7 Otto von Bismarck 7minister of Prussia (1862–71). In 1864 Bismarck led Prussia
to ally with Austria in order to provoke war with Denmark.
The victorious allies won the duchies of Schleswig and
Holstein, but two years later quarrels over the duchies led
to war between Prussia and Austria. The defeat of Austria
gave Prussia control over the states north of the Main
River. In 1867 Bismarck formed them into the North
German Confederation, with Prussia as its matrix.
Bismarck set about tying the southern states to the
north almost immediately, but all of his efforts failed
because of popular opposition in the south. Bismarck then
sought to seek conflict with France. If he could not bring
the south into a united German nation by reason, he would
rely on the passions aroused by war.
He did not have to work too hard to produce a conflict,
as relations between Prussia and its age-old enemy France
were already tense. France declared war on Prussia on July
19, 1870. The Prussian army, with the armies of the other
German states, attacked and defeated the disorganized
French. The German states were then united, and Prussia’s
king, William I, became kaiser (emperor) of the new
German Empire. Bismarck, raised to the rank of prince,
became chancellor. Bismarck also remained prime minister
of Prussia until 1890, apart from a brief period in 1872–73.
Imperial Chancellor
Foreign Policy
After three successful wars, Bismarck saw his task as pro-
moting peace and gaining time so that the powerful
German Empire would come to be accepted as natural. In
1873 he embraced a pacific foreign policy when he negoti-
ated the Dreikaiserbund (Three Emperors’ League) with
Russia and Austria-Hungary. But the alliance did not