"Yes. In 1862, the year of Bismarck's speech, the Germans' need for iron and blood quickly became apparent. The idea of establishing a German state in the spirit of peace of Pan-Germanism had undergone a transformation, and had gradually adapted from the liberal and democratic qualities of 1848 to Bismarck's realpolitikism. Bismarck, who admired realism, not only knew the benefits that a unified country could bring, but also anticipated the problems and obstacles that might arise after reunification. He was also well aware of the importance of the Hohenzollern dynasty to the state, which some historians consider to be one of Bismarck's major contributions to the founding of the German Empire in 1871. The signing of treaties and agreements between the German states on mutual defense made Prussia afraid to initiate unilateral action. Bismarck, as Bismarck had hoped, would unite the German states to declare war on a single enemy, and his diplomatic rivals would have to be teased and induced to go to war against one of the German states. Bismarck was the only mastermind behind the reunification of Germany. Bismarck was neither a wicked nor a saint; It has to be admitted that through his superb political and diplomatic skills, he not only won the favor of William, but also successfully controlled the events of 1866-70 step by step. Hua Huang held Jie Gege's little hand.

"Was Germany all under the rule of the Austrian Empire? I remember seeing oil paintings like this in Vienna before. Geger asked.

"Yes. The unification of Germany can be divided chronologically into three parts: first, the death of the childless King Frederick VII of Denmark, followed by the outbreak of the Prussian-Danish War in 1864; Then, the Italian Unification Movement provided a pretext for sending troops, and in 1866 Prussia and Italy joined forces to attack Austria, known as the Austro-Prussian War; Eventually, Spain wanted to introduce the Hohenzollern family of Germany and make them kings of Spain. This led France to declare war on Prussia in 1870-71 in order to escape the encirclement of Hohenzollern, and the Franco-Prussian War broke out. Prussia won all three wars, meaning that in 1815 none of the signatories to the Treaty of Paris supported Austrian interests in Central Europe, and the whole of Germany was subject to Prussian monarchy. From then on, Austria was no longer and powerless to intervene in German affairs. President Meng said.

"What a pity, if Austria continues to rule Germany, how vast will it be, how powerful will it be?" Geger said.

Emperor Hua was amused by Jiegege, "Do different nationalities know? If you think so, the whole of Europe can be united, and if the two parts of the country are not integrated, it will not only not make the country stronger, but will also be weakened by internal strife, and it is easy to occupy one place, but it is the most difficult to master one place. This is why Bismarck did not include Austria-Hungary in Germany after his victory in the Austro-Prussian War. ”

"Ah, is that so? It's a pity that they don't have a Han nationality with an absolute proportion of the population like Huaguo, Your Majesty, and tell me how Germany got rid of the strong enemies around it, and briefly talk about it. Seeing that Emperor Hua was a little uninterested, Jie Gege knew that he was not as good as Princess Katrina Kafu and His Majesty had a common language, so he said coquettishly.

President Moe took a sip of his drink, "The first chance for the Holstein trilogy comes from the Schleswig-Holstein problem. On 15 November 1863, Christian IX became King of Denmark and Duke of the Duchy of Schleswig and Holstein. Three days later, on 18 November, the King of Denmark signed the November Constitution, declaring Schleswig's annexation to Denmark. The German Confederation regarded this as a violation of the London Protocol of 1852, which emphasized that Denmark should not merge the two independent principalities. In addition, the populations of the two principalities also had characteristics that did not belong to Denmark: the majority of the population of Holstein was of German descent and spoke German in everyday life; Schleswig's population, on the other hand, is more complex, with a sizable Danish minority. The German Confederation made several diplomatic efforts to get Denmark to scrap the November Constitution, but all failed, and on 1 February 1864, the Austro-Prussian forces crossed into Schleswig and engaged Denmark. At first, Denmark tried to rely on the ground fortifications built during the Viking Age, but they proved to be ineffective. Denmark was completely unable to resist the Austro-Prussian forces, and at the same time could not count on any support from the weak Navian states (since Denmark was in clear violation of international treaties). During this and Austro-Prussian war two years later, Prussia was equipped with the first rifle with a rotary rear-pull manual bolt. This rifle allowed Prussian soldiers to shoot and reload while lying on their stomachs, and could reload five rounds at a time, compared to the Prussian army, the Danish soldiers still used old-fashioned muskets, and when reloading, people had to stand up, and the bullets were inserted through the muzzle after the barrel was straightened, and only one shot could be filled. The Prussian-Danish War ended with the victory of the Austro-Prussian forces, and in the Peace of Vienna signed on 30 October 1864, Schleswig was placed under Prussian jurisdiction and Austria was placed under Holstein. ”

"Then why don't we visit Denmark?" Geger asked.

"It was too late, and the Danish economy was greatly damaged by years of war, especially agriculture. The Danish government had to carry out reforms that limited the privileges of the landed aristocracy. In 1799, in 1799, Schleswig, and in 1804 Holstein changed the compulsory labor system of the peasants to the tenant system, thus ending the personal dependence of the peasants on the landlords since the Middle Ages. To alleviate its financial difficulties, Denmark sold its colonies in the West Indies and Guinea. It was not until the middle of the 19th century that the financial situation improved. Due to the influence of German nationalism and the direct intervention of Prussia, Schleswig and Holstein were in turmoil, and in 1848 an uprising broke out to demand secession from Denmark and integration into the German Confederation. Denmark fought a war with the two principalities for nearly three years, and finally managed to win a victory when Prussia stopped its advance on Schleswig, and kept the two principalities. In 1864, when Denmark announced the annexation of Schleswig to Denmark and its separation from Holstein, Prussia intervened with Austria. After the defeat of Denmark, the Peace of Vienna was signed, ceding Schleswig and Holstein to Prussia and Austria. In 1848, under the influence of the democratic movements in France, Germany and other European countries, the Danish Constituent Assembly promulgated a constitution, abolishing the absolute monarchy and replacing it with a constitutional monarchy, and implementing universal suffrage with property restrictions. In 1870 the Left Party, representing the interests of the kulak class, was founded. In 1871 the Danish Social Democratic Party was founded and trade unions were established throughout the country. At the end of the 19th century, Denmark experienced rapid industrialization, and the shipbuilding, telecommunications, and manufacturing industries began to take on a certain scale. The rural village community system was replaced by the cooperative system, and agriculture developed in the direction of specialization, becoming one of the world's major agricultural countries. "We buy food in Europe, and a large part of it comes from Denmark. ”

"So that's the case, then our current weapons and equipment are more advanced than Germany, right? Why does Your Majesty still buy armaments from them? Geger asked.

"The technology of our rifles and artillery is more advanced than theirs, and the artillery is on par, mainly because our industrial base is weak and cannot support long-term, large-scale production, so we must be outsourced, and we must be fully psychologically prepared for the upcoming war." Hua Huang explained, "If necessary, you may also have to return to China early. ”

Gege sighed and said softly: "Yes, I will do whatever Your Majesty asks me to do, but I still want to be with Your Majesty." ”

"Fool, we will be together for the rest of our lives, the key is that Huaguo should be rich and strong!" President Moe's eyes are bright.

Jiegege looked at Emperor Hua, sweetly remembered the scene when he first met Emperor Hua in the Forbidden City, and nodded with a smile, "Huaguo is already rich and strong, and it will be even richer and stronger in the future." ”

In 1866, at the instigation of the newly established Italy, Bismarck created a diplomatic situation, claiming that Holstein, which was sandwiched between Schleswig and Prussia, should belong to Prussia, provoking Austria to declare war on Prussia first. In April 1866, Prussia sent representatives to Florence to conclude a secret agreement with Italy that the two sides would coordinate with each other to attack Austria. The next day, the Prussian delegates in Frankfurt submitted a plan to the Parliament, calling for the formation of a national parliament and a national constitution by direct and universal suffrage. Many German liberals were skeptical of the legitimacy of the plan, believing that it was purely intended to increase Prussia's strength.

On April 21, 1866, the newly formed Italian army invaded the Austrian border of Tyrol and Veneto. The news reached Vienna, putting aside the stalemate over the national constitution in Frankfurt. Despite calls for restraint and calm, all three parties are preparing for the next armed conflict. On 1 May, Wilhelm I gave Moltke full command of the army, and the next day he carried out a general mobilization.

In the Confederation Parliament, medium-sized states such as Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, Hesse, Saxony-Weimar, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxony-Coburg, and the Duchy of Nassau opposed sending troops to the conflict.

Bismarck made a series of tempting promises to Prussia to seek support from these states, but they were rejected by the state governments.

As a result, Prussia won only the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (both of which were close to Brandenburg and very weak militarily and politically), and Italy abroad.

At the same time, voices began to emerge in social and political circles against Prussia's power tactics. Opponents, including city councils in the German states, liberal parliamentarians who supported reunification, and chambers of commerce, large and small, who valued the lucrative benefits of reunification, opposed the war between Austria and Prussia: any conflict between the two sides would not bring profit, but would only benefit the royal families of the states. Public opinion also tended to oppose the Prussian-dominated system. Catholics along the Rhine, especially those living in large cities such as Cologne and in the densely populated Ruhr Valley, continued to support Austria.

By the late spring of 1866, most of the major states had begun to oppose Prussia's efforts to reorganize the Confederation by force. The Prussian Cabinet always believed that Germany could be united only by hard power led by the military. In contrast, the liberals in the Frankfurt parliament believed that reunification could still be achieved by sitting down and negotiating.

Although many of the German states initially favored Austria, they were on the defensive against the Prussian army and did not put up much effective resistance to the Prussian army. Only Saxony actually came to Austria's aid.

France had promised Austria some form of help in due course, but in fact it was not only too late, but also very limited. Adding to Austria's disadvantage was the Italian invasion on Austria's southern border, which forced Austria to send troops to Veneto to the Adriatic to break out the Third Italian War of Independence with Italy. On the Prussian side, through the Battle of Königretz, the Prussian army achieved a brilliant victory.

In order to prevent Russia from intervening in the conflict to support Austria, a quick truce was crucial.

Prussia annexed Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau and Frankfurt through the war. The Grand Duchy of Hesse lost part of its territory, but not yet its sovereignty. The three states south of the Main (Baden, Württemberg, and Bavaria) each signed treaties with Prussia, paid reparations, and were included in Prussia's sphere of influence. Prussia formed the North German Confederation with spheres of influence and excluded Austria and its allies.

From then on, Austria could no longer influence the German states and turned its attention to the Balkans.

In 1867, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria reached an agreement with Hungary to grant the Hungarian royal family equal status and some autonomy, and established the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the form of a confederation.

Austria and Prussia signed the Treaty of Prague, which marked the end of the Austro-Prussian War. The treaty granted Austria leniency, and Austria significantly adjusted its relations with the nascent Italy. Although the Austrians had a great victory over the Italians on the battlefield, the treaty stipulated that Austria would cede Veneto to Italy, based on the promises made before the war between Austria and Italy.

In practice, Austria first ceded Veneto to France, which then passed it over to Italy. French sympathy for Austria's plight, combined with Prussia's total denial of pre-war commitments (at a conference in Biarritz in September 1865, Bismarck had made it clear to Napoleon III that if France remained neutral during the Austro-Prussian War, Prussia would acquiesce in France's annexation of parts of Belgium and Luxembourg between Franco-Prussia and France), led to the spread of antipathy towards Prussia in France.

After the defeat of Austria, the North German Confederation had its own constitution, flag, and government administration. Prussia subdued Austria by military strike, but although Austria's influence on the states was removed, it also irrevocably caused a split in the pan-German unity. Most of the German states became disgusted with Prussia's power politics.

By 1870, European politicians had drawn three lessons from the Austro-Prussian War: first, the old alliances and the spheres of influence divided in 1815 were fragile, and a powerful state could challenge them with its own military might; secondly, through the skillful use of diplomatic means, to create an atmosphere that makes the other side feel unfavorable, to induce the other side to take the lead in declaring war, and then to seek the help of the other states of the alliance as a victim of external aggression to deal with the opponent together; Finally, Prussia's military strength had far surpassed that of Austria, and it was widely recognized in the states that only Prussia could protect them from interference or threats from outside powers.

In 1866, the vast majority of medium-sized states resisted Prussia; By 1870, however, the states were either forced or coaxed into joining the Prussian-led coalition. In the event that an external European power declares war on a state in the alliance, all other members will assist in organizing the defense. After this skillful manipulation of European affairs, Bismarck created a situation very unfavorable for France, and then France became the aggressor in the eyes of Germany, and Prussia played the role of defender of German rights and freedoms.

"Bismarck's methods are really powerful." Gege exclaimed sincerely, and was a little worried, "Then can Your Majesty deal with such a powerful politician?" ”