Kingdom of Prussia – Wars of Unification, the Schleswig Wars

If you remember in my last post, I mentioned that King William I became King of Prussia in 1861. In 1862, King William nominated Otto von Bismarck to become the Prime Minister of Prussia. Bismarck was very interested in creating what he felt should be a “united” Germany, which meant the uniting of all Germanic nations into one, but with the stipulation that the Prussian ruling class and bureaucracy should remain dominant.

Up to this time, the German Confederation contained several loosely bound principalities without any one dominating power. It was for this reason that Bismarck found it necessary to form one single power and used both diplomatic and Prussian military means to achieve this objective. He made great efforts to gain the support of not only the bureaucracy, but that of the common folk as well by promising to lead the fight for a final German unification.

It took him three major conflicts to gain this status however, which conclusively led to the ultimate naming of William I as the first German Emperor on 18 January 1871.

The first of these conflicts began with the so-called First War of Schleswig beginning in 1848 and ending in 1851 followed by the Second War of Schleswig from 1863 to 1865. If you look at the map below (click on it to enlarge), you can see area 14 (Schleswig) and 8 (Holstein).

The Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein were in alliance with the Kingdom of Denmark, whereas the Duchy of Holstein was already part of the German Confederation at that time. The conflict began because Denmark (in the white area marked “Expansion of Prussia”) attempted to annex Schleswig (14) but not Holstein (8) and Prussia decided to intervene by taking both territories for itself. The Danes were defeated but the other European powers attempted to pressure Prussia into returning Schleswig and Holstein to Denmark.

One of these powers was Austria, who was supported by Russia. Because of this, Prussia was persuaded in 1850 to return Schleswig and Holstein to Denmark's control but only if the Danes were not to integrate Schleswig into Denmark.

In 1863 however, the Danes began once again to attempt an integration of Schleswig by introducing a shared constitution. The German Confederation, led now by the Austrians, saw it necessary to occupy Holstein causing Denmark to withdraw her troops. Denmark continued refusal to give up Schleswig and in 1864, the Prussian and Austrian forces entered Schleswig and thereby initiated the Second War of Schleswig.

A Brief History of Prussian Nobility – Kingdom of Prussia, part 3

As seen in my last post, the Kingdom of Prussia strongly influenced the Northern Germanic states politically and economically and later played a key role in forming the North German Confederation in 1867, thereby unifying 22 states with an estimated population of 30 million.

King Frederick William IV of Prussia; October 15, 1795
to January 2, 1861

Flag of the North German Confederation
and later of the German Empire

This unification however, was unfortunately not preceded without strife. Long and drawn-out struggles between liberals who felt a unified, federal Germany using a democratic constitution to maintain a more clearly represented government against the conservatives who pressured to keep a patchwork of independent, monarchical states, resulted in a power struggle between Prussia, being the strongest and largest of the confederation, and Austria.

Another factor influencing the decision makers within Prussia was a liberal student fraternity movement striving to unify all German states as one nation. Uprisings throughout Europe, beginning with a revolutionary victory in Paris in 1848 ultimately motivated revolutions within the German states in particular.

These led to Prussia’s first constitution in 1850 and allowed for a dual housed parliament consisting of a lower house and an upper house (equivalent to the British House of Lords). Let’s do a bit of math here before continuing. The lower house was elected by taxpayers and was further divided into three classifications – the weight of the vote depended on the amount of taxes paid by the voters. Women and persons who paid no taxes were not allowed to vote! This means, approximately one-third of the voters, ultimately, wealthy men, were to choose about 85% of the parliament! A dangerous business indeed! The upper house consisted of landowning classes appointed directly by the king – the so-called Junkers, which were equivalent to British Dukes and making up the remaining 15% of the votes.

January 2, 1861 heralded the crowning of William I, also known as Wilhelm the Great with the passing of King Frederick William IV, and the beginning of a very dramatic era for the Kingdom of Prussia. With the appointment of Otto von Bismarck as Prime Minister of Prussia in 1862, the defeat of both liberal and conservative initiatives was sealed through Bismarck’s determination to create a united Germany.

Wilhelm I, also known as Wilhelm the Great, King of Prussia from January 2, 1861 to March 9, 1888 and the first German Emperor from 18 January 1871 to March 9, 1888

With the domination of a Prussian ruling class and the lack of a liberal democracy, Bismarck directed Prussia through a series of wars (which I will mention in my next post) which ultimately brought King William I the dual titles of Germany’s first Emperor through the establishment of the German Empire in 1871 while remaining the King of Prussia.

Otto von Bismarck

A Brief History of Prussian Nobility – Kingdom of Prussia, part 2

I would like to begin this post with a map that displays the growth of Brandenburg-Prussia up until 1795. (See below)

In 1740, King Frederick II (Frederick the Great) came to the throne and was largely responsible for the partitioning of Poland between Russia, Prussia and Austria in an attempt to limit the growth of the Russian Empire and stabilize the balance of power for the region. Fredrick William II ascended the throne after Frederick II's death and continued the partitions, gaining the greater part of Poland to the West in 1793. In 1795, the Kingdom of Poland was officially disbanded and its territories were divided up into three new Provinces: New Silesia, South Prussia and New East Prussia.

The Napoleanic Wars (1803-1815) involving Napoleon's establishment of the French Empire and a shifting of European allies and opposing coalitions, were the cause of major change for Prussia and indeed for the rest of Europe. By 1811, Napoleon had managed to conquer nearly all of Europe, as seen in the map below. (The dark green areas show Napoleon's Empire and the light green areas, its territories. The blue, pink and yellow areas indicate French satellite states.)

In August 1806, Friedrich Wilhelm III made the decision to go to war independently of any other great power, save the distant Russia, with whom Prussia was allied but its troops too far away to be of help. This marked a major turning point for Prussia, leading to its near defeat by October, forcing the king and his family to flee temporarily to Klaipėda in today's Lithuania (at that time East Prussia), which possessed one of the strongest fortresses in all of Prussia and thus becoming Prussia's temporary capital. Even worse, Prussia lost about half of its territories, including the three partitioned provinces of Poland gained in 1793 and 1795, which in turn became the Duchy of Warsaw under Napoleon. Beyond that, the king was obliged to make an alliance with France and unwillingly join the Continental System.

Napoleon attempted to invade Russia in 1812 which ultimately lead to his retreat from Moscow and Prussia's breaking their “obliged” allegiance with France. In 1815, a final coalition including the United Kingdom, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands and a number of German states formed to pit one last war effort to stop France's megalomania.

The Prussian army was extremely crucial in the final victory over Napoleon during the infamous Battle of Waterloo in 1815, resulting in the complete recovery of Prussia's lost territories as well as the attainment of the whole of the Rhineland, Westphalia and various other smaller territories, as rewarded during the Congress of Vienna. This resulted in Prussia becoming the dominant power among the Germanic nations and its entering into the German Confederation, replacing the now abolished Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.

Expansion of Prussia from 1807 – 1871

Kingdom of Prussia at the formation of the German Empire in 1871

With these newly acquired regions, the Kingdom of Prussia dominated northern Germany politically, economically, and in terms of population, which had doubled as a result, and was the core of the unified North German Confederation formed in 1867, which became part of the German Empire.

Northern German Confederation

Flag from 1866 - 1871