analyze the short term effects of the Austro-Prussian War

This paper needs to analyze the short term effects of the Austro-Prussian War
To start off, I would like to define the key word of the question, which is ‘short term significance’. We will define ‘short term’ as being roughly 5 years after the end of the war. However, the most clear outcome of every war in history is usually given by an armistice or a treaty with which the war was officially ended, therefore in this case we will mostly analyze the impact of the Treaty of Prague signed in August, 1866, and the period straight after. We will argue that the short term significance of the Austro-Prussian War was mainly political, by dividing it into internal and external political significance. However, I will shortly analyze the judicial significance of the war as well.

The Treaty of Prague signed in August, 1866, between Prussia and Austria has a great significance on the external politics of Prussia at the time. Schleswig, Holstein, Hesse-Cassel, Hannover, Nassau and Frankfurt were all annexed by Prussia. ‘The New Gulliver’ drawn by the French artist Honoré Daumier right after the war, in 1866, shows how Prussia, depicted as some kind of giant, easily picks up some very small people, who represent Hannover, Frankfurt, parts of Hesse and other North German states. This comparison of Prussia to a fictional giant between tiny lilliputians shows how easy it was for Prussia to annex all those states once Austria has been defeated. On an international scale, it just showed how powerful was Prussia then in Europe. Another aspect of the picture that should not be overlooked is how the Prussian Gulliver seems very proud of himself while grabbing the North German states and stuffing them into his back pocket. This could show that by conquering all this territory the Prussian people were very pleased, point which will be furtherly discussed in the next paragraph which will be about the internal politics. Another outcome of the Treaty was that alll other states North of the River Main were to be formed into a North German Confederation under Prussian leadership. The significance of the formation of the North German Confederation can not be stressed enough. The King of Prussia was the President of the North German Confederation. Also, he was the comander-in-chief. This gave him the power to declare war and make peace and to appoint and dismiss the Federal Chancellor. In the Bundesrat, which was the upper house of the Confederation’s Parliament, out of 43 votes Prussia had 17, with Saxony which was the second largest state in the Confederation having just 4. This is significant because it created a kind of Prussian-led lesser Germany. Additionally, even though the four Catholic states South of River Main retained independence they signed a secret military alliance with Prussia. This is significant firstly because it made Prussia the most politically and military powerful German state at the time. For example, even though the south German states were historically and sentimentally tied to Austria, they were bound to Prussia by the military alliance previously stated and also by some commercial ties. This view is also supported by historan David Blackbourn.

Before the war, German public opinion was not on Bismarck’s side. He was locked in a constitutional conflict with liberal deputies in the Prussian state parliament, and his course was considered too reactionary by some and too liberal by others. He was also believed to be gambling Prussia’s fate recklessly because Austria was considered the stronger military power. Let’s see how all this seems to change almost immediately after the end of the war. On the same day as the battle of Sadowa, 3rd of July, parliamentary elections were held in Prussia. The conservatives which previously had 34 seats now won 142, while the liberals dropped from 253 seats to 148. Even though Bismarck wasn’t part of any political party, he had more support within the conservatives, therefore the results of the elections gained Bismarck more support in the Parliament. It can be argued that this was due to the patriotic fever resulted from the war. Exactly two months later, on September 3rd, the parliament gave Bismarck by 230 votes to 7 an indemnity for the unconstitutional collection of taxes taken by the government during the previous four-year breach of the constitution. Historian A. J. P. Taylor argues that ‘ The vote of September 3rd was as decisive a landmark in the history of Germany as was the Bill of Rights in the history of England or the oath of the tennis court in the history of France’. These are some ways in which the Austro-Prussian War has affected the internal politics of Prussia. We will continue by furtherly analyze how the war gained Bismarck political power. One piece of evidence for this are the two letters sent by jurist Rudolf von Ihering to a fellow jurist, Bernhard Windscheid, one four months before the defeat of Austria and one after the Battle of Sadowa. In the first letter he was ‘revolted’ by Bismarck’s policy: he would prefer to ‘cut off my hand than to use it in such a disgusting operation as Prussian policy is now launching against Austria’. In the second letter it was a different story: ‘I bow before the genius of Bismarck […] He is one of the greatest men of the century’. This shows how Bismarck was viewed by the people at the time, even by the ones who didn’t agree with his foreign policies in the first place, such as von Ihering. Further evidence for this can be another letter sent by German portrait and history painter Wilhelm Georg Alexander von Kügelgen to his brother, Gerhard. In the letter von Kügelgen states that ‘Bismarck is now the most popular man in Prussia. Everyone sings his praises, even the Democrats’. The cartoons of the liberal press hero-worshipped Bismarck by depicting him as Hercules, Jupiter, Prometheus, Samson and Atlas. Blackbourn claims that even the less star-struck liberals were forced to were forced to recognize that Bismarck achievements reduced their own room for manoeuvre and threatened to marginalize them. Even liberal politician Eduard Lasker said of the indemnity bill that if the liberals rejected it they would be excluding themselves from the unfolding political development in Germany. Therefore the war with Austria consolidated Bismarck’s power in Prussia by making it impossible for anyone to opose him. ‘Parlamentarisches mit Illustrationen’ published in satirical magazine Kladderdatsch on December 16, 1866, by Wilhelm Scholz seems to support this view. In the woodcut it is evident how the Prussian liberals who previously opposed him are quickly finding reasons to claim that they have been trying to pull in the same direction as Bismarck. Another thing that could be understood from this picture is that even though the liberals are obviously burdening Bismarck he can still easily carry the chariot with pride. Bismarck being seen as an invincible leader clearly had great significance because it made it much easier for him to take decisions because at the time even his biggest rivals were impressed by his achievement in the war and were trusting him with the leadership of the country.

The Austro-Prussian War also had an important judicial significance which is given by the Constitution of the North German Confederation. This constitution is significant because, even though the North German Confederation lasted only four years, the constitution was to continue largely unaltered as the constitution of the German Empire. This eased the process of unification as well. Another significance of the Constitution was that it created the Reichstag, which along with the Bundesrat had a lot of legislative power. This made the democratically elected Reichstag a very important and powerful organ. This is very important because it created a judicial and political stability in the Confederation due to the centralisation of power.

As a conclusion, we can say that the short term significance of the Austro-Prussian war was mostly political, in a sense that it had an impact on both the internal and external politics of the state. Externally, it created the North German Confederation and made it a very fierce military power in the eyes of all other European Countries. Internally, It mainly consolidated Bismarck’s political power by making anyone unable to oppose him. It also helped to pass Bismarck’s indemnity bill for the unconstitutional collection of taxes taken by the government during the previous four-year breach of the constitution. Apart from having a political significance, it also had a judicial significance due to the North German Constitution of 1866. It is judicially important because it created the bases of the judicial system used by the German Empire, helping to ease the unification process.