German unification-important factors (point form)

(1)Leadership Bismarck played an important role~ when he came into power, he had everything laid out for him. It was a matter of how he utilizes them. Recognized opportunities and utilized them to Germany s benefit (used the Luxemburg issue to gain public opinion of the three Southern German states against France. This led to the Franco-Prussian war of 1870) Final phase of unification took place when there was a strong disagreement between France and Prussia …

…Russia however was not in amicable terms with Austria since the Crimean war, thus with the Austria-Prussian war, Russia was for Prussia. France was not for the unification of Germany since Germany and France had conflicts regarding the 3 south German states. Also because Napoleon the 3rd got the impression that Bismarck did not respect the 1815 Vienna settlement. (This was because although Prussia was awarded the Rhineland, it was not geographically connected to Prussia at all.)