This story appears in the March/April 2017 issue of National Geographic History magazine. Throughout history, small states have come out of nowhere, and rapidly become great powers. This was the ...

Jan. 18 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1871, William of Prussia was declared the first German emperor. His reign ended ...

Prussia's development as a successful, modern industrial state gave hope to German nationalists. Economically, unification through the Zollverein economic alliance of 1834 had been a success ...

But they repeatedly reversed these decisions. Apart from Austria, Prussia was the strongest German state. It was the only state that showed any real ability to unite Germany. It was clear that ...