There were a series of events that occurred before leading to the reunification of Germany in 1871. The first steps towards the unification of Germany began in 1814 after the fall of Napoleon's "Rheinbund", the restoration period began, in which princes, knights etc. they reclaimed the political control over their territory that they had under the old “Reich” before 1789 (Mark Allinson, 2002). Rulers of areas in Europe (including Germany) attended the 'Wiener Kongress' from October 1814 to June 1815 to fix Europe after Napoleon. (Only the states of Germany that survived Napoleon attended Vienna.) The main purpose of this conference was to reward the states and countries that were most successful in defeating Napoleon, not to consider democratic ideas. The areas awarded were Russia, Prussia, Austria and Great Britain. These countries/states were rewarded by gaining land/territories. As well as gaining territories, they lost some areas, and for example, although Prussia expanded, it lost areas of Poland to Russia, yet the result of this loss was that Prussia became "a more consistently German state". (Mark Allinson 2002) Once the conference ended, Germany consisted of 39 states, significantly fewer than before. Each state maintained its independence in the form of currency, laws, and armies. A German confederation "Deutscher Bund" was agreed upon by the German states in the "Bundesakte" of 1815. This is because the leaders of the new territories did not want to cede power over the recently regained lands to another source of power, i.e. Austria or Prussia, the two dominant German states. The 'Deutscher Bund' was an alliance between the 39 Länder of Germany and had no head of state or centre...... middle of paper ......-2000: modern history for modern languages. London: Arnold.Breuilly, J. 2001. Nineteenth-Century Germany. London: Arnold.Brose, E.D. 1997. German History, 1789-1871. Providence, RI: Berghahn Books.Burschenschaft.de. 2014. Deutsche Burschenschaft: Das Wartburgfest im Jahre 1817. [online] Available at: http://www.burschenschaft.de/geschichte/geschichte-der-db/stationen-der-burschenschaftlichen-geschichte/das-wartburgfest-im-jahre -1817.html [Accessed: 10 January 2014].Ramm, A. 1981. Germany, 1789-1919. London: Methuen.Sperber, J. 2004. Germany, 1800-1870. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Uni-leipzig.de. 2014. [online] Available at: http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~agitern/uni600/ug164.htm [Accessed: 11 January 2014].Wiener-kongress.at. 2014. The Wiener Congress. [online] Available at: http://www.wiener-kongress.at/index.html [Accessed: 10 January 2014].