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How important was the role of Bismarck in establishing a united

Germany by 1871?

Bismarck was a leader that brought much help to the German when they

intended to unify, and although giving him credit for the revolution is (to acertain extent) acceptable, he was not the main factor for this revolution to

occur. The German states had unified by 1871 from having been separate

estates for centuries, but if one is to consider every possible factor that

contributed to the cause and their importance, much is left to say besides

Bismarcks leadership. These other factors are events such as the Frenchrevolution and the ideas that spread across Europe, the rise of liberal

nationalists in Germany, the role of Bismarck as a leader, and finally, the

mistakes and weaknesses present in Bismarcks enemies.

The French Revolution had a great impact in the unification of countries all

across Europe, by this time Bismarck was not even born and could possibly be

of no influence in controlling how the German felt about a European country

revolting against its own government. This event was the main reason that kick

started the existence of people that believed in national unity and a liberal

government to rule Germany. There was a need for them to be united and

strengthened thanks to the fight against Napoleon.

By 1815, liberalism was in the rise, many students from the Burscheschaften

movement who believed in their country, rose and revolted in October of 1817.

This protest made the existence of nationalist liberalists public, and left the idea

of unification to other people who might not be as brave. These nationalistliberalists were the first ones who approached the policies of what a united

Germany would be ruled like, and respected them. Bismarck was not on the side

of liberals or nationalists since he was a complete conservative; he did not

support the message they wanted to send. These nationalists attempted

towards a revolution 1n 1848, revolts in Baden and Wrttemberg would

happen, but the respective armies of each monarch would control both.

Elections happened and they only ended in having a separate election system

for each state and complete independence in each.

Bismarck was a good leader; he was effective and achieved his goal of providingastute policies and forceful leadership to the German, he had many successes

that provided help to the German: He outwitted Austria in 1866, in the Austro-

Prussian war and France in the Franco-Prussian war in 1870. Bismarck also

achieved things like securing Russias neutrality, who would agree on not to

intervene in German affairs as they had previously done. And winning the battle

against France in 1870, which was also a threat to the new Germany, besides

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Germany, France was not able to ally with any other European superpower.

Germany did not need his presence to unify; yet he proved to be successful

when choosing methods of unification and great timing for it to happen.

Another Factor that would help Germany unify, was the weaknesses andmistakes that Bismarcks opponents made. The Danish king had attempted to

annex Schleswig-Holstein, and Bismarck was able to take advantage of this.

Besides this, Bismarck also achieved Austrias international isolation, and

Russian and British neutrality. One mistake that his opponents Austria and

France made was to allow them to be pulled into war, and the French emperorsterritorial ambitions. All of these mistakes were of great use to Bismarck, and he

took advantage of each one for Germany.

In conclusion, Bismarck was important, but if none of these mentioned facts had

happened as well, unification could not have been possible. Bismarck once

claimed that 1815-62 was the time that nothing happened and he could nothave been any more wrong. Bismarck can be considered an opportunist instead

of a wilful leader, He achieved his goal though taking advantage of other

circumstances that did not help the rest of Europe, and he also created alliances

only to isolate other countries that were a threat. He had diplomatic skills that

made him a good leader, but his importance was not as great as it could have

been for the unification of Germany in 1871.