Otto Von Bismarck

1815-1898

Natassia

Transformed a collection of small German States into a Great Empire

Served as the first Chancellor from 1871-1890

Initiated social and welfare reform

The Iron Chancellor

Young Life

Born on 1 April 1815 at Schönhausen in Brandenburg, Prussia.

His father was an aristocrat and his mother was from an upper-middle class family of academicians and civil servants.

His Education

Went to Gymnasium in Berlin

Studied Law at Göttingen and in Berlin. He received his degree in 1837.

Received a civil service appointment as an apprentice official but resigned in 1838.

Young Adult LifeFrom 1838-1847 Otto was a “Wild Man.” He drank heavily and gambled recklessly.

Life changes in 1847 when he married Johanna Von Putkammer, converted his religion and began his political career.

These gave him stability and self discipline.

Prussian LegislatureExtremely conservative and wholeheartedly supported the monarchy

Strongly opposed any challenges to the position of the land owning aristocracy

Befriended by Prussia’s King Frederick William IV.

Appointed Ambassador to the German Confederation.

Appointed Ambassador to Russia in St. Petersburg.

Prussia1858 Prince Regent William became Wilhelm I

1860 King and Parliament in deadlock about funding military reform

Appointed Bismarck Premier in 1862

Found a loophole by using the 1861 budget without parliament approval

“The great questions of today will not be settled by speeches and majority decisions…but by blood and iron.”

Wilhelm I

Wars

1864 Took provinces of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark with an alliance with Austria

1866 7-weeks-war with Austria over the provinces

1866 Parliament retroactively sanctioned the wars

1870 Bismarck edited and important document to France to sound insulting. He provoked a war to unite Southern Germany with Northern Germany against a common threat.

Wilhelm Crowned Emperor

Crowned in the hall of mirrors in Versailles outside Paris, on January 18, 1871

Chancellor of the EmpireUniform legal codes, nationalized railways, compulsory military service

Kulturkampf- (culture struggle) attack fueled by propaganda against the Center Party (Catholic).Became a conflict with The Roman Catholic Church. Bismarck was force to Negotiate.

Used a similar attack on the Liberal groups successfully

At the same time instituted health, accident, and old age insurance

Foreign Policy

1873 negotiated the Three Emperor’s League with Austria-Hungary and Russia to isolate France

1879 Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary in case of Russian Attack

1877 Two Mediterranean Agreements to preserve Status quo

Complex system

Retirement

After many conflict with young Emperor Wilhelm II, Bismarck was dismissed in 1890

He retired to his estate and died on July 30, 1898

Quotes

“Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.”

“Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable…the art of the next best.”

“Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.”

“Better pointed bullets than pointed words.”

Contemporaries

Karl Marx 1818-1883 sociologist

Charles Darwin 1809-1882 naturalist

Pope Pius IX 1797-1878

William Wordsworth 1770-1850 Poet

Alphred Lord Tennyson 1809-1892 Poet

More Contemporaries

Gregor Mandel 1822-1884 Austrian Monk/Teacher Studied Plant Genetics

Henry David Thoreau 1817-1862 Writer

Walt Whitman 1819-1892 Writer

Queen Victoria 1837-1901

Sam Clemens 1835-1910 Mark Twain

Notable Sourceswww.kbismarck.com

www.fordham.edu

www.ssa.gov

www.germanembassy-india.org

Encarta.msn.com

www.creative quotations.com

www.cmtc.7atc.army.mil

www.newgenevacenter.org

Special Thanks ToTravis “Günther” Roberts

Author and Historian

The End