Editing Austro-Prussian War (section)

=== Nationalism ===
[[File:Austro-prussian-war-1866.png|thumb|upright=1.8|Map depicting deployment and advance of Austrian (red) and Prussian (green) troops and their allies {{In lang|ru}}]]
[[File:Battle of Koniggratz.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Depiction of [[Prussia]]n and [[Austrian Empire|Austrian]] troop movements and maneuvers during the Battle of Königgrätz {{In lang|de}}]]
[[File:Main-Karte-160710 - Mainarmee.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|Movements of the Prussian Army near the Main river {{In lang|de}}]]
At the time of the war, there was no strong national consciousness in Germany.<ref name="marcel">Stoetzler, Marcel (2003) ''Liberalism, nationalism and anti-semitism in the 'Berlin anti-semitism dispute' of 1879/1880''. PhD thesis, Middlesex University. p. 47</ref> Michael Hughes notes that in regards to Germany, "nationalism was a minority movement, deeply divided and with only a marginal impact on German political life".<ref name="hughes_106">{{Cite book |last=Hughes |first=Michael |title=Nationalism and society, Germany 1800–1945 |date=1988 |publisher=Hodder Arnold |isbn=0713165227 |location=London |page=106}}</ref> German newspapers were almost exclusively concerned with local affairs or their respective state governments, and the individual German states cultivated loyalty towards themselves. While rivalry with France was an important element of German nationalist myth-making, many Germans cooperated with France during the Napoleonic Era, and those who resisted France did not do so out of nationalist sentiment.{{Sfn|Breuilly|1996|pages=24–25}} According to [[John Breuilly]], any sense of a common German identity "was weakly developed and confined to particular groups" and "there was very little demand, certainly at popular level, for unification".{{Sfn|Breuilly|1996|pages=10, 24}} The liberal-nationalist concept of a united Germany had also become unpopular following the fall of the [[Frankfurt Parliament]] in 1849.<ref name="ashton_183">{{Cite book |last=Ashton |first=Bodie A. |title=The Kingdom of Württemberg and the Making of Germany, 1815–1871 |date=2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury 3PL |isbn=978-1350000070 |page=183}}</ref> One of the strongest social forces in Germany at the time was religion, which provided Germans with common confessional values and identities that transcended national boundaries. This led to a strong confessional rivalry between the southern Catholic and northern Protestant states. Breuilly remarks that the confessional rivalry was so strong that "a Hamburg Lutheran had more in common with a Swedish Lutheran than with an Austrian Catholic".{{Sfn|Breuilly|1996|pages=24–25}} The minor nations of Germany valued their independence and believed that their ability to remain sovereign depended on Austro-Prussian dualism, with neither side allowed to become too powerful. Confessional division also played an important role in German dualism, and there was a strong pressure in Catholic states to support Austria.{{Sfn|Breuilly|1996|page=72}} In the absence of nationalist sentiment, a united German state could only be created through external force.<ref name="marcel"/> Bismarck recognised this, remarking in 1862 that a united German state could not be forged through "speeches and majority decisions" but only through "blood and iron".<ref name="hoyer_47">{{Cite book |last=Hoyer |first=Katja |author-link=Katja Hoyer |title=Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871–1918 |date=2021 |publisher=[[The History Press]] |isbn=978-0750996228 |location=Cheltenham |page=47}}</ref>