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Bismarck's rise to power
William I appointed Otto von Bismarck to head of the Prussia cabinet. Bismarck took the Prussian army and made it very powerful war machine. He didn't like democracy and also the idea of parliament. -
The Danish War
The border between Denmark and Germany where two small states. KingChristian IX made a new costitution in which the danish tried to get one of the small states. Prussia and Austia didn't like it so they declared war on the Danish. They surrendered and ave the two Duchies to Prussia and Austia. -
The Seven Weeks' War
Bismarck was lookin for a conflicked with Austria. He provoked Austria to declare war on Prussia in 1866. Prussua defeated the once-powerful Austrians in only seven weeks. the balance of european power dramatically chaged. -
The Franco-Prussian War
Bismarck persuade the independent states in southern Germany to join northern German confederation. The southern German states united aginst the French threat. The Franco-Prussian war was short but decisive. Paris remaind under siege controll until it surrendered in 1871. -
Fomation of the German Empire
In 1871 representatives of the allied German states met in the hall of mirrors at the palce of versailles near Paris. King William I of Prussia was proclaimed German emperor. Southern states had some special rights, such as to control its own military.
