Why was Germany founded?

Answer 1

It has always existed in one vague form or another, since around the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Germany has almost always been a loose collection of small countries. These many small countries were formed into the Holy Roman Empire (henceforth, "HRE"), but, as Voltaire famously said, it was "not holy, nor Roman, nor an empire." Only a few emperors in the thousand year history of the HRE ever really had control over most of the territory.

By the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648, the Empire pretty much existed in name only. The emperor had almost no power, and the states were granted de facto sovereignty. By the time Napoleon started going around conquering people around 1800, there were about 300 small states. These states mostly shared a language (German), a culture and history. Napoleon conquered the HRE, ending it, merged most of Germany into the "Confederation of the Rhine", and brought with him the idea of nationalism. So people started to realize that they could make their own large and powerful country. But they were opposed by other countries like France (who didn't want another powerful country to rival them) and the rulers of many of the small states (because they didn't want things to change).

The mid-1800's saw a push to create a unified German country (Italy was going through a very similar situation). In the Spring of Nations in 1848, a council formed in Germany and tried to convince the King of Prussia to become Emperor of all Germany- but he refused; he was very old-fashioned and felt that only another king, not the common rabble, could make that offer. But the idea of unitied Germany never went away. The German national anthem the "Song of Germany" (often erroneously called "Deutschland über alles", meaning "Germany above all") was originally written in this time, and was asking for Germany to unify (eventually the Nazis twisted the song into meaning that Germany should conquer the world, so only one part of the song is still used as the anthem).

However, the big question became: which country should lead this unified Germany? The two most powerful German states were Austria and Prussia. It was obvious to everyone that one of them would have to become the leader of unified Germany but it was hard to decide who should. Prussia, under Chancellor Bismarck, began slowly taking control of other smaller German states, and eventually settled the issue when they fought and defeated Austria in a short war in 1866. This unified northern Germany under Prussia. Five years later, Prussia soundly defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War, bringing in the rest of Germany under their control, and officially creating Germany- remembering what the Prussian King said in 1848, the King of Bavaria sent a letter (some believe he was tricked into doing it) to the King of Prussia asking him to become the new Emperor, which the King of Prussia accepted.

Answer 2

In the mid-1800s, nationalism played a vital role in uniting the nation-state of Germany, which had previously resisted attempts at unification even though the peoples of various small principalities shared linguistic and cultural traits. Prussia, led by Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck, used cunning diplomacy and strategic wars to bring the various German States into a union with Prussia, creating the German Empire. He fought three major wars, first against Denmark (the Second Schleswig War of 1864), then against the Austrian Empire (the Austro-Prussian War of 1866), and finally against France (the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71). These wars forced the small German states to form an alliance with Prussia, which was eventually turned into a true union.

Answer 3

Germany formed through an extremely long process that took over a thousand years. The final unification of Germany into a single, cohesive country happened on January 18, 1871.

Answer 4

The kingdom of Germany was formed through secession as the Frankish empire of Charlemagne was divided among his grandsons in 843 A.D.

Answer 5

Germany was formed in 1871. Before it was called Germany it was known as the Prussian Empire from 1701-1918 until the monarchy fell.