“Great modern issues are not resolved with words, but with iron and blood” - this is how Otto von Bismarck formulated the basic principle of Prussian foreign policy in the early sixties of the 19th century. Guided by this postulate of the Iron Chancellor, the unification of the German lands began. The novel “For the Scepter and the Crown,” which opens a series of books about the fate of the great powers of Europe, tells about the fierce confrontation between Berlin and Vienna. On the pages of this large-scale action-packed canvas we see the largest historical figures of the era: Bismarck and King Wilhelm of Prussia, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph and the French Emperor Napoleon III, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, Prince Gorchakov and many others. A duel of wills and insidious intrigues, the brilliance of diplomatic salons and the gunpowder smoke of battles, the glory and fate of world history come to life under the pen of the “German Dumas” - Gregor Samarov.