Final answer:
Leaders within the German Confederation, including Otto von Bismarck, took the lead in establishing a German Empire after the Frankfurt Parliament.
Step-by-step explanation:
After the Frankfurt Parliament, the leaders within the German Confederation took the lead in establishing a German Empire. The attempt to draft a constitution to unite Germany as an empire in the Frankfurt Assembly failed, but the momentum for German unification resumed with the success of the Zollverein, a customs union formed by Prussia. Eventually, the new king of Prussia, William I, appointed Count Otto von Bismarck as the prime minister, who played a major role in unifying the German states and establishing the German Empire in 1870.