Unification of Germany: Impact of German unification

Impact of German unification

Think of a class where a new student arrives who is taller, stronger and smarter than everyone. The old leaders get nervous and form groups to balance him. That is what happened in Europe after 1871.

Each impact, explained

• Balance of power: this is the idea that no single country should be strong enough to dominate Europe. Germany’s rise upset it.
• Revanchism: from the French word for revenge. The French wanted Alsace-Lorraine back and never accepted the loss.
• Alliance system: Bismarck’s aim was to keep France friendless. The Dreikaiserbund (League of the Three Emperors) linked Germany, Austria and Russia. The Triple Alliance added Italy. The secret Reinsurance Treaty kept Russia friendly.
• Kulturkampf: “culture struggle”, Bismarck’s campaign to cut the Catholic Church’s power. He later dropped it.
• Social insurance: to win workers away from socialists, he started the world’s first state schemes for sickness, accident and old-age insurance. Modern welfare states grew from this idea.
• Weltpolitik: “world policy”. Kaiser Wilhelm II wanted colonies and a big navy. Britain, the naval power, felt threatened.

Who really ruled the new Germany?

The ‘Second Reich’ (1871–1918) was federal but Prussian-dominated: the Kaiser was King of Prussia and the Chancellor answered to him, not to the Reichstag, the elected parliament. So Germany had elections, but real power stayed with the emperor, the army and the nobles.

The road to 1914

After 1890 Germany let the Reinsurance Treaty lapse. Russia then turned to France and signed an alliance with it in 1894. Britain later joined them in the Triple Entente (1907). Europe was now split into two armed camps, which is why a single murder in 1914 could spark a world war.

Germany as a peace broker

After 1871 Bismarck said Germany was “satisfied” and wanted no more land. He hosted the Congress of Berlin in 1878, which settled a crisis in the Balkans, calling himself an “honest broker”, a neutral middleman. His goal was simple: keep the peace so Germany could keep what it had won.

Germany’s economic rise

Germany grew fast. By the 1890s it was making more steel than Britain, and it led the world in chemicals and electrical goods. Its technical schools and universities trained engineers and scientists. This economic muscle made the British nervous, adding trade rivalry to the naval race that began after Britain launched the Dreadnought battleship in 1906.

Common doubts

Was German unification good or bad for Europe? Both. It created a modern, industrial state with the first welfare schemes. But it also made a powerful, militaristic country at the centre of Europe and left France bitter.

Why is it called the Second Reich? Reich means empire. The first was the old Holy Roman Empire. Hitler later called his regime the Third Reich.

What UPSC asks

Prelims: Alsace-Lorraine, Triple Alliance 1882, Reinsurance Treaty 1887, Bismarck’s social insurance. Mains: how German unification changed the balance of power and led to the First World War.