On January 18, 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace at Versailles, the German Reich was born. In retrospect, it was a remarkable achievement. Although the idea of "Germany" had been recognized since the fall of Charlomagne, true unity among the Germanic states was not possible until a millenium later. In an instant, the political and diplomatic face of Europe was forever altered. No longer would the periphery be able to control the center. Now, the center was pushing back. Over the next seventy - five years, many came to look upon German unification with horror. By 1945, Germany had been instrumental in two world wars, the proliferation of a militaristic fanaticism, and the attempted mass murder of a race of people. In 1871, however, the move made perfect sense to many in the lands of central Europe. By then, there had been many attempts to unify Germany. Although all failures, they helped lay the groundwork for a united state. Political unification would not come, however, until one man would force it upon the region. Otto von Bismarck, the chancellor of Prussia, was just such a man. Rather than looking to justify the creation of a united Germany based on an ideological set of principles, Bismarck looked instead to the forces outside of central Europe. What he saw led him to believe that in order to survive, Germany would have to become strong enough to meet these new forces head on. In this light, the unification achieved in 1871 under the "Iron Chancellor" was a positive development. It forged a new balance of power on the continent, keeping Russia and France from staging a battleground across Europe. In the process, the unification led to a period of unparalleled peace across the continent that would last for forty years.

After the revolutions of 1848, the face of European diplomacy became a bipolarized world, with Tsarist Russia on one side and the French Republic on the other. Each side saw the other as a mortal enemy, both ideologically and in terms of the struggle for power on the continent. Gone from Western Europe, at least in theory, was the idea of conservativeism and legitimacy which had been the dominant force under the "Restoration" period of the Congress of Vienna. After 1848, classical liberals, led by the enlightened middle class, came to power in Paris. They looked to the east and saw what they considered to be a backward and archaic society, based on autocratic principles and serfdom. From Saint Petersburg, the Romanoffs saw chaos and horror in the idea of sharing power with anyone outside the royal family. The Germanic states were caught in the middle. While many leaders tried to bring reforms and an enlightened form of despotism to their individual kingdoms and holdings, others were determined to strengthen their hold on the crown even more.

A real split was also developing along a north / south line. In the North, the dominant state was Prussia, while in the South it was Austria. Although both of the areas were "German" in terms of nationality and culture, there were many differences. Religion was one of the most obvious, with Lutheranism dominant in the north and Catholicism strong in the South. These differences had to be overcome if the idea of unification was to become a political reality. Bismarck found a solution: create a new sense of German nationalism (led by Prussia, of course) based on common differences with outsiders, while at the same time excluding Austria from any German State.

To Bismarck, Austria posed a serious dilemma. Not only was she "German", but many of the Catholic states of South-central Europe looked to her as a natural leader. Not only was this a potential threat to Prussia's superiority, but Bismarck also saw a troubled multi - national empire on the verge of internal chaos and collapse. The Austrian Empire in the early 1860s was a mix of Austro - Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Chezchs, Slavs and others. Although nominally controlled by the emperor in Vienna, the empire as a whole was seething with nationalistic movements of its own. Bismarck saw this as both a problem and an opportunity. While tending to the rest of her empire, Austria was in no position to take on the role of uniting the Germanic states to her northwest. Bismarck lured Austria into a war in 1866. By the time he was finished, any claims which Austria may have had to a place of superiority in a "Greater Germany" were forever crushed. Realizing that she still was a viable partner, however, Bismarck forged an alliance with his defeated enemy, serving to strengthen Austria's resolve against imperial Russia regarding her Slavic subjects. Austria consolidated her own realm by granting autonomy and a piece of the monarchy to her Hungarian subjects, but at the same time she kept her cultural and political ties open to Germany. Bismarck now knew that Russia would be hard pressed to try anything in Southeastern Europe. The Germanic lands appeared safe from any threats from the east. In 1867, Bismarck forged the North German Confederation, with Prussia at the head. "Germany" was yet to be realized, however, due to the southern Germanic states' refusal to join him. For this task, Bismarck needed to find a common uniting force. He found it in his old enemy from across the Rhine.

France was now under the control of Napoleon III, emperor of the Second French Empire. A bold expansionist who had attempted to set up a puppet state in Mexico during the American civil war, Napoleon saw himself as the model of a new conservative form of secular liberalism. France was his shining example to the world. Already, Napoleon was in the process of both completing a modernization of his own country and expanding France's hold in Africa and the far east, where she was running into resistance from Great Britain and Russia. If left unchecked, would France's pull on southern Germans be so strong as to unite them against the confederation? Bismarck believed so, and was determined to stop it. In 1870, he lured Napoleon into declaring war. This political ploy was just the pretence he needed to gain an alliance with the southern German states, who were more afraid of an old foreign enemy than from a new German one. Within weeks, the French army had been crushed and the city of Paris was surrounded. Bismarck granted some concessions to the Southern liberals, took the German speaking provinces of Alsace and Lorraine in France as compensation, and breathed life into his newborn Germany.

Leaders across the continent were stunned. Not only had Germany unified in a remarkably short period, but had also shown the resolve and ability to defend herself against others. For a while, many thought that without the "cushion" of central Europe, continental war was imminent. Bismarck would prove them wrong. In a shifting set of alliances and reassurance treaties, he set about turning European ambitions away from the troubled continent. He encouraged a new age of imperialism throughout the world, and the scramble for colonial possessions was increased at a feverish pace. In order to avoid war over Africa, Bismarck organized the Congress of Berlin in 1885. At the meeting, Europeans from Great Britain, France and Germany divided the "dark continent" peaceably, and even recognized Portuguese, Spanish, and Belgian claims (the latter was already a political fact).

By 1890, Germany stood as a major world power along with her European sisters. The Bismarckian set of shifting alliances had laid down the groundwork for a lasting, albeit armed, peace. True, the French called for revenge, but as the years went by, even this was heard less and less from west of the Rhine. Otto von Bismarck had achieved a delicate balance across not only the continent, but the world as well. In retrospect, many today see that symmetry as an ever-tightening rubber band waiting to snap. At the time, however, this simply was not the case.

It was only after 1890, when the new Kaiser, William II, dismissed the "Iron Chancellor" from his post that the system began to fall apart. Within a short time, two camps stood again, waiting for war. This time, Germany and Austria faced Russia and France. Eventually, Austria's internal problems came to the forefront. In the summer of 1914, a Bosnian nationalist assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austro - Hungarian throne. Austria, relying on Germany to back her up, pressured Serbia. Serbia looked to Russia, who in turn looked to France. The lights of stability and reason, which Bismarck had worked so hard to preserve, were going out all over Europe. Over the course of four years, European society would be irrevocably changed. In the aftermath of the Great War, many looked to place the blame on Germany. Her unification was seen as the first step to the death of millions. This is simply not the case. German unification in 1871 was the only way to stabilize the European continent in a modernizing world, at a time when two ideologically different empires threatened to tear Europe apart from the periphery. At the time, it was the only way to preserve peace. The center had to strengthen for its own protection, and the world's as well.