Before 1860, the map looked completely different. What is now Germany, was then, a number of independent Germanic states, each governing itself. The Prussian Empire, under the rule of Otto von Bismarck, began to concur these tiny states in a series of small wars. Throughout the 1860’s, Bismarck and Prussia conquered Denmark in 1863 and Austria in 1865, it proved itself to be a dominating force in Europe ( Pendergast, Pendergast, 3). To unite all of these new nations under one rule, Bismarck went to war with France. Known as the Franco-Prussian War, Prussia, to everyone’s surprise, demolished French forces. In 1871, France ceded Alsace and Lorraine to Prussia. With victory under its belt, the German states formed an alliance resulting in the creation of the German Republic naming Prussian King Wilhelm II as its emperor or Kaiser, and Bismarck as its chancellor. The Franco-Prussian war completely obliterated French Morale and boosted German