Logged out
Access All our Essays in an Instant
Swap your work for FREE access, or pay £4.99 for instant access
To what extent was ‘blood and iron’ the MAIN reason for the unification of Germany by 1871?
Member rating: No Rating | Words: | Submitted: Wed Jun 08 2005
Page Preview
On the left is an image preview of every page of this document, and below are the first 150 words with formatting removed:
HISTORY ESSAY To what extent was 'blood and iron' the MAIN reason for the unification of Germany by 1871? In 1862, Bismarck said that 'the great questions of the day will be settled by blood and iron.' Although there is undoubtedly some degree of accuracy in this statement, the most important reason for the unification of Germany, which ended 'the great questions of the day,' was 'coal and iron.' This is a quote from British economist John Maynard Keynes, who argued that the industrial and economic preparation before the wars, which united Germany, were more important. This is because the economic strength created by the rapid industrialisation enabled the creation of a powerful Prussia. It was under this powerful Prussia, with some skilful diplomacy and opportunism, that Germany was successfully united in the wars of German Unification. Without such economic development and prosperity, it is questionable whether Germany would have been united...
To see the full version of this document, and 144,904 others
