“Germany was united more by iron and steel than iron and blood”
The statement that German was united by “iron and blood” refers to the speech given by Prussian statesman Otto Von Bismarck, referring to the ‘Bismarck wars’; the battles heavily acclaimed to be the binding force behind German unification into one, powerful state. However, it is also possible to agree with Kenyes , who challenged Bismarck’s speech and opinions on unification by believing in an economically led charge towards unification; hence the use of the term “iron and steel”
To agree on Bismarck’s “blood and iron” beliefs, You have to start with the ‘Bismarck wars’, wars created to help unite Germany against common enemies. The Danish War of 1864, which was fought over the two duchies ‘Schleswig’ and ‘Holstein’. Denmark, who occupied the Duchess at the time, had taken the land from the Prussians in the 1400s (Bismarck was of course Prussian by nature). Denmark was also the main threat from the North of Germany, consequently explaining why the Duchies were such crucial regions for Germany to control/have influence over.
Two years later, in 1866 there was the Austro-Prussian war. Austria had always been a strong, united and independent nation; which situated geographically right next to the German states would clearly be enviable of pro-unification German ministers. Bismarck wanted the Austro-Prussian war to show that his Prussia was the more dominant and significant state than Franz Joseph’s Austria. Previously too Bismarck had met with Napoleon III In Biarritz to discuss possible French intervention if there was a war involving Prussia and Austria; Napoleon dismissed the idea and allowed Bismarck to crack on without fear of powerful French intervention. In the end, Prussia was the dominant state and emerged victorious from the war; Joseph’s nation was embarrassed and mocked as a result of the Prussian dominance. Again Bismarck wanted more “blood”, and so four years later in 1870 Bismarck launched an attack on the French. Once again Prussia fought against a much larger, more militaristic and powerful nation. Bismarck was again successful in defeating a seemingly stronger enemy, transforming Prussia into a European state few nations wanted to encounter.
“Iron and steel” unlike “Iron and blood”, refers to economic development and the progression of a nation without means of war. As AJP Taylor believed, supposedly Bismarck was only really interested in Prussian dominance in northern Germany; and unification was never a large feature in his plans for Prussia. However Bismarck, among others of course also demonstrates he was interested in diplomacy and had a strong want for economic development of Bundesrat states. The Zollverein was a union between the German states, and played a key part in uniting the 16 states economically. Each year the Zollverein exported 1,853,356.9 million tonnes of goods, an increasing amount year by year; while on the contrary Austria’s exports were falling (higher exports and lower imports generally indicate economic growth, as imports are leakages of a state’s currency while exports are injections of money into an economy). Part of the reason the