The Unification of Germany is considered as a symbol of the contradiction between the 'ideal of nationalism' and the 'realities of power politics'. In this context, critically examine the paths of unification and its international implications.

Ideal versus power

• The nationalist ideal of 1848 wanted a liberal German parliament and a nation based on citizenship and culture.
• The Frankfurt Parliament failed to command an army or to make the Prussian king accept a crown from below.
• Power politics meant that Prussia, Austria, France, and the smaller states would decide Germany by war and alliance, not by a constitution alone.
• Bismarck stated that the great questions would be decided by iron and blood, which is the open claim of power over the 1848 ideal.

Paths of unification

• The grossdeutsch path would have included Austria; the kleindeutsch path excluded Austria and centred Prussia.
• Bismarck used the 1864 war with Denmark, the 1866 war with Austria, and the 1870–71 war with France to isolate rivals and rally German princes.
• The North German Confederation and then the proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles in January 1871 completed the kleindeutsch empire under the Prussian king.
• Universal male suffrage for the Reichstag sat beside an army and a chancellor responsible to the emperor, so liberal nationalism was only partly honoured.

International implications

• A powerful Germany in the middle of Europe ended the older balance that had treated the German lands as a weak centre.
• France was defeated and lost Alsace-Lorraine, which planted a lasting hostility.
• Austria was pushed out of German affairs and turned toward the Balkans, which later fed the alliance system before 1914.
• Britain and Russia had to treat Germany as a new industrial and military pole, which is the European implication of unification by power.