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Diplomats at the Congress of Vienna had to contemplate as to how to split up Europe. Metternich didn't want a united Germany because it would destory the government of the German states. One of their decisions created the German Confederation which was a weak alliance headed by Austria.
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Napoleon made a very bad mistake by attacking Russia. After he came back, he was defeated and many of his men died. He abdicated and left France. He later came back only to be crushed at the Battle of Waterloo. This was the end of his legacy and empire.
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Prussia created the Zollverein, an economic union that included the German states. It took away tariffs between the states. Although, Germany still was politcally fragmented.
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Liberals met at the Frankfurt Assembly and demanded a united Germany. They wanted Frederick William IV to be the ruler of the state. But he didn't want a throne gived to him by "the people".
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Bismarck was first a diplomat of Prussia. In 1862 King William I made him prime minister. After a decade, he became chancellor, the highest official of a monarch. He used the policy of "blood and honor", to unite the German states under Prussia.
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Bismarck created an alliance with Austria. Prussia and Austria took the provinces of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark. They then split up control with Austria taking Holstein and Prussia taking Schleswig.
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The Austro-Prussian War was very short with Prussia as the victor. Prusia then took control of several other north German states. He dissolved the Austro-German Confederation and created a new confederation ruled by Prussia.
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The Prussian victory over Austria made Napoloean III angry. Tentions grew and eventually exploded. A larger Prussian force quickly smashed the weak French soldiers. Napoloean III surrendered in a few weeks.
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The southern German states allied with Prussia and the Northern German Confederation. They officially joined the German nation-state under the Treaty of Versailles of 1871. They then made William the First of Prussia to tak ethe title of kaiser, or emperor. In January of 1871, the nationalists celebrated the second Reich or empire.
