d without. Internal divisions threatened social, political and economic stability, and powerful armies from without threatened the very existence of those states as free entities. Italy was united in 1860-61, further driving the Germans toward unity themselves. The only question was whether and from which state a strong enough leader would emerge to overcome the many differences among the diverse groups loosely held together by the vision of a united Germany.
Bismarck was already an experienced diplomat in 1862 when he was appointed, by Prussian King William I, to be minister-president. Bismarck entered the struggle between the king and parliamentary liberals who wanted to deny the king's bid to expand and modernize the military. He was a Junket, or landowning aristocrat, who had already shown his ability to stand up to liberals, but he was also convinced that middle-class support was necessary to carry out his Prussian ambitions for the unification of Germany.
Bismarck had not only the political will but the diplomatic savvy to compromise and bring diverse groups to
...