The North German Confederation (German: Norddeutscher Bund) was a federation of 22 independent states of northern Germany, with nearly 30 million inhabitants. It was the first German modern nation state and the basis for the later German Empire (1870/1871), when several south German states such as Bavaria joined. According to modern scholars the Confederation and the Empire are identical as a state, although technically the Empire was a new foundation.
After several unsuccessful proposals from several sides, to reform the German Confederation (founded in 1815), the North German major power Prussia left the German Confederation with some allies. It came to war between those states on one hand and states such as Austria on the other. After a quick decision in that Austro-Prussian War of July 1866, Prussia and its allies founded the North German Federation. First it was a military alliance between independent states (August-Bündnis), but already with the intention to form later a federation or confederation with a constitution. This was realised in 1867. The North German Confederation is historically important for the economic and judicial unification of Germany, many of its laws were taken over by the German Empire.
Read more about North German Confederation: Political System, Postage Stamps, List of Member States
Famous quotes containing the words north and/or german:
“We have heard all of our lives how, after the Civil War was over, the South went back to straighten itself out and make a living again. It was for many years a voiceless part of the government. The balance of power moved away from it—to the north and the east. The problems of the north and the east became the big problem of the country and nobody paid much attention to the economic unbalance the South had left as its only choice.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“Frankly, I do not like the idea of conversations to define the term “unconditional surrender.” ... The German people can have dinned into their ears what I said in my Christmas Eve speech—in effect, that we have no thought of destroying the German people and that we want them to live through the generations like other European peoples on condition, of course, that they get rid of their present philosophy of conquest.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)