Relevant History podcast

Episode 68 – The Unification of Germany

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In the year 1870, Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck engineers a war to cut France down to size. French Emperor Napoleon III is willing to oblige, and bungles his way into a war against all of Germany.

The Franco-Prussian War proves to be more than he – or anyone else – bargained for. Within a few months, Paris will be under siege, proto-Communist rebels will threaten to take over France, and the Italians will invade Rome. And Bismarck, ever the opportunist, will grasp at the opportunity to unify Germany once and for all.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Chapter One: The Twilight of the French Empire – 00:01:56

Chapter Two: The Ems Dispatch – 00:26:26

Chapter Three: A Blueprint for the Great War – 00:46:34

Chapter Four: Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object – 01:13:48

Chapter Five: The Great Right Turn – 01:55:15

Chapter Six: The Last Bonaparte – 02:21:16

Chapter Seven: The Government of National Defense – 02:47:44

Chapter Eight: The Last Stand of the Papal States – 03:13:36

Chapter Nine: The Defense of the French Republic – 03:35:42

Chapter Ten: The Siege of Paris – 04:02:27

Chapter Eleven: The Dawn of the German Empire – 04:34:01

Chapter Twelve: The Paris Commune – 04:50:50

Chapter Thirteen: The Belle Époque – 05:20:22

Chapter Fourteen: The Future of Italy – 05:47:14

Chapter Fifteen: The Age of Bismarck – 06:08:22

 

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Episode transcript (90% accurate): https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRspp9A68aYB2E7iR3qY3fDucuy0qfPuhR1d-8urumVxitiYMennSxDiu36RmCS-J4S7ahF4PRw5ENq/pub

Music credit: Sergey Cheremisinov - Black Swan

 

SOURCES:

Graham Allison, Thucydides’s Trap Case File - https://www.belfercenter.org/programs/thucydidess-trap/thucydidess-trap-case-file/

Robert Baldick, The Siege of Paris

Quintin Barry, The Franco-Prussian War: 1870-71

Derek Beales and Eugenio F. Biagini, The Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy

David Blackbourn, The Long Nineteenth Century: A History of Germany 1780-1918

Georges Bonnin, Bismarck and the Hohenzollern Candidature for the Spanish Throne: The Documents in the German Diplomatic Archives

Fenton Bresler, Napoleon III: A Life

John Breuilly, The Formation of the First German Nation-State, 1800–1871

Tim Chapman, The Risorgimento: Italy 1815-71

Charles A. Coulombe, The Pope’s Legion: The Multinational Fighting Force that Defended the Vatican

Gordon A. Craig, Germany 1866-1945

Paul K. Davis, 100 Decisive Battles: From Ancient Times to the Present

William Dawson, History of the German Empire

Carolyn J. Eichner, The Paris Commune: A Brief History

Erich Eyck, Bismarck and the German Empire

Giuseppe Garibaldi, Autobiography of Giuseppe Garibaldi (With Supplement by Jesse White Mario)

E.E.Y. Hales, Pio Nono: A Masterful Study of Pius IX and His Role in Nineteenth-Century European Politics and Religion

Lucius Hudson Holt and Alexander Wheeler Chilton, The History of Europe From 1862 to 1914: From the Accession of Bismarck to the Outbreak of the Great War

Michael Howard, The Franco-Prussian War: The German Invasion of France, 1870-1871

David I. Kertzer, Prisoner of the Vatican: The Popes, the Kings, and Garibaldi’s Rebels in the Struggle to Rule Modern Italy

Melvin Kranzberg, The Siege of Paris, 1870-1871: A Political and Social History

Denis Mack Smith, The Making of Italy, 1796-1870

Denis Mack Smith, Mazzini

Denis Mack Smith, Modern Italy: A Political History

Helmuth von Moltke, The Franco-German War of 1870-71

Arthur E. Monroe, The French Indemnity of 1871 and its Effects - https://www.jstor.org/stable/1928688?seq=1

Robin Okey, The Habsburg Monarchy: From Enlightenment to Eclipse

Jürgen Osterhammel, The Transformation of the World, A Global History of the Nineteenth Century

Alan Palmer, Twilight of the Habsburgs: The Life and Times of Emperor Francis Joseph

Dennis Showalter, The Wars of German Unification

Jonathan Steinberg, Bismarck: A Life

A.J.P. Taylor, Bismarck: The Man and the Statesman

Geoffrey Wawro, The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France in 1870-1871

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