'Germany was economically united a decade before she came politically united.' How far do you agree with this statement?

Before we decide whether Germany was economically united we must first decide what is meant by the term politically united. In some ways you could say that Germany was politically united in 1815 after the congress of Vienna because firstly they had a council called the diet which all of the 39 members of the German Confederation sent representatives to. This also represented the policy of Gross Deutschland, which included the whole of the Austrian (Hapsburg) Empire …

…the Uhrfurt union. So by 1834 all the German states within the German confederation had joined the Zollverien excluding Austria. It is my view therefore that Germany in the Klein Deutschland model was economically united by 1834 which was more then a decade then Germany was totally united in any form, as Germany was united in 1871 with the creation of the German Empire under the leadership of Prussia. So therefore I agree completely with the opening statement.