1. Otto von Bismarck in the 1860s

2. GERMANY’S WARS OF UNIFICATION January-June 1864: War with Denmark over Schleswig-Holstein June-July 1866: Seven Weeks’ War between Prussia and Austria; Battle of Königgrätz (Sadowa), July 3, 1866 September 1866: Indemnity Bill ends the Prussian Constitutional Crisis 1867: Foundation of North German Confederation; Liberals and Conservatives split between pro- and anti-Bismarck factions. July 15, 1870: The Ems Dispatch prompts Napoleon III to declare war on Prussia September 2, 1870: Battle of Sedan & capture of Napoleon III January 1871: Foundation of the German Empire

3. Schleswig-Holstein on the eve of the war of 1864. See Lerman, 95-99

4. Prussian troops storm Dybbel on the Baltic Coast, April 18, 1864

5. Destroyed bulwark with blockhouse at Dybbel

6. Count Helmuth von Moltke (1800-1891). Appointed chief of the Prussian Army general staff in 1858, he expanded the authority of that office in 1864.

7. Bismarck at the conference table with Austria’s Graf Rechberg, June 1864

8. Victory parade through the Brandenburg Gate, December 7, 1864--- but Crown and Parliament remained at odds.

9. “Fateful Encounter,” Kladderadatsch, March 19, 1865: Bismarck and the Speaker of the Prussian House of Representatives, Wilhelm Grabow, meet on the “Via mala,” a path through the Swiss Alps next to a 2,000- foot drop….

10. “The Positions of Austria and Prussia in the Matter of Schleswig-Holstein,” Kladderadatsch, 20 August 1865

11. “The Art of Cooking of the Great: What They Cook Up Above Must Be Eaten by Those Below,” Kladderadatsch, 20 May 1866. Why did Bismarck seek war with Austria? (See Lerman, 102-09)

12. “The Opportunity is Favorable” (June 1866): Bismarck could become “great” by implementing reforms, but he would instantly become the most popular man in Germany if he simply resigned!

13. THE SEVEN WEEKS’ WAR, June-July 1866

14. Georg Bleibtreu, “The Battle of Königgratz, July 3, 1866:” William I, Bismarck, and Moltke observe the final phase of the struggle between 200,000 Prussian and 180,000 Austrian and Saxon troops

15. A fanciful vision of King William, Bismarck, and Moltke leading a cavalry charge at Königgratz

16. Wounded soldiers at Königgratz

17. Victory Parade, Berlin, 21 September 1866

18. After Königgrätz the liberals insist that they had always been “pulling on the same rope” as Bismarck

19. THE INDEMNITY BILL (passed by a vote of 230 : 75 in the Prussian House of Representatives on September 3, 1866) ARTICLE 1. The government is granted indemnity for all administrative acts undertaken since the beginning of the year 1862 without a legally established state budget, on the condition that the Landtag approves the accounts presented by the government for this period. ARTICLE 2. The government is authorized to expend up to 154 million Taler on administration for the year 1866.

20. First meeting of the “Reichstag” of the North German Confederation, February 1867 (see Lerman, 128-30)

21. “The German Pasture” Kladderadatsch, 31 March 1867: Germania tells Bismarck, “Protect my flock!”

22. French cartoon of King William as a cannibal, devouring the princes of northern Germany (early 1867)

23. “The Black Ghost,” Kladderadatsch, 20 June 1869: Did Bismarck exploit fears of France for his own ends?

24. “The National Liberal Gravediggers: All this now rests in peace. Freedom of speech; Struggle to control the military budget; Self-determination for Schleswig- Holstein; the Hessian constitution” (Munich, April 1868)

25. Anti-Prussian sentiment: Election Day in the Bavarian Alps, February 1870, when the clericalist “Patriot Party” won big

26. Bismarck sensed an opening when the French Ambassador Benedetti approached King William I in Bad Ems on July 13, 1870, with a strident demand….

27. King William I Departs for War, 31 July 1870

28. THE GERMAN INVASION OF FRANCE, AUGUST-OCTOBER 1870

29. THE ENCIRCLEMENT OF THE FRENCH ARMY AT SEDAN, SEPTEMBER 1, 1870 (German units in black)

30. German artillery park at Sedan, September 1870: The new Krupp breech-loading steel cannon

31. Bismarck accompanies Napoleon III to meet King William I on the morning of September 2, 1870

32. Anton von Werner, “The German Headquarters in Versailles” (December 1870): Bismarck & the Crown Prince quarrel with Moltke & Roon

33. The Proclamation of William I as German Kaiser in the Palace of Versailles, 18 January 1871

34. John Trumbull, “The Declaration of Independence” (1819)

35. Eugen Adam, “The German Flag is Hoisted at Fort Vauves, Outside Paris, 19 January 1871”

36. The German victory parade down the Champs Elysées, March 1, 1871

37. Prussia’s annexations in 1866

38. PARADE AT THE “VICTORY COLUMN,” BERLIN, 1873

39. THE SIEGESÄULE

40. Constitution of 1871

41. September 2, the day of Sedan, became Imperial Germany’s national holiday (the Brandenburg Gate, 1895)

42. But Germany remained divided along religious, regional, and class lines….