OTtO VON BISMARCK

 

By:

Adam Taylor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Hunke

Per. 1 World History

2-19-04

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTENTS

I.        Otto von Bismarck 4

II.     Bibliography....... 11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Otto von Bismarck

 

            Of all the great German historical figure the most important one I think is Otto von Bismarck. There are many reasons for my decision. Even though Otto von Bismarck has been dead for over a century his accomplishments are still felt to this day. He laid the foundation for the social democracy of current Germany. He also started what is currently the SPD which means basically in English Serving the People Department. Also there are many other things that he started that where the first of any nation to do and started a new way of working society around the whole new world. So Otto von Bismarck was more than just a important figure in Germany but a important figure in all the world and all current government.

            What was Otto von Bismarck’s life like? Otto von Bismarck was born on fools day, April 1, 1815, at Schönhausen a small town in Brandenburg. Bismarck at the time of his birth was born into the German Confederacy that was under the over powering Austrian Empire and the states of Germany were not untied but split and under different empires as well. So under the Prussians Otto von Bismarck of Schönhausen, would come to power after going through 32 years of slacking around. For Otto von  Bismarck did not take anything very serious for the first 32 years life. Even though he did not take anything seriously he was given many chances at high level positions because of his families long line of important positions in the government. For example his mothers Wilhelmine’s father was a trusted advisor to three Prussian kings including the great Wilhelm III which would one day be the king that Otto would be a loyal servant to, his family At the young age of 6 he was sent to a private school, then in 1830 when we normally go to high school the Germans have a split in intelligence group in which Otto von Bismarck was able to go to the A level student school of Graue Kloster Gymnasium. There Otto would try to join the Burschenschaften the student union which was about new ideas of reformist. So already Otto von Bismarck was getting an interest into politics. After that Otto von Bismarck went to the University of Göttingen from 1832 to 1833 were he got a lot of trouble and chased a young women while drinking a lot. Next Otto von Bismarck attended the University of Berlin, which he hated and barely passed his examinations. There Bismarck started to meet Royal Prussian family members and gain more interest in politics. After completing his studies at the University of Berlin Otto von Bismarck would start to taking up positions in the Prussian government that he got from his mothers influences of members of the Royal Prussian family with the aid of her father.

            Now that Otto von Bismarck was at the age of working he took up his first government positions in the city of Aachen which is a city located in the current German state of Nordrheinwestfallen, which is on the border line of Belgium.  There he learned that he did not like doing a lot of paper work and once again he went to his old habit of doing little work and chasing girls. In this case we went as far as Switzerland in the hope of getting a girl he was chasing and when he was contacted by his superiors he told them he was busy with a personal problem and refused to tell them what he was doing and told them I quote “by no means do I intended to give the government an account of my personal relations.” Well with the failure of his first job he had no way to get out of having to join the military. The only reason that he had not yet been in the army was that the government said that men could not be drafted into the military if they were in college or university or were working for the government. So Otto von Bismarck went to live in the life of the Prussian military until 1839, and then get got out.

            Now at the age of 24 Otto von Bismarck was bored and wanted to command, but all he got was a family estate to run in Kniephof, near the city of Stettin, which is in northern central current Germany. There he got so bored and lonely that he went back to his old self. There he did pranks like releasing a fox in a lady’s drawing room, and awakening his friend by firing off a gun through a window. Otto von Bismarck’s neighbors called him and I quote “ a mad Junker.” A Junker is a middle class landowner in the Prussian empire. Then his life came to a complete change when he meet a wonderful women named Johanna von Puttkamer. This woman was a Pietists which is a very strict Lutheran which Otto was not but the only way to get to marry this woman was to be a Pietists and show that to his lover’s father which he did in convincing him in a letter. All this took place in the early 1840’s and then in 1847 they got married. With this new way of life he wanted to serve god and by doing that he felt their was one way to do that and he quoted “I feel I am serving God when I serve the king.” From here on Otto von Bismarck would serve the king and work to achieve his political goals until his death, by the use of realpolitik, which means real politics, realism.

            Just as soon as Otto von Bismarck started to do series work in the Prussian government most of Europe was thrown into a revolt for nationalism and the people wanted to have more people power in the government, in 1848. This started what would end later but have Bismarck in a great position of power. For by the end of this revolt in Prussia Otto was a great servant that was beloved by the King Wilhelm IV that Otto loved to serve. In his service of Wilhelm IV, Otto helped reply the nations citizen’s wish to get a nationalism constitution, thus keeping the king in complete control basically. Another way that the people of Prussian tried to get a nationalism government was by the Vormärz which is a group of Junkers and government officers like the Prussian economical minister who tried from 1840 to 1848 to get their goal of gathering a nationalism government but sadly failed. This act of stubbornness even though the king father’s Wilhelm III promised his son would give them what they wanted, which was a nationalism constitution but instead of that Wilhelm IV, created the Landtag or united diet. Then at the same time Wilhelm IV tried to get Prince Klemens von Meternich, chancellor of Austria to get into the ruling seat of Spain so that Prussian would have control of France on both sides. This did not work and a French ambassador who got mad, did something very rude. He come up to the king in public and demanded that  Wilhelm IV  promise to never try and put a Prussian influence in the ruling seat of Spain. So immediately Otto von Bismarck was thinking this was his chance to start on his goals to expand Prussian territory and power. So Otto changed the wording of the telegram a little and sent it to the pressing. This nearly brought the two nations to war.

            Now in 1851, Bismarck was chosen as Prussian’s ambassador to the Bundestag or Federal Diet. The Bundestag was in the independent city state of Frankfurt, and Otto’s goal was to get them to join the Prussian power. Well while working with that Otto started making a lot of schemes to unified and expand Prussia. One big problem came up their, powerful enemies the Russians and the Austrians were thinking of allying together. So Otto told the government we need 200,000 soldiers for defense of the border lines, but Wilhelm IV said no. He did not want to go against allies during the horrible Crimean War in 1853-1856.  Then suddenly in October 1857 Wilhelm IV had a stroke and left him to resign. The next ruler was Wilhelm’s brother. This new ruler did not like the way that Otto von Bismarck wanted to make a alliance with Russia, France, and Prussia. So in early 1859 Otto learned that he had been made ambassador of Russia and so he had to go to Leningrad which is now St. Petersburg. After getting very ill and pain in his left leg, he returned to Berlin to then be appointed the ambassador to France. Then in 1861 after hearing from his friend General Albrecht von Roon that he might be made the Prime Minister in March 1861, Bismarck got excited. Then on September 22, 1859 Otto von Bismarck was made the Prime Minister and days later he was made the foreign minister. With thins in mind Otto would be in his highest point of power for the next 27 years.

            Now Otto von Bismarck would start to expand Prussia land mass and he would do this in the Prussia-Austria war in which the Prussia would win. But this war would have 50,000 causalities and unified Germany. To get to this war though the Germans would grow in military number and in industries to challenge all of Europe. In doing so they laid down a lot of rail roads making it so that they could defend their borders better. After Otto von Bismarck had expanded the Prussian land to into the Austria territory he focused on maintaining it and keeping the rest of Austria that was not conquered hopelessly, and defenseless without any allies. So what Otto von Bismarck would focus on next is to make all the strong allies he could that the Austria could possible ally with. Next Otto von Bismarck focused on maintaining his power and to do that he needed to make sure that the Austrians would stay out of the German’s government which was settled over the peace treaty of Prague that ended the war. The next step to maintain their power was to ally with all the major powers that were on the border line.

            Then Otto von Bismarck noticed that he was starting to have a breakdown in health from his hard work, but yet he did not stop. So the next thing that he did was what he had been fighting when he was younger. He wrote a draft of a constitution, and started to give the people what they wanted. He created a federal council that could make laws. His constitutions gave peasants the right to vote, and this was a smart decision. Now his next step was to take on the powerful French to the west. So came the Franco-Prussian war which was stared when delegates made each other a little bit mad and then Otto von Bismarck took it to his own hands and then the next day they had war. This war started on July 14, 1870, and by the end of the war the next year the Germans won.  It came at a cost, and for Bismarck that was the injuring of both his sons in the army. Well just days after the fighting started the Emperor Napoleon III order half his army to retreat to the fortified cities. Still in the end after getting as far as Paris the French surrender in the following year of 1871. There the current Prussian ruler Wilhelm was made Kaiser on January 18, 1871 at her Palace of Versailles of France.  Well know that Otto von Bismarck had completed his goal to expand Prussia his next goal to accomplish was to maintain it.

            So the only thing left to do really for Otto von Bismarck was to ally with any people that the French could ally with, to make sure that they would not become powerful ever again. Thus Otto von Bismarck focused on Russia, Prussia, and Britain. There were many challenges, to make this Dreikaiserbund which is the Three Emperors which was made in Vienna in the year 1873. While doing this though the government of Germany goes into the direction of its current government which is social democracy. With this all in mind Otto’s work was done and even he knew it for he quoted this “ I am bored; the great things are done. The German Empire is made.” The only thing that he would latter do is  work with helping the people and in pestering the Catholics in the southern part of the Prussian German Empire. In his attempt to control the Catholics Bismarck had a Kulturkampf, which means culture campaign. Well after this point on Otto von Bismarck started to get to old and started to slow down and do less work. All he really did from here on out was to get benefits for working, pensions, working benefits, standards for working conditions, and insurance. All this was new at this time and has now spread to around the world. Today the Germans call this the SPD who are in charge of all the new things that their great first Chancellor Bismarck came up with. Well Otto continued to live for many years and after the death of Wilhelm he was forced to resign by the new ruler. The new ruler was Kaiser  William Wilhelm II who after two times of telling Bismarck to retire final did. Bismarck now at the age of 75 was very bored. He quoted “I feel young, far to young to do nothing.” Well he continued to work, but now on writing books. Then a sad day came Bismarck died at the age of 83 on the evening of July 30, 1898 in bed. After his death all his work crumbled in expanding Prussia. For even in death Otto von Bismarck was great at doing everything for he even predicted that in 20 years there well be a war and we well lose lands, and what do you know that WWI broke out.

            Thus ending the great life of Otto von Bismarck. Which was the greatest figure in German history for unifying and strengthening Germany. Also he was the greatest figure in creating a better government for the benefiting the working people. His way of making the people like him helped people around the world. So with his politics and his brains he benefit and molded the world to the way that we have today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

  Jonathan E. Rose. Bismarck: World Leaders Past & Present. United States: Chelsea House             Educational Communications, 1987.

 

Edward Crankshaw. Bismarck. New York: The Viking Press, 1981.

 

J.H. Hoffman. “Bismarck, Otto von.” 1998. James Chastain. 20 Feb. 2004             <http://www.ohiou.edu/~Chastain/ac/bism.htm>