Consider the two statements about the unification of Germany and choose the correct option. Statement I: Bismarck described his method as a policy of blood and iron. Statement II: He became Minister-President of Prussia in 1862.
- A.Only Statement I is correct
- B.Only Statement II is correct
- C.Both statements are correct
- D.Neither statement is correct
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, both statements are correct. Otto von Bismarck was appointed Minister-President of Prussia in 1862 by Wilhelm I to break a deadlock with the liberal parliament over army spending, and he told that parliament that the great questions of the day would be settled not by speeches and majority votes but by blood and iron. He then carried out that policy in the wars of 1864, 1866 and 1870-71, and was made Chancellor of the German Empire, earning the title Iron Chancellor. Option A is wrong because the second statement is also true. Option B is wrong because the blood and iron description is genuine and famous. Option D is wrong because both statements are accurate and both are standard one-line facts in examinations on this topic.
Read the full article: Unification of Italy and Germany: Nationalism in Europe
Practice Questions
View allThe secret society Young Italy was founded in 1831 by
- A.Count Camillo di Cavour
- B.Giuseppe Garibaldi
- C.Giuseppe Mazzini
- D.Victor Emmanuel II
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Mazzini, a member of the Carbonari who had been sent into exile, founded Young Italy at Marseilles in 1831 and a wider society, Young Europe, at Berne in 1834.
Read the full explanation →The German Empire was proclaimed on 18 January 1871 at
- A.The Hall of Mirrors, Versailles
- B.The Church of St Paul, Frankfurt
- C.The Reichstag, Berlin
- D.The Hofburg Palace, Vienna
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As the Franco-Prussian War ended, the German princes assembled in the Hall of Mirrors of the French royal palace at Versailles and proclaimed Wilhelm I of Prussia as German Emperor on 18 January 1871.
Read the full explanation →The Zollverein, formed in 1834, was
- A.A military alliance of the German states against France
- B.A customs union that abolished tariff barriers between German states
- C.The parliament of the German Confederation
- D.A treaty between Prussia and Austria on Schleswig
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The Zollverein was formed in 1834 under Prussian leadership. It removed the internal customs duties that had made trade between the German states slow and costly and reduced the number of currencies in circulation, so a single economic space existed long before a single political one.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following led the Expedition of the Thousand and conquered Sicily and Naples in 1860?
- A.Giuseppe Mazzini
- B.Count Cavour
- C.Giuseppe Garibaldi
- D.Napoleon III
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In May 1860 Garibaldi sailed from Genoa with roughly a thousand volunteers, known from their uniform as the Red Shirts, landed in Sicily and then crossed to the mainland and took Naples from the Bourbon rulers of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Read the full explanation →The Battle of Sadowa, also called Koniggratz, in 1866 was fought between
- A.Prussia and Denmark
- B.Prussia and Austria
- C.Prussia and France
- D.Sardinia-Piedmont and Austria
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The Austro-Prussian War of 1866, often called the Seven Weeks War, was decided at Sadowa, also known as Koniggratz, where the Prussian army defeated Austria.
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