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 Germany
The Rise of Bismarck and the Birth of the Second German Reich
Meanwhile, Prussia was developing into a state
of considerable strength. Frederick the Great (1740–1786) reorganized the
Prussian army and defeated Maria Theresa of Austria in a struggle over
Silesia. After the defeat of Napoléon at Waterloo (1815), the struggle
between Austria and Prussia for supremacy in Germany continued, reaching
its climax in the defeat of Austria in the Seven Weeks' War (1866) and the
formation of the Prussian-dominated North German Confederation (1867). The
architect of this new German unity was Otto von Bismarck, a conservative,
monarchist, and militaristic Prussian prime minister. He unified all of
Germany in a series of three wars against Denmark (1864), Austria (1866),
and France (1870–1871). On Jan. 18, 1871, King Wilhelm I of Prussia was
proclaimed German emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. The North
German Confederation was abolished, and the Second German Reich,
consisting of the North and South German states, was born. With a powerful
army, an efficient bureaucracy, and a loyal bourgeoisie, Chancellor
Bismarck consolidated a powerful centralized state.
Wilhelm II dismissed Bismarck in 1890 and
embarked upon a “New Course,” stressing an intensified colonialism and a
powerful navy. His chaotic foreign policy culminated in the diplomatic
isolation of Germany and the disastrous defeat in World War I (1914–1918).
The Second German Empire collapsed following the defeat of the German
armies in 1918, the naval mutiny at Kiel, and the flight of the kaiser to
the Netherlands. The Social Democrats, led by Friedrich Ebert and Philipp
Scheidemann, crushed the Communists and established a moderate state,
known as the Weimar Republic, with Ebert as president. President Ebert
died on Feb. 28, 1925, and on April 26, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg
was elected president. The majority of Germans regarded the Weimar
Republic as a child of defeat, imposed on a Germany whose legitimate
aspirations to world leadership had been thwarted by a worldwide
conspiracy. Added to this were a crippling currency debacle, a tremendous
burden of reparations, and acute economic distress.
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