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Events in history often become associated with single individuals, such as Hitler and World War II, or Cavour, Mazzini and Garibaldi with Italian unification. The same seems to be true for German unification, with which Prince Otto Edward Leopold von Bismarck is generally associated. It is often argued that it was due to Bismarck’s foresighted and planed actions that Germany became unified. Although Bismarck’s action undoubtedly played a most fundamental role in German …

…must be noted that it is unlikely that Bismarck had planned his action before hand, rather it seems more likely that he was able to manipulate the events that occurred to benefit his cause. It must also be considered that the unification that had taken place by ’71 was by no means complete. Germany still faced many problems reaching from economical through to political, and the resolution of these was by no means due to Bismarck.