Germany

Summary

This is a book with 3 different topics, all related to the 18th and 19th century history of Germany. The topics are the following:

Otto von Bismarck: Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg, was a conservative German statesman, diplomat, and author who was born Junker Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck. Bismarck supervised Germany's unification in 1871 and functioned as its first chancellor till 1890, throughout which time he ruled Europe for 20 years.

The Unification of Germany: The Unification of Germany had a significant impact on the whole country, the empire, and the decades after that. It was the inauguration for Germany into the 20th century, and the dreaded World War I and World War II that were partially consequences of that unification.

On January 18th, 1871, in the Palace of Versailles in France, Germany was lawfully merged into the German Empire, a Prussia-dominated country state with federal components. Throughout the Franco-Prussian War, princes of German countries assembled there to declare King Wilhelm I of Prussia Emperor of the German Empire.

The Weimar Republic: To summarize everything about this topic, the Weimar Republic was a disaster. Perhaps the setup of the republic wasn’t as much as fault as just the world events that led to the Great Depression, the eventual surrender of Germany to France, Russia, and England in World War I before that, and other significant changes in the economy at the time.

Do you want to buy a few eggs with thousands of marks? How about a loaf of bread for ten thousand dollars? The inflation in the Weimar Republic led to a severe economic downturn, one that had probably never been there ever before. This led to other problems, which also explained the rise of Nazi Germany somewhat later.