2 B. Unification and the foundation of the empire (the three-war ladder)

1. The Danish war (1864): Prussia + Austria seize Schleswig-Holstein — the condominium designed to quarrel over (Bismarck's trap).2. The Austro-Prussian war (1866): the quarrel "settled" at Königgrätz/Sadowa — Austria excluded from Germany (the Kleindeutsch answer enforced), Prussia annexes the north into the North German Confederation (1867); lenient peace with Austria (the future ally needed), the south German states hooked by secret treaties and the fear of France.3. The Franco-Prussian war (1870–71): the Ems Telegram — Bismarck's edited dispatch provoking France to declare war — the south rushing to Prussia's side; Sedan (Sept 1870 — an emperor captured with his army); the settlement: Alsace-Lorraine annexed (the poison for 1914). The empire proclaimed (18 January 1871) — in Versailles' Hall of Mirrors (the insult deliberate): Wilhelm I, King of Prussia, German Emperor (Kaiser); a federal constitution (the constituent kingdoms — Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg — keeping thrones, armies' trappings; a federal council (Bundesrat) + an elected Reichstag (universal male suffrage — ironically the most democratic franchise in Europe, wrapped around a chancellorresponsible to the Kaiser, not the chamber — a constitutional pseudo-parliamentarism worth a law-student's paragraph).