HIS241H1 Lecture : German Unification
Document Summary
Napoleon iii managed to shut-up the french nationalists. Just as he enlarged france, there was an economic depression and the liberals who would have accepted napoleon turned against him and became supporters of the left. Constitutional crisis in prussia; wilhelm not able to solve crisis, appointed a minister: bismarck, who turned out to be one of the best chancellors. He set a precedent and a symbol for international relations and affairs. Bismarck did not only want to settle the score, but sought a german unification, outmanoeuvre austria. Napoleon iii came to the aid of bismarck. Bismarck more intellectual than napoleon and outplayed him. 1859, bismarck and napoleon crossed paths, napoleon said the tall german is insignificant . Following that bismarck said napoleon is a sphinx without a riddle (a beast that no-one ever knows what is thinking) 1863: new danish king decided to score some northern german territory, which upset the german nationalists.
