France was brought to the ground with a mighty blow; the vast majority of the German peoples united under the Imperial crown which the King of Prussia wore; the old idea of the German Empire was revived in a federal shape by the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria, and Italy.

The German idea, as Bismarck fancied it, ruled from the North Sea to the Adriatic and the Mediterranean.

Like a phoenix from the ashes, the German giant rose from the sluggard-bed of the old German Confederation, and stretched his mighty limbs.
It was an obvious and inevitable result that this awakening of Germany vitally affected the other nations which had hitherto divided the economic and political power.

Hostile combinations threatened us on all sides in order to check the further expansion of our power.

Hemmed in between France and Russia, who allied themselves against us, we failed to gather the full fruits of our victories.