Following the Thirty Year’s war the dozens of provinces that make up modern day Germany were very similar to our own colonies during the early years of our country.  The provinces were divided religiously, economically and lacked a central authoritative power to unify them.  Further there was a complete lack of infrastructure among the provinces that made trading between them completely incredibly inefficient.  The separation among provinces hurt the provinces economically, but this economic downfall was only a small issue compared to the defense issues that their separation caused.  The lack of unity between the provinces made the German provinces incredibly vulnerable to foreign attackers, and it was only a matter of time before an outside attacker took an advantage of the opportunity. 

            France finally capitalized on this opportunity, and as we will discuss in more detail this later, this attack may have been a bitter blessing in disguise.  France’s attack was led primarily through Napoleon, however the effects of his rule would have a long lasting impact on not only Germany but also the other major nations of Europe.  Similar to our own revolution, war forced the provinces of Germany to realize that there current system of government was inadequate in a variety of ways.  The path to unification didn’t happen overnight and was by no means “smooth”, however it is important to remember the surrounding events that let to the formation of what we recognize to be as Germany. 

            While we have already briefly discussed several events that led to the creation and unification of Germany, I have decided to focus on one individual who I believe was critical to Germany’s emergence as a national superpower towards the end of the 19^th century.  Otto von Bismarck referred to by some historians, as the “Iron-Chancellor” was appointed as the prime minister of Prussia on September 24, 1862.  The Iron-Chancellor was the spark that the German people needed to take the advancement of their nation to the next level.  As I stated earlier a previous major flaw to the unification of the German provinces was military unity, and the provinces often sat back on their heels as they were attacked from stronger European countries.  Bismarck changed this tactic, and believed that if Germany wanted to strengthen it needed to go on the offensive.  This came through a war with France that lasted till approximately 1871, and proved to be the final necessary major historic event that led to German Unification.

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