Editing German Confederation (section)

===Rise of Bismarck===
A new generation of statesmen responded to popular demands for national unity for their own ends, continuing Prussia's tradition of autocracy and reform from above. Germany found an able leader to accomplish the seemingly paradoxical task of conservative modernization. In 1851, [[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]] was appointed by King [[Kaiser Wilhelm I|Wilhelm I]] of Prussia (the future Kaiser Wilhelm I) to circumvent the liberals in the [[Landtag of Prussia]], who resisted Wilhelm's autocratic militarism. Bismarck told the Diet, "The great questions of the day are not decided by speeches and majority votes ... but by blood and iron" – that is, by warfare and industrial might.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kitchen |first=Martin |title=A History of Modern Germany, 1800–2000 |date=2006 |page=105}}</ref> Prussia already had a great army; it was now augmented by rapid growth of [[economic power]].

Gradually, Bismarck subdued the more restive elements of the middle class with a combination of threats and reforms, reacting to the revolutionary sentiments expressed in 1848 by providing them with the economic opportunities for which the urban middle sectors had been fighting.<ref>Otto Pflanze, ''Bismarck and the Development of Germany, Vol. 1: The Period of Unification, 1815–1871'' (1971)</ref>