The greatest triumph of Bismarck's policy was, however, the reconciliation with Austria.

One of the most intimate of his councillors, when asked which of Bismarck's actions he admired most, specified this.

It was peculiarly his own; he had long worked for it; even while the war of 1866 was still being waged, he had foreseen that a day would come when Germany and Austria, now that they were separated, might become, as they never had been when joined by an unnatural union, honest allies.

It was probably to a great extent brought about by the strong regard and confidence which the Austrian Emperor reposed in the German Chancellor.

The beginnings of an approximation were laid by the dismissal of Beust, who himself now was to become a personal friend of the statesman against whom he had for so long and with such ingenuity waged an unequal conflict.