North German Confederation

The North German Confederation was a confederated state that united the German lands north of the Main river from July 1867 to December 1870. It was created after Prussia and its allies defeated Austria in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, and it marked a decisive step in German unification under Prussian leadership, excluding Austria from the new order. Its constitution established a semi-constitutional monarchy with the Prussian king as head of state and Otto von Bismarck as chancellor. The parliament had two chambers: an appointed Federal Council representing the member states, and a Reichstag elected by universal manhood suffrage. During its three and a half years the confederation harmonized law, currency, railways and postal services and built the institutions that later served the German Empire. Its member states became the core of that empire when it was proclaimed on 18 January 1871 after the victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War. The confederation thus served as the constitutional bridge between the German Confederation and the German Empire.