rck practiced Realpolitik, which was an opportunistic and pragmatic approach to politics. He always insisted on the importance of power: unification would not come about through speeches and declarations but by "iron and blood." The outcome of the Prussian war against Austria and its South German allies came as a bad surprise mainly to France. For centuries French policy-makers had aimed to keep Germany divided and weak; suddenly a strong German power had been allowed to expand through much of Germany. Alarmed, France tried to renew its traditional ties with the South German states, but to no avail. Even the relatively democratic and anti-Prussian South Germans had become too nationalistic and economically involved with Prussia to ally with a foreign power against it.Napoleon III declared war on Prussia on 19 July 1870, the biggest mistake of his life. France was isolated, and its declaration of war compelled the South German states to aid Prussia according to the defense treaty. The well-organized Prussian army with its allies destroyed the main French army in early September and took Napoleon prisoner. While the German troops were beleaguering Paris, Bismarck won the consent of the other princes to a unite Germany (excluding Austria) with the Prussian king as German emperor. Several princes, mainly the kings of Bavaria and Wrttemberg, insisted on retaining some autonomy, and Bismarck granted them their own postal service, railroads, and foreign representation. At Versailles on 18 January 1871 he had his king proclaim the German Empire. The constitution of the new state was almost identical with the one of the North German Confederation. A national parliament, the Reichstag, was elected by universal, equal manhood suffrage and received budgetary rights but lacked the power to overthrow the government, which was solely responsible to the emperor. A second chamber, the Federal Council (Bundesrat), consisting exquisitely of the representa...
