ABSTRACT
Bismarck was undoubtedly at his most innovative and creative during the period of German unification. He used political power to change existing political relationships: the creation of modern Germany bore his imprint at each and every stage. At the height of his mental powers, he consistently found solutions to the problems he encountered and he devised imaginative and flexible arrangements which he hoped could be adapted as necessary in the future. Moreover, although Bismarck reaped personal honours and property as well as political rewards, his moment of triumphalism was fleeting. Bismarck may have been conscious, like everyone else, that he was living through a momentous period in history, but he continued to have an essentially modest conception of his own role in shaping events and had no illusions about the inevitability or permanence of what he was creating. Bismarck consolidated the power of the Prussian monarchy, reinforcing the fact that it had emerged from the constitutional conflict unscathed.
