History of germany

North German Federation: 1867-71
With a free hand now in Germany, Bismarck immediately annexes two Protestant states in west Germany which have opposed him in the recent war - Hanover and Hesse-Kassel. They are a particularly welcome acquisition because they bridge the previous gap between the main Prussian kingdom and Prussian territories on the Rhine.
All other German states north of the river Main are now merged under Prussian leadership in a new North German Federation. This differs little in organization from the previous German Confederationled by Austria, except that it is a more coherent Protestant bloc. 

The three Catholic states south of the Main (Baden, Württemberg, Bavaria) are now a separate group, recognized as having 'an internationally independent existence' - a condition agreed by Bismarck with the Catholic emperors west and east, in France and Austria. However these Catholic regions retain a strong economic link with north Germany. A continuation of the old Prussian Zollverein is agreed in 1867, again incorporating all the German-speaking regions except Austria.

With Austria reduced to impotence by defeat in the Seven Weeks' War, the only other neighbour inclined to challenge Prussia's inexorable growth is France. The clash perhaps comes sooner than France might wish. But Bismarck is ready. 
Franco-Prussian War: 1870-71
Ever since Prussia's rapid success in the Seven Weeks' War of 1866, and the resulting consolidation of Prussian territory on the Rhine, there has been alarm and resentment in France at the growth of this ambitious neighbour. It is dramatically increased in 1870 when news leaks on July 3 that a prince of the Prussian Hohenzollern family has been offered, and has accepted, the vacant throne of Spain.
Having fought so often in the past against being surrounded to south and east by the Habsburg dynasty, there is public outcry in France at the prospect of the same trick now being pulled off by the Hohenzollern. In an escalating crisis, the Prussian king William I withdraws his relation's candidacy on July 12. 
The matter might have rested there, but for a diplomatic blunder on the French side. The French ambassador, in an audience with William I at Ems on July 13, demands an assurance (amounting to a slur on the king's good faith) that the candidacy will never be renewed. William refuses to give this assurance. He then sends a telegram to Bismarck describing, in neutral terms, the audience and its outcome.
Bismarck, irritated at the collapse of his Spanish policy, shortens the telegram before publication in such a way as to imply that the Prussian king has treated the French ambassador with disdain. Public opinion in France, already inflamed, now explodes. The French government declares war on Prussia on July 19. 
France suffers as rapidly and as conclusively at Prussia's hands asAustria did four years previously. Again the significant period of warfare lasts less than seven weeks. In early encounters near Metz the French almost hold their own against the Prussians, but by August 31 a large French army is surrounded near Sedan.
During September 1 the French cavalry, charging desperately to break out of the encirclement, suffer heavy casualties from the Prussian artillery. On the following day the French surrender. After losses in the battle of 38,000 men (killed, wounded or missing), another 83,000 now lay down their arms and become prisoners of the Germans. Among them is the French emperor himself, Napoleon III. 
The events at Sedan bring to an end one empire, in France, and hasten the creation of another, in Germany. But they do not immediately end the war.
When the news of Sedan reaches Paris, a government of national defence is rapidly formed. Its first action, on September 4, is to depose Napoleon III and declare a republic. But there is nothing now to stop the German army on its march towards Paris. The siege begins on September 19. The only chance of relieving the city is to raise new armies in the provinces. And here aeronautics play their first significant role in warfare. 
On October 7 a balloon rises from Paris (historic city of the balloon). It floats above the Germany army and lands far beyond their lines. It carries Léon Gambetta, minister of the interior in the new republican government. Two days later he reaches Tours and begins to orchestrate a campaign of guerrilla warfare which severely disrupts the smooth Prussian military operation.

But it can only delay the eventual capitulation. Early in 1871, on January 23, delegates from Paris pass through the German lines to Versailles to agree an armistice. They find the Prussians in an excited mood. Just five days previously, in Louis XIV's famous hall of mirrors in the palace of Versailles, the Prussian king has been proclaimed emperor of a united Germany.