Otto von Bismarck

Who was Otto von Bismarck?

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg, known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian statesman who dominated German and European affairs with his conservative policies from the 1860s to his dismissal in 1890 by Emperor Wilhelm II. In 1871, after a series of short victorious wars, he unified most of the German states into a powerful German Empire under Prussian leadership. He then created a balance of power that preserved peace in Europe from 1871 until 1914.

As Minister President of Prussia 1862–90, Bismarck provoked wars that made Prussia dominant over Austria and France, and lined up the smaller German states behind Prussia. In 1867 he also became Chancellor of the North German Confederation. Otto von Bismarck became the first Chancellor of a united Germany after the 1871 Treaty of Versailles and largely controlled its affairs until he was removed by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1890. His diplomacy of Realpolitik and powerful rule gained him the nickname the "Iron Chancellor". As Henry Kissinger has noted, "The man of 'blood and iron' wrote prose of extraordinary directness and lucidity, comparable in distinctiveness to Churchill's use of the English language."

Famous Quotes:

• A government must not waiver once it has chosen it's course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.
• I have seen three emperors in their nakedness, and the sight was not inspiring.
• Better pointed bullets than pointed speeches.
• When a man says that he approves something in principal, it means he hasn't the slightest intention of putting it in practice.
• The main thing is to make history, not to write it.
• Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.
• The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood.
• Laws are like sausages. It is better not to see them being made.
• A journalist is a person who has mistaken their calling.
• With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.