William Tyler
Bismarck and Unification
Summary
Bismarck is the outstanding Prussian/German of the mid 19th century. It was Bismarck who saw through German Unification in 1871. He famously remarked that unification would not be brought about ‘by speeches and the resolutions of majorities but by blood and iron’. And so Bismarck took Germany to war, firstly with Denmark, then with Austria, and, finally, with Napoleon III’s France. Bismarck’s aim was the consolidation of Germany under Prussian rule. He had no wish to drive eastwards towards the German lands of Austria as Hitler did. Hitler’s dream was different- it was of a Greater Germany encompassing Austria and other lands where Germans were living in significant numbers.
The idea of German unification had been around since Napoleonic interventions in the political structures in Europe at the beginning of the 19th century.
Bismarck changed the history of Germany (and of Europe), and his legacy lives on in today’s Democratic German state, and arguably in Germany’s leading role within The EU.
William Tyler
William Tyler has spent his entire professional life in adult education, beginning at Kingsgate College in 1969. He has lectured widely for many public bodies, including the University of Cambridge and the WEA, in addition to speaking to many clubs and societies. In 2009, William was awarded the MBE for services to adult education, and he has previously been a scholar in residence at the London Jewish Cultural Centre.
To some extent, the answer is yes, but the bigger question is the rest of Austria, east of Vienna. It’s that he doesn’t want, he doesn’t want all of that problems in the Balkans and in Hungary. He doesn’t want that. He doesn’t see it as being useful in any way whatsoever.