North German Confederation

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The North German Confederation (German: ) was a confederated state that united the region of Germany north of the Main river from July 1867 to December 1870. It was a milestone of German Unification that put the Kingdom of Prussia at the head of the emerging nation and led to the exclusion of Austria from the eventual united Germany. The Confederation was formed following the victory of Prussia and its allies over the Austrian Empire in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. The North German Confederation's constitution established a semi-presidential, semi-constitutional monarchy with the Prussian king as head of state. Its two-chamber parliament consisted of an appointed Federal Council (Bundesrat) representing the states and a popular assembly, the Reichstag, elected under universal manhood suffrage. During the three-and-a-half year life of the Confederation, it took important steps to unify the nation legally and administratively. The states of the North German Confederation became the core...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Original: Adolf Soetbeer, Otto von Bismarck Vector: B1mbo, Madden, Public domain