Economic Problems in Eastern Germany and Measures for German Economic Integration?

A Brief Discussion on German Unification and German Modernization

[CCS]K516.4 [ID]A [Article ID]1000-5374(2002)06-0707-08

We generally consider social factors when discussing the issue of modernization, such as changes in industrial structure, scientific and technological development, the formation of new classes, or the spread of new ideas. changes in industrial structure, the development of science and technology, the formation of new classes or the spread of new ideas. This is essentially a gradual and natural process of change. Reunification, on the other hand, is mainly concerned with political events, such as the forces of reunification, the methods of reunification, or the strategies of reunification. This is more of a drastic and artificial process of rapid change. These two processes of different nature and time are not necessarily connected. However, under the specific historical conditions of modern Germany, there was a very close and special relationship between unification and modernization. Political fragmentation has always been a major misfortune in the history of the German nation, and the Lutheran Reformation of 1517 inaugurated a bourgeois movement of national unity, but in a religious guise. As the wave of modernization in Western Europe spread to the periphery, German society was also y shaken, and the unification movement began to be closely linked with modernization thereafter: the anti-Napoleonic wars of 1807 and the German bourgeois revolution of 1848 were all y marked by modernization. Modernization objectively requires a unified market, and the modern industrial bourgeoisie also needs a unified national state as the representative and protector of its national interests, and modernization is inseparable from the unity of the state. At the same time, the development of modernization, the industrial revolution and the progress of industrialization also gave a great impetus to the unification of Germany, which was also inseparable from modernization, and to a large extent was a product of modernization. Thus, German unification and modernization were closely interrelated, interacting and mutually reinforcing.

I

The question of modernization was closely intertwined with the question of German unification as soon as it emerged in Germany. This was an inevitable part of Germany's historical development and an objective necessity for the development of the German nation itself.

Modern Britain and France have long since established unified nation-states and solved the problem of unification. Internally, in order to consolidate their rule, the autocratic regimes of these nation-states devoted themselves to the standardization of weights and measures, the construction of roads, the elimination of barriers, and the establishment of a financial system, which facilitated free trade and the development of a commodity economy. Externally, the autocracy practiced mercantilism and colonialism to protect the growth of domestic industry and commerce and to develop raw material sources and commodity markets. The civil class developed greatly in the infancy of the autocratic monarchy. The united nation-states of Britain and France became the most powerful countries in the world. The German society, however, was affected but did not undergo any fundamental changes. In the Thirty Years' War, while Britain, France and even Sweden fought for their own interests, the German states were still fighting each other, and the sense of a united German nation was still very low. If the Germans began to have a sense of national identity in the 18th century, it was only a romanticized cultural nationalism circulating in the minds of the intellectual elite [1] (p. 112). This was a significant difference from the "political nationalism" of nation-states such as Britain and France, which was based on the same political will and economic interests. Even at the end of the 18th century, the ambitious King Friedrich did not speak of the unification of Germany. So, what event or what factor finally put the unification issue on the agenda? In the author's opinion, this event was the Napoleonic Wars, and this factor was the influence of modernization on German society.

From the Battle of Marengo in 1800 to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, Napoleon fought with feudal Europe for 15 years. Germany, which was adjacent to France, was the hardest hit by the war, and the failure of the Third Coalition against France in 1805 and the signing of the Peace of Plainsboro and the establishment of the "Confederation of the Rhine" directly led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. The defeat of the Prussian army and the Russo-Prussian alliance in 1806 and 1807 and the signing of the Peace of Tilsit made Prussia, once a powerful state with 300,000 square kilometers of land, a population of more than 10 million people and an army of 250,000 people, together with its self-proclaimed strongest army in Europe and its enlightened dictatorship, once regarded as the seat of progress and rationality by the bourgeoisie, to be the most powerful state in Europe, the most powerful state in the world, the most powerful state in the world. Together with the spirit of enlightened authoritarianism, which had been regarded by the bourgeoisie as the seat of progress and rationality, the state collapsed into total collapse [2] (p. 241). Napoleon's military victory represented the fruit of the French Revolution, the victory of the united bourgeois state. The defeat of Germany represented by Prussia reflected the fall of the divided vassal despotism based on serfdom. The Napoleonic Wars dealt a heavy blow to the feudal autocracy of Germany and destroyed the strong feudal division of Germany, which objectively helped the unification of Germany and the rise and growth of new factors within the society. In 1803, a conference of representatives of the German states concerned, convened in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars, abolished 112 states and reduced the number of states to 30, thus taking a big step forward in the path of German unification. Germany took a great step forward on the road to unification. More importantly, the war gave rise to German political nationalism, the realization that backwardness was caused by the division of the country, and the emergence of a new social force which demanded national unity and political freedom under the banner of Western nationalism and liberalism. In its view, freedom and unity were inseparable. Although Prussia was greatly weakened, it was the only independent country in all of Germany and the hope of Germany. Only the revival of Prussia could unify and revitalize Germany. Therefore, all the German elites gathered in Prussia and ***talked about reforms. At the same time, the military defeat made the Prussian king incapable of exercising autocratic rule and realized the necessity of reforming the feudal serfdom. It was under these circumstances that the German liberal aristocracy and nationalists were able to carry out reforms to save Germany, and the Stein-Hardenberg Reforms, which began in 1807, appeared. Although the reforms were carried out in only half of the remaining Prussian territory, they had a German-wide significance: they opened up a new era in German history, i.e. the beginning of modernization, and provided Germany with a unifying force. At the same time, Napoleon's capitalist transformation of the Rhineland made it the first region in Germany to turn to capitalist development and created a modern German industrial and commercial bourgeoisie, which provided the Prussian reformers with an example to be followed. In the 1830s and 1840s, a "Rhenish civilization" emerged, which not only developed into a base of heavy industry for the whole of Germany, but also became the center of the movement for German freedom and unification.

Unification was the objective requirement of German national development, and modernization was the spirit of the times. The Napoleonic wars finally brought these two important matters related to the survival of the German nation to the forefront of the agenda and brought about the combination of the two.

Two

In the 1820s, German industry began to prosper and become active. The 1930s and 1940s were the beginning of German modernization. The beginning of German modernization was closely related to the cause of German unification. Although the Napoleonic wars annexed a large number of vassal states, Germany was still under the division of more than 30 states. After the launching of the modernization of Germany, this situation of division became an obstacle to the development of capitalism, and the overcoming of the problem of national division became a hurdle that had to be broken through in the modernization of Germany. Friedrich Liszt, the outstanding representative of the German industrial and commercial bourgeoisie and the pioneer of German national unity, was to establish the German Customs Union. The efforts of Friedrich Riester, the outstanding representative of the German industrial and commercial bourgeoisie and the pioneer of German national unity, to establish the German Customs Union and the All-German Railway System, combined the progress of German modernization with the process of national unification, and first of all succeeded in breaking through the divisive situation at the economic level. The Customs Union and the All-German Railway System became the most important vehicles of the modernization and unification movement of Germany at that time, and were the most typical embodiment and the most perfect combination of the interaction and mutual reinforcement between German modernization and unification. Franz Liszt once aptly described: "The railroad system and the Customs Union were conjoined twins; they were born at the same moment, they were joined to each other limb by limb, they had only one mind and one sense, and they supported each other in the pursuit of the same great goal, that is, to unite the various parts of Germany into a great, civilized, rich, powerful and inviolable nation! "[3] (P. 347-377).

Under the influence of the Napoleonic wars and the advocacy of Liszt, the German states realized the importance of railroads in politics, economy and military, and set off a boom of railroad construction. 1835 Germany built the first railroad of 6 kilometers in length, and 133 kilometers of railroads were built in 1939, and 20 railroads were built in 1845 in a **** in Germany with a length of 2,871 kilometers, and the length of railroads in 1849 was more than 1,000 kilometers. By 1845, Germany had built 20 railroads with a length of 2,871 kilometers. From the 1850s the German railroad construction reached a climax, began to form the railway network, to the end of the 60s, the modern German railroad pattern is basically formed. According to the statistics, the length of German railroad lines (excluding Austria) was 5822 km in 1850, 7781 km in 1855, 11026 km in 1860, 13821 km in 1865, and 18560 km in 1870 [4] (P.93). The Prussian railroads had a major share of this: 3,869 km in 1850 and 11,520 km in 1870[5] (P.376-380), thus controlling the operation of the entire German railroad network and consolidating its economic leadership in Germany. The construction of railroads greatly promoted the development of heavy industries such as coal, iron and steel. The construction of the railroad network facilitated the mining of coal in Germany, which led to a sharp increase in the production of coal in Germany, and by 1860, the coal production in Germany had already exceeded that of Belgium and France. Coal mining provided abundant energy for the iron and steel industry, and the railroads became a major consumer of iron. 1861 to 1870, the German iron industry experienced a strong boom, and pig iron production surpassed that of France and approached that of Great Britain [6] (P.2). Prussia's newly established ironmaking, iron-making and machine-building enterprises, for the whole of Germany's top, accounting for more than 70% . As a result of the development of the railroads, a number of new industrial sectors were established, such as the telegraph industry in the 1950s, the chemical and optical industries in the 1960s, as well as the establishment of banking and joint-stock companies, which began to contribute to the industrialization of Germany. A further consequence of the development of railroads was the promotion of links between the German states. The establishment of the all-German railroad network not only facilitated economic exchanges and the formation of a unified market, but also greatly enhanced the political, cultural and ideological exchanges of the German nation and strengthened the sense of identity and cohesion of the unified German nation.

The above discussion shows that the railroad construction and the formation of the whole German railroad network became a powerful pull of German modernization, which made the whole economic structure and the configuration of class power of the German society to undergo a "decisive, in fact, revolutionary changes" [7] (P.235). The increase in the power of the bourgeoisie, in turn, objectively required a united government and a broad market, thus giving a strong impetus to the unification process. As the poets of the time called the railroads "the wedding ribbons of German unity", the railroads played an important role not only economically, but also in promoting the exchange of ideas and the spread of liberal and democratic ideas in the different regions of Germany. Prussia became the leader of the German states because of its control over the entire German railroad network, and eventually became the central force of German unification.

The establishment of the Customs Union was as important in the process of German modernization and unification as the formation of the all-German railroad network. The establishment of the Customs Union enabled the German nation to create a unified internal market beforehand without being unified, and thus to achieve economic unity to a certain extent. It can be said that the Customs Union, from the time of its inception, had two distinct aims: modernization and unification.

The indifference and negativity of Austria to German unification gave the economically powerful Prussia an opportunity to compete for the hegemony of the whole of Germany, and it crossed over to the German Confederation to carry out a German-wide tariff policy. The Prussian bilateral treaty with Hesse-Darmstadt in 1828 and the treaty with the South German Commercial League in 1829 laid the groundwork for the two important steps of the Customs Union of 1834. After the isolation and fragmentation of the Austrian-supported Central German Commercial League, the transfer of the Hessian Electorate to the Prussian customs system in 1831 opened up the barriers between Prussia's eastern and western territories and created a customs bridge to the west. The consolidation of these treaties in 1833 gave rise to the Customs Union, a far-reaching event in the history of German modernization. The Customs Union came into force on January 1, 1834, and was joined by other small states. By January 1836, it had 25,151,000 inhabitants, or 85.6% of the inhabitants of Germany at the time of the unification in 1871, and a huge German domestic market was gradually established. As a result, the growing number of German domestic products could be sold on the basis of unification. As a result of Austria's self-isolation, Germany's political, as well as economic and geographic rivalry was first eliminated economically [8] (p. 77). At that time, many people realized the great contribution of economic union to political unity. The Prussian Minister of Finance, Mr. Motz, wrote in a memorandum to the king about the foreseeable consequences: "...... The collection of incoming, outgoing and passing tariffs is only a consequence of the political division of the states, and if this is indeed a political truth, it is the other way round, that the formation of tariffs and commercial unions between these states is accompanied by the elimination of their economic and social ties, and by the elimination of their economic and commercial ties. tariffs and commercial alliances, they must also be united into one political system, and this should also be the truth ...... Germany will be united under the hegemony of Prussia." [8] (P.77) The formation of the all-German railroad system and the establishment of the Customs Union greatly promoted the development of the German economy and further strengthened the power of the German bourgeoisie. The strengthening of the bourgeoisie in turn promoted the economic integration of Little Germany with Prussia. From the 1840s onwards, in order to protect its young industries, the Customs Union adopted the policy of free trade internally and a certain degree of tariff protection externally and in foreign countries, which was welcomed by the majority of the bourgeoisie and greatly benefited the Prussian Junker class. Under the strong influence and penetration of capitalism, the Junker class was also involved in the wave of modernization and industrialization, and unconsciously participated in the movement for the unification of the German and Italian nations.

By 1852, all the states, except Austria and Hamburg, had joined the Customs Union. The railroads not only linked the agricultural economy in the east with the steel industry in the west, but also drew the North Sea coast and the southern mountains into the national economic market. The bourgeoisie of the states benefited greatly and regarded Prussia as their political and economic representative in Germany, and by this time they were able to protect the Customs Union. In 1853, the government of the Kingdom of Saxony, which had always been at loggerheads with Prussia, was ready to accept the plan of Austrian Chancellor Schwarzenberg for the establishment of a Greater German-Central European Union under Austrian leadership. The government of Saxony was ready to accept Austrian Chancellor Schwarzenberg's plan for a Greater German-Central European Union under Austrian leadership, but was forced by bourgeois pressure to side with Prussia in favor of a customs union. There was a real storm of petitions in favor of the Customs Union in the southern and western states. Prussia, with the support of the whole German bourgeoisie, finally defeated the Schwarzenberg plan. The crisis showed that the small and medium-sized states were no longer able to pursue their own policies, and that they were no longer a political force in the same way as Austria and Prussia. It was Austria's economic backwardness that prevented it from entering the Customs Union, and it was the signing of the Franco-Prussian Commercial Treaty in 1862 that made it impossible for Austria to join the Customs Union, and it was eventually abandoned by the other states.

Since the 1860s, the economy of Little Germany has been integrated with Prussia. According to statistics, the total freight volume of the German federal railroads in 1860 was 17 million tons, the vast majority of which was held and borne by Prussia.The Prussian Railway Commission, which was established in 1846 and enlarged in the 1960s to become the German Governing Council, used various means to penetrate into the states[9] (P.8-9). With the strong support of the all-German railroad network, the Customs Union area developed a ****omogeneous economic life, perfected ****omogeneous language and ****omogeneous culture that developed during this period. The German nation was finally formed and consolidated. Economic unity laid the foundation for political unity, and the modernization of Germany in the 1850s and 1860s, especially the industrial revolution and the economic development, became such a compelling force that not only the bourgeoisie was in urgent need of national unity, but also the Junker class and even the lords and noblemen of the states, who felt that if they fought against the tide of unity, Germany would abandon them. It can be said that the unification of Germany was the trend of the times and the will of the people. The powerful and ambitious Prussia, under the operation of Bismarck and judging the situation, finally unified Germany by excluding Austria in the form of a top-down dynastic war. The unification of Germany was strongly advocated and promoted by the bourgeoisie created by the modernization of Germany. It was also supported by the favourable international and domestic situation created by the modernization, and the great power created by the modernization (financial resources, technology and new weapons), which led to the successive defeats of Denmark, Austria and France, as well as the pressure exerted by Russia in the late stage of the war. Bismarck's success in the cause of German unification was due to the fact that he followed the trend of the history of modernization.

Three

If the interdependent and mutually reinforcing relationship between modernization and unification before the reunification of Germany was more in the form of the determining effect of modernization on unification, the relationship between the two after the reunification of Germany was more in the form of the counteracting effect of unification on modernization. The unification of Germany greatly contributed to the industrialization of Germany.

(1) German unification was a necessary political precondition for industrialization. It removed the greatest obstacle to the development of the German economy and accelerated the formation of a united national market

German unification not only united the whole German economy, but also created a kind of economic nationalism in Germany. In the fierce competition between "free trade" and "tariff protection", most of the states joining the Reich, under the full protection and support of the Reunification Empire, greatly increased their industrial strength and role in this competition. The situation of the German foreign trade was thus reversed: in 1872, the German foreign trade consisted of 3,262 million marks of imports and 2,321 million marks of exports; by 1880, imports had fallen to 2,830 million marks, while exports had risen to 2,923 million marks [10] (p. 366). If politically it was Prussia that led Germany, economically it was Prussia that "melted" into a unified Germany. Unification became a great aid to the modernization of the German economy. This process of economic integration with uniform prices and regulations created a huge capacity for the modernization of the German economy.

(2) The unification of Germany marked the final establishment of the Prussian Way

The completion of the capitalist transformation of agriculture laid a strong foundation for the economic take-off. Unlike Britain, the process of industrialization in Germany was not at the expense of agriculture, but on the contrary, on the basis of industrial modernization, the development of agriculture was protected and played a mutually reinforcing role in the industrial revolution. Although the "protection of agricultural interests" was meant to take care of the interests of the Junker class which was in power, the maintenance of a relatively balanced development between agriculture and industry was the characteristic and advantage of the modernization of the German economy. The establishment of the unified state made it possible to promote "mercantilism". From this point of view, unification had a direct effect on the modernization of agriculture. In 1879, Bismarck admitted to the introduction of protective tariffs on agriculture to resist the influx of grain from Eastern Europe and the United States, and in 1885 and 1887 he raised the tariffs again. German agriculture flourished under the protection of the state tariff. According to the statistics, in the period of 1870-1913 the production of cereals in Germany increased from 15 million tons to more than 31 million tons. The development of agricultural economy gave a strong stimulus to the development of German industrialization and provided abundant means of living, production materials, raw materials, capital and sufficient labor for the development of industry.

(3) The protection or intervention of the unified state in the economy greatly promoted the development of the German economy

Germany's economy at this time was still far from being able to compete with Britain in the international market. In order to protect Germany's national industry, and more importantly, in order to improve the competitiveness of the national industry as soon as possible, Bismarck carried out the policy of protective tariffs, set up the Railway Fund, established the Railway Act, and built a banking system headed by the Central Bank. In order to protect the national industry and more importantly, to increase the competitiveness of the national industry, Bismarck implemented the tariff protection policy, set up the Railway Fund, established the Railway Act and set up the banking system headed by the Central Bank, which further promoted the domestic economic ties and free trade, and supported the rapid rise of German industry. In addition, Bismarck, for the sake of national defense, focused the economic development of the country on the expansion of armaments, especially the construction of fortresses and the development of heavy industries related to military production. The expansion of military transportation and arms industry in turn led to the development of a series of heavy industries such as iron and steel, machinery and smelting. The unification of Germany greatly strengthened the country's power and enabled it to pursue the so-called "continental policy" and build up a kind of European homogeneous defense system. This created a favorable international environment for Germany's economic take-off and allowed for 20 years of peaceful development. In terms of industrial growth alone, the average annual growth rate before unification was 2.7% in 1860-1870, 4.1% in 1870-1880, 6.4% in 1880-1890, and 6.1% in 1890-1900. . Its growth rate was much faster than that of Britain and France, and second only to that of the United States [11] (p. 110). World history shows that the power of the state does not necessarily accelerate the development of the economy, but it should be admitted that in Germany in the last 30 years of the 19th century, the state took advantage of the favorable conditions of unification, and took advantage of the national consciousness from the people of the revival of the country to implement a series of effective policies and measures, and promote the modernization of Germany.

(4) German unification contributed to the development of education, science and technology, and spiritually ensured the rapid process of German economic modernization

After the unification of Germany, the Bismarckian government strengthened its control over education and promulgated a series of imperial education decrees. in the 1970s, the modern education revolution was completed, and compulsory education was introduced. This led to a great improvement in the literacy of the entire German nation. The illiteracy rate of the whole German nation dropped from 9.3% in 1841 to 5.25% in 1865, 2.38% in 1881 and 0.33% in 1895. On this basis, the secondary school system was restructured, vocational and technical education was vigorously pursued, higher education was reformed, and a series of scientific research institutes were set up. All this would have been inconceivable without the unified preparation of the country. Thanks to the State's efforts, Germany's scientific research capacity has developed at a rapid pace. The development of scientific research has directly led to technological progress, and the Germans are more adept at applying the results of scientific research to production and turning them into productive forces. The ratio of scientific and technological personnel to workers surpassed that of the United States in 1896, ranking first in the world. The famous contemporary economic historian Carlo M. Cipolla commented on this: "It was the German predilection for science in the second half of the 19th century that enabled German industry to progress more rapidly than that of Great Britain and the United States."[12] [12]. [12] (p. 194) The relationship between German unification and the emphasis on scientific and technological education and the modernization of the German economy is illustrated by the proud and conceited speech of the presiding officer of the 1904 congress of the German Iron and Steel Works Employees' Union, who said that the brilliant development of the German iron and steel industry could be "traced back to an exuberant spirit of enterprise, which, after the political unification, has inspired our entire fatherland with the irresistible power to develop the German iron and steel industry". The whole fatherland ...... has brought our steel industry to such a stage with irresistible force that it would have reached it long ago if the political division had not been an obstacle" [13] (P.468). P.468). <BR< p>

It was against this backdrop that reunified Germany, in the second half of the 19th century, witnessed one of the most dramatic and astonishing economic transformations in its history. In the space of about 30 years, Germany experienced the industrial revolution that had taken Britain more than 100 years to accomplish, transforming a backward, agriculturally dominated country into a modern, efficient, industrial and technological nation.

German unification not only greatly contributed to the economic modernization of Germany, but also largely determined the political modernization of Germany. Germany's political modernization began with the bourgeois revolution of 1848. In this revolution, the All-German National Assembly was convened, which gave birth to the formal federal government of Germany and the constitution of the German Reich. On March 28, 1849, the constitution of the German Reich was adopted. It was the most democratic constitution in Germany until the end of the First World War, and it was an attempt by the German bourgeoisie to construct a new state in accordance with its political ideals. However, due to the fragmentation of Germany, the weakness of the bourgeoisie and the fact that Prussia was not strong enough to overcome the Austrian obstacles, this constitution was a dead letter. However, this constitution, which was born during the process of German unification, had a great influence on the political modernization of Germany, and was the "birthplace" of the spirit of democracy, which was directly inherited from the Weimar*** and State Constitutions.

The unification of Germany made it possible to formulate and implement a new constitution, which was adopted as it stood by the newly elected Reichstag on April 16, 1871, under the personal leadership of Bismarck. In essence, the Reich Constitution was Bismarck's masterpiece, which made the North German Federal Constitution of 1867 applicable to the whole German Empire. According to the constitution, the sovereignty of the empire belonged to the representatives of the states, and the federal parliament, composed of the representatives of the states, was the most important institution of the empire and held the power of the state. The King of Prussia was the hereditary Emperor of the German Empire. He represented the new state in international law and had the right to declare war, make peace, make alliances, receive and accredit ambassadors. The Emperor appointed and dismissed the Chancellor and other administrative officials. The Emperor also has the power to command the army, the power to convene or dissolve the legislature, and laws are signed and promulgated by the Emperor. Under the Emperor there was the Reich Chancellor, who was also the Prime Minister of Prussia, and was responsible for leading the affairs of the Empire, but he was not accountable to the Diet, only to the Emperor. The Reichstag was the representative body of the people, but it had very little real power. It did not have a government to which it was accountable, so it was said that the Reichstag could only deliver a "monologue"[14] (P.176).

In contrast to the Frankfurt constitution, Bismarck's Reichstag was a constitutional monarchy with a federal system of government, which sought strong centralization of power. The united Germany based on this constitutional principle was further consolidated by its strong centralization, which was superior to all the separatist tendencies of the small states[8] (p. 156) and resulted in great domestic and foreign economic benefits for the bourgeoisie. However, this political modernization, facilitated by "top-down" unification, was y marked by Prussia. The Prussian style of constitutional monarchy in Germany, in which the monarch and the Junker held the real power and directly exercised the right to rule, differed significantly from the British constitutional monarchy, and became the Prussian model of constitutional monarchy with wide influence in modern times. The German Empire was Prussia in the modern sense of the word, i.e., "a state with a parliamentary facade, mixed with remnants of feudalism, already influenced by the bourgeoisie, organized in a bureaucratic system and defended by the police, a military dictatorship" [15] (p. 23).

It is undeniable that this interactive and mutually reinforcing relationship between German unification and German modernization played a decisive role in the realization of both. German unification was a product of German modernization, without which there would be no German unification; on the one hand, German unification became the motive force of German modernization, and on the other hand, it created good conditions for German modernization, and became a powerful aid to modernization. The united and modernized German Empire finally rose in the heart of Europe in the late 19th century under Emperor Wilhelm II. However, history has shown that German unification and modernization had their own characteristics or rather their own insurmountable drawbacks. So, can the root cause of this malaise be found in the process of German unification and modernization and the relationship and role of the two in each other?

The author thinks so. For one thing, the unification brought about by modernization left Germany with a legacy of national problems. The unification of Germany was realized by the coercive force of modernization under the leadership of Junker's aristocracy (moreover, the economic force), however, this coercive force that Junker could control could only exclude Austria and realize the unification of the small German region. On the one hand, the neighboring powers, Britain, France and Russia, would never allow the emergence of a united Germany in the heart of Europe with the Mediterranean Sea in the south and the Baltic Sea in the north, and Prussia obviously did not have the power to fight against these three countries which might intervene in alliance at any time. On the other hand, Junker's power was limited, and the adoption of the "Greater German Solution" would mean an expansion into Habsburg Austria, which would certainly meet with strong opposition from the Bohemians, as well as from the Germans who ruled in Austria. Even if Prussia put the whole of Austria under her rule, the foundation of Junkers itself would be shaken. Bismarck chose the realistic "Little German Solution" to unify Germany, but had to exclude the Austrian Germans. This put the Junker class, represented by Bismarck, in a dilemma: either it would lose the right to lead Germany by losing the symbol of the unity of the German nation, or it would break through the boundaries of "Little Germany" and thus render the Junkers powerless to control the situation. In order to justify Juncker's rule, Wilhelm II embarked on the path of aggression and expansion under the banner of German national chauvinism.

Secondly, the power and the way in which Germany achieved unification made German nationalism y marked by Prussia. After the reunification, German nationalism developed viciously under the influence and penetration of Prussian feudal and militaristic traditions, and a new form of national chauvinism developed at the end of the nineteenth century along with the rapid development of German capitalism and the expansion of its power. The German ruling group made use of various educational institutions to inculcate national chauvinism among the citizens. In December 1890, Wilhelm II gave a speech in which he demanded that the schools should train "young German nationalists" and that the schools should "fight the battle of Social Democracy". 16] (p. 315). The monopolies were also active in creating public opinion and organizations to promote national chauvinism: the "German Colonization Society" in 1882, the "German Eastern Frontier Society" in 1894, the "German Naval Society" in 1898, and the "German Navy Society" in 1898. The "German Colonial Society" in 1882, the "German Eastern Frontier Society" in 1894, the "German Naval Society" in 1898 and the "Anti-Social Democratic Reich Society" in 1904 openly shook the banner of German national chauvinism. This newly formed national chauvinism, combined with the medieval German majoritarianism revived after the unification of Germany, expanded rapidly with the implementation of Wilhelm II's "world policy" and the expansion of the army and war preparations, and provided the ideological basis and self-justification for Wilhelm's militaristic policy, which became the driving force of the rulers' aggression and expansionism. It was the driving force behind the aggressive expansionism of the rulers. The world policy was rapidly expanding and provided the ideological basis and self-justification for the militaristic policies of the Wilhelmian era, which became the driving force behind the aggressive expansionism of the rulers.