German Revolution (Blood and Iron)

The German Socialist Revolution was a revolution that began in Prussia in 1889 and quickly spread across the German states. During the 1870s and 1880s the Socialist Workers' Party, which advocated Marxism and Pan-Germanism, became a powerful force in Prussia, with offshoots also forming in the Confederation of the Rhine. The more radical Party members became increasingly violent, leading to several assassination attempts on King Wilhelm of Prussia, but total revolution didn't occur since Wilhelm's heir, Frederick, promised many reforms. However, after Wilhelm's death, Frederick took the throne only for 99 days due to illness. The new Prussian King, Wilhelm II, though he had sympathies for the workers, was hotheaded and impatient, leading to clashes with Party leaders August Bebel and William Liebknecht.

In 1889, tensions grew between Wilhelm and the Socialists, leading to protests and strikes across Prussia, resulting in Wilhelm sending in the police and military forces. Clashes broke out in major cities, eventually reaching Berlin. A clash between police and protesters resulted in a mob led by the Party seizing control of Berlin, and Bebel declaring the monarchy was abolished and Prussia was now a socialist republic, and promised to unify all of Germany. Workers councils seized Prussia's cities as many military units defected to the new Republic, hoping to see the German states unified. Kaiser Wilhelm II fled Prussia.

The socialist revolution soon spread to the Confederation, as many of the northern states fell to the socialists and agreed to unify with Prussia. The newly industrialized Red Army of Germany would launch an invasion of the Confederation in 1890, resulting in France and Austria declaring war, marking the end of the German Revolution and the start of a new war.