Bismarck Impact On Germany

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The look of Europe before 1914 looks fairly similar to modern day Europe, except for the absence of one country: Germany. Before 1860, the map looked completely different. What is now Germany, was a number of independent Germanic states, each governing itself. The Prussian Empire, under the rule of Otto von Bismarck, began to conquer these tiny states in a series of small wars. Throughout the 1860’s, Bismarck and Prussia conquered Denmark in 1863 and Austria in 1865, it proved itself to be a dominating force in Europe ( Pendergast, Pendergast, 3). To unite all of these new nations under one rule, Bismarck went to war with France. Known as the Franco-Prussian War, Prussia, to everyone’s surprise, demolished French forces. In 1871, France ceded …show more content…
With the introduction of Germany, the atmosphere of war Europe began to intensify. A major cause of World War I was the inundation of alliances, both public and private throughout Europe. Germany was focused on growing its newfound independence economically, politically, and militarily. Germany penetrated the declining Ottoman Empire and became a huge economic presence. Militaristically, Germany began the construction of high-seas Navy. Up until this time, Great Britain had arguably the most superior navy in the world. Knowing the damage they did to France, Great Britain too began to build their army. Bismarck was an intelligent leader and understood that he would not be able to achieve weltpolitik or world policy, without the assistance of other major …show more content…
After the gas attacks at the Second Battle of Ypres, chemical warfare became a common feature of World War I battles; soldiers are often seen wearing gas masks as it provided protection from the noxious fumes. As a result, it has been calculated that 800,000 deaths were a result of chemical warfare (du Quenoy, 198). Unlike other wars fought before it, World War I was fought in trenches, or deep pits in the ground where soldiers could hide from artillery fire, grenades, and other weapons. Trench warfare saved a staggering amount of lives, but made the gains in territory minimal. Perhaps the most destructive and historic weapon of World War I was the machine gun. U.S. Secretary of War Newton D. Baker has been quoted saying, “Perhaps no invention has more profoundly modified the art of war than the machine gun” (Pendergast, Pendergast, 138). One such occasion was the Battle of the Somme in November of 1916, where British forces entered “no man’s land” (the area between two trenches) and were met with a barrage of machine gun fire by German soldiers. Britain lost 600,000 casualties in one day, mostly caused by machine gun fire (Antal,
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