In Germany, the uprisings of 1848 failed, with effects that would ultimately have proved catastrophic. Conservative politicians like Otto von Bismarck consolidated their power in Prussia and created an openly militaristic state that, as early as 1850, began preparing for war against France. The French tactic of preventing German unification at all costs backfired, only strengthening German nationalist sentiment. Prussia heavily defeated Austria in 1866 and created the North German Confederation, annexing several states previously under Austrian influence. In 1870, Prime Minister Bismarck provoked France into declaring war on Prussia. The Franco-Prussian War was brief and brutal, with the Prussians defeating the French at Sedan, Napoleon III being taken prisoner and forced to abdicate, Paris being besieged, and 200,000 French soldiers killed. King Wilhelm becomes Kaiser Wilhelm I, and German reunification is completed, forged with blood and iron. The price will be the disastrous first half of the 20th century.
