Briefly trace the process of German unification.
The Frankfurt Parliament, which was convened in the church of St Paul on 18th May, 1848, was the first major step, towards the unification of German states.
Otto von Bismarck, the Chief Minister of Prussia, carried out the process of unification with the help of the Prussian Army and bureaucracy.
The other four stages towards the unification of Germany are
(i) The liberal initiatives of nation building were repressed by the monarchy and big landlords of Prussia. From then on Prussia took the initiative to unify Germany.
(ii) Bismarck was convinced that the unification of Germany could be only achieved by the princes, not by the common people.
He wanted to achieve his aim by merging Prussia into Germany. In 1867, Bismarck became the Chancellor of the North confederation.
(iii) Bismarck’s main objective was to unify Germany and was accomplished by three wars with Austria, Denmark and France which were fought in a brief period of seven years.
(iv) These wars were ended with the victory of Prussia which helped in completing the process of German unification. On 18th January, 1871, in the Royal Palace of Versailles, the king of Prussia, Kaiser William I was crowned as the German Emperor. It symbolised the birth of a united Germany.
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