Otto von Bismarck





Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck (April 1, 1815 - July 30, 1898) was the
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia (1862 - 1890); he unified Germany
with a series of wars and became the first Chancellor (1871 - 1890) of the
German Empire. Initially a deeply conservative, aristocratic, and monarchist
politician, Bismarck fought the growing social democracy movement in the
1880s by outlawing several organizations and pragmatically instituting
mandatory old-age pensions, health- and accident insurances for workers.

He was born in Schšnhausen and studied law at Gšttingen and Berlin. He
married Johanna von Puttkamer in 1847 in a long and happy marriage that
produced 3 children.

Delighted after the failure of the revolution of 1848, he was elected to the
Prussian parliament in 1849. Appointed to represent Prussia in Frankfurt,
Bismarck slowly became convinced that a Prussian-led unified German nation
was an important goal (this was considered a liberal objective at the time).
Subsequently, he worked as ambassador in Russia and Paris. In 1862, the
Prussian king Wilhelm I appointed him Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of
Prussia, as part of a conflict between the increasingly liberal Prussian
parliament and the king.

Bismarck then succeeded in unifying Germany by initiating several wars.
First, in cooperation with Austria, Schleswig and Holstein were conquered
from Denmark in the Second War of Schleswig; a peace treaty was concluded in
Vienna on October 30, 1864. Although already in 1865 Austria was pressured
to let Prussia take care of these northern lands, in 1866 he attacked
Austria and won quickly at the Battle of Kšniggratz, annexing Hanover,
Hesse-Kassel, Nassau, and Frankfurt to Prussia and forming the North German
Confederation. After Bismarck provoked France, the Franco-Prussian War broke
out in 1870 and the southern German states, viewing France as the aggressor,
joined the North German Confederation. France suffered a humiliating defeat,
and Wilhelm I was crowned German Emperor in Versailles in 1871. Bismarck
thus largely created the Prussia-led 1871 German Empire, at the exclusion of Austria.

Celebrated as a national hero, Bismarck was the first Reichskanzler
(Chancellor) of the new Empire. In foreign policy, he now devoted himself to
keeping peace among the European powers of France, Austria, Germany and Russia.

Internally, he was concerned about the emergence of two new parties: the
Catholic Centre Party and the Social Democratic Party. The campaign against
Catholicism that started in 1872, called Kulturkampf, was largely a failure.
He attacked the social democrats in two ways: the party and its
organizations were outlawed, while the working class was appeased with (very
progressive) legislation guaranteeing accident and health insurance as well
as old-age pensions.

In the elections of 1890, both the Catholic Centre and the Social Democrats
made great gains, and Bismarck resigned at the insistence of Kaiser Wilhelm
II, who had risen to the throne in 1888. Bismarck spent his last years
gathering his memoirs and died 1898 in Friedrichsruh.

Both the Kriegsmarine battleship Bismarck and Bismarck, North Dakota were
named in his honor.