Editing History of Germany (section)

==1815–1871==

===Overview===
[[File:Deutscher Bund.svg|thumb|The [[German Confederation]] 1815–1866. Prussia (in blue) considerably expanded its territory.]]
[[File:NB 1866-1871.99.svg|thumb|The [[North German Confederation]], 1866–1871]]

In 1815, continental Europe was in a state of overall turbulence and exhaustion, as a consequence of the [[French Revolutionary Wars|French Revolutionary]] and [[Napoleonic Wars]]. The liberal spirit of the [[The Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] and Revolutionary era diverged toward [[Romanticism]].<ref>Nicholas Saul, ed. ''The Cambridge companion to German romanticism'' (Cambridge University Press, 2009) ch 1.</ref> The victorious members of the Coalition had negotiated a new peaceful balance of powers in Vienna and agreed to maintain a stable German heartland that keeps French imperialism at bay. However, the idea of reforming the defunct [[Holy Roman Empire]] was discarded. Napoleon's [[German mediatization|reorganization of the German states]] was continued and the remaining princes were allowed to keep their titles. In 1813, in return for guarantees from the Allies that the sovereignty and integrity of the Southern German states ([[Grand Duchy of Baden|Baden]], [[Kingdom of Württemberg|Württemberg]], and [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]]) would be preserved, they broke with France.{{Sfn|Carr|1991|pp=1–2}}

===German Confederation===
{{Main|German Confederation|North German Confederation}}

During the 1815 [[Congress of Vienna]] the 39 former states of the ''Confederation of the Rhine'' joined the [[German Confederation]], a loose agreement for mutual defense. Attempts at economic integration and customs coordination were frustrated by repressive anti-national policies. Great Britain approved of the union, convinced that a stable, peaceful entity in central Europe could discourage aggressive moves by France or Russia. Most historians, however, concluded, that the Confederation was weak and ineffective and an obstacle to German nationalism. The union was undermined by the creation of the [[Zollverein]] in 1834, the [[German revolutions of 1848–1849|1848 revolutions]], the rivalry between Prussia and Austria and was finally dissolved in the wake of the [[Austro-Prussian War]] of 1866,{{Sfn|Lee|1985|pp=332–346}} to be replaced by the [[North German Confederation]] during the same year.{{Sfn|Lee|1985|pp=332–346}}

===Society and economy===
Increasingly after 1815, a centralized Prussian government based in Berlin took over the powers of the nobles, which in terms of control over the peasantry had been almost absolute. To help the nobility avoid indebtedness, Berlin set up a credit institution to provide capital loans in 1809, and extended the loan network to peasants in 1849. When the German Empire was established in 1871, the Junker nobility controlled the army and the navy, the bureaucracy, and the royal court; they generally set governmental policies.{{Sfn|Sagarra|1977|pages=37–55, 183–202}}

====Population====
[[File:Population of German territories 1800 - 2000.JPG|thumb|upright=1.5|Population of German territories 1800 – 2000]]
Between 1815 and 1865 the population of the German Confederation (excluding Austria) grew around 60% from 21 million to 34 million.{{Sfn|Nipperdey|1996|p=86}} Simultaneously the [[Demographic Transition]] took place as the high birth rates and high death rates of the pre-industrial country shifted to low birth and death rates of the fast-growing industrialized urban economic and agricultural system. Increased agricultural productivity secured a steady food supply, as famines and epidemics declined. This allowed people to marry earlier, and have more children. The high birthrate was offset by a very high rate of infant mortality and after 1840, large-scale emigration to the United States. Emigration totaled at 480,000 in the 1840s, 1,200,000 in the 1850s, and at 780,000 in the 1860s. The upper and middle classes first practiced birth control, soon to be universally adopted.{{Sfn|Nipperdey|1996|pp=87–92, 99}}

====Industrialization====
{{Main|Industrialization in Germany}}
[[File:Krupp-Werke in Essen 1864.jpeg|thumb|The [[Krupp|Krupp-Works]] in [[Essen]], 1864]]
[[File:Kemna Lokomotiven.jpg|thumb|Many companies, such as steam-machine producer [[Kemna Bau|J. Kemna]], modeled themselves on English industry.]]
In 1800, Germany's social structure was poorly suited to entrepreneurship or economic development. Domination by France during the French Revolution (1790s to 1815), however, produced important institutional reforms, that included the abolition of feudal restrictions on the sale of large landed estates, the reduction of the power of the guilds in the cities, and the introduction of a new, more efficient commercial law. The idea that these reforms were beneficial for Industrialization is a subject of debate among historians.<ref>{{Cite web |first1=Michael |last1=Kopsidis |first2=Daniel W. |last2=Bromley |title=The French Revolution and German industrialization: The new institutional economics rewrites history |url=https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/97701/1/787963348.pdf |access-date=13 April 2019 |publisher=Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies}}</ref>

In the early 19th century the Industrial Revolution was in full swing in Britain, France, and Belgium. The various small federal states in Germany developed only slowly and autonomously as competition was strong. Early investments for the railway network during the 1830s came almost exclusively from private hands. Without a central regulatory agency, construction projects were quickly realized. Actual industrialization only took off after 1850 in the wake of the railroad construction.<ref name="Mitchell2006"/> The textile industry grew rapidly, profiting from the elimination of tariff barriers by the Zollverein.<ref>{{Citation |last=Tilly |first=Richard |title=Banking in the Early Stages of Industrialization: A Study in Comparative Economic History |pages=151–182 |date=1967 |editor-last=Cameron |editor-first=Rondo |chapter=Germany: 1815–1870 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>{{Sfn|Nipperdey|1996|p=178|ps="On the whole, industrialisation in Germany must be considered to have been positive in its effects. Not only did it change society and the countryside, and finally the world...it created the modern world we live in. It solved the problems of population growth, under-employment and pauperism in a stagnating economy, and abolished dependency on the natural conditions of agriculture, and finally hunger. It created huge improvements in production and both short- and long-term improvements in living standards. However, in terms of social inequality, it can be assumed that it did not change the relative levels of income. Between 1815 and 1873 the statistical distribution of wealth was on the order of 77% to 23% for entrepreneurs and workers respectively. On the other hand, new problems arose, in the form of interrupted growth and new crises, such as urbanisation, "alienation", new underclasses, proletariat and proletarian misery, new injustices and new masters and, eventually, class warfare."}} During the second half of the 19th century German industry grew exponentially and by 1900, Germany was an industrial world leader along with Britain and the United States.{{Sfn|Stolper|2017|loc=ch 1}}

====Urbanization====
In 1800, the population was predominantly rural, as only 10% lived in communities of 5,000 or more people, and only 2% lived in cities of more than 100,000 people. After 1815, the urban population grew rapidly, due to the influx of young people from the rural areas. Berlin grew from 172,000 in 1800, to 826,000 inhabitants in 1870, Hamburg from 130,000 to 290,000, Munich from 40,000 to 269,000 and Dresden from 60,000 to 177,000.{{Sfn|Nipperdey|1996|pp=96–97}}

====Railways====
{{Main|History of rail transport in Germany}}
[[File:Friedrich List und die erste grosse Eisenbahn 2.jpg|thumb|[[Friedrich List]]'s concept for a German railway net from 1833]]
The initial stage of economic development came with the railroad revolution in the 1840s, which opened up new markets for local products, created a pool of middle managers, increased the demand for engineers, architects and skilled machinists and stimulated investments in coal and iron. Political disunity among three dozen states and a pervasive conservatism made it difficult to build railways in the 1830s. However, by the 1840s, trunk lines did link the major cities; each German state was responsible for the lines within its own borders. Economist [[Friedrich List]] summed up the advantages to be derived from the development of the railway system in 1841:
* 1. As a means of national defence, it facilitates the concentration, distribution and direction of the army.
* 2. It is a means for the improvement of the culture of the nation. It brings talent, knowledge and skill of every kind readily to market.
* 3. It secures the community against dearth and famine, and against excessive fluctuation in the prices of the necessities of life.
* 4. It promotes the spirit of the nation, as it has a tendency to destroy the Philistine spirit arising from isolation and provincial prejudice and vanity. It binds nations by ligaments, and promotes an interchange of food and of commodities, thus making it feel to be a unit. The iron rails become a nerve system, which, on the one hand, strengthen public opinion, and, on the other hand, strengthen the power of the state for police and governmental purposes.{{Sfn|Nipperdey|1996|p=165}}

Lacking a technological base at first, engineering and hardware was imported from Britain. In many cities, the new railway shops were the centres of technological awareness and training, so that by 1850, Germany was self-sufficient in meeting the demands of railroad construction, and the railways were a major impetus for the growth of the new steel industry. Observers found that even as late as 1890, their engineering was inferior to Britain. However, German unification in 1870 stimulated consolidation, nationalisation into state-owned companies, and further rapid growth. Unlike the situation in France, the goal was the support of industrialisation. Eventually numerous lines criss-crossed the Ruhr area and other industrial centers and provided good connections to the major ports of Hamburg and Bremen. By 1880, 9,400 locomotives pulled 43,000 passengers and 30,000 tons of freight a day.<ref name="Mitchell2006">{{Cite book |first=Allan |last=Mitchell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mZ6pkm-WgWMC |title=The Great Train Race: Railways and the Franco-German Rivalry, 1815–1914 |publisher=Berghahn Books |date=2006 |isbn=978-1-8454-5136-3}}</ref>

====Newspapers and magazines====
{{Main|History of German journalism|History of newspapers and magazines#Germany}}
While there existed no national newspaper the many states issued a great variety of printed media, although they rarely exceeded regional significance. In a typical town existed one or two outlets, urban centers, such as Berlin and Leipzig had dozens. The audience was limited to a few per cent of male adults, chiefly from the aristocratic and upper middle class. Liberal publishers outnumbered conservative ones by a wide margin. Foreign governments bribed editors to guarantee a favorable image.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamerow |first=Theodore S. |title=The Social Foundations of German Unification, 1858–1871: Ideas and Institutions |date=1969 |pages=284–291}}</ref> Censorship was strict, and the imperial government issued the political news that was supposed to be published. After 1871, strict press laws were enforced by Bismarck to contain the Socialists and hostile editors. Editors focused on political commentary, culture, the arts, high culture and the popular serialized novels. Magazines were politically more influential and attracted intellectual authors.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Olson |first=Kenneth E. |title=The history makers: The press of Europe from its beginnings through 1965 |date=1966 |publisher=LSU Press |pages=99–134}}</ref>

====Science and culture during the 18th and 19th century====
19th-century artists and intellectuals were greatly inspired by the ideas of the French Revolution and the great poets and writers [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]], [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]] and [[Friedrich Schiller]]. The [[Sturm und Drang]] [[Romanticism|romantic]] movement was embraced and emotion was given free expression in reaction to the perceived rationalism of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. Philosophical principles and methods were revolutionized by [[Immanuel Kant]]'s paradigm shift. [[Ludwig van Beethoven]] was the most influential composer of the period from [[Classical period (music)|classical]] to [[Romantic music]]. His use of tonal architecture in such a way as to allow significant expansion of musical forms and structures was immediately recognized as bringing a new dimension to music. His later piano music and string quartets, especially, showed the way to a completely unexplored musical universe, and influenced [[Franz Schubert]] and [[Robert Schumann]]. In opera, a new Romantic atmosphere combining supernatural terror and melodramatic plot in a folkloric context was first successfully achieved by [[Carl Maria von Weber]] and perfected by [[Richard Wagner]] in his [[Ring Cycle]]. The [[Brothers Grimm]] collected folk stories into the popular [[Grimm's Fairy Tales]] and are ranked among the founding fathers of [[German studies]] inasmuch as they initiated the work on the [[Deutsches Wörterbuch]] ("The German Dictionary"), the most comprehensive work on the German language.<ref>Elmer H. Antonsen, James W. Marchand, and Ladislav Zgusta, eds. ''The Grimm brothers and the Germanic past'' (John Benjamins Publishing, 1990).</ref>

University professors developed international reputations, especially in subjects from the humanities such as history and philology, which brought a new historical perspective to the study of political history, theology, philosophy, language, and literature. With [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]], [[Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling]], [[Arthur Schopenhauer]], [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], [[Max Weber]], [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]] in philosophy, [[Friedrich Schleiermacher]] in theology and [[Leopold von Ranke]] in history, German scholars became famous. The [[Humboldt University of Berlin|University of Berlin]], founded in 1810, became the world's leading university. Von Ranke, for example, professionalized history and set the world standard for historiography. By the 1830s mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology had emerged with world class science, led by [[Alexander von Humboldt]] in natural science and [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]] in mathematics. Young intellectuals often turned to politics, but their support for the failed revolution of 1848 forced many into exile.{{Sfn|Sheehan|1989|pp=75, 207–291, 291–323, 324–371, 802–820}}

{{Gallery
|title= 18th- and 19th-century German artists, scientists and philosophers
|align=center
|width=120
|File:Immanuel Kant portrait c1790.jpg|[[Immanuel Kant]]
|File:Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.PNG|[[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]]
|File:Goethe (Stieler 1828).jpg|[[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]]
|File:Friedrich Schiller by Ludovike Simanowiz.jpg|[[Friedrich Schiller]]
|File:AvHumboldt.jpg|[[Alexander von Humboldt]]
|File:Joseph Karl Stieler's Beethoven mit dem Manuskript der Missa solemnis.jpg|[[Ludwig van Beethoven]]
|File:Hegel portrait by Schlesinger 1831.jpg|[[Friedrich Hegel]]
|File:Carl Friedrich Gauss.jpg|[[Carl Friedrich Gauss]]
|File:Grimm.jpg|[[Brothers Grimm]]
|File:Joseph v Fraunhofer.jpg|[[Joseph von Fraunhofer]], physicist and optical lens manufacturer
|File:Ernst_Werner_von_Siemens.jpg|[[Werner von Siemens]]
|File:Karl Marx_001.jpg|[[Karl Marx]]
}}

====Religion====
{{Main|Prussian Union of churches}}
[[File:Friedrich Wilhelm III., König von Preußen (unbekannter Maler).jpg|upright|right|thumb|King Frederick William III ruled Prussia 1797 to 1840.]]
Two main developments reshaped religion in Germany. Across the land, there was a movement to unite the larger Lutheran and the smaller Reformed Protestant churches. The churches themselves brought this about in Baden, Nassau, and Bavaria. However, in Prussia King [[Frederick William III]] was determined to handle unification entirely on his own terms, without consultation. His goal was to unify the Protestant churches, and to impose a single standardized liturgy, organization, and even architecture. The long-term goal was to have fully centralized royal control of all the Protestant churches. In a series of proclamations over several decades the [[Prussian Union of churches|''Church of the Prussian Union'']] was formed, bringing together the more numerous Lutherans, and the less numerous Reformed Protestants. The government of Prussia now had full control over church affairs, with the king himself recognized as the leading bishop. Opposition to unification came from the "Old Lutherans" in Silesia who clung tightly to the theological and liturgical forms they had followed since the days of Luther. The government attempted to crack down on them, so they went underground. Tens of thousands migrated, [[German Australian|to South Australia]], and especially to the United States, where they formed the [[Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod|Missouri Synod]], which is still in operation as a conservative denomination. Finally in 1845 a new king [[Frederick William IV]] offered a general amnesty and allowed the Old Lutherans to form a separate church association with only nominal government control.{{Sfn|Clark|2006|pp=412–419}}<ref>Christopher Clark, "Confessional policy and the limits of state action: Frederick William III and the Prussian Church Union 1817–40". ''Historical Journal'' 39.04 (1996) pp. 985–1004. {{JSTOR|2639865}}</ref>{{Sfn|Holborn|1964|pp=485–491}}

From the religious point of view of the typical Catholic or Protestant, major changes were underway in terms of a much more personalized religiosity that focused on the individual more than the church or the ceremony. The rationalism of the late 19th century faded away, and there was a new emphasis on the psychology and feeling of the individual, especially in terms of contemplating sinfulness, redemption, and the mysteries and the revelations of Christianity. [[Pietism|Pietistic revivals]] were common among Protestants. Among, Catholics there was a sharp increase in popular pilgrimages. In 1844 alone, half a million pilgrims made a pilgrimage to the city of Trier in the Rhineland to view the [[Seamless robe of Jesus]], said to be the robe that Jesus wore on the way to his crucifixion. Catholic bishops in Germany had historically been largely independent of Rome, but now the Vatican exerted increasing control, a new "[[ultramontanism]]" of Catholics highly loyal to Rome.{{Sfn|Clark|2006|pp=419–421}} A heated controversy erupted in 1837–1838 in the largely Catholic Rhineland over the religious education of children of mixed marriages, where the mother was Catholic and the father Protestant. The government passed laws to require that these children always be raised as Protestants, contrary to Napoleonic law that had previously prevailed and allowed the parents to make the decision. The government put the Catholic Archbishop under house arrest. In 1840, the new King Frederick William IV sought reconciliation and defused the controversy by agreeing to most of the Catholic demands. However Catholic memories remained deep and led to a sense that Catholics always needed to stick together in the face of a hostile government.{{Sfn|Holborn|1964|pp=498–509}}

===Politics of restoration and revolution===
{{Main|German Confederation}}

====After Napoleon====
[[File:Hambacher Fest 1832.jpg|thumb|At the [[Hambach Festival]] at [[Hambach Castle]] in 1832, intellectuals with various political backgrounds were among the first to use the future [[Flag of Germany]] and called for a [[German question|unified German nation]].]]
[[File:Nationalversammlung in der Paulskirche.jpg|thumb|[[Frankfurt Parliament]], [[Paulskirche]], [[Frankfurt]] 1848]]
[[File:Maerz1848 berlin.jpg|thumb|Cheering the Revolutions of 1848 in [[Berlin]], [[Berlin Palace]] in the background. Liberal and nationalist pressure led to the unsuccessful [[The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states|Revolution of 1848 in the German states]].]]
[[File:BismarckRoonMoltke.jpg|thumb|[[Otto von Bismarck]], [[Albrecht Graf von Roon]] and [[Helmut von Moltke]], the senior political and military strategists of Prussia during the 1860s]]

After the fall of Napoleon, Europe's statesmen convened in Vienna in 1815 for the reorganisation of European affairs, under the leadership of the [[Klemens Wenzel von Metternich|Austrian Prince Metternich]]. The political principles agreed upon at this [[Congress of Vienna]] included the restoration, legitimacy and solidarity of rulers for the repression of revolutionary and nationalist ideas.

The [[German Confederation]] ({{Langx|de|Deutscher Bund}}) was founded, a loose union of 39 states (35 ruling princes and 4 free cities) under Austrian leadership, with a Federal Diet ({{Langx|de|[[Bundesversammlung (German Confederation)|Bundestag]]}}) meeting in [[Frankfurt am Main]]. It was a loose coalition that failed to satisfy most nationalists. The member states largely went their own way, and Austria had its own interests.

In 1819, a student radical assassinated the reactionary playwright [[August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue|August von Kotzebue]], who had scoffed at liberal student organisations. In one of the few major actions of the German Confederation, Prince Metternich called a conference that issued the repressive [[Carlsbad Decrees]], designed to suppress liberal agitation against the conservative governments of the German states.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=A.J.P. |url=https://archive.org/details/coursegermanhist1815tayl |title=The Course of German History |date=2001 |page=[https://archive.org/details/coursegermanhist1815tayl/page/n74 52] |url-access=limited}}</ref> The Decrees terminated the fast-fading nationalist fraternities ({{Langx|de|[[Burschenschaft]]en}}), removed liberal university professors, and expanded the censorship of the press. The decrees began the "persecution of the demagogues", which was directed against individuals who were accused of spreading revolutionary and nationalist ideas. Among the persecuted were the poet [[Ernst Moritz Arndt]], the publisher Johann Joseph Görres and the "Father of Gymnastics" Ludwig Jahn.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Williamson |first=George S. |date=Dec 2000 |title=What Killed August von Kotzebue? The Temptations of Virtue and the Political Theology of German Nationalism, 1789–1819 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-modern-history_2000-12_72_4/page/890 |journal=Journal of Modern History |volume=72 |issue=4 |pages=890–943 |doi=10.1086/318549 |jstor=10.1086/318549 |s2cid=144652797}}</ref>

In 1834, the [[Zollverein]] was established, a customs union between Prussia and most other German states, but excluding Austria. As industrialisation developed, the need for a unified German state with a uniform currency, legal system, and government became more and more obvious.

====1848====
{{Main|Revolutions of 1848 in the German states}}
Growing discontent with the political and social order imposed by the Congress of Vienna led to the outbreak, in 1848, of the [[Revolutions of 1848 in the German states|March Revolution]] in the German states. In May the German National Assembly (the [[Frankfurt Parliament]]) met in Frankfurt to draw up a national German constitution.

But the 1848 revolution turned out to be unsuccessful: [[Frederick William IV of Prussia|King Frederick William IV of Prussia]] refused the imperial crown, the Frankfurt parliament was dissolved, the ruling princes repressed the risings by military force, and the German Confederation was re-established by 1850. Many leaders went into exile, including a number who went to the United States and became a political force there.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wittke |first=C. F. |url=https://archive.org/details/refugeesofrevolu0000unse |title=Refugees of Revolution: The German Forty-Eighters in America |date=1952 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia}}</ref>

====1850s====
The 1850s were a period of extreme political reaction. Dissent was vigorously suppressed, and many Germans emigrated to America following the collapse of the 1848 uprisings. Frederick William IV became extremely depressed and melancholic during this period, and was surrounded by men who advocated [[clericalism]] and [[Divine right of kings|absolute divine monarchy]]. The Prussian people once again lost interest in politics. Prussia not only expanded its territory but began to industrialize rapidly, while maintaining a strong agricultural base.

====Bismarck takes charge (1862–1866)====
In 1857, the Prussian king [[Frederick William IV of Prussia|Frederick William IV]] suffered a stroke and his brother [[William I, German Emperor|William]] served as regent until 1861 when he became King William I. Although conservative, William was very pragmatic. His most significant accomplishment was the naming of [[Otto von Bismarck]] as Prussian minister president in 1862. The cooperation of Bismarck, Defense Minister [[Albrecht von Roon]], and Field Marshal [[Helmut von Moltke]] set the stage for the military victories over Denmark, Austria, and France that led to the unification of Germany.{{Sfn|Holborn|1969|pp=131–167}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Feuchtwanger |first=Edgar |title=Bismarck: A Political History |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4157-2477-7 |edition=2nd |pages=83–98 |oclc=863633117 |ol=26785882M |author-link=Edgar Feuchtwanger}}</ref>

In 1863–1864, disputes between Prussia and Denmark over [[Duchy of Schleswig|Schleswig]], which was not part of the German Confederation, and which Danish nationalists wanted to incorporate into the Danish kingdom escalated. The conflict led to the [[Second War of Schleswig]] in 1864. Prussia, joined by Austria, easily defeated Denmark and occupied [[Jutland]]. The Danes were forced to cede both the Duchy of Schleswig and the [[Duchy of Holstein]] to Austria and Prussia. The subsequent management of the two duchies led to tensions between Austria and Prussia. Austria wanted the duchies to become an independent entity within the German Confederation, while Prussia intended to annex Austria. The disagreement served as a pretext for the [[Seven Weeks War]] between Austria and Prussia that broke out in June 1866. In July, the two armies clashed at Sadowa-Königgrätz (Bohemia) in an [[Battle of Königgrätz|enormous battle]] involving half a million men. Prussian superior logistics and the then-modern breech-loading [[needle gun|needle guns']] superiority over the slow [[muzzle-loading rifle|muzzle-loading rifles]] of the Austrians proved to be essential for Prussia's victory. The battle had also decided the [[Austria–Prussia rivalry|struggle for hegemony]] in Germany and Bismarck was deliberately lenient with a defeated Austria that would play only a subpordinate role in future German affairs.{{Sfn|Holborn|1969|pp=167–188}}{{Sfn|Feuchtwanger|2014| pp=99–147}}

====North German Confederation, 1866–1871====
{{Main|North German Confederation}}

After the [[Seven Weeks War]], the German Confederation was dissolved and the [[North German Federation]] (German ''Norddeutscher Bund'') was established under the leadership of Prussia. Austria was excluded and its immense influence over Germany finally came to an end. The North German Federation was a transitional organisation that existed from 1867 to 1871, between the dissolution of the German Confederation and the founding of the German Empire.<ref>Gordon A. Craig, ''Germany, 1866–1945'' (1978) pp. 11–22.</ref>