United as a single political entity. I haven't been able to find anything outside of pseudo historical mumbo-jumbo. It is interesting though that Germany remained disunited for so long
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Was there an existential fear of a united Germany?
- Thread starter GlobalHumanism
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From what I've read: Yes. Mainly from the French and in a way, the Austrians as well. In fact it was the main reason Napoleon created the Confederation of the Rhine as he did, as he wanted it to serve as a rival to Prussia and Austria to ensure Germany could never unify even if France lost control of the Confederation. The Austrians were fearful as well though, because they'd never accept German unification under themselves as it'd mean they'd have to give up their lands in the Balkans, and any German unification would mean they'd no longer be able to hold sway over certain parts of the German realm.. This is in fact the reason the Austrians rejected German Unification in 1848. The Dutch, Belgians, Danish and Poland (When the PLC was still around) were also hesitant but weren't ever in a position to do anything anyways.
The British never really cared as they just generally didn't care about continental affairs unless they threatened British trade and thus British Naval Superiority. It was only after the Kaiser started a shipbuilding race with them that they suddenly did start caring and allying themselves with France. Russia is an interesting case because on one hand most of the westernizing influence into it came from French and British culture, but on the other hand there were a large number of Germans that were either in or intertwined into the Russian aristocracy, and a lot of the aristocratic culture came from Germany instead - so generally speaking those who weren't a part of the aristocracy were much more wary of a German reunification than those that were. Everyone else just didn't really care much as far as I could tell.
The British never really cared as they just generally didn't care about continental affairs unless they threatened British trade and thus British Naval Superiority. It was only after the Kaiser started a shipbuilding race with them that they suddenly did start caring and allying themselves with France. Russia is an interesting case because on one hand most of the westernizing influence into it came from French and British culture, but on the other hand there were a large number of Germans that were either in or intertwined into the Russian aristocracy, and a lot of the aristocratic culture came from Germany instead - so generally speaking those who weren't a part of the aristocracy were much more wary of a German reunification than those that were. Everyone else just didn't really care much as far as I could tell.
Yes but no. Many in government realized that Germany would inevitably threaten Britain basically the second france lost in 1871, especially because if I recall it had a larger economy than the metropole before the boxer rebellion. The matter at hand was whether france and Russia would be able to stop it- those who believed so were much less concerned
Why were the Balkans considered more valuable than Germany?
And why couldn't they plan to use the newly gained resources from Germany to put down any Balkan rebellions?
It was mainly a question of familiarity and integration. The Austrians already had a stable and firm hold over their Balkan territories and had integrated them into their empire. The rest of Germany aside from Prussia however, was a loose patchwork of German states with wildly varying state institutions, where any unification of Germany was going to require a great deal of effort to actually make them submit to a central authority if they'd even accept such an idea at all. The fear was less about rebellions in the Balkans - though they would likely happen - but more that any agreement of unification would have the stipulation that only the German speaking parts of the Austrian Empire would become a part of Germany, as the rest of Germany just didn't want to deal with the multicultural issues of the Austrian Empire.
On top of all this though you do have to be mindful that the main proponents of a united Germany were liberals, and inevitably liberals are going to want to take more power away from the monarchy, so any unification of Austria with the rest of Germany would mean the Habsburgs would have to give up more power to the people than they'd want. This is why in 1848 King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia also rejected German unification under the Frankfurt Parliament by famously uttering the words "I will not accept a crown from the gutter", as that parliament endeavored to set up a constitutional monarchy in which Friedrich Wilhelm would have no power. It's also why it took Bismarck's political and diplomatic brilliance to actually unite Germany, as he was able to successfully maneuver his way through the political systems to bring the German states together while also maintaining the power of the to-be Kaiser. Ironically this was also kind of the German Empire's downfall as it was thanks to his great powers that Kaiser Wilhelm made the disastrous decisions that would lead to ostracizing the British and the Russians diplomatically which would end up just driving them right into the hands of the French diplomatically.
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It's a bit of a misleading phrasing but German nationalists didn't want anything to do with the extraterritorial lands of the non-German speaking lands of Austria. Bohemia was the only exception because of it's historical and cultural ties to Germany. And to the nationalists, lands in Hungary and Croatia weren't compatible to the nation they wanted.
Russian policy under Nicholas I (at least until the 1850s) was very much focused on preventing either Austria or Prussia from unifying Germany, or even gaining too much influence over it.
This is an overstatement. Sure there were some liberal nationalists who wanted every people to have their own state, but there were plenty of nationalists who would have been very happy to have Eastern European peoples under the German thumb. As the next century after unification proved.
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I too have an existential fear of a united germany.
I wet my bed every night dreaming of this.
Yes. When the question is asked, we have to ask who is asking?
The majority of the old regimes were terrified of a untied Germany mostly from the awakening of nationalistic sentiments. A 'liberal' (19th century definition), nationalistic Germany was feared to be a Revolutionary France 2.0...
That being said, not a many people predicted Prussia's meteoric rise to lead the unification. In hindsight, we see Prussia's rise as a major threat to the other powers, but at the time virtually every other state viewed Prussia as the 'weakest great power' and treated them so. That's why there was no united international effort to prevent their efforts between 1850 and 1871. Some liberal British and French even welcomed it, as they saw Prussia as a more modern state than Austria and figured they would be a more fruitful partner in the Concert of Europe versus the Austrians who were perceived as autocratic and behind on the times.
No, no it's not. Every proposal spitted out for a potential unification of Germany by the nationalists specifically excluded Hungary. No German, except the Austrian, wanted to deal with the Eastern Europeans in their state. It wasn't just a liberal nationalist idea to split up the Austrians, the Casino, Pariser Hof, and Café Milani--conservative factions in the National Assembly wanted to split up the Austrians. Opposing factions such as the Weidenbusch which favored Kleindeutschland did so for the specific reason of not wanting Eastern Europeans and saw splitting up Austria as too much of a hassle.
Nope is that even the German princes loved their microstates too much,it took french revolution to change things and even them Austria , Prussia and the right wing (called liberals) all wanted different things
It certainly was in the direct interest of every major neighboring entity to NOT have to deal with It and be able to project power, much like how a disunited Italy suited the interests of the Austrians, the French and the British.
The problem is, one does not simply reassert indirect dominance. The Germans would have had to come back, spill blood, and enforce whatever they wanted if they wanted actual control, over places all too happy - at least initially - to align with others to thwart German aims.
The problem is, one does not simply reassert indirect dominance. The Germans would have had to come back, spill blood, and enforce whatever they wanted if they wanted actual control, over places all too happy - at least initially - to align with others to thwart German aims.
Actually, Britain (along with Russia) did threaten war against Germany in 1875 after Germany had talked about possibly carrying out a preventative war against France after they had recovered unexpectedly quickly (Apparently, Germany after the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 was originally expecting France to not be a threat to Germany until around 20-50 years).
So the were perfectly happy to hand the sizeable German communities in Hungary and Transylvania over to foreign rule? Not what I'd normally expect from German nationalists.
Anyway how would they get a choice. There were only three ways a united Germany could happen
1) Agreement between the Austrian 'Emperor and the King of Pt russia
b) War in which Austria defeats Prussia
3) War in which Prussia defeats Austria.
Either 1 or 2 means that all of Austria is included. The Emperor would never settle for less. , while 3 means that Austra is excluded altogether. There was no "half and half" option.