tempted readjustments of
1848-1849, emphasized the conclusion that the future of Germany lay
with Prussia rather than with Austria, and that, indeed, there could
be no adequate unification of the German people until one of the two
great rival states should have been definitely ejected.[279]

[Footnote 279: On the revolution of 1848 in Germany
see Cambridge Modern History, XI., Chaps. 3, 6, 7;
H. von Sybel, The Founding of the German Empire
trans. by M. L. Perrin, 7 vols. (New York,
1890-1898), I., 145-243; H. Blum, Die deutsche
Revolution, 1848-1849 (Florence and Leipzig, 1897);
P. Matter, La Prusse et la revolution de 1848
(Paris, 1903).]

*208. The War of 1866.*--With the elevation of Count von Bismarck,
September 23, 1862, to the presidency of the Prussian ministry,
affairs began to move rapidly toward the inevitable conclusion. A
month prior to Bismarck's appointment there had been held at Frankfort
a conference--the so-called _Fuerstentag_--whose object was the
proposal of a plan for the reconstitution of the Confederation. The
scheme suggested contemplated the establishment of a directory, an
assembly composed of delegates from the various diets, and a federal
court of appeal. The conference was held at the instigation of (p. 200)
Austria, and it was intended primarily to promote an alignment of the
liberal forces against Prussia. The last-mentioned state refused,
naturally, to have part in the proceedings, and the enterprise came to
naught. A brief interlude in the fast developing contest was afforded
by the Austro-Prussian alliance against Denmark in 1864; but the net
result of this episode was only to supply the occasion for war which
Bismarck desired. In 1866 Prussia came forward with a project for the
reorganization of the Confederation (in reality, a counter-bid for
popular support), the more noteworthy features of which were the total
exclusion of Austria from the league and the establishment of a
parliament elected by manhood suffrage. As was inevitable, the Diet
rejected the scheme; whereupon, with the object of forcing Austria
into helpless isolation, Bismarck and his royal master, William I., in
June, 1866, proclaimed the Confederation to be dissolved and plunged
the whole of Germany in civil war.

*209. The North German Bund, 1867.*--The conflict