It was the same alternative which had presented itself to him about Schleswig-Holstein; now, as then, annexation was what he aimed at, and he was not the man easily to reconcile himself to a less favourable solution.

At the same time that he wrote this letter he sent orders that Falkenstein should quickly occupy all the territory north of the Main.
It is important to notice the date at which this letter was sent.

It shews us that these proposals were Bismarck's own.

Attempts have often been made since to suggest that the policy of annexation was not his, but was forced on him by the King, or by the military powers, or by the nation.

This was not the case.