von Zwiedeneck-Sudenhorst, Deutsche Geschichte von der Aufloesung d. alten bis zur Errichtung d. neuen Kaiserreichs (Stuttgart, 1903-1905); and M. L. Van Deventer, Cinquante annees de l'histoire federale de l'Allemagne (Brussels, 1870). A book of some value is A. Malet, The Overthrow of the Germanic Confederation by Prussia in 1866 (London, 1870). P. Bigelow, History of the German Struggle for Liberty (New York, 1905) is readable, but not wholly reliable. An excellent biography of Bismarck is that by Headlam (New York, 1899). For full bibliography see Cambridge Modern History, X., 826-832; XI., 879-886, 893-898; XII., 869-875.] III. THE CONSTITUTION: NATURE OF THE EMPIRE (p. 202) *211. The Constitution Framed.*--As ordained in the treaties of November, 1870, ratified subsequently by the _Bundesrath_ and the _Bundestag_ of the North German Confederation, and by the legislative assemblies of the four incoming states, the German Empire came legally into existence January 1, 1871. It consisted fundamentally of the Confederation, which in the process of expansion did not lose its corporate identity, together with the four states, whose treaties bound them severally to it. The _Bund_ was conceived of technically, not as replaced by, but rather as perpetuated in, the new Empire. The accession of the four southern states, however, involved of necessity a considerable modification of the original character of the affiliation; and the innovations that were introduced called for a general reconstitution of the fundamental law upon which the enlarged structure was to be grounded.