Towards The German Empire
Grand Duke Frederick I (ruled 1856 - 1907) had from the first opposed the war with Prussia, but had perforce yielded to popular resentment at the policy of Prussia in the Schleswig-Holstein question. The ministry, now at one, resigned; Baden announced her withdrawal from the German Confederation; and on August 17, 1866 signed a treaty of peace and alliance with Prussia. Bismarck himself resisted the adhesion of Baden to the North German Confederation: he had no wish to give Napoleon III of France so good an excuse for intervention; but the opposition of Baden to the formation of a South German confederation made the ultimate union inevitable. The troops of Baden took a conspicuous share in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870; and it was Grand Duke Frederick of Baden, who, in the historic assembly of the German princes at Versailles, was the first to hail the king of Prussia as German emperor.
Read more about this topic: History Of Baden
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