ABSTRACT
The emergence of Germany as a single state substantially altered the balance of power in Europe. Bismarck’s victories had already indicated Germany’s military superiority over Austria and France, while the rest of the century saw a rapid acceleration of the German economy, the result of a population explosion and an industrial revolution. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that German statesmen tended, after 1871, to dominate the European scene and that other continental leaders found the threads of their own diplomacy passing through Berlin.
