WI: Was German unification effectively inevitable?

That it didn't happen in OTl doesn't mean it can't. A different Russian calculation is possible especially as it was the minor German princes that suffered and not Austria from the treaty. Prussia took no territory from Austria but did annex Hanover. The deposing of a Divine Right monarch struck deep at the political foundations of Russia. So yes, a different Russian calculation is possible

What do you mean by "calculation"?

The only one that would make any major difference would be a decision to go to war (against the only European power whose interests didn't clash with theirs)and they are hardly going to do that just because they feel the King of Hanover has been hard done by.

And even if Russia did object, Prussia could easily satisfy her by agreeing not to annex all of Hanover - and taking some land from Austria and/or Saxony instead. That, iirc, is what King Wilhelm wanted to do anyway, and a Russian note would just have given him an additional argument to use with Bismarck.
 
What do you mean by "calculation"?

The only one that would make any major difference would be a decision to go to war (against the only European power whose interests didn't clash with theirs)and they are hardly going to do that just because they feel the King of Hanover has been hard done by.

And even if Russia did object, Prussia could easily satisfy her by agreeing not to annex all of Hanover - and taking some land from Austria and/or Saxony instead. That, iirc, is what King Wilhelm wanted to do anyway, and a Russian note would just have given him an additional argument to use with Bismarck.

Bismarck thought they were going as far as Russia would permit. Again, just because Russia tolerates Prussian expansion in OTL , doesn't mean that it is inevitable
 
Bismarck thought they were going as far as Russia would permit. Again, just because Russia tolerates Prussian expansion in OTL , doesn't mean that it is inevitable


You have a source for that? I always understood it was mainly France he was worried about.

Also, he wanted a lenient peace with Austria so that, should he have to fight France, he could keep Vienna neutral. So he would have said whatever he needed to say to win the King over to thid. Thst doesn't mean he believed it.
 
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Liechtenstein is a fairly recent creation heavily dependent on a nearby power (originally Austria, later Switzerland). Andorra exists in a hard to reach place between two historic great powers. Monaco literally only survived thanks to France receiving Nice from Sardinia-Piedmont, otherwise it very likely would've ended up part of Italy.

French protection of Monaco actually goes back to 1641 (Treaty of Péronne).
 
I wonder what would happen if Revolutionary France never dominated Germany and never dissoluted HRE. So Prussia has only tiny enclaves in Rhineland and is almost half Polish, Saxony is intact, Habsburgs are still Holy Roman Emperors.
 
I wonder what would happen if Revolutionary France never dominated Germany and never dissoluted HRE. So Prussia has only tiny enclaves in Rhineland and is almost half Polish, Saxony is intact, Habsburgs are still Holy Roman Emperors.

German unification realized by Austrian Habsburgs or a revolutionary third force.
 
The patchwork quilt that was "the Germanies" is simply not workable in the latter 19th century and in to the 20th. You need some sort of customs union (Zollverein) just for commerce, postal agreements, rail integration and more. This doesn't mean the same German state that existed in 1914, but basically just a few large ones. A German-Austrian union under the Habsburgs is potentially possible with an early PoD, and this might encouragee the Empire to kick loose the Hungarians and maybe simply keep the Adriatic ports and let the rest of the Balkans go hang. Keeping OTL's Czech republic and the western part of Poland only will make minority problems less of an issue.

Geographically separated bits like Prussia-Rhinleand, and the postage stamp size entities and a hundred different legal systems is simply unworkable.
 
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