>i must unite the germanic peoples under one flag
what did he mean by this? why didnt he force austria to join?
>>77434
>Austria didn't want to give up Hungary and Slavic lands.
>Prussia didn't want Slavs and Hungarians in greater Germany if it were to exist.
>One of the two major kings would have had to stand down, a huge humiliation.
Grossdeutchland lösung would have been awesome though.
>>77434
>the germanic peoples
The German peoples
Stop using German and Germanic as synonyms
Germans are ONE Germanic people AMONG MANY OTHERS
Germanic is to German what Slavic is to Polish
Bismarck wanted to unite the Germans people (Bavarians, Hanoverians, Prussians, Austriians...) not the Germanic peoples (Swedes, Danes, Norvegians, Germans, Dutch, Brits...)
>>77434
If he annexed Austria it would have compomised the power of the Protestant Prussians within Germany. Also unlike a certain Kaiser that came later Bismarck understood Germany needed as many strong allies as possible. Austria-Hungary was a perfect ally.
>>77434
I must educate a brat to destroy Europe in a 4 years war
austrians weren't friends at the time
you had to wait for Wilhelm II to screw shit up
>>77525
>austria hungary was a good ally
>>77571
>the serb had grenades
>the A-H generals didn't believed in modern warfare tactics
>they A-H troops were actually scared of grenades
Shit indeed
>>77571
It was a good ally in the sense that they died and fought for German interests. They proved to be an excellent distracation. Maybe a perfect tool would be a better word. If Germany had maintained it's alliance with Austria and Russia, they would have basically infinite manpower to throw at anybody.
Le balance of power
The best action would have been to annex Austria proper and Bohemia-Moravia, and then balkanize the rest of the empire and use them as puppets, but no other great power would allow that
>>77571
At least Austria really tried. Austria-Hungary failing had a lot to with unreliable Slav units, and Hungary not wanting to be a team player in the empire when it came to trade and supply.
>Be Hungary during WWI
>Have lots of agriculture
>Austria does not and is hungry
>"Hey Hungary, can we get some of that grain you've got there?"
>"GET FUCKED AUSTRIA, NO YOU CAN'T HAVE ANY."
>"o-oh, okay..."
This is almost exactly how it went. Why trade a valuable commodity during a war when you can instead fantasize about total independence, like they had been since 1867? They were happy to enjoy Austrian goodwill in the empire, but nonetheless hated being part of it.
>>77434
He never said that.
Bismark didn't give a shit about uniting German people, he cared about expanding Prussian power and influence in Germany.
>>78184
*influence in Europe
