Nationalist sentiments were often mobilized by conservatives for promoting state power and achieving political domination over Europe. This can be observed in the process by which Germany and Italy came to be unified as nation-states. Middle-class Germans tried to unite the different regions of the German Confederation, but their plans were not materialized due to actions of large landowners called the ‘Junkers of Prussia’. Three wars over seven years with Austria, Denmark, and France ended in a Prussian victory. In Jan 1871, the Prussian King William I was proclaimed German emperor.