ABSTRACT
Germany has been described as a nation in search of a state. This description reflects the continuing turmoil of German history as state structures have been created and destroyed amidst recurrent European conflicts since the gradual development of the Holy Roman Empire followed the merging of the German and Italian monarchies in 962. This arrangement had given some shape to a diverse collection of German principalities, but was prone to dynastic crises and religious conflicts. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which had promised greater stability, collapsed following the Battle of Jena in 1806. The German Confederation, formed at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, replaced the Holy Roman Empire but fared no better and, despite surviving the democratic uprisings of 1848, fell apart during the Austro-Prussian Civil War in 1866. Having defeated Austria, Prussia established a North German Confederation and in 1870 turned its attention towards France. Following victory, Friedrich the Great proclaimed the birth of the second German Empire at the Palace of Versailles on 18 January 1871. This was the nearest that Germany had come to a unitary state structure, but the experiment lasted just 47 years until defeat in the First World War.
