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Bismarck is viewed more as an opportunist and good diplomat than a master planner. He was good at taking advantage of his opportunities and leading them the right way; many other factors had great roles in making the German Unification possible.

Economic development is seen as the leading factor in German Unification, the tool for militarisation and growth. The economy was greatly improved by the Prussian Customs Union (Zolverein), formed in 1818. The web of internal customs duties was replaced by a tariff to be charged at the frontier. Prussia's small neighbours were so impressed by the Customs Union that they agreed to join it and even allowed Prussian customs officers to operate the system. Growth of railways was encouraged by these economical alliances, this proves to be very important in battles, for mobilisation purposes. Prussia was growing economically as well as politically, starting to compete with Austria, as Austria becomes economically isolated. These developments were to provide Bismarck with financial backing for implementing reform in Prussia.

Austria loses political influence as more states look towards Prussia. The Prussians started to believe they were the solution to the German problem. This gave encouragement to the nationalist movement on the basis of 'if states can unite economically, why not politically'. Nationalist writers such as Goethe and the Brothers Grimm put forward ideas of romantic nationalism where as others saw more practical ways of fastening nationalism; Frederick Jahn conceived the idea of restoring the spirits of his countrymen by forming nationalist University fraternities, called Burschenschaften, where students did gymnastics and studied nationalist writers. Austria's Carlsbad decrees, the Cholera epidemic in Prussia, the huge, poor population and expanding cities together with nationalist ideas sparked the 1848 German Revolution. It failed, but the idea of German Unity lived on.

The Constitutional Crisis bad decisions of Willhelm I, like dismissing Manteuffel, created an opportunity for Bismarck. Willhelm contemplated abdication, but received advice from Von Roon to appoint Otto von Bismarck as Chief Minister in September 1862 to resolve the crisis. It is clear that Bismarck even came to power through a series of opportunities.

Bismarck wrote in his 1890's memoirs that he was a statesman who foresaw events and brilliantly achieved his goals; he did not plan the German Empire bit by bit even though the Traditional

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