Focusing on the territory that is now Poland, the Congress of Vienna gave the Russian, which had been ruled by the imperial dynasty of the Romanov since 1613, the duchy of Warsaw. 

On the other hand, out of the decentralized states that composed the multi-ethnic Holy Roman Empire, which ended in 1806 during the French invasions, the Congress created the German Confederation, whose borders can be seen in red in the second map above. This granted a level of coherence and alliance between the member states which was not present in the Holy Roman Empire –  however, a sense of nationality was still not present, as the people frequently identified themselves with the member states, like Prussia or Austria, instead of seeing themselves as German. 

Interestingly, a few decades later, the German Confederation saw the German Revolution of 1848/49, fueled by national, liberal and democratic principles, hinting about the popular desire for democracy, liberalism and national unity felt at the time, possibly fueled by the ideals of the Enlightenment era. This revolution was, however, unsuccessful, and lead to the emigration of the defeated revolutionaries to countries like the United States of America.
The actual unification of Germany wouldn’t happen until 1871. After conflicts and wars between the member states of the German Confederation (namely the Austro-Prussian war), Prussia emerged victorious. The south german states (except Austria) joined Prussia soon after and a new constitution came into force on April 16th, 1871, creating the German Republic with, approximately, the borders that can be seen in black in the first map. Wilhelm l, King of Prussia from the House of Hohenzollern, was crowned German Emperor. However, the main figure of German politics of the time was not the Emperor but the Head of Government, the Executive Power, the Chancellor – Otto Von Bismarck.
Bismarck dominated foreign affairs in Europe while he held office, forging alliances and maintaining peace within Europe (for instance, promoting the Berlin Conference in 1884 to regulate African colonization and trade). To historian Eric Hobsbawn, he “remained undisputed world champion at the game of multilateral diplomatic chess for almost twenty years after 1871, [and] devoted himself exclusively, and successfully, to maintaining peace between the powers”. However, domestically, Bismarck was conservative, which, in a society increasingly more liberal and progressive, gathered significant opposition. Feeling his support slowly fading, Bismarck implemented multiple social and progressive measures, introducing a form of welfare state, with, for instance, accident and old age insurance and a form of socialized medicines.
This, however, was not enough, and Bismarck ended up losing the parliamentary elections in 1890 where the Centre, Social Democrats and Progressives gained the majority of the seats in the Reichstag (German Parliament, currently known as Bundestag). Bismarcks successors then implemented the so-called Weltpolitik, aiming to transform Germany into a global power. To achieve this, they changed the Realpolitik carried out by Bismarck and implemented progressive measures, moving towards free trade, promoting industrial, commercial and technological development and implementing better social conditions (like extended reach of insurances and increased the control over child labour). This created a prosperous country with remarkable social awareness. However, they were not so notable in maintaining foreign relations, often antagonizing European Powers and abandoning old alliances (like, for example, the cooperation established with the Russian Empire during Bismarcks era), significantly contributing to the outbreak of World War I. Thus, after Bismarck, there was a notable change in the focus of German politics from foreign affairs to internal balancing.
To the East, the conditions were different. Lead by the Romanov dynasty for nearly 3 centuries, the Russian Empire was ran as an absolute monarchy based on the ideological doctrine of Orthodoxy, Autocracy and Nationality implemented by Nicholas I. As an autocracy, any diverging opinions were quickly and violently suppressed and the peasants, the bedrock of the society, hardly saw any profit of their work while the urban bourgeoisie reaped the benefits. A society marked by conservatism and inequality during a time of liberal and progressive thinking, coupled with poor and distanced leadership (analyzed further in this article), eventually culminated in the revolts of 1905 and 1917, the latter putting an end to the Romanov rule and czarist Russia.