Otto von Bismarck For other uses, see Bismarck (disambiguation). port, against the advice of his wife and his heir. While Germany’s parliament was elected by universal male suf- frage, it did not have real control of the government. Bis- Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg (1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), known as marck distrusted democracy and ruled through a strong, well-trained bureaucracy with power in the hands of a tra- Otto von Bismarck, was a conservative Prussian states- man who dominated German and European affairs from ditional Junker elite that comprised the landed nobility of the 1860s until 1890. In the 1860s he engineered a se- the east. Under Wilhelm I, Bismarck largely controlled ries of wars that unified the German states (excluding domestic and foreign affairs, until he was removed by Austria) into a powerful German Empire under Prussian young Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1890. leadership. With that accomplished by 1871 he skillfully Bismarck, an aristocratic Junker himself, had an ex- used balance of power diplomacy to preserve German tremely aggressive and domineering personality. He dis- hegemony in a Europe which, despite many disputes and played a violent temper and kept his power by threat- war scares, remained at peace. For historian Eric Hobs- ening to resign time and again. He possessed not only bawm, it was Bismarck, who “remained undisputed world a long-term national and international vision, but also champion at the game of multilateral diplomatic chess for the short-term ability to juggle many complex develop- almost twenty years after 1871, [and] devoted himself ex- ments simultaneously. As the leader of what historians clusively, and successfully, to maintaining peace between call "revolutionary conservatism",[1] Bismarck became a the powers.”[2] hero to German nationalists; they built hundreds of mon- In 1862 King Wilhelm I appointed Bismarck as Minister uments glorifying the iconic symbol of powerful conser- President of Prussia, a post he would hold until 1890 (ex- vative leadership. Historians generally praise him as a cept for a short break in 1873). He provoked three short, statesman of moderation and balance who kept the peace in Europe, and was primarily responsible for the unifi- decisive wars against Denmark, Austria and France, aligning the smaller German states behind Prussia in de- cation of Germany and building its world-renowned bu- reaucracy and army. feating his arch-enemy France. In 1871 he formed the German Empire with himself as Chancellor, while re- taining control of Prussia. His diplomacy of realpolitik and powerful rule at home gained him the nickname the 1 Early years “Iron Chancellor”. German unification and its rapid eco- nomic growth was the foundation to his foreign policy. Bismarck was born in Schönhausen, a wealthy family es- He disliked colonialism but reluctantly built an overseas tate situated west of Berlin in the Prussian province of empire when it was demanded by both elite and mass Saxony. His father, Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Bis- opinion. Juggling a very complex interlocking series of marck (1771–1845), was a Junker estate owner and a conferences, negotiations and alliances, he used his un- former Prussian military officer; his mother, Wilhelmine rivaled diplomatic skills to maintain Germany’s position Luise Mencken (1789–1839), was the well-educated and used the balance of power to keep Europe at peace daughter of a senior government official in Berlin. The in the 1870s and 1880s. world saw Bismarck as a typical Prussian Junker—an im- He was the master of complex politics at home. He cre- age which he encouraged by wearing military uniforms. ated the first welfare state in the modern world, with the Bismarck was well educated and cosmopolitan, with a gift goal of gaining working class support that might other- for conversation. In addition to his native German, he was wise go to his Socialist enemies. In the 1870s he allied fluent in English, French, Italian, Polish and Russian.[3] himself with the Liberals (who were low-tariff and anti- Bismarck was educated at Johann Ernst Plamann's ele- Catholic) and fought the Catholic Church in a culture war. mentary school,[4] and the Friedrich-Wilhelm and Graues He lost that battle as the Catholics responded by forming Kloster secondary schools. From 1832 to 1833 he stud- a powerful Center party and using universal male suffrage ied law at the University of Göttingen, where he was to gain a bloc of seats. Bismarck then reversed himself, a member of the Corps Hannovera, and then enrolled ended the culture war, broke with the Liberals, imposed at the University of Berlin (1833–35). In 1838, while tariffs, and formed a political alliance with the Center stationed as an army reservist in Greifswald, he studied party to fight the Socialists. A devout Lutheran, he was agriculture at the University of Greifswald.[1] At Göttin- loyal to his king, who in turn gave Bismarck his full sup- gen, Bismarck became friends with the American student 1 2 2 EARLY POLITICAL CAREER Bismarck soon adopted his wife’s pietism, and he re- mained a devout Pietist Lutheran for the rest of his life. 2 Early political career Bismarck at 21, 1836 John Lothrop Motley. Motley, who later became an emi- nent historian and diplomat while remaining close to Bis- marck, wrote a novel in 1839, Morton’s Hope, or the Mem- oirs of a Provincial, about life in a German university. In Bismarck at age 32, 1847 it he described Bismarck as a reckless and dashing eccen- tric, but also as an extremely gifted and charming young [5] In 1847 Bismarck, aged 32, was chosen as a repre- man. sentative to the newly created Prussian legislature, the Although Bismarck hoped to become a diplomat, he Vereinigter Landtag. There, he gained a reputation started his practical training as a lawyer in Aachen and as a royalist and reactionary politician with a gift for Potsdam, and soon resigned, having first placed his ca- stinging rhetoric; he openly advocated the idea that the reer in jeopardy by taking unauthorized leave to pursue monarch had a divine right to rule. His selection was two English girls, first Laura Russell, niece of the Duke arranged by the Gerlach brothers, fellow Pietist Luther- of Cleveland, and then Isabella Loraine-Smith, daughter ans whose ultra-conservative faction was known as the of a wealthy clergyman. He also served in the army for “Kreuzzeitung” after their newspaper, the Neue Preussis- a year and became an officer in the Landwehr (reserve), che Zeitung, which was so nicknamed because it featured before returning to run the family estates at Schönhausen an Iron Cross on its cover.[6][7] on his mother’s death in his mid-twenties. In March 1848, Prussia faced a revolution (one of the Around age 30 Bismarck had an intense friendship revolutions of 1848 across Europe), which completely with Marie von Thadden, newly married to one of overwhelmed King Frederick William IV. The monarch, his friends. Under her influence, Bismarck became though initially inclined to use armed forces to suppress a Pietist Lutheran, and later recorded that at Marie’s the rebellion, ultimately declined to leave Berlin for the deathbed (from typhoid) he prayed for the first time safety of military headquarters at Potsdam (Bismarck since his childhood. Bismarck married Marie’s cousin, later recorded that there had been a “rattling of sabres in the noblewoman Johanna von Puttkamer (1824–94) at their scabbards” from Prussian officers when they learned Alt-Kolziglow (modern Kołczygłowy) on 28 July 1847. that the King would not suppress the revolution by force). Their long and happy marriage produced three children, He offered numerous concessions to the liberals: he wore Herbert (b. 1849), Wilhelm (b. 1852) and Marie (b. the black-red-and-gold revolutionary colours (as seen on 1847). Johanna was a shy, retiring and deeply religious the flag of today’s Germany), promised to promulgate a woman—although famed for her sharp tongue in later constitution, agreed that Prussia and other German states life—and in his public life Bismarck was sometimes ac- should merge into a single nation-state, and appointed a companied by his sister Malwine “Malle” von Arnim. liberal, Ludolf Camphausen, as Minister President.[8] 3 Bismarck had at first tried to rouse the peasants of his es- vinced that to countervail Austria’s newly restored influ- tate into an army to march on Berlin in the King’s name.[9] ence, Prussia would have to ally herself with other Ger- He travelled to Berlin in disguise to offer his services, man states. As a result, he grew to be more accepting of but was instead told to make himself useful by arrang- the notion of a united German nation. He gradually came ing food supplies for the Army from his estates in case to believe that he and his fellow conservatives had to take they were needed. The King’s brother, Prince Wilhelm the lead in the drive toward creating a unified nation in had fled to England, and Bismarck intrigued with Wil- order to keep from being eclipsed. He also believed that helm’s wife Augusta to place their teenage son Frederick the middle-class liberals wanted a unified Germany more William on the Prussian throne in Frederick William IV’s than they wanted to break the grip of the traditional forces place. Augusta would have none of it, and detested Bis- over society. marck thereafter,[10] despite the fact that he later helped Bismarck also worked to maintain the friendship of restore a working relationship between the King and his Russia and a working relationship with Napoleon III's brother.