Germany unified, but not united in 1890In January 1871, as the Franco-Prussian War was drawing to a close, King William I of Prussia was announced as Second Emperor Empire (or Reich), with Otto Von Bismarck as chancellor, at the Palace of Versailles. From this point on, Bismarck had led a once-weak nation toward the realization of his famous "master plan": to become the most dominant power in Europe, this was then confirmed ten days later by the defeat of the French army. ; unify all German-speaking nations, excluding Austria, where Prussia was the dominant power; and achieve political and military victories over Austria. However, although this was undeniably achieved, were the people and leaders of the Second Reich united in their goals and feelings? The theory of unification was very good, but each of the 25 states (now excluding the annexations of Austria and Prussia from the German Confederation) had its own traditions and ethos, so as to unite peoples, as nations had been, turned out to be more complex than expected. Although the Liberals' goal of 1849 had been achieved, they were unhappy with the way in which unification had been imposed from above, rather than through popular national movement. The German Empire also ensured Prussian domination of the Reich, with the Emperor and Chancellor being Prussian, and Prussia holding the large majority in the Reichstag and the Budesrat, with 17 votes out of 58. As only 14 votes were needed to oppose its veto any decision, Prussia could always do so if it wished, and its dominance (30% of the vote in the Budesrat) meant in practice that it was different...... middle of paper ...religious groups constitute the basis of the extreme opinions and beliefs observed in Germany before the Second World War. That said, Bismarck did more in terms of social welfare for the nation than any other country had begun to anticipate, although perhaps not for the right reasons, this fact cannot be ignored. Therefore, although he failed to achieve unity within the United States that made up the German Empire, nor to achieve his goal of discriminating against groups such as the socialists, Bismarck did laid down the founding sentiments of nationalism for future generations and paved the way for welfare reform for other countries to follow.Bibliography============* The unification of the 'Germany 1815-90 - Andrina Stiles* www.msn.co.uk/learning/encarta* The Hutchinson History Library - PC CD-ROM