The growth of the European superpowers during the 19th century consisted of the great powers competing for territorial gains, developing their international influence, and ensuring positive domestic attitudes in their diplomatic actions. Attempting to consolidate its hegemony over international politics, the Prussian Empire sought to create an ethnically and politically unified German state to push back against the prominence granted to Austria at the Congress of Vienna. Through the machinations of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and his determination to unite the German lands through “blood and iron,” Germany quickly became the epicenter of European politics and forever changed the geopolitical landscape of Europe. In examining the unification of Germany and its implications for the international system, this article will explore the prehistory of unification, the significant diplomatic successes and failures during the strengthening of German power, and the change in Germany's power structure that ultimately the military structure changed. panorama of the international system and became the precursor to the First World War. The rise of Otto Von Bismarck to Chancellor of Prussia in 1862 marked the beginning of the country's aggressive movement towards unification after little domestic support for the creation of a German state. Undoubtedly, the need to foment support would become crucial if Bismarck's strategy for controlling the Schleswig-Holstein region was successful. The consolidation of Prussian feelings towards a new German state involved a multitude of strategic moves to create the illusion that the country's overall stability was constantly threatened by the actions of neighboring powers, simultaneously creating and exploiting f... half of paper ......said that the new international landscape was much more diplomatically malleable than early iterations. Works Cited Abrams, Lynn. 1995. Bismarck and the German Empire 1871-1918. London: Routledge.Menning, Ralph. 1996. The Art of the Possible: Documents on Great Power. New York: McGraw-Hill College.Mulligan, William. 2010. “Britain, the 'German Revolution' and the Fall of France, 1870/1.” Journal of the Historical Research Institute 310-327.Ollivier, Émile. 1913. The Franco-Prussian War and its hidden causes. London: Sir Issac Pitman & Sons.Smith, Woodruff D. 1978. The German Colonial Empire. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Stone, James. 1994. "Bismarck and the Containment of France 1873-1877." Canadian Journal of History 281-304. Townsend, Mary Evelyn. 1930. Rise and fall of the German colonial empire. New York: The Macmillan Company.