Editing History of Europe (section)

====Bismarck's Germany====
{{Main|North German Confederation|German Empire}}
From his base in Prussia, [[Otto von Bismarck]] in the 1860s engineered a series of short, decisive wars, that [[Unification of Germany|unified most of the German states]] (excluding Austria) into a powerful [[German Empire]]. By 1871 he used [[balance of power (international relations)|balance of power]] diplomacy to preserve Germany's new role and keep Europe at peace. The new [[German Empire]] industrialized rapidly and challenged Britain for economic leadership. Bismarck was removed from office in 1890 by an aggressive young Kaiser [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]], who pursued a disruptive foreign policy that polarized Europe into rival camps. These rival camps went to war with each other in 1914.<ref>Katherine Ann Lerman,  "Bismarck, Otto von." in '' Europe 1789–1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire'', edited by John Merriman and Jay Winter, (Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006) vol 1, pp. 233–242. [https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3446900089/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=GPS&xid=f59ca5de online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229073716/https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&u=wikipedia&id=GALE{{!}}CX3446900089&v=2.1&it=r&sid=GPS&asid=f59ca5de |date=29 December 2022 }}.</ref><ref>Theodore S. Hamerow, ed., ''Otto von Bismarck and imperial Germany: a historical assessment'' (1994)</ref>