Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"It was only the French declaration of war in July 1870, which unleashed intense nationalistic feelings, that enabled Bismarck to secure acceptance of the new Reich, for neither the new emperor, nor the German princes, nor the German liberals wanted what they were getting. . . . The unification of Germany was a momentous historical significance. Unified by war, the new state became a politically immature military colossus that continued to seek expansion in Europe." [Furtado: 1001 Days] "Europe, to repeat the quip of the day, had lost a mistress and gained a master. Under Bismarck’s astonishingly adroit handling, the Great Power system was going to be dominated by Germany for two whole decades after 1870; all roads, diplomats remarked, now led to Berlin. Yet as most people could see, it was not merely the cleverness and ruthlessness of the imperial chancellor which made Germany the most important power on the European continent. It was also German industry and technology, which boomed still faster once national unification had been accomplished; it was German science and education and local administration; and it was the impressive Prussian army." [Kennedy: Great Powers, p. 187]