The German Imperial and Free Conservative Party was a significant political force in the German Empire before 1890. Founded in Prussia after the war against Austria in 1866, the party vehemently supported the nation-building policies of Prussian Prime Minister and later Reich Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Ultimately, it was Bismarck's party. As the most important parliamentary instrument of Bismarck's policies, it played a central role in the Empire and in Prussia until his resignation in 1890. Within German conservatism, the party represented all those reform-minded forces that did not wish to oppose the political, economic, and social changes of the time and sought to maintain a leading position in the state and society in alliance with the powers of modernity.