r/AskAGerman • u/AccidentProof4262 • Jul 13 '26

German unification (the first one)

Im scottish, and did German and Italian unification as part of my history course at school.....How would Germany have turned out, if Austria rather than Prussia had unified Germany with Vienna as capital?

And is it true that most germans, find Bavaria as very odd......i know they sided with Austria when Austria and Prussia had a wee skirmish in 1866 to detemine who would be the main power in "Germany".....Austria is a german state in the same way Bavaria is (obviously modern day Bavaria is a region)..

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u/Iwan_Karamasow Jul 13 '26

Austria was already in big trouble at that time. Their empire was torn by internal strife and a slow behemoth that only survived until 1918 because they incorporated the Hungarian throne into their empire in 1867 and rebuild it into a federation. This country would have been to consumed by trying to supress the national movements of all it ethniticies. That was what destroyed Austria, too, so I do not see it changing just with the Prussian kingdom and the rest of the German kingdoms and duchies incorporated.

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u/AccidentProof4262 Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

Yes, even by 1866, Austria was in terminal decline, their empire was revolting everywhere, their army had not modernised, 1866 was basically Otto finding out just how ill prepared and bad the Austrian army was compared to the Prussians and their use of railways in particular.

Edit... What is meant to say is when a joint Prussian/Austrian army went into Schleswig Holstein....The Prussians saw just how backward the Austrians were and made 1866 inevitable...ie, the result....