The German Empire

Prussia had been granted a constitution in 1850, and in 1861 William I took the throne as a constitutional monarch. Meanwhile the army was being modernized. The Prussian Diet, however, interfered with the king's program. William appointed Otto von Bismarck minister president and foreign minister in 1862. Bismarck dissolved the Diet, built up the army, and mapped his plans for unifying Germany under Prussian rule.

The first test for the remodeled Prussian army came in 1864 with the war over Schleswig and Holstein, duchies which had been held by Denmark for centuries. Prussia and Austria seized the duchies as a joint venture. In 1866 Bismarck provoked the Seven Weeks' War with Austria. Victorious Prussia annexed Schleswig-Holstein, and in 1867 formed the North German Confederation, excluding Austria.

Four years later Bismarck brought on the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), which unified the Germans in a common cause. The German armies won a quick victory over France. On the tide of national pride, the German Empire, consisting of Prussia and the North and South German states, was proclaimed and William was crowned kaiser (emperor). Bismarck, now chancellor of all Germany, guided the new empire into the Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy in 1882. Germany launched a colonial program, acquiring much territory in Africa. At home the nation surged into an era of industrial development.

William I died in 1888 and was succeeded by his son Frederick III. Upon Frederick's death three months later, his son William II came to the throne. Conflict between Bismarck and the new kaiser led to the chancellor's resignation two years later. Germany continued its colonial expansion, in Africa and the Southwest Pacific. By 1900 it rivaled Great Britain and the United States in industrial capacity. Kaiser William created a powerful German navy. In 1907 Great Britain joined France and Russia in the Triple Entente to counter the Triple Alliance.