GermanyWho was Otto von Bismarck?
Otto von Bismarck was a Prussian landowner and diplomat who became Minister-President of Prussia in 1862 and founding chancellor of the German Empire in 1871. Often called the Iron Chancellor, he unified Germany under Prussian leadership after wars with Denmark, Austria and France. In domestic politics he defended the authority of the monarchy against parliamentary liberals, clashed with the Catholic Centre Party and the socialist movement, and created the first national system of social insurance. Kaiser Wilhelm II dismissed him in 1890.
Political views
Argued in 1862 that the great questions of the day would be decided by "iron and blood" rather than speeches and majority votes.
Source: bismarck-stiftung.deLed the Kulturkampf of the 1870s against the Catholic Church and the Centre Party, in alliance with the Liberals.
Source: dhm.deBacked the 1878 Anti-Socialist Law, which banned Social Democratic organizations and press.
Source: dhm.deIntroduced health (1883), accident (1884) and old-age and invalidity insurance (1889), partly to win workers away from socialism.
Source: dhm.deAbandoned free trade in 1879 in favor of protective tariffs for industry and agriculture, breaking with the National Liberals.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgSupported Germanisation policies in Prussia's Polish-speaking provinces.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgEnded the Kulturkampf in the late 1870s, broke with the Liberals and formed a working alliance with the Catholic Centre Party.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAfter 1871 described Germany as satiated and used alliances and the 1878 Congress of Berlin to preserve the balance of power.
Source: bismarck-stiftung.de
Legacy
Admirers credit Bismarck with creating a unified German state, keeping the peace among the great powers for two decades after 1871, and laying the foundation of the modern welfare state. Some historians argue that he never moved beyond the authoritarian outlook of the landed Junker class he came from. Critics point to the repression of Catholics, socialists and Polish minorities and to a constitution that left parliament weak, which many historians see as a burden on later German democracy.
In their words
Not by speeches and majority decisions are the great questions of the day decided - that was the great mistake of 1848 and 1849 - but by iron and blood.