Great vs. Small Germany

One of the compelling facts that I found interesting was when new Germany began decided on which regions it would include. It seems like a simple process to go through but this question had never had agreement upon. When it did come time to discuss this issue there ended up being a couple proposed solutions. It was interesting to see how “Great Germany” seemed to fail while “Small Germany” strived.

Different ways that Germany go split up

The first was Großdeutschland or “Great Germany”. If this option was to be chosen; “Great Germany” would consist of all German regions including Austria and be headed by a Hapsburg emperor, as described on page 125. The addition of Austria to Germany could be seen as a good or bad for Germany. By choosing “Great Germany”, it would expand German territory and make it larger. The downside to the addition of Austria would be that, if Germany ever went to war they would not have other country as their allies. However , there were other problems that Great Germany suffered through. In the rebellion of 1848 there was a goal to get Great Germany to be a national state based on popular sovereignty and human rights. This, however, failed. Two reasons that this failed was from the resistance from the major powers, and lack of unity within the revolutionary ranks. Out of the two options that could have been chosen, Great Germany seemed like the one option that was failing more than rising to the task. The other option, as described on page 126, was Kleindeutschland or “Small Germany”. This proposal would exclude Austrian areas from Germany and be ruled by a Hohenzollern emperor. I found deciding this problem interesting because I would have thought that it would be easily decided if Austrian territory would be included in new Germany or not based on the past experiences that Germany has had with Austria. If Germany had experiences a good relationship “Giant Germany” should have been the vote, but if the experiences were voted on as bad “Small Germany” should have gotten the vote. Out of the two Germany’s, Small Germany was the one that prospered fastest because their goal was already met because they were in an area with a good economic policy.

Prussian Territories-Blue
Austrian Territories-Yellow
Independent German Confederation Stats-Grey
Red bborder shows the limits of the
Confederation

However, there was a third option that southwest Germany was taking and that was democracy. After a while an assembly managed to adoption a constitution, one that much resembled the America, French, and Belgian models.

It was also very interesting to learn about how, by being divided into these two groups affected Great Germany and Small Germany’s trade. The Prussian-led Customs Union had a more forward-looking economic community, as described on page 130, and it was experiencing continual growth. It was also gaining attraction on neighboring states. I found this interesting because it was the opposite deal with the other half of Germany at the time. I would have thought that, because Germany had been split into two sections that they would still have the same trade and economic situation. So if one prospered, then the other would and vice a versa.

The last section of this that I found very interesting that in the end new Germany ended up getting a central government, but it ended up having no power. In 1848 there became a worry among Europeans of a unified German state in the heart of the continent because they thought it would disrupt the overall balance. This was because of the spread of German nationalism to the possession of the Danish crown.