Press suppression initially declined after the Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck created a unified German Empire under Prussian dominance in 1871. The Imperial Press Law of 1874, which replaced the various state laws, cemented the abolition of prior censorship and removed all licensing requirements for publishers, ensuring a much more vibrant media environment than before. The most dramatic difference was that every infringement on freedom of the press now had to go through the courts, where the government was far from certain to secure conviction.
