German Brothers, Wake Up!
People of Germany, wake up! Since the beginning of the 1860’s, a mere fifteen years ago, we have been fed lies about how Germany is unifying, how Germany is becoming a strong nation, a force in the world. We have talked of nationalism, of the modern empires of the western world and how we will rise to our rightful place among them. In truth, my friends, we are nothing but savages! It’s true that there have been some benefits from our growth. But the means by which we achieved this new status far outweigh any benefits we may reap from the bloodshed we have sown! Brothers, read what I tell you here today, and then you all must decide if we can continue to unite under this German flag.
It began with Premier Otto von Bismarck, which is in and of itself a bad thing. No man that ruthless and power-hungry should have as much control, as many countries to play with and millions of lives to ruin, as he does. We have all heard his policies of realpolitik--he believes that anything is acceptable for the goal of unifying his glorious 
German nation. I am completely unable to believe that he cares for us at all; he cares only for his own power and the chance to say that he “solidified” a country which no one else could! After all, if he cared for us he wouldn’t have handled the other countries the way he did, leaving us in this constant state of tension, which I fear can only be released, God forbid, by a war across the globe.
Do you remember, German friends? Do you remember when he brought Austria to steal Schleswig and Holstein from the Danes, thus earning us one mortal enemy? (1) And then merely two years later, he turned on the Austrians, who had done us this great service, and beat them ruthlessly. (2) As the death toll began to climb, he dissolved the German Confederation that had worked since the early 1800’s, (3) thinking in his arrogance that he knew what was better for Germany than all those other men that had come before him. In my eyes, these were his worst crimes; betraying our local German states. Was his hope in instigating this violence to make all people in the area equal through our hatred and fear of this metzger, this butcher?
And then there was France. Tunnel-visioned and forever focused, Bismarck saw the powerful country of France as nothing more than the final obstacle in his path. Rather than a 
treaty, or any of the multitudes of more peaceful ways that he could have handled it, Bismarck supported a contender to the Spanish throne that he knew the French would object to.In one of his many, I'll say, questionably ethical political moves, he used their legitimate complaints as the foundation and the justification for yet another war! (4) During which, as we all know, he stole Alsace and Lorraine, and gained another enemy. And now, in theory, we are a single country under this bloodsoaked Prussian rule.
But look at our so-called status in the world, just thirteen years after Bismarck’s arrival into the world arena of power. Our neighbors view us with suspicion; Britain and Russia, two of the biggest powers in today’s world, are prepared to jump on us if we move the wrong way, and France of course hates us deeply. (5) Our treaties are precarious, and there is danger of yet another war any day, one with so many opponents against us that we could not possibly win. Brothers, if you love your country and your lives, I beg of you all, call for the dissolution of this farce of a nation, and let us attempt to return to the way life was before the tyrant!
Footnotes
Text
1. World Book Encyclopedia, 2003 ed., s.v. "Germany."
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Berghahn Volker, Imperial Germany (New York: Berghahn Books, 1994) 254-255
Images
1. Premier Otto von Bismarck (image). The History Place <http://www.historyplace.com/specials/calendar/september.htm> (accessed 6 December 2005) .
2. Map of German Unification (image). Age-Of-The-Sage <http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/map_german_unification.html> (accessed 6 December 2005).