Editing Unification of Germany (section)

==== Economy and the customs union ====
[[File:1834customstarrifs.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|alt=drawing of a wagon loaded with barrels, covered with a tarp, stuck between two border signs, the driver paying a fee to cross. Caption reads "German cartoon on customs prior to the Zollverein, 1834".|This drawing offered a satirical commentary on the prevalence of toll barriers in the many German states, circa 1834. Some states were so small that transporters loaded and reloaded their cargoes two and three times a day.]]
Several other factors complicated the rise of [[nationalism]] in the German states. The man-made factors included political rivalries between members of the German confederation, particularly between the Austrians and the Prussians, and socio-economic competition among the commercial and merchant interests, and the old land-owning and aristocratic interests. Natural factors included widespread drought in the early 1830s, and again in the 1840s, and a food crisis in the 1840s. Further complications emerged as a result of a shift in industrialization and manufacturing; as people sought jobs, they left their villages and small towns to work during the week in cities, returning for a day and a half on weekends.{{Sfn|Blackbourn|1994}}

The economic, social and cultural dislocation of ordinary people, the economic hardship of an economy in transition, and the pressures of meteorological disasters all contributed to growing problems in Central Europe.{{Sfn|Sperber|1993|p=3}} The failure of most of the governments to deal with the food crisis of the mid-1840s, caused by the [[Phytophthora infestans|potato blight]] (related to the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Irish Famine]]) and several seasons of bad weather, encouraged many to think that the rich and powerful had no interest in their problems. Those in authority were concerned about the growing unrest, political and social agitation among the working classes, and the disaffection of the [[intelligentsia]]. No amount of censorship, fines, imprisonment, or banishment, it seemed, could stem the criticism. Furthermore, it was becoming increasingly clear that both Austria and Prussia wanted to be the leaders in any resulting unification; each would inhibit the drive of the other to take the lead in unification.{{Sfn|Blackbourn|1998|p=127}}

Formation of the ''[[Zollverein]]'', an institution key to unifying the German states economically, helped to create a larger sense of economic unification. Initially conceived by the Prussian Finance Minister [[Hans, Count von Bülow]], as a Prussian [[customs union]] in 1818, the ''Zollverein'' linked the many Prussian and [[Hohenzollern]] territories. Over the ensuing thirty years (and more) other German states joined. The Union helped to reduce protectionist barriers between the German states, especially improving the transport of raw materials and finished goods, making it both easier to move goods across territorial borders and less costly to buy, transport, and sell raw materials. This was particularly important for the emerging industrial centers, most of which were located in the Prussian regions of the [[Rhineland]], the [[Saar River|Saar]], and the [[Ruhr (river)|Ruhr]] valleys.<ref>{{Harvnb|Sheehan|1989|pp=465–467}}; {{Harvnb|Blackbourn|1998|pp=106–107}}</ref> States more distant from the coast joined the Customs Union earlier. Not being a member mattered more for the states of south Germany, since the external tariff of the Customs Union prevented customs-free access to the coast (which gave access to international markets). Thus, by 1836, all states to the south of Prussia had joined the Customs Union, except Austria.<ref name="keller">{{Cite book |last1=Keller |first1=Wolfgang |title=The Trade Impact of the Zollverein |last2=Shiue |first2=Carol |date=5 March 2013 |publisher=University of Colorado |location=Boulder |pages=10, 18}}</ref>

In contrast, the coastal states already had barrier free access to international trade and did not want consumers and producers burdened with the import duties they would pay if they were within the Zollverein customs border. Hanover on the north coast formed its own customs union – the "Tax Union" or [[Steuerverein]] – in 1834 with Brunswick and with Oldenburg in 1836. The external tariffs on finished goods and overseas raw materials were below the rates of the Zollverein. Brunswick joined the Zollverein Customs Union in 1842, while Hanover and Oldenburg finally joined in 1854<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ploeckl |first=Florian |date=August 2010 |title=The Zollverein and the Formation of a Customs Union |url=http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/economics/history/paper84/ploeckl84.pdf |journal=Economic and Social History Series, Nuffield College, Oxford, Nuffield College |issue=Discussion Paper 84 |page=23}}</ref> After the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg were annexed by Prussia and thus annexed also to the Customs Union, while the two Mecklenburg states and the city states of Hamburg and Bremen joined later because they were reliant on international trade. The Mecklenburgs joined in 1867, while Bremen and [[Accession of Hamburg to the German Customs Union (Zollverein)|Hamburg joined in 1888]].<ref name="keller" />