North German Confederation

Twentytwo states of the nothern Germany make a independet country comprising. This comprising was the North German Confederation (1866-1871). It was found to dominate Chancellor Otto von Bismarck of the Kingdom of Prussia, which had 80% of the population. In 1871 the German Empire take it as his basement. So they adopted most parts of the federation's constitution and it's flag.

Two opinions about the a unified Germany

Fritz Schuhmann: " This ideas are totally ridiculous
none of the countries will optional give up its independence and place themselves under the Prussia.
Impossible."

Klaus Müller: "Of course, Germany has to unite! In this way we can avoid many conflicts.With Prussia as leading power, we would be strong. Even if we have to have
war against France to unify...one day it will happen."

1862

In 1862 the prussian king „Wilhelm the first“ appointed „Otto von Bismarck“

(* 1st April,1815 ; † 30th July,1898 ) Prime Minister.

His main aim was to made Prussia more powerfull than Austria.

One solution to achieve this  was to unify Germany.

1864 second Schleswig war

After the failed revolution in 1849 the people´s ideas of the unified and democratic Germany did not disappear. In 1864 there were again discussions  about the control of the Schleswig-Holstein duchies. After  Denmark had written the Novembersettings including the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, Prussia and Austria were angry and put a 48 hours long ultimatum to Denmark to recall the Novembersettings. Denmark ignored the demand and so a few days later, at the 1st February, german and austrian troups crossed into Schleswig.

The german nationalists supported 

Prussias attack ,bacause they wanted these provinces under german control.

The war lasted until October 1864. On 30^th October the peace treaty between Prussia, Austria and Denmark was signed. Denmark lost the provinces and now they belonged to the German Confederation.

1866, War between Austria an Prussia/Austro-Prussian war/Unification war/...

1866 Austria declared war on Prussia. April 1866, the Prussian representative in Florence signed a secret agreement with the Italians. This committed the two states to assist each other in a war against Austria. The next day, the Prussian delegate to the Frankfurt assembly presented a plan calling for a national constitution.

Situation at the time of the outbreak of the war:

  Prussia

  Austria

  Austria's allies

  Prussia's allies

  Neutral

  Under joint administration (Schleswig-Holstein)

The trigger of this war was the conflict between Austria and Prussia about the administration of        Schleswig-Holstein. Prussians allies were mainly Italy but also the Großherzogtum Oldenburg, Hamburg, Bremen, Lübeck and many more.
After Prussians victory at the first battle the Treaty of Prague was signed (23th August 1866), which formally concluded the war. The  treaty assigned Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia.
By the Peace of Vienna (Oct. 3, 1866) Austria ceded Venetia for transfer to Italy. Prussia's victory in the war enabled it to organize the North German Confederation excluding Austria.

Constitution of the German Empire (1670-1671..)

The Constitution of the German Empire (in German: Verfassung des Deutschen Reiches) was the basic law of the German Empire of 1871-1919. It has the same German title as its successor, the "Constitution of the German Reich" or "Weimar constitution" that replaced it in 1919. German historians often refer to it as Bismarck's imperial constitution.


The constitution was a treaty between the North German Confederation and four southern German states.
The German Empire was a state that was donated to the idea of the constitution by the federal princes of some German states (excluding Austria) and by the North German Confederation. His condition was leaning strongly to that of the North German Confederation, as it had emerged after the war German 1866th The form of government or the system of government that was established by the Constitution of 1871 is described in the literature as "limited monarchy ". On the one side was the monarchical principle, subject to a strong position, on the other side was secured to the people on the basis of a fairly advanced option of the Reichstag, for participation in the legislation.The Constitution makes it clear that it is not in the creation of the German Reich is a sovereign act of the German people. In this respect, the princes and cities understood as the constitutional sovereign.

Prussia was the strongest country with about two-thirds of the population. The provisions of the Constitution met three different tasks. On the one hand, the external relationship (ratio of state to state) the jurisdiction of the empire from the jurisdiction of member states after the federal principle, deferred ("Union competence" of the Empire). Here is the Constitution the principle of conferral. If not, the empire was in the Constitution expressly declares to be competent, the states were called ("in doubt for the states").
The jurisdiction of the kingdom was in the Constitution for the state functions (legislative, executive and judiciary) is regulated extremely different. On the other hand, the Constitution represents an organizational statute, which specifies the authorities of the empire, and their powers were fixed to each other (organ jurisdiction). Where provisions of the constitution govern the institution responsible, put the Constitution is a purely internal law dar. A third type of rules governs the relationship between citizens (subjects) and the Empire. This relationship has been in the Constitution only occasionally fed to a control (such as national treatment, military service). On a comprehensive bill of rights was omitted.

First, the powers of the kingdom shall ever described. Then an overview about the state bodies (Federal, Kaiser and Chancellor, the Reichstag), and their powers. Following is discussed on the relationship between citizens (subjects) and poor (basic rights) and described the practice of constitutional life.

Germany from 1871-1918

The German Empire of 1871–1918. By excluding the German-speaking part of the multinational Austrian Empire, this geographic construction represented a little Germany solution.