Fourth option for German unification?

Okay, with any POD before 1871, which German unification scenario that is not any of the following:

1. "Lesser" Unification under Hohenzollern/Prussian hegemony (as OTL)
2. Unification under Habsburg/Austrian hegemony
3. Unification under the Frankfurt Assembly, may or may not be monarchic

would be most plausible or tenable?
 
Okay, with any POD before 1871, which German unification scenario that is not any of the following:

1. "Lesser" Unification under Hohenzollern/Prussian hegemony (as OTL)
2. Unification under Habsburg/Austrian hegemony
3. Unification under the Frankfurt Assembly, may or may not be monarchic

would be most plausible or tenable?
I'd say a Wittelsbach unification personally. But I have a hard time seeing how exactly it would come about.
 
I'd say the most plausible fourth option is unification under outside powers, designed to create a buffer state that keeps France and Russia apart.
 
The Confederation of the Rhine is certainly an option, even if just starting with how it was originally for southern Germany, with Prussians protecting/swallowing up the north, and some central areas being left between them. While I would say at first that setting up republics like done in other areas might work, that would be questionable since the French really just overthrew republics, while annexing monarchy held land that the Capet dynasty had failed to conquer and keep for centuries. Heck, I would say a lot of the work of conquering Germany in the Napoleonic Wars was put on Baden, Wurtenburg, Bavaria, Prussia, and Austria, who all invaded the lands of their neighbors and seized the lands of the Catholic Church they claimed to be a part of. Still, how to bring them together? Maybe a Peasants Uprising a couple centuries back... Nah, everyone would jump on it and slaughter the peasents. The Napoleonic Wars might be the best bet. I know it is veeeeery unlikely, and I mentioned it on timelines here, but maybe the French have it get more centralized under a weaker, more Habsburg descendent of Napoleon Bonaparte. Some war, monarch, rebellion, something is needed to bring them together though, as religion, dialect, and lifestyles were rather important.
 
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