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| 1857, Oct |
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| Prince William temporarily took over the government from his ailing brother. He then became the prince regent (Oct. 1858). William's regency marked the end of the reactionary conservatism of the 1850s. William supported civil rights as stipulated in the Prussian constitution, and his more liberal stance resulted in increased participation in the elections of 1858. | 1 |
| Liberalization began in much of Germany near the end of the 1850s. In Bavaria, King Maximilian established a cautious alliance with the progressives after the conservatives fell in the election of 1858. Grand Duke Frederick of Baden cooperated with a liberal majority in the Landtag to create a series of reforms. | 2 |
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| 1859–62 |
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| Bismarck became the Prussian ambassador to Russia and then to France, despite his inexperience. Bismarck also began to place himself on the side of a kleindeutsch solution to the unification of Germany. He sent an extended memorandum known as the Booklet to the prince. The Booklet argued for a strong Germany led by an independent Prussia. | 3 |
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| 1859, Sept |
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Prussian liberals gained support as they formed the Nationalverein (National Union) committed to the kleindeutsch option and liberalism. Their support remained much stronger than the Reformverein (Reform Union) organized in Oct. 1862, which supported the gro deutsch option. | 4 |
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| 1860–62 |
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| Liberal crisis. Prince William became King William I upon the death of his brother (Jan. 1861), and he broke with the Liberals over the military. The Prussian army had remained unchanged since the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and, in 1860, Prince William called upon Gen. Albrecht von Roon, minister of war, to reorganize the army. His Army Bill of 1860 increased the size of the infantry, required expenditures to be raised by one-quarter, and made each draftee serve three years in the army or four in the cavalry and remain in the reserves for another four to five years. The Liberals had no intention of supporting such a bill but passed a provisional money bill instead. The latter effectively gave William the means to proceed with the reorganization without the passage of any specific plan. | 5 |
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| 1861 |
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| Formation of the Fortschrittspartei (Progressive Party). King William faced the problem of rising costs for the military in 1861 and managed to receive a 7.3-million-taler grant from the Landtag to defray those costs. The unwillingness of the Liberals to oppose such a grant helped lead to the establishment of the minority Progressive Party, which called for the complete realization of the constitution, continuation of the national guard, two-year military service, and an active policy on unification. | 6 |
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| 1862, March |
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| The failure of money bills. The Landtag refused to pass another money bill for the military. This action was the result of the electoral success of the Fortschrittspartei in the Dec. elections. The king dissolved the government and formed another cabinet, but the money bill failed again in Sept. He now considered resignation, but his son refused to take the throne. | 7 |
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| Sept. 30 |
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| Otto von Bismarck was named prime minister and foreign minister. Bismarck relied on article 99 of the Prussian constitution, which gave the king power to fund government on the basis of existing tax systems if an agreement in the Landtag could not be reached. In doing so, Bismarck made it clear that he intended to govern without the Landtag's approval, if necessary. | 8 |
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