Otto von Bismarck
When Otto von Bismarck became its Prime Minister in 1862, Prussia was a second-rate power overshadowed by Russia, Austria, France, and Britain. It was also unstable, its ancient monarchy and traditional Junker landowning class threatened by the rising forces of pan-German nationalism and liberal democratic revolution. When Bismarck retired in 1890, Prussia was the dominant part of a united German Empire which had become the greatest power in Europe. The old monarchy had not only survived, but the Prussian King had been transformed into a German Emperor. The Prussian aristocracy had become the military-bureaucratic masters of a mighty state.