Unification at last...

Now having more or less completed the course it is interesting to see Germany at a time where unification was an obtainable goal.  Throughout the two centuries that we covered there were several instances were Germany either could have been or was unified, but done in such a way where failure seemed inevitable.  There are multiple examples of this; the first with the failed revolution of 1848, then Bismarck’s reign as an authoritative figure who ran a government that internally blew up in front of King Wilhelm II’s face.  Wilhelm II himself didn’t help the case when his foreign policy was conducted in a way where every domestic issue was ignored and foreign relations with other countries deteriorated so much it led to the outbreak of the First World War.  Weimar republic was doomed from the becoming because of the lack of experience Germany had under a true democratic form of government.  Its inexperience and constant internal political battles for certain political parties to gain control led to Fascism and Hitler.  The NAZI rule, in itself, can be seen as a horrific oxymoron.  Here was a man who helped Germany rise to a dominate European power from their worst economic situation in history while, at the same time, prosecuted and killing millions of people based on their race, religion, sexual orientation, or physical disabilities.  Hitler’s reign terror resulted in Germany being more divided than ever before and implementing them into the middle of a war about political, economic, and militant power between the United States and the Soviet Union.

            It wasn’t until the 1990’s that Germany finally saw itself independent and unified but it wasn’t done necessary through the German people but, rather, the rest of the Europe and of course the United States.  That leaves me to ask this question, if Germany at the end of the Napoleonic wars was monitored by the other European powers and given it the correct leadership and guidance could a unified Germany been possible 200 years prior to the end of the Cold War.  Such a question can be pondered on and debated but no one will ever know, but it seems that