User:Basler04/GQ
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The German question was a debate in the 19th century over the best way to achieve the Unification of Germany. From 1815–1871, hundreds of independent German-speaking states existed. The Großdeutsche Lösung ("Greater German solution") favored unifying all German-speaking peoples under one state, and was favored by the Austrian Empire and its supporters. The Kleindeutsche Lösung ("Lesser German solution") sought only to unify the northern German states and did not include Austria; this proposal was favored by the Kingdom of Prussia. The solutions are also referred to by the states they would create, Kleindeutschland and Großdeutschland ("Lesser Germany" and "Greater Germany"). Both movements were part of a growing German nationalism. The movements also drew upon similar efforts to create a unified nation-state of people who shared a common language in the era, such as the Unification of Italy by the House of Savoy or the Serbian revolution for independence.
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While a number of factors swayed allegiances in the debate, the most prominent was religion. The Großdeutsche Lösung would have implied a dominant position for Catholic Austria, the largest and most powerful German state of the early 1800s. As a result, Catholics and Austria-friendly states usually favored Großdeutschland. A unification of Germany led by Prussia would mean the domination of the new state by the Protestant House of Hohenzollern, a more palatable option to Protestant northern German states. Another complicating factor was the Austrian Empire's inclusion of a large number of non-German minorities, such as Magyars, Croats, Czechs, and others. The Austrians were reluctant to enter a unified Germany if it meant giving up their non-German speaking territories.
The debate was settled in favor of the Kleindeutsche Lösung in 1871 with the foundation of the German Empire. Protestant Prussia became the dominant power of the new state, and Austria-Hungary remained a separate polity. While "Greater Germany" would briefly exist from 1938–1945 after Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss, the separation of Germany and Austria has otherwise remained.