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The German states were united by a series of three wars planned out by Otto Von Bismarck and carried out by teh Prussian state that had diplomatic significance to the people in the different regions.

Bismarck knew that the states in the north wouldn;t join with Prussia unless it seemed like the most logical option. To convince them, he told Demark, that bordered those states, that the duchies of Schlesswieg and Hollstein were German and shouldn't be controlled by Denmark. He made a deal with the Austro-Hungarians that if they fought with Prussia against Denmark, they would get one of the duchies. The Danish-Prussian War ensued. Denmark was defeated, Schlesswieg and Hollstein went under Prussian and Austrian rule and those northern German states saw unity with Prussia as the most logical option. And because Denmark began the war itself, the war saw it as an agressor against a country who want to negotitate through diplomats so there were no hard feelings for Prussia amongst other countries.

Schlesswieg and Hollstein served another purpose. The southeastern German states would rather join Austia-Hungary that with the other German states. Bismarck again thought a war would convince them of German supperiority. The former Danish duchy Prussia had let Austria take provided an excuse. Bismarck told Austria Prussia didn't think Austria was ruling its duchy very well. Austria took offense and began the Austro-Prussian War, also known as the Seven Weeks War. Prussia won, but stopped short of sacking Vienna because they would need Austria as an ally eventually. The southeastern states joined with Prussia and Prussia got the other duchy. And because Austria began the war, the world saw Austria as an agressor against a country who had simply said something through a diplomat so other countries had no hard feelings for Prussia.

Bismarck had to do something rather underhanded to gain the Southwestern provinces as well as Alsace and Lorraine, that were under French control. At Ems, the kaiser of Prussia recieved a telegram from Napolean III of France that described that he felt offended by such-and-such a thing. The Kaiser wrote a very apologietic letter and told Bismarck to send it. However, Bismarck wrote and sent a different, rude letter not only to Napolean, but to multiple French newspapers. When the French demanded answers, Bismarck presented teh Kaiser's letter and claimed Prussia had been framed. The French began the Franco-Prussia War over the offense. It ended and 180,000 French were prisoners of Prussia, including Napolean. The southwestern states joined Prussia and the treaty ceded Alsace and Lorraine to the new Germany. Again, Prussia was not the agressor and was well-liked.

This all occurred over a decade and ended with a united Germany in 1871.

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13y ago

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