In his last book, the late William Carr provides a masterly account of the origins and impact of the three major wars fought by Prussia in creating the Bismarckian Reich of 1871. He begins with a study of the development of nationalism and liberalism from the late eighteenth century to the 1860's, before turning to a detailed examination of the Schleswig-Holstein Conflict of 1864; the `Six Weeks War' of 1866; and the Franco-Prussia War of 1870 - 71.