Germany is one of the most developed countries in the world today, and in this part of Europe, it has surpassed the two old capitalist countries of Britain and France to become the largest economy in the European Union. However, as in the United States, Germany's history in the true sense is not long, and it can be said that it is a rookie in capitalist countries. Before 1871, there was no concept of "Germany", only "Deutsches", a national name classified according to ancestral kinship. By 1871, after more than three centuries of arduous trekking, the German nation inhabiting this land had finally realized its long-cherished wish of national reunification for many years. Since then, this nation, which has been bullied by the Western powers, has risen strongly and become the king of Europe, focusing the attention of countless people in the world. Surprised, people often wonder why the long-term division did not bait the desire for german national unity. Originally Germany should be in the middle of Europe, is the world's fourth largest economy, the total economic volume in Europe ranks first, is the most important power in Europe, but Germany was divided for nearly five hundred years, in 1871 to complete the reunification, then how Did Germany complete the unification, then I asked me to take you through the tunnel of time and space to see the rise of a weak country in Central Europe.
Divided Holy Roman Empire
The German region was conquered by the Romans in the early days, the huge Roman Empire was divided by internal struggles in 395, the national strength was greatly damaged, in the fifth century AD, the world ushered in the Xiaoice River Period, the northern nomads due to the cold climate, have gone south into southern Europe, at this time this also ushered in the Ice Age ushered in the Five Hu into China, the Western Roman Empire collapsed under the impact of the barbarian migration, the Franks of the Germanic tribe followed the wave of national migration southward migration to the German region to establish the Frankish kingdom here. The Germanic people were a collective term for the existence of various tribes, of which today the Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Swiss, Germans, and Austrians are all descendants. The earliest Germanic peoples lived in the areas of present-day Norway and Denmark, and migrated south to today's Germany with climate change.
The Franks established the Frankish kingdom in France and Germany, and the brave and warlike Franks began to unify the Germanic tribes, and during the 46 years of Charlemagne's reign, conquered a vast area including today's France and western Germany and northern Italy, covering an area of 1 million square kilometers, and Charlemagne was the heir of Rome. With his death the empire fell apart, and the Frankish Empire was divided into three, with the Middle East Frankish Kingdom being the predecessor of Germany (which included the German Midwest, Austria, and Switzerland). With the extinction of East Francia, Otto I, Duke of Saxony, became Emperor of East Francia, the father of Germany, who quelled civil unrest in Germany, defeated the invasion of the Magyars in the East (the ancestor of today's Hungarians), conquered Italy in the south to incorporate northern Italy into the empire, and forced the Pope to crown the Holy Roman Empire in Rome, beginning the rule of the First German Empire.
Thus began the government of Italy by the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and thus began the struggle between the Pope and the German Emperor, who should swear allegiance to the Emperor, who was the supreme lord and the Pope was the Emperor's courtier. With the decline of imperial power, the emperor needs to get the support of the German princes to deal with the pope, and the pope needs to win over the German feudal lords to deal with the emperor, the emperor and the pope's deathmatch, so that both sides lose, the emperor and the pope's power has suffered a lot, and the German feudal lords are so powerful that they can threaten the emperor, and the emperor's mind is focused on increasing the rule of rich Italy, and taking the marriage to incorporate the Sicily region of Italy into the imperial map. A two-sided attack was adopted to encircle the Papal States within the territory of the German Empire.
Kingdom of Sicily
By the time the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II this internal division reached its peak and lasted until 1871, which led to the six-hundred-year division of Germany, and his mother was the heir of Sicily, so he was also the Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire and the King of Sicily, Frederick II lived in the Kingdom of Sicily from an early age, spent his life in southern Italy, he focused his political focus on Italy, and tried to turn Sicily into a base for the conquest of the Papal States and northern Italy. In exchange for the support of the German feudal lords, he gave financial power and military and political power to the feudal lords, making these feudal lords become German princes, Frederick II's focus was in Italy, and his whole life was to fight with the pope and the Italian cities, during his reign, the power of the princes within Germany was greater than the imperial power, with the death of Frederick II, the German emperor became a puppet of the pope and the German princes, and the German emperor became the Han Xiandi of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a de facto puppet of the nominal emperor. The German Empire was still superficially maintained at this time, and the rule of the Hohenstaufen family was maintained until the family was extinct, and the Empire came to the era of great vacancy.
There were also nominal emperors before that, and as a result, the dynasty was extinct, and the major princes fought for it, similar to the Spring and Autumn Warring States in China, which was indispensable for land and territory until the "Golden Seal Edict" promulgated in 1356 legally recognized this state of division. It was also announced that the emperor was elected by election, the emperor had seven princes elected (later called the seven princes as the electors), the princes for their own interests, each election chose the princes with small power to become the emperor, the emperor is like a marquee, the emperor is only above the name of the head, can not exercise all kinds of power over the country, no one prince can be strong enough to unify the entire country.
The Seven Electors
The so-called emperors of Germany such as Ludolf I (Habsburgs), who came to power in 1273, Adolf (Earl of Nassau) who came to power in 1292, and Henry VII (Luxembourg family) who came to power in 1308, these emperors were committed to the expansion of their territories and did not do anything for the unification of the country, but with the rise of a marginal region changed Germany, Austria was first the frontier province of the empire established by the Duke of Bavaria, in order to resist the invasion of the Slavs and the Magyars, During the reign of Ludendorff I, Austria was incorporated into the territory of the Habsburg family, and the centuries-old expansion history of the Habsburg family began, and through hundreds of years of marriage, the Habsburg family successively inherited the territory of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Kingdom of Hungary and part of the Duchy of Italy, and became a European fortress in resisting the Turkish invasion in Europe.
The Habsburgs
In 1438, he became the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire again, and since then the throne of Germany has become hereditary from election, the Habsburg family has inherited the throne of the Holy Roman Empire for generations, the Habsburg family has defeated the attack of the Ottoman Empire several times, becoming the great savior of Europe, and during Charles VI, he inherited the Spanish throne, became the emperor of the Americas, is a world empire, the Habsburg family hopes to use a unified religion to strengthen the imperial power to unify Germany, but the Catholic Church is increasingly corrupt and deceives the masses. The sale of indulgences and the corruption of papal life eventually provoked Martin Luther's Reformation, which was contrary to the Catholic unified Germany of the Habsburgs, and some Protestant princes in Germany hoped to maintain the freedom of their states by embracing Protestantism from the imperial rule, while the European countries did not want to see a unified Germany, which broke out in the Thirty Years' War, the territory of Germany was destroyed, the Habsburgs were forced to recognize the rights of the Protestant princes, and Germany was more difficult to unify due to religious antagonisms.
After the Thirty Years' War, the empire was divided into 314 states and more than 100 knightly territories, the emperor was no longer the guardian of the German Empire, and the Habsburgs focused on their hereditary possessions.
The rise of the periphery
At this time, Prussia on the eastern frontier of Germany completed the great cause of unifying Germany.
So how was Germany united?
See the next chapter, The Napoleonic Wars Promote German Unification