111-752: The Länderbahnen (singular: Länderbahn ) were the various state railways of the German Confederation and the German Empire in the period from about 1840 to 1920, when they were merged into the Deutsche Reichsbahn after the First World War . The seven state railways forming the merger were the: Other state railways that existed during this period, but which later folded or were absorbed, included the: The so-called Royal Prussian Railway Administration or KPEV did not exist, although some of
222-464: A sovereign state and does not have its own foreign affairs or defence policies; these remain largely with the member states , which include France, Germany and, before Brexit , the United Kingdom (referred to collectively as the " EU three "). Brazil and India are widely regarded as emerging powers with the potential to be great powers. Political scientist Stephen P. Cohen asserts that India
333-529: A barrier to contain the emergence of Italian and German nation-states as well, in addition to containing France. But this reactionary balance of power, aimed at blocking German and Italian nationalism on the continent, was precarious. After Napoleon's final defeat in 1815, the surviving member states of the defunct Holy Roman Empire joined to form the German Confederation ( Deutscher Bund ) – a rather loose organization, especially because
444-610: A definition of a Great power that it must be able to maintain itself against all others, even when they are united, then Frederick has raised Prussia to that position." These positions have been the subject of criticism. In 2011, the US had 10 major strengths according to Chinese scholar Peng Yuan, the director of the Institute of American Studies of the China Institutes for Contemporary International Studies. However he also noted where
555-573: A determination to support the arrangement agreed upon, and to turn the general influence and if necessary the general arms against the Power that shall first attempt to disturb the Continental peace." The Congress of Vienna consisted of five main powers: the Austrian Empire , France , Prussia , Russia , and Great Britain . These five primary participants constituted the original great powers as we know
666-603: A fast-growing industrialized urban economic system. In previous centuries, the shortage of land meant that not everyone could marry, and marriages took place after age 25. The high birthrate was offset by a very high rate of infant mortality , plus periodic epidemics and harvest failures. After 1815, increased agricultural productivity meant a larger food supply, and a decline in famines, epidemics, and malnutrition. This allowed couples to marry earlier, and have more children. Arranged marriages became uncommon as young people were now allowed to choose their own marriage partners, subject to
777-528: A great power with an important position in some spheres of influence. Others suggest India and Brazil may even have the potential to emerge as a superpower . Permanent membership of the UN Security Council is widely regarded as being a central tenet of great power status in the modern world; Brazil, Germany, India and Japan form the G4 nations which support one another (and have varying degrees of support from
888-494: A great power. As a nation will seldom declare that it is acting as such, this usually entails a retrospective examination of state conduct. As a result, this is of limited use in establishing the nature of contemporary powers, at least not without the exercise of subjective observation. Other important criteria throughout history are that great powers should have enough influence to be included in discussions of contemporary political and diplomatic questions, and exercise influence on
999-509: A great power. These characteristics have often been treated as empirical, self-evident to the assessor. However, this approach has the disadvantage of subjectivity. As a result, there have been attempts to derive some common criteria and to treat these as essential elements of great power status. Danilovic (2002) highlights three central characteristics, which she terms as "power, spatial, and status dimensions," that distinguish major powers from other states. The following section ("Characteristics")
1110-465: A nation's great power status has also been a criterion for being a great power. As political scientist George Modelski notes, "The status of Great power is sometimes confused with the condition of being powerful. The office, as it is known, did in fact evolve from the role played by the great military states in earlier periods... But the Great power system institutionalizes the position of the powerful state in
1221-576: A political dimension to the army. In addition, the Diet oversaw the construction and maintenance of several German Federal Fortresses and collected funds annually from the member states for this purpose. Projections of army strength were published in 1835, but the work of forming the Army Corps did not commence until 1840 as a consequence of the Rhine Crisis . Money for the fortresses were determined by an act of
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#17330859173761332-494: A political force exerting an effect co-extensive with the widest range of the society in which it operates. The Great powers of 1914 were 'world-powers' because Western society had recently become 'world-wide'." Other suggestions have been made that a great power should have the capacity to engage in extra-regional affairs and that a great power ought to be possessed of extra-regional interests, two propositions which are often closely connected. Formal or informal acknowledgment of
1443-633: A second treaty, the Final Act of the Ministerial Conference to Complete and Consolidate the Organization of the German Confederation . This treaty was not concluded and signed by the parties until 15 May 1820. States joined the German Confederation by becoming parties to the second treaty. The states designated for inclusion in the Confederation were: In 1839, as compensation for the loss of part of
1554-605: A true state. Its territory comprised the parts of the German Confederation north of the river Main , plus Prussia's eastern territories and the Duchy of Schleswig , but excluded Austria and the other southern German states. Prussia's influence was widened by the Franco-Prussian War resulting in the proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles on 18 January 1871, which united the North German Federation with
1665-406: A veto by the parents. The upper and middle classes began to practice birth control , and a little later so too did the peasants. The population in 1800 was heavily rural, with only 8% of the people living in communities of 5,000 to 100,000 and another 2% living in cities of more than 100,000. In a heavily agrarian society, land ownership played a central role. Germany's nobles, especially those in
1776-501: A village court which handled minor offenses. Inside the family, the patriarch made all the decisions and tried to arrange advantageous marriages for his children. Much of the villages' communal life centered around church services and holy days. In Prussia, the peasants drew lots to choose conscripts required by the army. The noblemen handled external relationships and politics for the villages under their control, and were not typically involved in daily activities or decisions. After 1815,
1887-480: A web of rights and obligations." This approach restricts analysis to the epoch following the Congress of Vienna at which great powers were first formally recognized. In the absence of such a formal act of recognition it has been suggested that great power status can arise by implication by judging the nature of a state's relations with other great powers. A further option is to examine a state's willingness to act as
1998-461: Is an emerging power, but highlights that some strategists consider India to be already a great power. Some academics such as Zbigniew Brzezinski and David A. Robinson already regard India as a major or great power. Former British Ambassador to Brazil, Peter Collecott identifies that Brazil's recognition as a potential great and superpower largely stems from its own national identity and ambition. Professor Kwang Ho Chun feels that Brazil will emerge as
2109-452: Is extracted from her discussion of these three dimensions, including all of the citations. Early writings on the subject tended to judge states by the realist criterion, as expressed by the historian A. J. P. Taylor when he noted that "The test of a great power is the test of strength for war." Later writers have expanded this test, attempting to define power in terms of overall military, economic, and political capacity. Kenneth Waltz ,
2220-566: Is from the third century, when the Persian prophet Mani described Rome , China , Aksum , and Persia as the four greatest kingdoms of his time. During the Napoleonic wars in Europe, American diplomat James Monroe observed that, "The respect which one power has for another is in exact proportion of the means which they respectively have of injuring each other." The term "great power" first appears at
2331-607: The Zollverein . In 1834, the Prussian regime sought to stimulate wider trade advantages and industrialism by decree – a logical continuation of the program of Stein and Hardenberg less than two decades earlier. Historians have seen three Prussian goals: as a political tool to eliminate Austrian influence in Germany; as a way to improve the economies; and to strengthen Germany against potential French aggression while reducing
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#17330859173762442-751: The Confederation of the Rhine in July 1806, joining sixteen of France's allies among the German states (including Bavaria and Württemberg ). After the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt of October 1806 in the War of the Fourth Coalition , various other German states, including Saxony and Westphalia, also joined the Confederation. Only Austria, Prussia, Danish Holstein , Swedish Pomerania , and
2553-529: The Confederation of the Rhine , but this collapsed after his defeats in 1812 to 1815. The German Confederation had roughly the same boundaries as the Empire at the time of the French Revolution (less what is now Belgium ). It also kept intact most of Confederation's reconstituted member states and their boundaries. The member states , drastically reduced to 39 from more than 300 (see Kleinstaaterei ) under
2664-818: The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 or the United Nations Security Council , of which permanent members are: China , France , Russia , the United Kingdom , and the United States . The United Nations Security Council, NATO Quint , the G7 , the BRICS , and the Contact Group have all been described as great power concerts. The term "great power" was first used to represent the most important powers in Europe during
2775-671: The Frankfurt Constitution in English). The Federal Convention was dissolved on 12 July 1848, but was re-established in 1850 after the revolution was crushed by Austria, Prussia, and other states. The Confederation was finally dissolved after the victory of the Kingdom of Prussia in the Seven Weeks' War over the Austrian Empire in 1866. The dispute over which had the inherent right to rule German lands ended in favour of Prussia, leading to
2886-429: The French Revolution , where freedom of the individual and nation was asserted against privilege and custom. Representing a great variety of types and theories, they were largely a response to the disintegration of previous cultural patterns, coupled with new patterns of production, specifically the rise of industrial capitalism. However, the defeat of Napoleon enabled conservative and reactionary regimes such as those of
2997-572: The G7 , the BRICS , and the Contact Group have all been described as great power concerts. A 2017 study by the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies qualified China, Europe, India, Japan, Russia and the United States as the current great powers. With continuing European integration , the European Union is increasingly being seen as a great power in its own right, with representation at
3108-561: The Habsburg monarchy in Austria, and the conservative notables of the small princely states and city-states in Germany. Meanwhile, demands for change from below had been fomenting due to the influence of the French Revolution. Throughout the German Confederation, Austrian influence was paramount, drawing the ire of the nationalist movements. Metternich considered nationalism, especially
3219-546: The Holy Roman Empire , were recognized as fully sovereign. The members pledged themselves to mutual defense, and joint maintenance of the fortresses at Mainz , the city of Luxembourg , Rastatt , Ulm , and Landau . The only organ of the Confederation was the Federal Assembly (officially Bundesversammlung , often called Bundestag ), which consisted of the delegates of the states' governments. There
3330-562: The King of the United Kingdom (until 1837) as King of Hanover were members of the German Confederation. Each of them had a vote in the Federal Assembly. At its foundation in 1815, four member states were ruled by foreign monarchs, as the King of Denmark was Duke of both Holstein and Saxe-Lauenburg. The four free cities of Bremen , Frankfurt , Hamburg , and Lübeck shared one vote in
3441-426: The Kingdom of Prussia were the largest and by far the most powerful members of the Confederation. Large parts of both countries were not included in the Confederation, because they had not been part of the former Holy Roman Empire, nor were the greater parts of their armed forces incorporated in the federal army. Austria and Prussia each had one vote in the Federal Assembly. Six other major states had one vote each in
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3552-409: The Kingdom of Prussia , the Austrian Empire , and Tsarist Russia to survive, laying the groundwork for the Congress of Vienna and the alliance that strove to oppose radical demands for change ushered in by the French Revolution . With Austria 's position on the continent now intact and ostensibly secure under its reactionary premier Klemens von Metternich , the Habsburg empire would serve as
3663-827: The Locarno Treaties , which made it a member of the League of Nations, and later left (and withdrew from the League in 1933 ); Japan left, and the Soviet Union joined. When World War II began in 1939, it divided the world into two alliances: the Allies (initially the United Kingdom and France, and Poland, followed in 1941 by the Soviet Union , China, and the United States) and the Axis powers ( Germany , Italy, and Japan). During World War II,
3774-680: The Risorgimento era , Japan during the Meiji era , and the United States after its civil war . By 1900, the balance of world power had changed substantially since the Congress of Vienna. The Eight-Nation Alliance was an alliance of eight nations created in response to the Boxer Rebellion in China. It formed in 1900 and consisted of the five Congress powers plus Italy, Japan, and the United States, representing
3885-559: The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons , and maintain military expenditures which are among the largest in the world. However, there is no unanimous agreement among authorities as to the current status of these powers or what precisely defines a great power. For example, following the Cold War and the two decades after it, some sources referred to China, France, Russia and
3996-478: The United Nations Security Council . Since the end of the World Wars, the term "great power" has been joined by a number of other power classifications. Foremost among these is the concept of the superpower, used to describe those nations with overwhelming power and influence in the rest of the world. It was first coined in 1944 by William T. R. Fox and according to him, there were three superpowers: Great Britain,
4107-523: The University of Berlin , founded in 1810, became the world's leading university. Von Ranke , for example, professionalized history and set the world standard for historiography. By the 1830s, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology had emerged with world class science, led by Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) in natural science and Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) in mathematics. Young intellectuals often turned to politics, but their support for
4218-525: The WTO and at G7 and G-20 summits. This is most notable in areas where the European Union has exclusive competence (i.e. economic affairs). It also reflects a non-traditional conception of Europe's world role as a global "civilian power", exercising collective influence in the functional spheres of trade and diplomacy, as an alternative to military dominance. The European Union is a supranational union and not
4329-551: The province of Luxemburg to Belgium, the Duchy of Limburg was created and became a member of the German Confederation (held by the Netherlands jointly with Luxembourg) until the dissolution of 1866. In 1867 the duchy was declared to be an "integral part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands". The cities of Maastricht and Venlo were not included in the Confederation. The Austrian Empire and
4440-642: The third and fourth largest economies respectively) rather than their strategic and hard power capabilities (i.e., the lack of permanent seats and veto power on the UN Security Council or strategic military reach). Germany has been a member together with the five permanent Security Council members in the P5+1 grouping of world powers. Like China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom; Germany and Japan have also been referred to as middle powers. In his 2014 publication Great Power Peace and American Primacy , Joshua Baron considers China, France, Russia, Germany, Japan,
4551-744: The Assembly, but rarely deployed ambassadors itself. During the revolution of 1848/49 the Federal Assembly was inactive. It transferred its powers to the Provisorische Zentralgewalt , the revolutionary German Central Government of the Frankfurt National Assembly . After crushing the revolution and illegally disbanding the National Assembly, the Prussian King failed to create a German nation state by himself. The Federal Assembly
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4662-418: The Cold War, Japan, France, the United Kingdom and West Germany rebuilt their economies. France and the United Kingdom maintained technologically advanced armed forces with power projection capabilities and maintain large defense budgets to this day. Yet, as the Cold War continued, authorities began to question if France and the United Kingdom could retain their long-held statuses as great powers. China, with
4773-612: The Confederate Diet in that year. By 1846, Luxemburg still had not formed its own contingent, and Prussia was rebuffed for offering to supply 1,450 men to garrison the Luxemburg fortress that should have been supplied by Waldeck and the two Lippes. In that same year, it was decided that a common symbol for the Federal Army should be the old Imperial two-headed eagle, but without crown, scepter, or sword, as any of those devices encroached on
4884-511: The Congress of Vienna in 1815. The Congress established the Concert of Europe as an attempt to preserve peace after the years of Napoleonic Wars . Lord Castlereagh , the British foreign secretary , first used the term in its diplomatic context, writing on 13 February 1814: "there is every prospect of the Congress terminating with a general accord and Guarantee between the Great powers of Europe, with
4995-694: The East called Junkers , dominated not only the localities, but also the Prussian court , and especially the Prussian army . Increasingly after 1815, a centralized Prussian government based in Berlin took over the powers of the nobles, which in terms of control over the peasantry had been almost absolute. They retained control of the judicial system on their estates until 1848, as well as control of hunting and game laws. They paid no land tax until 1861 and kept their police authority until 1872, and controlled church affairs into
5106-603: The Federal Assembly. The 23 remaining states (at its formation in 1815) shared five votes in the Federal Assembly: There were therefore 17 votes in the Federal Assembly. The rules of the Confederation provided for three different types of military interventions: Other military conflicts were foreign to the confederation ( bundesfremd ). An example is Austria's oppression of the uprising in Northern Italy in 1848 and 1849, as these Austrian territories lay outside of
5217-411: The Federal Assembly: the Kingdom of Bavaria , the Kingdom of Saxony , the Kingdom of Württemberg , the Electorate of Hesse , the Grand Duchy of Baden , and the Grand Duchy of Hesse . Three foreign monarchs ruled member states: the King of Denmark as Duke of Holstein and Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg ; the King of the Netherlands as Grand Duke of Luxembourg and (from 1839) Duke of Limburg ; and
5328-402: The French-occupied Principality of Erfurt stayed outside the Confederation of the Rhine. The War of the Sixth Coalition from 1812 to winter 1814 saw the defeat of Napoleon and the liberation of Germany. In June 1814, the famous German patriot Heinrich vom Stein created the Central Managing Authority for Germany ( Zentralverwaltungsbehörde ) in Frankfurt to replace the defunct Confederation of
5439-610: The International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG) grouping of world powers. Some analysts assert that Italy is an "intermittent" or the " Least of the Great Powers ", while some others believe Italy is a middle or regional power. International relations academics Gabriele Abbondanza and Thomas Wilkins have classified Italy as an "awkward" great power on account of its top-tier economic, military, political, and socio-cultural capabilities and credentials - including its G7 and NATO Quint membership - which are moderated by its lack of national nuclear weapons and permanent membership to
5550-445: The People's Republic of China. China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States are often referred to as great powers by academics due to "their political and economic dominance of the global arena". These five nations are the only states to have permanent seats with veto power on the UN Security Council. They are also the only state entities to have met the conditions to be considered " Nuclear Weapons States " under
5661-438: The Postwar Period', the French historian Jean-Baptiste Duroselle spoke of the concept of multi-polarity: "A Great power is one which is capable of preserving its own independence against any other single power." This differed from earlier writers, notably from Leopold von Ranke , who clearly had a different idea of the world situation. In his essay 'The Great Powers', written in 1833, von Ranke wrote: "If one could establish as
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#17330859173765772-412: The Rhine. However, plenipotentiaries gathered at the Congress of Vienna were determined to create a weaker union of German states than that envisaged by Stein. The German Confederation was created by the 9th Act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 after being alluded to in Article 6 of the 1814 Treaty of Paris , ending the War of the Sixth Coalition. The Confederation was formally created by
5883-589: The School of International Relations and Professor of Strategic Studies at the University of St. Andrews , criticizes the concept of a great power, arguing that it is dated, vaguely defined, and inconsistently applied. He states that the term is used to "describe everything from true superpowers such as the United States and China, which wield the full spectrum of economic, technological, and military might, to better-than-average military powers such as Russia, which have nuclear weapons but little else that would be considered indicators of great power. " O'Brien advocates for
5994-404: The Second Schleswig War (or Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg in German). As Schleswig and Denmark were not member states, this war was foreign to the Confederation. The Confederation took no part in this war. A federal intervention confronted for example the raid of the revolutionaries in Baden in April 1848. In June 1866, the Federal Convention decided to takes measures against Prussia. This decision
6105-404: The Treaty of Neuilly, with Bulgaria; the Treaty of Trianon, with Hungary; and the Treaty of Sèvres, with the Ottoman Empire . During the decision-making of the Treaty of Versailles , Italy pulled out of the conference because a part of its demands were not met and temporarily left the other three countries as the sole major architects of that treaty, referred to as the "Big Three". The status of
6216-433: The UN Security Council. In addition to these contemporary great powers mentioned above, Zbigniew Brzezinski considers India to be a great power. However, there is no collective agreement among observers as to the status of India, for example, a number of academics believe that India is emerging as a great power, while some believe that India remains a middle power. The United Nations Security Council, NATO Quint ,
6327-486: The US had recently slipped: All states have a geographic scope of interests, actions, or projected power. This is a crucial factor in distinguishing a great power from a regional power; by definition, the scope of a regional power is restricted to its region. It has been suggested that a great power should be possessed of actual influence throughout the scope of the prevailing international system. Arnold J. Toynbee , for example, observes that "Great power may be defined as
6438-445: The US, UK, USSR, and China were referred as a "trusteeship of the powerful" and were recognized as the Allied " Big Four " in Declaration by United Nations in 1942. These four countries were referred as the " Four Policemen " of the Allies and considered as the primary victors of World War II. The importance of France was acknowledged by their inclusion, along with the other four, in the group of countries allotted permanent seats in
6549-504: The United Kingdom as middle powers. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union , its UN Security Council permanent seat was transferred to the Russian Federation in 1991, as its largest successor state . The newly formed Russian Federation emerged on the level of a great power, leaving the United States as the only remaining global superpower (although some support a multipolar world view ). Japan and Germany are great powers too, though due to their large advanced economies (having
6660-455: The United Kingdom and the United States as the current great powers. Italy has been referred to as a great power by a number of academics and commentators throughout the post-WWII era. The American international legal scholar Milena Sterio writes: The great powers are super-sovereign states: an exclusive club of the most powerful states economically, militarily, politically and strategically. These states include veto-wielding members of
6771-430: The United Nations Security Council (United States, United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia), as well as economic powerhouses such as Germany, Italy and Japan. Sterio also cites Italy's status in the Group of Seven (G7) and the nation's influence in regional and international organizations for its status as a great power. Italy has been a member together with the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany in
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#17330859173766882-536: The United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc , which began following World War II. The term " cold " is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers , but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars . The conflict was based around the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their temporary alliance and victory against Nazi Germany in 1945. During
6993-418: The United States, and the Soviet Union. But after World War II Britain lost its superpower status. The term middle power has emerged for those nations which exercise a degree of global influence but are insufficient to be decisive on international affairs. Regional powers are those whose influence is generally confined to their region of the world. The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between
7104-442: The War of 1866 proved its ineffectiveness, as it was unable to combine the federal troops in order to fight the Prussian secession. The War of the Third Coalition lasted from about 1803 to 1806. Following defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz by the French under Napoleon in December 1805, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II abdicated, and the Empire was dissolved on 6 August 1806. The resulting Treaty of Pressburg established
7215-423: The armed forces of a state. For example, Prussia's army consisted of nine Army Corps but contributed only three to the German Federal Army. The strength of the mobilized German Federal Army was projected to total 303,484 men in 1835 and 391,634 men in 1860, with the individual states providing the following figures: Between 1806 and 1815, Napoleon organized the German states, aside from Prussia and Austria, into
7326-511: The concept of a "full-spectrum power", which takes into account "all the fundamentals on which superior military power is built", including economic resources, domestic politics and political systems (which can restrain or expand dimensions of power), technological capabilities, and social and cultural factors (such as a society's willingness to go to war or invest in military development). Various sets of great, or significant, powers have existed throughout history. An early reference to great powers
7437-422: The confederation's borders. During the existence of the Confederation, there was only one federal war: the war against Denmark beginning with the Schleswig-Holstein uprising in 1848 (the First Schleswig War ). The conflict became a federal war when the Bundestag demanded from Denmark to withdraw its troops from Schleswig (April 12) and recognized the revolutionary of Schleswig-Holstein (April 22). The confederation
7548-414: The creation of the North German Confederation under Prussian leadership in 1867, to which the eastern portions of the Kingdom of Prussia were added. A number of South German states remained independent until they joined the North German Confederation, which was renamed and proclaimed as the " German Empire " in 1871, as the unified Germany (aside from Austria) with the Prussian king as emperor (Kaiser) after
7659-452: The dawn of the 20th century had served to create an entirely different balance of power. Great Britain and the new German Empire (from 1871), experienced continued economic growth and political power. Others, such as Russia and Austria-Hungary, stagnated. At the same time, other states were emerging and expanding in power, largely through the process of industrialization. These countries seeking to attain great power status were: Italy after
7770-407: The early 20th century. To help the nobility avoid indebtedness, Berlin set up a credit institution to provide capital loans in 1809, and extended the loan network to peasants in 1849. When the German Empire was established in 1871, the nobility controlled the army and the Navy, the bureaucracy, and the royal court; they generally set governmental policies. Peasants continued to center their lives in
7881-423: The economic independence of smaller states. European Great Powers List of forms of government A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power influence, which may cause middle or small powers to consider
7992-554: The extent of its overseas empire , which ushered in a century of Pax Britannica . The balance of power between the Great Powers became a major influence in European politics, prompting Otto von Bismarck to say "All politics reduces itself to this formula: try to be one of three, as long as the world is governed by the unstable equilibrium of five great powers." Over time, the relative power of these five nations fluctuated, which by
8103-425: The failed Revolution of 1848 forced many into exile. The population of the German Confederation (excluding Austria) grew 60% from 1815 to 1865, from 21,000,000 to 34,000,000. The era saw the demographic transition take place in Germany. It was a transition from high birth rates and high death rates to low birth and death rates as the country developed from a pre-industrial to a modernized agriculture and supported
8214-594: The forces of the old order against those inspired by the French Revolution and the Rights of Man. The breakdown of the competition was, roughly, the emerging capitalist bourgeoisie and petit-bourgeoisie (engaged mostly in commerce, trade, and industry), and the growing (and increasingly radicalized) industrial working class ; and the other side associated with landowning aristocracy or military aristocracy (the Junker s ) in Prussia,
8325-509: The forces unleashed by the French Revolution were seemingly under control after the Vienna Congress, the conflict between conservative forces and liberal nationalists was only deferred at best. The era until the failed 1848 revolution, in which these tensions built up, is commonly referred to as Vormärz ("pre-March"), in reference to the outbreak of riots in March 1848. This conflict pitted
8436-544: The form of the nationalistic and liberal democratic college fraternities known as the Burschenschaften . The Wartburg Festival in 1817 celebrated Martin Luther as a proto-German nationalist, linking Lutheranism to German nationalism, and helping arouse religious sentiments for the cause of German nationhood. The festival culminated in the burning of several books and other items that symbolized reactionary attitudes. One item
8547-517: The former Holy Roman Empire , which had been dissolved in 1806 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars . The Confederation had only one organ, the Bundesversammlung , or Federal Convention (also Federal Assembly or Confederate Diet). The Convention consisted of the representatives of the member states. The most important issues had to be decided on unanimously. The Convention was presided over by
8658-423: The foundation for Prussia's future military might by professionalizing the military and decreeing universal military conscription . In order to industrialize Prussia, working within the framework provided by the old aristocratic institutions, land reforms were enacted to break the monopoly of the Junker s on land ownership, thereby also abolishing, among other things, the feudal practice of serfdom . Although
8769-423: The founder of the neorealist theory of international relations, uses a set of six criteria to determine great power: population and territory, resource endowment, military strength, economic capability, political stability and competence. John Mearsheimer defines great powers as those that "have sufficient military assets to put up a serious fight in an all-out conventional war against the most powerful state in
8880-408: The functioning of the Confederation depended on the cooperation of the two most populous member states, Austria and Prussia which in reality were often in opposition . The German revolutions of 1848–1849 , motivated by liberal, democratic, socialist, and nationalist sentiments, attempted to transform the Confederation into a unified German federal state with a liberal constitution (usually called
8991-424: The great powers at the beginning of the 20th century. Shifts of international power have most notably occurred through major conflicts. The conclusion of World War I and the resulting treaties of Versailles , St-Germain , Neuilly , Trianon , and Sèvres made Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States the chief arbiters of the new world order. The German Empire was defeated, Austria-Hungary
9102-454: The great powers' opinions before taking actions of their own. International relations theorists have posited that great power status can be characterized into power capabilities, spatial aspects, and status dimensions. While some nations are widely considered to be great powers, there is considerable debate on the exact criteria of great power status. Historically, the status of great powers has been formally recognized in organizations such as
9213-422: The individual sovereignty of the states. King Frederick William IV of Prussia was among those who derided the "disarmed imperial eagle" as a national symbol. The German Federal Army was divided into ten Army Corps (later expanded to include a Reserve Corps). However, the Army Corps were not exclusive to the German Confederation but composed from the national armies of the member states, and did not include all of
9324-609: The liberal press, and seriously restricted academic freedom . German artists and intellectuals, heavily influenced by the French Revolution, turned to Romanticism . At the universities, high-powered professors developed international reputations, especially in the humanities led by history and philology, which brought a new historical perspective to the study of political history, theology, philosophy, language, and literature. With Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) in philosophy, Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) in theology and Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) in history,
9435-529: The nationalist youth movement, the most pressing danger: German nationalism might not only repudiate Austrian dominance of the Confederation, but also stimulate nationalist sentiment within the Austrian Empire itself. In a multi-national polyglot state in which Slavs and Magyars outnumbered the Germans, the prospects of Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Polish, Serb, or Croatian sentiment along with middle class liberalism
9546-539: The need for administrative, economic, and social reforms to improve the efficiency of the bureaucracy and encourage practical merit-based education. Inspired by the Napoleonic organization of German and Italian principalities, the Prussian Reform Movement led by Karl August von Hardenberg and Count Stein was conservative, enacted to preserve aristocratic privilege while modernizing institutions. Outside Prussia, industrialization progressed slowly, and
9657-485: The outcome and resolution. Historically, when major political questions were addressed, several great powers met to discuss them. Before the era of groups like the United Nations, participants of such meetings were not officially named but rather were decided based on their great power status. These were conferences that settled important questions based on major historical events. Historian Phillips P. O'Brien , Head of
9768-570: The post- Napoleonic era. The "Great Powers" constituted the " Concert of Europe " and claimed the right to joint enforcement of the postwar treaties. The formalization of the division between small powers and great powers came about with the signing of the Treaty of Chaumont in 1814. Since then, the international balance of power has shifted numerous times, most dramatically during World War I and World War II . In literature, alternative terms for great power are often world power or major power . There are no set or defined characteristics of
9879-481: The representative of Austria. This was a formality, however, as the Confederation did not have a head of state, since it was not a state. The Confederation, on the one hand, was a strong alliance between its member states because federal law was superior to state law (the decisions of the Federal Convention were binding for the member states). Additionally, the Confederation had been established for eternity and
9990-458: The rolling stock carried 'KPEV' emblems and the abbreviation is commonly used in railway circles nowadays. German Confederation The German Confederation ( German : Deutscher Bund [ˌdɔʏtʃɐ ˈbʊnt] ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe . It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of
10101-582: The southern German states. All the constituent states of the former German Confederation became part of the Kaiserreich in 1871, except Austria, Luxembourg , the Duchy of Limburg , and Liechtenstein . The late 18th century was a period of political, economic, intellectual, and cultural reforms, the Enlightenment (represented by figures such as Locke , Rousseau , Voltaire , and Adam Smith ), but also involving early Romanticism , and climaxing with
10212-400: The term today. Other powers, such as Spain, Portugal, and Sweden, which were great powers during the 17th century and the earlier 18th century, were consulted on certain specific issues, but they were not full participants. After the Congress of Vienna, Great Britain emerged as the pre-eminent global hegemon, due to it being the first nation to industrialize , possessing the largest navy, and
10323-633: The two great rivals, the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia , each feared domination by the other. In Prussia the Hohenzollern rulers forged a centralized state. By the time of the Napoleonic Wars, Prussia, grounded in the virtues of its established military aristocracy (the Junkers ) and stratified by rigid hierarchical lines, had been surpassed militarily and economically by France. After 1807, Prussia's defeats by Napoleonic France highlighted
10434-413: The urban population grew rapidly, due primarily to the influx of young people from the rural areas. Berlin grew from 172,000 people in 1800 to 826,000 in 1870; Hamburg grew from 130,000 to 290,000; Munich from 40,000 to 269,000; Breslau (now Wrocław ) from 60,000 to 208,000; Dresden from 60,000 to 177,000; Königsberg (now Kaliningrad ) from 55,000 to 112,000. Offsetting this growth, there
10545-452: The victorious great powers were recognised by permanent seats at the League of Nations Council, where they acted as a type of executive body directing the Assembly of the League. However, the council began with only four permanent members – Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan – because the United States, meant to be the fifth permanent member, never joined the League. Germany later joined after
10656-477: The victory over French Emperor Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Most historians have judged the Confederation to have been weak and ineffective, as well as an obstacle to the creation of a German nation-state. This weakness was part of its design, as the European Great Powers , including Prussia and especially Austria, did not want it to become a nation-state. However, the Confederation
10767-463: The village, where they were members of a corporate body and helped manage community resources and monitor community life. In the East, they were serfs who were bound prominently to parcels of land. In most of Germany, farming was handled by tenant farmers who paid rents and obligatory services to the landlord, who was typically a nobleman. Peasant leaders supervised the fields and ditches and grazing rights, maintained public order and morals, and supported
10878-503: The world's largest population, has slowly risen to great power status, with large growth in economic and military power in the post-war period. After 1949, the Republic of China began to lose its recognition as the sole legitimate government of China by the other great powers, in favour of the People's Republic of China. Subsequently, in 1971, it lost its permanent seat at the UN Security Council to
10989-451: The world." As noted above, for many, power capabilities were the sole criterion. However, even under the more expansive tests, power retains a vital place. This aspect has received mixed treatment, with some confusion as to the degree of power required. Writers have approached the concept of great power with differing conceptualizations of the world situation, from multi-polarity to overwhelming hegemony . In his essay, 'French Diplomacy in
11100-530: Was a book by August von Kotzebue . In 1819, Kotzebue was accused of spying for Russia, and then murdered by a theological student, Karl Ludwig Sand , who was executed for the crime. Sand belonged to a militant nationalist faction of the Burschenschaften . Metternich used the murder as a pretext to issue the Carlsbad Decrees of 1819, which dissolved the Burschenschaften , cracked down on
11211-463: Was certainly horrifying to the monarchist landed aristocracy. Figures like August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben , Ludwig Uhland , Georg Herwegh , Heinrich Heine , Georg Büchner , Ludwig Börne , and Bettina von Arnim rose in the Vormärz era. Father Friedrich Jahn 's gymnastic associations exposed middle class German youth to nationalist and democratic ideas, which took
11322-572: Was divided into new, less powerful states and the Russian Empire fell to revolution . During the Paris Peace Conference , the " Big Four " – Great Britain, France, Italy, and the United States – controlled the proceedings and outcome of the treaties more than Japan. The Big Four were the architects of the Treaty of Versailles which was signed by Germany; the Treaty of St. Germain, with Austria;
11433-416: Was extensive emigration, especially to the United States. Emigration totaled 480,000 in the 1840s, 1,200,000 in the 1850s, and 780,000 in the 1860s. Despite its name and intention, the German Confederation was not entirely populated by Germans; many people of other ethnic groups lived within its borders: Further efforts to improve the confederation began in 1834 with the establishment of a customs union ,
11544-575: Was held back because of political disunity, conflicts of interest between the nobility and merchants, and the continued existence of the guild system, which discouraged competition and innovation. While this kept the middle class at bay, affording the old order a measure of stability not seen in France, Prussia's vulnerability to Napoleon's military proved to many among the old order that a fragile, divided, and traditionalist Germany would be easy prey for its cohesive and industrializing neighbor. The reforms laid
11655-505: Was impossible to dissolve (legally), with no member states being able to leave it and no new member being able to join without universal consent in the Federal Convention. On the other hand, the Confederation was weakened by its very structure and member states, partly because the most important decisions in the Federal Convention required unanimity and the purpose of the Confederation was limited to only security matters. On top of that,
11766-626: Was no head of state, but the Austrian delegate presided over the Assembly (according to the Bundesakte). Austria did not have extra powers, but consequently the Austrian delegate was called Präsidialgesandther and Austria the Präsidialmacht (presiding power). The Assembly met in Frankfurt. The Confederation was enabled to accept and deploy ambassadors. It allowed ambassadors of the European powers to
11877-419: Was not a 'loose' tie between the German states, as it was impossible to leave the Confederation, and as Confederation law stood above the law of the aligned states. The constitutional weakness of the Confederation lay in the principle of unanimity in the Diet and the limits of the Confederation's scope: it was essentially a military alliance to defend Germany against external attacks and internal riots. Ironically,
11988-672: Was revived in 1850 on Austrian initiative, but only fully reinstalled in the Summer of 1851. Rivalry between Prussia and Austria grew more and more, especially after 1859. The Confederation was dissolved in 1866 after the Austro-Prussian War , and was succeeded in 1866 by the Prussian-dominated North German Confederation . Unlike the German Confederation, the North German Confederation was in fact
12099-438: Was supposed to collectively defend the German Confederation from external enemies, primarily France. Successive laws passed by the Confederate Diet set the form and function of the army, as well as contribution limits of the member states. The Diet had the power to declare war and was responsible for appointing a supreme commander of the army and commanders of the individual army corps. This made mobilization extremely slow and added
12210-404: Was technically not a federal execution for a lack of time to observe the actual procedure. Prussia had violated, according to the majority of the convention, federal law by sending its troops to Holstein. The decision led to the war in summer 1866 that ended with the dissolution of the confederation ( known as Seven Weeks War or by other names ). The German Federal Army ( Deutsches Bundesheer )
12321-495: Was transformed into the German Empire of 1848 . Prussia was de facto the most important member state conducting the war for Germany. There are several examples for federal executions and especially federal interventions. In 1863, the Confederation ordered a federal execution against the duke of Holstein (the Danish king). Federal troops occupied Holstein which was a member state. After this, Austria and Prussia declared war on Denmark,
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