Up to the year 1874, Germany was made up of many city-states, including Hamburg, Bavaria, and Prussia, as examples. The Prussian Prime Minister, Otto von Bismarck, wanted all of Germany united under Prussia. In order to accomplish his goals, Otto von Bismarck manipulated the other city-states and even Europe into three separate wars, The Danish War, the Austro-Prussian War, and the Franco-Prussian War. These three wars unified Germany under Prussia. .
Otto von Bismarck can be identified as the man who created a Unified Germany. Born in 1815, Otto von Bismarck studied law at GÖttingen. Soon afterwards, he received several minor positions until finally, he was elected to the Prussian Landtag in 1847. Later he became the ambassador to Russia and then France, before finally becoming Premier of Prussia. In a perfect example of how Bismarck was unafraid to do what ever it took to get the job done, Bismarck dissolved Parliament in order to raise taxes for the army himself. This was a clear violation of the constitution of Prussia, but Bismarck went ahead and collected his taxes without parliamentary approval. Throughout his entire career, Bismarck did his best to protect the conservatism of the Junkers.
The Unification of Germany had long been the goal of the liberals in Germany. A unified Germany would put all German speaking peoples under one country, and Bismarck knew who would be in control of that country, Prussia. Another reason for a unified Germany, is that it would be much more powerful than the kingdoms alone, and in that way, Prussia would become more powerful, as under Bismarck's plan, they would be the ones in control.
The first war in the series of three is known as the Danish war and was relatively minor. Prussia and Austria made an alliance to take over the territories of Schleswig and Holstein, which were owned by Denmark. The deal was that Prussia would control Schleswig while Austria would get Holstein.