Bismarck Second German Empire Research Paper

declaration of the Second German Empire, it was created on the site of the Battle of Nations, a battle in October 1813 in which approximately 1 million soldiers from Austria, Britain, Russia, France, Prussia and the other German states fought to decide the forthcoming of Europe. Under Napoleon, the outnumbered French forces succeeded to beat the bigger armies of the Allies for over a day, but then withdrew in defeat, designing the end of Napoleon's Empire. Although some Germans fought on the side of the French, Germans recalled the event as one of the establishment instants of the German Nation as for it was the first time that troops from nearly all the independent German States-Prussia, Hanover, etc. were unified against the French enemy.
Once Germany was united, Bismarck wished to reduce any threat from the other Great Powers, especially the threat from France which had lost two provinces--Alsace and Lorraine--in the Franco-Prussian War, 1870-71. By 1907 the Great Powers were divided into two alliances such that a war involving any of them would more than likely lead to a general European war. Under Bismarck, German foreign policy intended at maintaining the newly united Empire by avoiding foreign adventures that would antagonize France and the other Great Powers. After Bismarck was dismissed in 1890, German foreign policy and practice grew more aggressive as the government dominated and sought its "place in the sun." Germany's more aggressive foreign policy and its search for a "place in the sun" led to a massive building program for the German Navy at the turn of the 20th century. This was a straight challenge to Britain whose control over the seas had been well-established for a century, and led to a naval arms race as both Germany and Britain hurried to create larger and larger battleships. Internal pressures for war in European States (important role of the popular press). War to arrest moral decline and reaffirm masculine, war to "escape from" internal conflicts between workers and owners [labor parties vs. liberal & conservative parties], between women demanding suffrage and governments (especially keen in Britain)
It radically altered the social life of Europe and the world. Although much of Europe remained bound by its old ways, already the first half of the nineteenth century, the social impact of the Industrial revolution was being felt, and future avenues of growth were becoming apparent. Ireland became one of the most oppressed areas in western Europe, and number of immigrants from Europe averaged about 110,000 a year. Sanitary conditions in towns were dreadful, city streets were often used as sewers and open drains. The rise of industrial capitalism produced a new middle class group. The bourgeoisie or middle class was not new; it had existed since the emergence of cities in the Middle Ages. Conditions in the coal mines were also harsh and dangers abounded in coal mines, cave-ins, explosions, and gas fumes were a way of life. In the industrialization, child labor was exploited more than ever and in a considerably more systematic way. (Lim,