Quick at mastering a mass of details, he soon saw into the heart of a problem, and his solution of it was marked both by unfailing skill and by sound common sense as to the choice of men and means.

In some respects he resembles Napoleon the Great.

Granted that he was his inferior in the width of vision and the versatility of gifts that mark a world-genius, yet he was his equal in diplomatic resourcefulness and in the power of dealing lightning strokes; while his possession of the priceless gift of moderation endowed his greatest political achievements with a soundness and solidity never possessed by those of the mighty conqueror who "sought to give the _mot d'ordre_ to the universe." If the figure of the Prussian does not loom so large on the canvas of universal history as that of the Corsican--if he did not tame a Revolution, remodel society, and reorganise a Continent--be it remembered that he made a United Germany, while Napoleon the Great left France smaller and weaker than he found her.
Bismarck's first efforts, like those of Cavour for Sardinia, were directed to the task of restoring the prestige of his State.

Early in his official career, the Prussian patriot urged the expediency of befriending Russia during the Crimean War, and he thus helped on that _rapprochement_ between Berlin and St.Petersburg which brought the mighty triumphs of 1866 and 1870 within the range of possibility.

In 1857 Frederick William became insane; and his brother William took the reins of Government as Regent, and early in 1861 as King.