Formation of The German Empire
The North German Confederation, led by the Kingdom of Prussia, was combined with the southern states of Baden, Württemberg, Bavaria and Hesse and the formerly French newly annexed Alsace-Lorraine to form the German Empire in 1871. In some areas of Prussia's eastern provinces, such as the Province of Posen, the majority of the population was Polish. Many Lorrainians were by native language French. Most of the Alsatians and of the Lorrainians of German native language rather clung to France, despite all nationalistic claim that language and culture would and should determine one's national affiliation.
Read more about this topic: Territorial Evolution Of Germany
Famous quotes containing the words formation of, formation, german and/or empire:
“Out of my discomforts, which were small enough, grew one thing for which I have all my life been grateful—the formation of fixed habits of work.”
—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)
“It is because the body is a machine that education is possible. Education is the formation of habits, a superinducing of an artificial organisation upon the natural organisation of the body.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour.””
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965)