To establish Prussian power in Europe he manipulated European rivalries and started a series of wars with Austria, Denmark, and France. Bismarck struck Denmark to get the German speaking Territories of Schleswig-Holstein. Only two years later after he attacked Denmark (and won) he raffled Emperor Franz-Josef into starting the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. Austria wasn't so lucky this …show more content…
Later on, the French surrendered give the Germans the territory of Lorraine and Alsace.
The smaller German states believe that they couldn’t protect themselves from the larger German neighbors so they found themselves being dominated by Prussia. A couple of years later, Wilhelm II (which was the second king after Wilhelm I) want to get his own independence so he encouraged Bismarck to quit in 1890.
Wilhelm II (who was very hard-headed and driven my passion) want to increase the status of Germany by creating the Navel Arms Race (1906-1912) which upset Britain who at this point was not part of any of this because it poses a threat to them. In 1914 the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated (which was a friend of Wilhelm II) this cause the alliances and counter alliances in Europe which started the First World War. Germany's allies collapsed. The war caused a scarce amount of food in Germany which started a revolution. Wilhelm ran away to Netherlands that was neutral during the war. A republic was declared and they accepted the Treaty of Versailles. At the end of the day we can’t overstate the effect of Germany Unification as it brought the rise of Prussia which ended Austria’s dominance over central