... 1834 to stimulate trade and increase the revenues of member states, the Zollverein had not included Austria. After 1848 this exclusion became a crucial factor in the Austro - Prussian rivalry. Austria tried to destroy the Zollverein by inducing the south German states to leave it, but without success. Indeed, by the end of 1853 all the German states except Austria had joined the customs union. A new Germany excluding Austria was becoming an economic reality. Middle - Class and business groups in the Zollverein were enriching themselves and finding solid economic reasons to bolster their idealistic support of national unification. Bismarck had long been convinced that the old order he so ardently defended should make peace, on it own terms, with the liberal middle class and the nationalist movement. He realized that nationalism was not necessarily hostile to conservatice, authoritarian government. Moreover, Bismarck believed that because of the events of ...

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