If Bismarck and the king of Prussia wanted so much a complete unification of Germany, why the German Confederation was dissolved after the war of 1866?
The NGC left the south German catholic states out of the confederation, although they were linked to it by the defensive/offensive alliance and by the Zollverein (and for the Zollverein good old Otto invented a brand new parliament which was a world-first! As was to be expected the south Germans voted for anti-Prussian parties in the Zollverein parliament).
Please note that I am quite aware that Bismarck in his memoirs says that he had always the idea of German unification in his heart. Do I believe him? Short answer: NO. Long answer: Otto was very good in masking his true goals, and equally good in convincing friends and opponents that he was always a blunt. open-spoken man, the "honest dealer" of 1878.
Maybe it's time that the super-German nationalists read again the history of German unification, taking away all the trimmings and curlicues which have been encrusted on it.
Hi!
This is really rich of you to accuse others of nationalism, when you show such a weak base knowledge of that time! And your opinions about the Zollverein are facepalm-inducing. A little anecdote about the Zollverein: During the war of 1866, the South German states, despite being on the side of Austria still sent their Zollverein earnings for processing to the central office in Berlin. And Prussia sent their net gains back to the South German States despite being at war with them.
The German Confederation was dissolved because Bismarck and Prussia wanted their main competitor in Germany, Austria, out of the way. You simply could not kick out Austria from the Confederation easily, so for the Prussian aims in Germany, namely Unification under Prussian hegemony, the Confederation had to go.
As Bismarck´s aims,there are tons of documents in the Federal Archives, even the archives of some other nations, from biographers, from collegues of Bismarck and all proof that Bismarck wanted a Unification under Prussian hegemony from the get go.
So please, polish up your history knowledge, put your propaganda pamphlets into the rubbish bin they belong into and stop trolling. Or embarrasing yourself with this show of non-knowledge. Sorry to be this harsh, but I do not react lightly to accusations when the arguments are so clearly wrong.
And to give you some more knowledge about German Unification: Bismarck left the South Grman States out of his new Federation, because to keep France quiet during the War against Austria, he had promised Napi III, to not include the South German States. But he already knew that a war against France, which was itching to meddle in Germany again, would com sooner or later.