the year, surrounding the army barracks and the royal palaces of their nations. At the same time the Prussian Army mobilized and sent multiple divisions to different parts of Germany to support the revolutionaries and enforce unification and the enactment of the German Constitution. All of these actions came from the mind of King/Kaiser Wilhelm as he managed to convince the revolutionaries that unless they acted now that all of their efforts will be lost and German Unification pushed back decades later. With Prussia having the largest and most modern military in all of Germany, their support was sure to help the revolution to succeed. Within days all of Southern Germany was blitzkrieged in quick order with the national armies of the opposition being unable to mobilize due to popular support for Germany and the prospect of having to face the elite Prussian troops in battle. While the situation never got out of hand as it did in France, there were several times that many royal families were near execution or deposement, only to be stopped by the Prussians in order to maintain order. For all monarchs Wilhelm gave one ultimatum; surrender and swear allegiance to Wilhelm or be stripped of their lands and titles. One by one all of the opposing monarchs swore fealty to Wilhelm as the new Emperor of the Germans, with the last being King Maximilian II of Bavaria on October 9th. The one unique exception though was Hanover. At the moment the Kingdom was in a virtual stalemate as the revolutionaries had taken to the streets yet the Prussian Army refused to advance into their borders. The reason for this was due to Wilhelm's wish to not start a war with the British over Hanover's annexation into the German Empire. While the Kingdom was no longer in a personal Union with Great Britain its monarch Ernst Augustus, was an Uncle to Queen Victoria, maintaining great ties through the House of Hanover. With the rest of Germany secured negotiations were underway over the status of Hanover which would end next year with the Russian intervention, until then Hanover would be transformed into an unofficial protectorate of the German Empire.
Prussian Army in the midst of the Unification Campaigns
While all this was being done Austria did not sit quietly on the sidelines. When being given news of the Frankfurt Parliment, Emperor Franz Joseph reportedly shot a painting of Kaiser Wilhelm with a colt revolver that he had been gifted to from Texas the year before. To say that the Emperor was furious is quite the understatement. In his viewpoint Prussia had committed the most undeniable treason by usurping power from Austria and unifying Germany under its banner rather than that of the Hapsburgs. Franz Joseph already had enough on his hands with the Hungarian Rebellion and the then ongoing Italian war. Both conflicts however paled in comparison to the potential threat that existed from Germany. Since Austria was potentially a part of Germany then one day Wilhelm could use this as a casus belli to annex Austria directly, forcing the Hapsburg's to kneel before the Hohenzollern dynasty. In order to deal with the threat to the north, Emperor Franz Joseph ordered for the formation of a new army with hundreds of thousands of troops being taken away from the Hungarian and Italian fronts. Commanding the Army was Archduke Albrecht, he was Franz-Joseph's cousin and had received his rank of Field Marshall in only 6 years through apparent nepotism and his noble status rather than any actual qualifications on his part. On October 11th, the hodgepodge Austrian army of 250,000 men set off from Prague in order to bring Prussia to heel and possibly make Austria head of Germany. On October 13th the Austrians had crossed the border and were quickly heading towards Berlin in order to capture the capitol and prevent a prolonged war so that matters could return to Italy and Hungary. Standing in the way of this was the Prussian first army and the Prussian reserves under the command of Prussian Field Marshall Siegfried Lohengramm. Lohengramn was a 64 year old general who was present at the Battle of Waterloo and since then had been making his way through the ranks of the Prussian army for his superior tactics and strategic theory compared to the Prussian nobles at the time. Though most of the regular Prussian forces had been sent to South Germany, Lohengramm still had access to the first army and since the outbreak of the revolution in March had been training tens of thousands of new recruits who joined out of new patriotism and dedication to the new empire. Not wanting Austria to get any close to Berlin, Lohengramm sought to make a stand midway in a field near the city of Breslau with his army of 175,000 men. Initially before the battle the Austrians thought they would be the victors as they were battle experienced and had a larger force. However, there was an old saying that one Prussian is worth 10 Austrians, never was it more proven than the Battle of Breslau On October 18th. The battle was initially began evenly with both sides meeting each other on the field of battle and beginning a stalemate that would last for the next three hours. As time went on however, the Prussians stood their ground and fought fiercely in order to protect the fatherland that had just been created. The Austrians on the other hand, were beginning to disintegrate. Most of the Army was tired from the long march and their fight against both the Hungarians and the Italians, the fact that they were already losing to the two other opponents kept the armies morale at a low point in the beginning. Additionally all non-Slavic troops slowly gave up the fight as they saw this as a conflict between Germans that had no effect on them at all, with the Czechs being a notable exception due to their fears of German annexation. The worst reaction of all was the main Austrian regiments where entire battalions surrendered en mass to the Prussians as they did not want to fight their supposed brothers and wanted to join this new Germany. Even the troops who wanted to fight for the Hapsburg's were hampered by miscommunication from a dozen different languages being spoken by the troops as well as poor training in comparison to the Prussian model. By the end of the day Prussia had Austria under a rout with the main Prussian cavalry and infantry advancing as an unstoppable force while terror reigned from above with the well trained Prussian artillery. The end of the battle was entirely one-sided as Prussia suffered only 8,753 KIA with 12,390 WIA; while this was large it paled in comparison to the Austrians with 32,219 KIA, 30,803 WIA, and 54,467 POW. The untrained Austrians were absolutely no match for the premier army of Europe, the battle proving once and for all who the main power in Germany was. For the next two weeks in what would be called the Halloween campaign, Field Marshal Lohengrammm chased Archduke Albrecht and the Austrians all over Silesia and across the border, winning multiple small victories and capturing even more prisoners. For his valiant leadership and success at Breslau, Seigfreid Lohengramm was promoted to the Prussian nobility and given the title of Count. This would start the von Lohengramm family that would come into prominence with Reinhard von Lohengramm's role in the Great War and its aftermath. In comparison Field Marshal Albrecht was met with a furious Franz Joseph, stripped of his rank and forbidden from entering Vienna again. With the key victory at the Battle of Breslau South Germany gave up and pledged their allegiance to Prussia. Giving Wilehlm the go ahead to be officially corononated on November 11th. Unknown to the new Kaiser of Germany however was the fact that the battle was key in finally steering Tsar Nicholas in the direction of intervention to save the Austrian Empire and prevent the rise of a German Superpower. In 1847 the second phase of the First War for German Unification would begin.
Battle of Breslau
A/N: Hello everyone. I must apologize immensely for this long delay however there are several reasons for it. Last week during the weekdays I had received writer's block and when that ended I received a ton of school work that I had to complete. From Friday to Sunday I was also in a competition for the Model United Nations, luckily though I won an award so that wasn't for naught. I would've updated last night but the bus I was on broke down and we had to wait 3 hours for another one to come pick us up. I'll try to update near daily for the rest of the week since I'm off for thanksgiving. The goal is to have 1846/1847 done by the end of the month, so we'll see how that goes. By the way for you ASB readers I am posting a new timeline within the next 24 hours. It's called "Mobile Suit Gundam: Gihren's Glory", a SI/ISOT of myself into the body of Gihren Zabi from Mobile Suit Gundam (Universal Century). If anyone is interested in it then feel free to check it out and give it a read. Thanks everyone who's read until now and will continue to do so in the future. Long live Texas!
