|year_end = 1871
|date_start = April 16
|date_end = January 18
|event_start = Constitution tabelled
|event_end = Elevation to empire
|event1 = Federation formed
|date_event1 = July 1
|year_event1 = 1867
|p1 = German Confederation
|image_p1 = 
|s1 = German Empire
|flag_s1 = Flag of the German Empire.svg
|image_flag = Flag of the German Empire.svg
|flag = Flag of Germany#North German Confederation and the German Empire
|image_coat = Coat of arms of North German Confederation.svg
|image_map = Map-NDB.svg
|image_map_caption = The North German Confederation (red). The southern German states that joined in 1871 to form the German Empire are in orange. Alsace-Lorraine, the territory annexed following the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, is in a paler orange. The red territory in the South is part of the Kingdom of Prussia.
|capital = Berlin
|latd=52 |latm=31 |latNS=N |longd=13 |longm=24 |longEW=E
|title_leader = President
|leader1 = William I
|year_leader1 = 1867–1871
|title_deputy = Chancellor
|deputy1 = Otto von Bismarck
|year_deputy1 = 1867–1871
|legislature = Reichstag
|house1 = Reichsrat
|type_house1 = State council
|today = 
Denmark
Germany
Lithuania
Poland
Russia
}}--->
The North German Confederation (German: Norddeutscher Bund), came into existence in August 1866 as a military alliance of 22 states of northern Germany with the Kingdom of Prussia as the leading state. In July 1867 it was transformed into a federal state. It provided the country with a constitution and was the building block of the German Empire, which adopted most parts of the federation's constitution and its flag.
Unlike the earlier German Confederation, the North German Confederation was in fact a true state. Its territory comprised the parts of the German Confederation north of the river Main, plus Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Prussia's eastern territories and the Duchy of Schleswig, but excluded Austria, Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, Luxembourg, Limburg, Liechtenstein and the southern parts of the Grand Duchy of Hesse.
It cemented Prussian control over northern Germany, and emanated that same control via the Zollverein (Customs Union) and secret peace treaties (agreed with the southern states the day before the Peace of Prague) into southern Germany.
Although it ceased to exist after the creation of the German Empire in 1871, the federation was the building block for the German constitution adopted that year. This constitution granted immense powers to the new chancellor, Otto von Bismarck who was appointed by the President of the Bundesrat (Prussia). This was because the constitution made the chancellor 'responsible,' however not accountable, to the Reichstag. This therefore allowed him the benefit of being the link between the emperor and the people. The Chancellor retained powers over the military budget, after the constitutional crisis that engulfed Wilhelm I in 1862. Laws also prevented certain civil servants becoming members of the Reichstag, those who were Bismarck's main opposition in the 1860s.
The federation came into being after Prussia defeated Austria and the other remaining states of the German Confederation in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. Its constitution, which came into force on 1 July 1867, was written by Bismarck. Executive power was vested in a president, a hereditary office of the King of Prussia. He was assisted by a chancellor responsible only to him. Legislative power was vested in a two-house parliament. The states were represented in the Bundesrat (Federal Council) with 43 seats. The people were represented by the Reichstag (Diet), elected by male universal suffrage. The Bundesrat membership was extended before 1871 with the creation of the Zollverein Parliament in 1867, an attempt to create closer unity with the southern states by permitting representatives to be sent to the Bundersrat.
For all intents and purposes, Prussia exercised near-total control over the confederation. With four-fifths of the state's its territory and population, the Hohenzollern kingdom was larger than the other 21 states combined. It had 17 votes in the Bundesrat, and could easily control the proceedings by making deals with the smaller states. Additionally, Bismarck served as Prussia's foreign minister as well, and thus had the right to instruct the Prussian representatives to the Bundesrat.
Following Prussia's victory over the Second French Empire and the subsequently formed Third Republic in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, Bavaria, Württemberg, and Baden (together with parts of the Grand Duchy of Hesse which had not originally joined the federation), unified with the states of the Federation to form the German Empire, with William I taking the new title of German Emperor (rather than Emperor of Germany as Austria was not included).