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  1. What is the historical significance of Otto von Bismarck?
  2. Bismarck is, undebatably, one of the most important figures of 19th century politics. With his powers of statesmanship, persuasion, and opportunity-taking, he changed the face of Europe, and, by doing so, the very future of his nation and those involved with it. Bismarck's significance in today's world can be split into three categories: his foreign policies, such as the wars that led to the unification of Germany and the League of the Three Emperors, his social policies, for example his Kulturkampf against Catholicism and the welfare state, and the longer-lasting legacy of his methods and influence, ranging from the idea of 'Realpolitik' to the question of whether he caused - or could have prevented - the First World War.. In this dissertation, I will examine each of these sections of his achievements, and how the contents thereof speak of Bismarck's significance to history.
  3. The key element of Bismarck's foreign policy was his dedication to bringing his nation of Prussia to new heights, above the other nations of Germany, through whatever means necessary. This is best shown in two situations; one is his well-known "iron and blood" speech of 1862, the other the events at Bad Gastein in 1863. In the first, "[the] army was not a luxury, he said in effect; for the survival and development of Prussia it was a necessity." ; in the second, (Bismarck had just got his king to disagree to attend Francis Joseph's initiative which would have put Austria in presidency of a Confederation of German states and Prussia in the sidelines, and was persuading Count Beust to leave before he could make Wilhelm, King of Prussia and later Kaiser of the German Empire during most of Bismarck's active period, change his mind) he stated boldly "Breaches of law and the peace of matters of perfect indifference to me. All I care for is the well-being of my king and my country." These quotes, I feel, show perfectly Bismarck's attitude; 'Prussia will be great, no matter the cost or the opinions of others.' Other Prussian politicians at this time, though they may have had the same view, lacked Bismarck's passion, his confidence, and his fervour, as well as the rest of what made Bismarck, Bismarck. This aspect of Bismarck's character is, therefore, vital to his significance as a politician; without it, he would likely have passed by without achieving any of his works; it sets him apart from the more restrained majority.
  4. Part of the manifestation of this dedication was his engineering of the three wars that unified the German states, first among them the events surrounding the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. King Christian IX of Denmark had violated the London Protocol of 1852 (a treaty recognised by Austria, France, Prussia, Russia and the United Kingdom (the five major European powers at the time) as well as Denmark and Sweden which guaranteed the integrity of the Danish monarchy and joined to it by a personal union the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg, which it also declared must remain as independent entities; however, as Denmark's king was aging fast and the Danish parliament wanted to maintain control of Schleswig following his demise, the 'November Constitution' was drafted, which defied the London Protocol by integrating the duchies into Denmark), creating a situation which Bismarck "knew most instinctively how to exploit." He managed to persuade Austria to join Prussia in invading Schleswig, creating the Second Schleswig War; this war was a simple matter for the combined powers of Prussia and Austria, the conclusion of which forced Denmark to cede the governing of the duchies to Prussia and Austria.
  5. Bismarck's organisation of this war is of substantial significance; not only did it establish the beginnings of Prussian expansion, it also started the formulation of the following war, this time against Austria, through sowing the seeds of animosity over control of the duchies, which Bismarck nurtured with the 'February Conditions' of 1865, some intentionally absurd demands to Austria pertaining to granting Prussia's 'special rights' (which were "without precedent in all history") in the duchies, which included the army and navy of Schleswig-Holstein swearing allegiance to the Prussian king and becoming part of Prussian armed forces, coastal bases going to Prussia, and the duchies entering the Zollverein. These conditions were part of Bismarck's "policy of extreme provocation", the aim of which was to manipulate Austria into declaring war on Prussia. Another part was to meet every complaint the Austrians made with a show of hurt innocence; Bismarck's technique of stamping on his neighbour's foot and then looking injured and mistreated when they retaliated was originated and perfected during this period. Bismarck also villainised Austria through other methods; the fate of the Duchies was intended to have been decided by the Diet of the German Confederation, so Bismarck managed to prevent this eventuality - which would have certainly damaged and may have absolutely halted his attempts to achieve war with Austria - by inducing Austria to agree to the Gastein Convention, an agreement that separated the "eternally inseparable" duchies, and in so doing cost Austria "the last vestige of her moral propriety." These techniques worked; he managed to isolate Austria and at the same time make it appear that Prussia was the victim. Despite this, many of the lesser states sided with Austria, primarily owing to fear and resentment of Prussian domination; however, they stayed on the defensive - save Saxony - leaving Austria to face Prussia almost entirely alone when war broke out, caused in part by Bismarck's machinations and in part by the many mistakes Austria made (though these could be said to be in response to Prussian provocation), the final and most serious of these being that they demanded that the Diet decide the solution to the issue of the Duchies, as originally proposed, which Bismarck used, by claiming the Austrians had violated the Gastein Convention, to start the war.
  6. The war was short and decisive, Austria and her allies being quickly defeated by the Prussian war machine. Indeed, the Prussians dominated so effectively that Bismarck had to engage in "one of the hardest fights of his career" to stop the troops from marching on Vienna to dismember Austria outright; only he could see the future need for a strong Austria and that, with his fear of France attacking a vulnerable Prussia while her army was abroad, was enough to sway his hand to persuade his king and his commanders to spare Austria. It was because of him that the other leaders of Prussia - who were set on absolute victory - refrained from destroying Austria, keeping her intact as a future ally. As such, when the time came to sign the Peace of Prague, the terms were lenient towards Austria, costing them only Venetia (which went, indirectly, to Italy), and the official giving of the control of the Duchies to Prussia. From this, we can see Bismarck's significance being twice confirmed; not only did he cause the war against Austria, he also kept it under control, moderated it to serve his purposes - purposes which would affect the world on a global scale.
  7. Bismarck's significance is shown again by his use of the Peace of Prague to nullify the German Confederation of 1815, creating in its place a North German Federation, a network of states under Prussian control. Some states in North Germany were annexed entirely by Prussia, and the Southern German states - which were excluded from the Confederation - were forced to pay large indemnities to Prussia. In so doing, Bismarck cemented Prussia as the only major power among the German states; by playing the elected parliament of the Confederation, seemingly almost on an individualised level, "he managed to push through a constitution which gave Prussia - i.e. Bismarck acting through the Prussian king - effective power over two-thirds of the people of Germany." Through these military and political successes, he - Bismarck - obtained large political backing in Prussia, meaning that a far more conservative House was elected than the largely liberal one prior to the 1866 elections. This House was far more warm towards Bismarck and his policies. going so far as to retroactively approve the budgets of the last four years (which had been implemented anyway, parliamentary consent seemingly proven unnecessary).
  8. The third of these three wars, this time against France, was also primarily Bismarck's doing; again, he crafted the political climate into such that he could use the war to combine the German states - he went so far as to say "I did not doubt that a Franco-German war must take place before the construction of a united Germany could be realised." . Once again, he manipulated enemies into allies, through the encouraging of perceiving France as a great foreign enemy; there was certainly evidence to suggest that this was indeed the case. Napoleon III feared the more powerful North German Confederation, worried that such a unification would change the balance of power in Europe and, accordingly, insisted on the returning of the 1814 frontiers; then, when that was met with threats of war from Bismarck , Napoleon III made proposals whereby France would gain land from Luxembourg or Belgium, thereby strengthening their own position; the French ambassador - Vincent, Count Benedetti - went so far as to put these requests into writing and give these writings to Bismarck. However, these came to nothing but the making of France to look greedy, untrustworthy, meaning that Bavaria and Württemberg - the two states that were more likely to side with France than Prussia if a war were to break out - grew less fond of the more westerly nation. This effect was furthered by Napoleon's pressing for the territories along the Rhine, which Bismarck had casually suggested at being given to France, tacitly in return for the French support of his actions - neutrality during the war with Austria and the French blessing for the formation of the Confederation - with the idea of a future alliance between the two nations, to be ceded to France; the discussions about this matter were leaked, by Bismarck, to the German states, and thereby turned those against Bismarck into his allies nigh instantaneously, strengthening his position even further. Bismarck had never intended even slightly to deliver the German territories to France, but had made the French ambassador believe that he would if not for the Prussian king preventing him, to the degree that Benedetti reported that Bismarck was 'the only person in the entire kingdom who appreciates the advantage for Prussia in establishing, by the cost of some territorial sacrifice, an intimate and lasting alliance'; Bismarck's comment on the matter was the succinct "He honestly believed it."
  9. These efforts by the French to gain something, to show their power, told Bismarck that Napoleon was desperate for something to show his people, any sort of victory, to suggest that he was still a capable leader and that his nation was still relevant, still potent, in the face of Prussian expansionism. Not only that, they showed that Napoleon understood that he couldn't stop the unifying of the German states and had deigned instead to attempt a friendship between his nation and Prussia. Bismarck played along with this idea, writing to his ambassador in Paris that the French "must be induced to go on hoping and, above all, to retain their faith in our good will without being given any definite commitment." However, this was not to last all that long; Napoleon, under his increasing pressure to show himself to be still effective, made a speech boasting that "Prussia seeks to avoid everything which might irritate our national sensitivity" , arrogantly proclaiming French superiority. Naturally, this angered the Prussians, and so Bismarck encouraged the mood in his Germany of hostility towards France, which was furthered the selfsame day by French anti-Prussian demonstrations being organised in Luxembourg (as an effect of the directional hints of Bismarck that France may indeed gain the country), which seemed as calculated provocation. Bismarck increased the people's anger through suggesting, by use of the proxy of Bennigsen, that France was moving to take German land, and that this was a violation of the German's national honour; he declared "...we must, in my opinion, risk war rather than yield.", thereby invoking the anger of nationalism and injured pride, stating that "appropriate action must ensue." Further animosity between the two nations was caused by the possibility of a Prussian prince inheriting the throne of Spain; France was afeared of a Spanish-Prussian alliance which would surround them and accordingly pressured the Hohenzollern candidate to withdraw. The final straw was when Bismarck released a telegram from the king - the Ems Dispatch - to the public, which made it seem as though he - the king - and the French diplomat, Benedetti, had treated each other envoy in an unacceptable manner; however, this was, again, Bismarck at work - he had altered the message - but not the meaning - of the telegram before its public release in order to further French and German anger. And it worked; not a week later, on the 19th of July 1870, France declared war on Prussia and her allies. The timing was excellent for Bismarck. His army was prepared and efficient, capable of delivering 380,000 troops within days of the war starting, in stark contrast to the confusions, delays, and inadequacies of the French army's organisation. The domination of the Prussian side would continue throughout the war, leading to roughly seven times as many French casualties as German, and the French surrender within eight months of the start of the war, on January 26th, 1871, though a formal peace was only declared on the 10th of May that year, with the Treaty of Frankfurt.
  10. It was during this time that the German Empire was established. On January 18th, the German princes and senior military leaders met in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles, and declared Wilhelm as German Emperor (though Wilhelm wanted to be 'Emperor of Germany', Bismarck realised that this would be unacceptable to the southern states); the battle for German leadership between Austria and Prussia was over. With the victory over France, Prussian hegemony over the German states to such a degree that it being made official was the obvious choice. The states of Germany were officially joined in the German Empire or 'Deutsches Reich' with the Treaty of Versailles of 1871, which was signed on the 26th of February.
  11. As shown, Bismarck was integral to the unification of Germany; it was him who caused the wars that led to Prussia being seen as the better choice as leader of the German states, driving himself almost to breakdown point several times during the process. His abilities to control individuals as well as the general populace, and to capitalise upon the actions of others for his own ends, were fundamentally important in causing the wars of unification. The magnitude of his success is only furthered by the fact that several others had tried to do what he did before, all meeting with failure. (Of course, having said this, the significance of Bismarck in this area relies upon the significance of the unification of the German nation. I trust that this goes unspoken.) However, Bismarck did not form Germany alone. Others, such as Roon, Moltke, and everyone who played into his hands cannot be ignored; without them, would unification have been so forthcoming?
  12. However, his significance in foreign policy extends beyond organising the formation of the Deutsches Reich. Following the Reich's formation, Bismarck wanted to show his nation to be peaceful and conservative, despite their recent, inaugural actions. To this end, in 1873, Bismarck negotiated an alliance between Tsar Alexander II of Russia, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary and Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, called the League of the Three Emperors. This alliance aimed to mimic the Holy Alliance of 1815, promising that each nation would send aid in the form of 200,000 soldiers if one of the others were attacked. However, "Rather than anything else, it was a declaration of common interest; there was no firm alliance. In Bismarck's mind it was above all an instrument against France" , to limit its power and dissuade any thoughts of revenge, as well as a way to help maintain the status quo. Though the League dissolved in 1878 over disputes between Austria-Hungary and Russia, this dissolution gave way to the Dual Alliance between Austria-Hungary and Germany; this alliance, surprising in its formation, continued the intention of the League, in that it dissuaded war in Europe and showed the two nations had at least an understanding. Following this, in 1882, Italy (having lost its potential colony of Tunisia to France) joined Austria-Hungary and Germany in forming the Triple Alliance, which would last until, and it could be said help cause, the First World War. These further Bismarck's significance, as they show him using other nations to strengthen and secure Germany, as well as him using his 'balance of power' philosophy to maintain peace in Europe.
  13. We now come to Bismarck' social policies. First among these is his Kulturkampf, or 'culture struggle', beginning 1871, against Catholicism in the Reich. Bismarck perceived the Catholic faith as having too much power in Germany, and so sought introduced various anti-Catholic laws, both to reduce Catholic influence and as an attempt to win over the Protestant populace (some 61% of the total). However, not only did it energise Catholics into becoming a political force in the Centre Party, it was used by others to attack all religion, which was against what Bismarck - a devout Protestant - had intended; accordingly, and with the election of a new, more negotiating Pope, Bismarck abandoned the Kulturkampf in 1878 and ended up with most of its laws being negotiated away. The lasting significance of this is that it brought about the mobilisation of Catholic voters - the Centre Party doubled its popular vote in 1874, becoming the second-largest party in parliament, a force and clout it would maintain for the next 60 years, until the rise of Nazism . As such, even though the effects of his policy were unintentional, Bismarck's significance is still furthered by them.
  14. Another notable action of Bismarck's is his legislating of three bills which laid the foundations of the German welfare state, the first of its kind; these bills were the Health Insurance bill of 1883, the Accident Insurance Bill of 1884, and the Old Age and Disability Insurance Bill of 1889. These were introduced as a compromise after his implementation of Antisocialist Laws which aimed to curtail the German Social Democratic Party and socialism in general; Bismarck viewed socialism as anarchical and revolutionary, "the depths of Bismarck's hatred of Socialism is rarely stressed as it should be. There was a strain of insanity running through it ." The welfare bills, as well as aiming to reduce the influence of socialism by helping those who would benefit most from it - indeed, socialists opposed these reforms as they felt it would reduce their support, helped in binding the working classes to the government and winning the support of German industry. These further Bismarck's significance in that they are the basis for the modern European welfare state. They inspired the reforms of the United Kingdom, as well as helping German citizens, and, as such, are of extreme importance; this notability extends Bismarck's own.
  15. Of course, Bismarck's reign ended in 1890, following the deaths of Wilhelm I and Frederick III, the second far more distressing to Bismarck than the first; Wilhelm was 91, and accordingly Bismarck had, for some time, been 'preparing' the heir apparent; however, Bismarck "knew that his obsessional striving to nullify the new emperor in advance had been unnecessary and vain. Frederick had cancer of the throat."; this led to Wilhelm II's ascension to the throne in 1888, a man Bismarck was not suited to using. Within two years, the two had clashed and Bismarck was ousted. So, aside from the aforementioned, what did he leave?
  16. For one thing, he had isolated Germany from Europe. Through his machinations and manipulations, "[h]e made Germany the most distrusted power in Europe" , and on the home front, he made the populace paranoid and worried for their future; "[i]t was all too easy for this new, uncertain, insecure nation to believe what its great leader told them: namely, that the new Reich was surrounded by jealous neighbours pressing in on her, who at any time might combine to destroy her" . Together, these caused a feeling of animosity between Germany and the majority of Europe, which could easily be seen as one of the causes of the First World War.
  17. His monarchist views could be said to be the same; owing to this view, he allowed no effective method of controlling the power of the Emperor. This placed a lot of power into Wilhelm II's aspiring hands, meaning the entire character of German diplomacy changed with Bismarck's resignation and Wilhelm's ideology of expansionism.
  18. Another effect of his works which might have led to WWI was the reaction his very success, both in his wars and in his unification of Germany. A desire to emulate his victories could be seen as motivation for Wilhelm II to be inclined towards war and conquest. Both this and the above show Bismarck's significance; despite his anti-war inclination, he could be said to have ended up playing a part in causing one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history.
  19. To conclude, it is hard to overestimate Bismarck's significance to 19th century politics. Though not all his notability is from his successes or even his intentions, the majority is from his successful unification of Germany, which has been described as "the greatest diplomatic and political achievement by any leader in the last two centuries." . Though in his later years he began to fade from such heights, the policies of this period are still of import, as is the legacy of his actions.
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  35. Bibliography:
  36. Crankshaw, E. (1981). Bismarck. London: Macmillan London Limited.
  37. Pflanze, O. (1863). Bismarck and the Development of Germany The Period of Unification. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  38. Gall, L. (1986). Bismarck: The White Revolutionary. Translated from the German by J. A. Underwood. London: Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd.
  39. Darmstaedter, F. (1948). Bismarck and the Creation of the Second Reich. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. London
  40. Steinberg, J. (2011). Bismarck: A Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  41. Bismarck, O. v. (2007). Bismarck: The Man And the Statesman. Translated from the German by A. J. Butler. New York: Cosimo Classics of New York
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