Germany unification 1 Until 1871 Germany,as a state,didn’t exist. To its unification sovereign, independent, mostly tinies kingdoms, principalities, duchies and etc, that were located in Central Europe, had been gone centuries. In the 800s all of them were bound together in Holy Roman empire . By the end of XVIII century this political entity did not have enough influence why because a competition between biggest and strongest parts of its, that were Austria and Prussia, were rising step by step.

Traditionally Austria was dominated Germany state, so the Gabsburgs( royal Austrian finaste) was empire of Holy Roman Empire too. However, in 1740s Prussia began to challenge Austria’s hegemony.

In 1806 Holy Roman Empire was disbanded and The Congress of Vienna decided to consolidate the German states and to create the German confederation, which should consist 39 states, including Austria and Prussia.

By the 1850s the main issue of Germany unification were its conceptions. There were 2: a “greater”and a “smaller” Germany.

The first was that Germany should include Austria, and the second meant its excluding.

Since 1862, when Otto von Bismarck became Prussia’s minister-president, it’s foreign policy had been activated. The main goal at this area for Bismarck was to unite Germany under the leadership of Prussia, and the only one way to achieve it is “irone and blood”. Bismarck believed that the most reliable guarantee of Prussia’s interests protection is not a law, is power, e.g. military power of the state.

The first war of German unification was the 1862 danish war,began when Denmark attempted to annex Schleswig and Holstein, taking advantage of the distraction of the great powers to internal problems. Bismarck agreed with Austria on joint attacks against Denmark. Eventually by February 1864 Schleswig was took.