German Unification


Germany

Germany has only been a unified nation since 1871, when Otto Von Bismark created alliances with the important states of the south, namely, Baden, Wurttemberg and Bavaria. Under these alliances these states agreed to place their military forces under the command of the king of Prussia in case of war against the confederation

Lacking geographical boundaries except for the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, Germany was in the path of migrations and invasions from the east and the west. The fluidity of the population helped delay German unification.

Also working against national unity was the ethnic variety of the "Germans". Germans of Roman descent shared the west and southwest with those of Celtic ancestry, who also lived in the south. Those of Germanic, or Teutonic, origin occupied the north, center, and east, while Baltic peoples inhabited the northeast and Slavs the east and southeast. Generally, the north and east later became Protestant and the south and west remained Roman Catholic.

These differences encouraged devotion to particular homelands, on the one hand, and antipathy toward neighboring groups, on the other. Germans occasionally engaged in divisive civil wars but finally merged their differences in a supranational empire. Individualistic, and yet often submissive to authority, they were slow to develop effective representative government.

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