History of Germany Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

History of Germany - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that several European, Asian and African states had been under the German subjugation particularly during the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Once divided into nearly three hundred and thirty-nine small Prussian states, as a shattered nation of Germania, the country witnessed its unification in 1871 after winning three decisive wars against Denmark, Austria-Hungary, and France in 1864, 1866 and 1871 respectively. The credit certainly goes to the distinguished Prussian statesman and iron chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who united the entire nation under one banner and motivated them to fight jointly against the rival nations in order to regain their lands from them to ensure and complete the unification process. â€Å"The Schleswig-Holstein War humbled Denmark, the Austro-Prussian War ended in the defeat of Austria-Hungary and the Franco-Prussian War completed German unification by the defeat of France. Consequently, Germany tur ned out to be supreme and one of the most powerful sovereign states of the entire region in the wake of the arrest of the French Emperor and the declaration made in the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles in January 1871. Bismarck settled the aftermath of wars against Denmark and Austria-Hungary under very moderate terms and conditions; somehow, he observed unparalleled cruelty and disliking towards France. He not only inflicted upon vanquished France with enormous war indemnity but also snatched her most productive zones including two provinces of Alsace and Lorraine from her. It not only created a boundary wall between the French nation, but also the country had to undergo serious setback after she was deprived of the most productive industrial areas. Hence, Bismarck expressed his extreme repugnance towards the entire French nation, and consequently invited the same bitter sentiments in the hearts and minds of the deprived, humiliated and downtrodden French nation. As a result, feelings of repentance, remorse, hatred, and revenge started growing against the then recently united Germany in the hearts of the French, and Bismarck turned out to be the most unwanted personality for the whole French nation. The sentiments of vengeance arose among the French and the foundations of new foreign policies were laid on the principles of retaliation, uncertainty, and malice. Since the German Chancellor was not unaware of the intense sorrow and grief the French had been undergoing; on the contrary, he acknowledged the very possibility of French invasion whenever she got the opportunity of the same. Consequently, he introduced the politics of alliances in the European governmental avenues and international relations as well in the aftermath of the French humiliation at his own hands with the perils of an imminent French attack on Germany. Thus, the pivot of his foreign policy was to isolate France in the arena of international politics so that she could not manage to threat or t hwart Germany for the future years to come. Under such sheer state of comprehensions, Bismarck created the Dreikaiserbund or the Three Emperors League in 1873, where the Emperors of Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary were united to co-operate with one another at the hour of the need. The alliance also reiterated the moral and strategic support of the allies provided any other state invaded on them. Thus Bismarck's individual foreign policy to isolate France led the world towards the politics of alliances and rivalries dragging these rival alliances on the way to the horrible World War I subsequently.