Yet Bismarck’s greatest struggle was still to come. The obstacle which almost broke his will was William I. The king had never understood Bismarck’s far-reaching plans and had been dragged reluctantly into war. He had given way only when convinced that Austria and her German allies were planning to attack him. Now he regarded them as wicked and insisted that they be punished. For him, as for many lesser mortals, war was a matter of moral judgement, not an instrument of power.
