Unifications Germany and Italy
German Unification
-Germans looked to Prussia for leadership in the cause of German unification
-When the Prussian legislature refused to levy new taxes for the proposed changes, William I appointed a new prime minister, Count Otto von Bismarck.
-Otto von Bismarck:
~collected taxes
~strengthen the army
~governed Prussia without parliament's approval
-Prussia now:
~organized the German states north of the Main River into the North German Confederation.
~dominated all of northern Germany
-Prussian armies advanced into France. In 1870, an entire French army and the French ruler, Napoleon III, were captured.
- William I of Prussia was proclaimed kaiser, or emperor, of the Second German Empire
- Germany had become the strongest power in Europe