Otto von Bismarck family. Otto von Bismarck - iron chancellor with a human face

The message "Otto von Bismarck" summarized in this article will tell you about the statesman of Germany, the first chancellor of the German Empire.

"Otto von Bismarck" report

Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen was born into the family of a landowner on April 1, 1815 in Prussia. At the age of 6, the mother sent the boy to the Plaman school in Berlin, where children from aristocratic families studied.

At 17, he entered the University of Gottingham. Through his character and love for disputes, the young man participated in duels 25 times. Constantly winning, Bismarck won the respect and authority of his classmates. In his student years, he did not even think about political activity. At first, the future chancellor worked as an official in the Berlin Court of Appeal, but he quickly got tired of the endless writing of protocols, and he transferred to an administrative position.

Having fallen in love with Isabella Lorraine-Smith, the daughter of a parish priest, Bismarck becomes engaged to her and stops going to work, returning to the family estate. There he leads a wild, cheerful life, for which the local population nicknamed him "wild Bismarck."

The revolutionary wave of 1848-1849 in Germany marked the beginning of his dizzying career as a politician. As early as 1847, he held his first public speech as a reserve member of the United Landtag. He developed a forceful method of solving political issues. Bismarck was sure that Germany, divided by Austria and Prussia, could only be united with "iron and blood." He also adhered to a conservative policy in politics, being in opposition to the liberals. Thanks to his assistance, political organizations and newspapers were created, the most influential of which was the New Prussian Newspaper. Otto von Bismarck as a politician was one of the founders of the Conservative Party.

In 1849 and 1850 he was appointed to the lower houses of Prussia and Erfurt respectively. For eight years (1851 - 1859) he was the representative of Prussia in the Sejm in Frankfurt am Main.

In the period 1857-1861 he was appointed Prussian ambassador to Russia. While in a foreign country, he learned Russian. Also here, the 47-year-old politician met 22-year-old Princess Katerina Orlova-Trubetskaya, with whom he had an affair. And he was not even too lazy to tell his wife about it in letters.

He went home in 1862 and at the same time was elected to the post of prime minister. From that moment on, the politician decided to firmly go towards his goal - the unification of Germany. In 1864, Bismarck, with the support of Austria, leads the war against Denmark. He managed to capture Holstein and Silesia. After Otto von Bismarck made a knight's move, speaking out against Austria in the Seven Weeks' War and winning a great victory in 1866. Austria was forced to recognize the right of Prussia to create a North German Confederation with 21 states in its composition. The final unification of Germany was completed in 1871 when the Prussian army defeated the French forces. On January 18, 1871, King Wilhelm I was proclaimed German Emperor, and Bismarck was proclaimed Chancellor. He became known as the "Iron Chancellor Otto von Bismarck".

For 19 years, the figure ruled the country with iron and blood. During this time, he annexed a large number of overseas territories to Germany. Thanks to his imperious and strong-willed character, the politician managed to achieve the rise of Germany. That is why Otto von Bismarck was called the Iron Chancellor.

After the death of Wilhelm I, the post of emperor was taken by Wilhelm II, who, fearing the popularity of Bismarck, issued a decree on his resignation. What did Otto von Bismarck do? He himself submitted his resignation on March 20, 1890. The former chancellor took up writing Thoughts and Memoirs. In 1894 his wife died and Bismarck's health began to fail. He died July 30, 1898.

• Every morning the Chancellor began with prayer and exercise.
• While in Russia, he liked to hunt bears in the forests. Once, during another hunt, Bismarck got lost in the forest and severely frostbitten his legs. Doctors predicted amputation for him, but, fortunately, nothing happened.
• In memory of the affair with Ekaterina Orlova-Trubetskaya, he kept an olive branch in a box all his life.
• He wore a ring with the word "nothing" engraved on it.
• Otto von Bismarck was a descendant of the Ruriks. His distant relatives were Anna Yaroslavovna.

We hope that the message about Otto von Bismarck helped you prepare for the lesson. And you can leave your message about Bismarck through the comment form below.

Otto von Bismarck short biography the first chancellor of the German Empire is set out in this article. Bismarck implemented a plan for the unification of Germany along the Little German path.

Otto von Bismarck biography briefly

Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen was born into the family of a landowner on April 1, 1815 in Prussia. At the age of 6, the mother sent the boy to the Plaman school in Berlin, where children from aristocratic families studied.

At 17, he entered the University of Gottingham. Through his character and love for disputes, the young man participated in duels 25 times. Constantly winning, Bismarck won the respect and authority of his classmates. In his student years, he did not even think about political activity. At first, the future chancellor worked as an official in the Berlin Court of Appeal, but he quickly got tired of the endless writing of protocols, and he transferred to an administrative position.

Having fallen in love with Isabella Lorraine-Smith, the daughter of a parish priest, Bismarck becomes engaged to her and stops going to work, returning to the family estate. There he leads a wild, cheerful life, for which the local population nicknamed him "wild Bismarck."

The revolutionary wave of 1848-1849 in Germany marked the beginning of his dizzying career as a politician. As early as 1847, he held his first public speech as a reserve member of the United Landtag. He developed a forceful method of solving political issues. Bismarck was sure that Germany, divided by Austria and Prussia, could only be united with "iron and blood." He also adhered to a conservative policy in politics, being in opposition to the liberals. Thanks to his assistance, political organizations and newspapers were created, the most influential of which was the New Prussian Newspaper. Otto von Bismarck as a politician was one of the founders of the Conservative Party.

In 1849 and 1850 he was appointed to the lower houses of Prussia and Erfurt respectively. For eight years (1851 - 1859) he was the representative of Prussia in the Sejm in Frankfurt am Main.

In the period 1857-1861 he was appointed Prussian ambassador to Russia. While in a foreign country, he learned Russian. Also here, the 47-year-old politician met 22-year-old Princess Katerina Orlova-Trubetskaya, with whom he had an affair. And he was not even too lazy to tell his wife about it in letters.

He went home in 1862 and at the same time was elected to the post of prime minister. From that moment on, the politician decided to firmly go towards his goal - the unification of Germany. In 1864, Bismarck, with the support of Austria, leads the war against Denmark. He managed to capture Holstein and Silesia. After Otto von Bismarck made a knight's move, speaking out against Austria in the Seven Weeks' War and winning a great victory in 1866. Austria was forced to recognize the right of Prussia to create a North German Confederation with 21 states in its composition. The final unification of Germany was completed in 1871 when the Prussian army defeated the French forces. On January 18, 1871, King Wilhelm I was proclaimed German Emperor, and Bismarck was proclaimed Chancellor. He became known as the "Iron Chancellor Otto von Bismarck".

For 19 years, the figure ruled the country with iron and blood. During this time, he annexed a large number of overseas territories to Germany. Thanks to his imperious and strong-willed character, the politician managed to achieve the rise of Germany. That is why Otto von Bismarck was called the Iron Chancellor.

After the death of Wilhelm I, the post of emperor was taken by Wilhelm II, who, fearing the popularity of Bismarck, issued a decree on his resignation. What did Otto von Bismarck do? He himself submitted his resignation on March 20, 1890. The former chancellor took up writing Thoughts and Memoirs. In 1894 his wife died and Bismarck's health began to fail. He died July 30, 1898.

At the age of 17, Bismarck entered the University of Göttingen, where he studied law. When he was a student, he gained a reputation as a reveler and a fighter, and excelled in duels. In 1835 he received a diploma and was soon enlisted to work at the Berlin Municipal Court. In 1837 he took the post of tax official in Aachen, a year later - the same position in Potsdam. There he joined the Guards Jaeger Regiment. In the autumn of 1838, Bismarck moved to Greifswald, where, in addition to performing his military duties, he studied animal breeding methods at the Elden Academy. His father's financial loss, together with an innate distaste for the way of life of a Prussian official, forced him in 1839 to leave the service and take over the management of the family estates in Pomerania. Bismarck continued his education, taking up the works of Hegel, Kant, Spinoza, D. Strauss and Feuerbach. In addition, he traveled throughout England and France. Later he joined the Pietists.

After the death of his father in 1845, the family property was divided and Bismarck received the estates of Schönhausen and Kniephof in Pomerania. In 1847 he married Johanna von Puttkamer. Among his new friends in Pomerania were Ernst Leopold von Gerlach and his brother, who not only were at the head of the Pomeranian pietists, but were also part of a group of court advisers. Bismarck, a pupil of the Gerlachs, became known for his conservative stance during the constitutional struggle in Prussia in 1848-1850. Opposing liberals, Bismarck promoted the creation of various political organizations and newspapers, including the "New Prussian newspaper" ("Neue Preussische Zeitung"). He was a member of the lower house of the Prussian parliament in 1849 and of the Erfurt parliament in 1850, when he spoke out against a federation of German states (with or without Austria), because he believed that this union would strengthen the revolutionary movement that was gaining strength. In his Olmutz speech, Bismarck defended King Frederick William IV, who capitulated to Austria and Russia. The satisfied monarch wrote of Bismarck: “An ardent reactionary. Use later."

In May 1851, the king appointed Bismarck the representative of Prussia in the allied diet in Frankfurt am Main. There, Bismarck almost immediately concluded that Prussia's goal could not be a German confederation under Austrian dominance, and that war with Austria was inevitable if Prussia were to dominate a united Germany. As Bismarck improved in the study of diplomacy and the art of government, he increasingly moved away from the views of the king and his camarilla. For his part, the king began to lose confidence in Bismarck. In 1859, the king's brother Wilhelm, who was then regent, relieved Bismarck of his duties and sent him as an envoy to St. Petersburg. There, Bismarck became close to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince A. M. Gorchakov, who assisted Bismarck in his efforts to diplomatically isolate first Austria and then France.

Minister-President of Prussia.

In 1862 Bismarck was sent as an envoy to France at the court of Napoleon III. He was soon recalled by King William I to resolve the contradictions on the issue of military appropriations, which was vigorously discussed in the lower house of parliament. In September of the same year, he became the head of government, and a little later - the minister-president and minister of foreign affairs of Prussia. A militant conservative, Bismarck announced to the liberal middle-class majority in parliament that the government would continue to collect taxes in accordance with the old budget, because parliament, due to internal contradictions, would not be able to pass the new budget. (This policy continued from 1863-1866, which enabled Bismarck to carry out military reform.) At a parliamentary committee meeting on September 29, Bismarck emphasized: “The great questions of the time will not be decided by speeches and resolutions of the majority - this was a blunder of 1848 and 1949 - but by iron and blood." Since the upper and lower houses of parliament were unable to develop a unified strategy on the issue of national defense, the government, according to Bismarck, should have taken the initiative and forced parliament to agree to its decisions. By limiting the activities of the press, Bismarck took serious measures to suppress the opposition.

For their part, the liberals sharply criticized Bismarck for offering to support the Russian Emperor Alexander II in suppressing the Polish uprising of 1863–1864 (the Alvensleben convention of 1863). Over the next decade, Bismarck's policy led to three wars, the result of which was the unification of the German states in the North German Confederation in 1867: the war with Denmark (the Danish war of 1864), Austria (the Austro-Prussian war of 1866) and France (the Franco-Prussian war of 1870). –1871). On April 9, 1866, the day after Bismarck signed a secret agreement on a military alliance with Italy in the event of an attack on Austria, he submitted to the Bundestag his draft of a German parliament and universal secret suffrage for the country's male population. After the decisive Battle of Kötiggrätz (Sadova), Bismarck managed to get the annexationist claims of Wilhelm I and the Prussian generals to be abandoned and offered an honorable peace to Austria (Prague Peace of 1866). In Berlin, Bismarck introduced a bill to Parliament exempting him from liability for unconstitutional acts, which was approved by the Liberals. In the next three years, Bismarck's secret diplomacy was directed against France. The publication in the press of the Ems Dispatch of 1870 (as edited by Bismarck) caused such indignation in France that on July 19, 1870, war was declared, which Bismarck actually won by diplomatic means even before it began.

Chancellor of the German Empire.

In 1871, at Versailles, Wilhelm I inscribed on an envelope an address to the "Chancellor of the German Empire", thus confirming Bismarck's right to rule the empire that he created and which was proclaimed on January 18 in the mirror hall of Versailles. The "Iron Chancellor", representing the interests of the minority and absolute power, ruled this empire in 1871-1890, relying on the consent of the Reichstag, where from 1866 to 1878 he was supported by the National Liberal Party. Bismarck reformed German law, administration and finance. The education reforms he carried out in 1873 led to a conflict with the Roman Catholic Church, but the main cause of the conflict was the growing distrust of German Catholics (who accounted for about a third of the country's population) in Protestant Prussia. When these contradictions emerged in the activities of the Catholic Center party in the Reichstag in the early 1870s, Bismarck was forced to take action. The struggle against the dominance of the Catholic Church was called "Kulturkampf" (Kulturkampf, struggle for culture). During it, many bishops and priests were arrested, hundreds of dioceses were left without leaders. Now church appointments had to be coordinated with the state; clerics could not be in the service of the state apparatus.

In the field of foreign policy, Bismarck made every effort to consolidate the gains of the Peace of Frankfurt in 1871, promoted the diplomatic isolation of the French Republic, and strove to prevent the formation of any coalition that threatened German hegemony. He chose not to participate in the discussion of claims to the weakened Ottoman Empire. When at the Berlin Congress of 1878, under the chairmanship of Bismarck, the next phase of the discussion of the "Eastern Question" ended, he played the role of "honest broker" in the dispute between the rival parties. The secret treaty with Russia in 1887 - the "treaty of reinsurance" - showed Bismarck's ability to act behind the backs of his allies, Austria and Italy, to maintain the status quo in the Balkans and the Middle East.

Until 1884, Bismarck did not give clear definitions of the course of colonial policy, mainly because of friendly relations with England. Other reasons were the desire to preserve Germany's capital and keep government spending to a minimum. Bismarck's first expansionist plans provoked vigorous protests from all parties - Catholics, statesmen, socialists and even representatives of his own class - the Junkers. Despite this, under Bismarck, Germany began to turn into a colonial empire.

In 1879, Bismarck broke with the liberals and subsequently relied on a coalition of large landowners, industrialists, top military and government officials. He gradually moved from the Kulturkampf policy to the persecution of socialists. The constructive side of his negative prohibitive position was the introduction of a system of state insurance for sickness (1883), in case of injury (1884) and old-age pensions (1889). However, these measures failed to isolate the German workers from the Social Democratic Party, although they diverted them from the revolutionary methods of solving social problems. At the same time, Bismarck opposed any legislation regulating the working conditions of workers.

Conflict with Wilhelm II.

With the accession to the throne of Wilhelm II in 1888, Bismarck lost control of the government. Under Wilhelm I and Frederick III, who ruled for less than six months, Bismarck's position could not be shaken by any of the opposition groups. The self-confident and ambitious Kaiser refused to play a secondary role, and his strained relationship with the Reich Chancellor became increasingly strained. The most serious differences manifested themselves in the issue of amending the Exceptional Law against the Socialists (in force in 1878-1890) and in the issue of the right of ministers subordinate to the chancellor to a personal audience with the emperor. Wilhelm II hinted to Bismarck about the desirability of his resignation and received a letter of resignation from Bismarck on March 18, 1890. The resignation was accepted two days later, Bismarck received the title of Duke of Lauenburg, he was also awarded the rank of Colonel General of the cavalry.

Bismarck's removal to Friedrichsruhe was not the end of his interest in political life. He was especially eloquent in his criticism of the newly appointed Chancellor and Minister-President Count Leo von Caprivi. In 1891, Bismarck was elected to the Reichstag from Hanover, but never took his seat there, and two years later refused to run for re-election. In 1894, the emperor and the already aging Bismarck met again in Berlin - at the suggestion of Clovis Hohenlohe, Prince of Schillingfurst, Caprivi's successor. In 1895, all of Germany celebrated the 80th anniversary of the Iron Chancellor. Bismarck died in Friedrichsruhe on July 30, 1898.

Bismarck's literary monument is his Thoughts and memories (Gedanken and Erinnerungen), a Big politics of European cabinets (Die grosse Politik der europaischen Kabinette, 1871-1914, 1924-1928) in 47 volumes serves as a monument to his diplomatic skills.

Monuments to Bismarck stand in all major cities of Germany, hundreds of streets and squares are named after him. They called him the Iron Chancellor, they called him Reichsmaher, but if you translate this into Russian, it will turn out very fascist - "Creator of the Reich." Sounds better - "Creator of the empire", or "Creator of the nation." After all, everything German that is in the Germans is from Bismarck. Even Bismarck's promiscuity in terms of means influenced the moral criteria of Germany.

Bismarck is 21 years old.1836

They never lie so much as during the war, after the hunt and before the elections.

“Bismarck is happiness for Germany, although he is not a benefactor of mankind,” wrote the historian Brandes. “For the Germans, he is the same as for the short-sighted - a pair of excellent, unusually strong glasses: happiness for the patient, but great misfortune that he needs them” .
Otto von Bismarck was born in 1815, the year of Napoleon's final defeat. The future winner of three wars grew up in a family of landowners. His father left military service at the age of 23, which angered the king so much that he took away his rank of captain and uniform. In the Berlin gymnasium, he encountered the hatred of the educated burghers for the nobles. "With my antics and insults, I want to open myself access to the most sophisticated corporations, but all this is child's play. I have time, I want to lead my local comrades, and in the future - people in general." And Otto chooses the profession not of a military man, but of a diplomat. But the career doesn't work out. "I will never be able to bear the bosses" - the boredom of the life of an official makes the young Bismarck commit extravagant acts. Bismarck's biographies describe the story of how the young future German chancellor got into debt, decided to win back at the gambling table, but lost terribly. In desperation, he even thought about suicide, but in the end he confessed everything to his father, who helped him. However, the failed secular dandy had to return home, to the Prussian outback, and take up business in the family estate. Although he turned out to be a talented manager, through reasonable savings, he managed to increase the income of his parental estate and soon paid off all creditors in full. There was no trace of his former extravagance: he never borrowed money again, did everything to be financially completely independent, and by old age was the largest private landowner in Germany.

Even a victorious war is an evil that must be prevented by the wisdom of the nations

“I am initially disgusted, by their very nature, with commercial transactions and a bureaucratic position, and I do not at all consider it an unconditional success for myself to become even a minister,” Bismarck writes at the time. “It seems to me more respectable, and in some circumstances more useful, to cultivate rye rather than writing administrative orders. My ambition is not to obey, but rather to order."
"It's time to fight," Bismarck decided at the age of thirty-two, when he, a middle-class landowner, was elected to the Prussian Landtag. "Never lie so much as during the war, after the hunt and the elections," he would say later. The debate in the Landtag captures him: "It is amazing how much impudence - compared to their abilities - the orators express in their speeches and with what shameless complacency they dare to impose their empty phrases on such a large assembly." Bismarck so smashes his political opponents that when he was recommended to the ministers, the king, deciding that Bismarck was too bloodthirsty, drew a resolution: "Good only when the bayonet reigns supreme." But soon Bismarck was in demand. Parliament, taking advantage of the old age and inertia of their king, demanded a reduction in military spending. And the "bloodthirsty" Bismarck was needed, who could put the presumptuous parliamentarians in their place: the Prussian king must dictate his will to the parliament, and not vice versa. In 1862, Bismarck became the head of the Prussian government, nine years later, the first chancellor of the German Empire. For thirty years, with "iron and blood," he created a state that was to play a central role in the history of the 20th century.

Bismarck in his office

It was Bismarck who drew up the map of modern Germany. Since the Middle Ages, the German nation has been split. At the beginning of the 19th century, the inhabitants of Munich considered themselves primarily Bavarians, subjects of the Wittelsbach dynasty, the Berliners identified themselves with Prussia and the Hohenzollerns, the Germans from Cologne and Munster lived in the Westphalian kingdom. Only the language united them all, even the faith was different: Catholics prevailed in the south and southwest, the north was traditionally Protestant.

The French invasion, the shame of a swift and complete military defeat, the enslaving Peace of Tilsit, and then, after 1815, life under dictation from St. Petersburg and Vienna provoked a powerful response. The Germans are tired of humiliating themselves, begging, selling mercenaries and tutors, dancing to someone else's tune. National unity has become a universal dream. Everyone spoke about the need for reunification - from the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm and church hierarchs to the poet Heine and the political emigrant Marx. The most likely collector of German lands was Prussia - aggressive, rapidly developing and, unlike Austria, nationally homogeneous.

Bismarck became chancellor in 1862 and immediately announced that he intended to create a unified German Reich: "The great questions of the era are not decided by majority opinion and liberal chatter in parliament, but by iron and blood." First of all Reich, then Deutschland. National unity from above, through total submission. In 1864, having entered into an alliance with the Austrian emperor, Bismarck attacked Denmark and, as a result of a brilliant blitzkrieg, annexed two provinces populated by ethnic Germans near Copenhagen - Schleswig and Holstein. Two years later, the Prussian-Austrian conflict began for hegemony over the German principalities. Bismarck defined Prussian strategy: no (yet) conflicts with France and a quick victory over Austria. But at the same time, Bismarck did not want a humiliating defeat for Austria. Bearing in mind the imminent war with Napoleon III, he was afraid to have a defeated, but potentially dangerous enemy at his side. Bismarck's main doctrine was avoiding war on two fronts. Germany has forgotten its history in 1914 and 1939

Bismarck and Napoleon III

On June 3, 1866, in the battle near the city of Sadova (Czech Republic), the Prussians utterly defeated the Austrian army thanks to the army of the crown prince who arrived in time. After the battle, one of the Prussian generals said to Bismarck:
“Your Excellency, you are now a great man. However, if the crown prince had been a little longer late, you would have been a great villain.
- Yes, - Bismarck agreed, - it has passed, but it could have been worse.
In the rapture of victory, Prussia wants to pursue the already harmless Austrian army, to go further - to Vienna, to Hungary. Bismarck is making every effort to stop the war. At the Council of War, he mockingly, in the presence of the king, invites the generals to pursue the Austrian army beyond the Danube. And when the army finds itself on the right bank and loses contact with those who are behind, "the most reasonable decision would be to go to Constantinople and found a new Byzantine Empire, and leave Prussia to its fate." The generals and the king convinced by them dream of a parade in defeated Vienna, but Bismarck does not need Vienna. Bismarck threatens his resignation, convinces the king with political arguments, even military hygiene (the cholera epidemic was gaining momentum in the army), but the king wants to enjoy the victory.
- The main culprit can go unpunished! - exclaims the king.
- Our business is not to judge, but to engage in German politics. Austria's struggle with us is no more worthy of punishment than our struggle with Austria. Our task is to establish German national unity under the leadership of the King of Prussia.

Bismarck's speech with the words "Since the state machine cannot stand, legal conflicts easily turn into questions of power; whoever has power in his hands acts according to his own understanding" provoked a protest. Liberals accused him of pursuing a policy under the slogan "Power over law." "I did not proclaim this slogan," Bismarck grinned. "I simply stated the fact."
The author of the book "The German Demon Bismarck" Johannes Wilms describes the Iron Chancellor as a very ambitious and cynical person: There really was something bewitching, seductive, demonic in him. Well, the "myth of Bismarck" began to be created after his death, in part because the politicians who came to replace him were much weaker. Admiring followers came up with a patriot who thought only of Germany, a super-sharp politician."
Emil Ludwig believed that "Bismarck always loved power more than freedom; and in this he too was a German."
"Beware of this man, he says what he thinks," Disraeli warned.
And in fact, the politician and diplomat Otto von Bismarck did not hide his vision: "Politics is the art of adapting to circumstances and benefiting from everything, even from what is disgusting." And having learned about the saying on the coat of arms of one of the officers: "Never repent, never forgive!", Bismarck said that he had been applying this principle in life for a long time.
He believed that with the help of diplomatic dialectics and human wisdom, anyone can be fooled. Bismarck spoke conservatively to conservatives, liberally to liberals. Bismarck told a Stuttgart democrat politician how he, a spoiled sissy, marched in the army with a gun and slept on straw. He was never a sissy, and he slept on straw only when hunting, and he always hated combat exercises.

The main people in the unification of Germany. Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (left), Prussian Minister of War A. Roon (center), Chief of the General Staff G. Moltke (right)

Hayek wrote: "When the Prussian Parliament was engaged in one of the fiercest battles over legislation in German history with Bismarck, Bismarck beat the law with the help of an army that defeated Austria and France. If then it was only suspected that his policy was completely duplicitous, now it cannot Reading the intercepted report of one of the foreign ambassadors he duped, in which the latter reported on the official assurances he had just received from Bismarck himself, and this man was able to write in the margin: "He really believed it!" - this master bribery, which for decades to come corrupted the German press with the help of secret funds, deserves everything that was said about him. It is now practically forgotten that Bismarck almost surpassed the Nazis when he threatened to shoot innocent hostages in Bohemia. Forgotten is the wild incident with the democratic Frankfurt, when, threatening with bombardment, siege and robbery, he forced the payment of a grand indemnity to the German th city that never raised arms. And only recently has the story of how he provoked a conflict with France been fully understood - just to make South Germany forget its disgust with the Prussian military dictatorship.
Bismarck answered all his future critics in advance: "Whoever calls me an unscrupulous politician, let him first test his own conscience on this springboard." But indeed, Bismarck provoked the French as best he could. With cunning diplomatic moves, he completely confused Napoleon III, angered the French Foreign Minister Gramont, calling him a fool (Gramont promised revenge). The “showdown” over the Spanish inheritance came at the right time: Bismarck, secretly not only from France, but also practically behind the back of King Wilhelm, offers Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern to Madrid. Paris is furious, French newspapers are hysterical about the "German election of the Spanish king, which took France by surprise." Gramont begins to threaten: “We do not think that respect for the rights of a neighboring state obliges us to allow a foreign power to put one of its princes on the throne of Charles V and thus, to our detriment, upset the current balance in Europe and endanger the interests and the honor of France. If it were so, we would be able to fulfill our duty without delay and without flinching! Bismarck chuckles: "This is like a war!"
But he did not triumph for long: a message comes that the applicant refused. 73-year-old King Wilhelm did not want to quarrel with the French, and the jubilant Gramont demands a written statement from Wilhelm about the abdication of the prince. During dinner, Bismarck receives this ciphered dispatch, confused and indistinct, he is furious. Then he casts another glance at the dispatch, asks General Moltke about the combat readiness of the army and, in the presence of guests, quickly shortens the text: “After the imperial government of France received official notice from the royal government of Spain about the refusal of Prince Hohenzollern, the French ambassador also presented His Majesty the King in Ems demand that he authorize him to telegraph to Paris that His Majesty the King undertakes for all time never to give consent if the Hohenzollerns renewed their candidacy.His Majesty then decided not to receive the French ambassador a second time and notified him through the adjutant on duty that His Majesty nothing more to tell the ambassador." Bismarck did not enter anything, did not distort anything in the original text, he only crossed out what was unnecessary. Moltke, hearing the new text of the dispatch, noted with admiration that before it sounded like a signal to retreat, and now - like a fanfare for battle. Such editing Liebknecht called "a crime, the equal of which history has not seen."

"He spent the French absolutely wonderfully," writes Bismarck's contemporary Bennigsen. "Diplomacy is one of the most deceitful occupations, but when it is conducted in German interests and in such a magnificent way, with cunning and energy, as Bismarck does, she cannot be denied a share of admiration" .
A week later, on July 19, 1870, France declared war. Bismarck got his way: both the Francophile Bavarian and the Prussian-Prussian Württemberger united in defense of their old peace-loving king against the French aggressor. In six weeks, the Germans occupied all of northern France, and in the battle of Sedan, the emperor, along with a hundred thousandth army, was captured by the Prussians. In 1807, the Napoleonic grenadiers paraded in Berlin, and in 1870 the junkers marched for the first time along the Champs Elysees. On January 18, 1871, the Second Reich was proclaimed in the Palace of Versailles (the first was the empire of Charlemagne), which included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, seven principalities and three free cities. Raising up the bare checkers, the winners proclaimed Wilhelm of Prussia the Kaiser, Bismarck stood next to the emperor. Now "Germany from the Meuse to Memel" existed not only in the poetic lines "Deutschland uber alles".
Wilhelm loved Prussia too much and wanted to remain its king. But Bismarck fulfilled his dream - almost by force, he forced Wilhelm to become emperor.

Bismarck introduced favorable internal tariffs and skillfully regulated taxes. German engineers became the best in Europe, German craftsmen worked all over the world. The French grumbled that Bismarck wanted to make a "solid gesheft" out of Europe. The British pumped out their colonies, the Germans worked to secure them. Bismarck was looking for foreign markets, industry developed at such a pace that it was crowded in Germany alone. By the beginning of the 20th century, Germany had overtaken France, Russia and the United States in terms of economic growth. Only England was ahead.

From his subordinates, Bismarck demanded clarity: in oral reports - brevity, in written - simplicity. Pathos and superlatives are prohibited. Bismarck came up with two rules for his advisers: "The simpler the word, the stronger it is", and: "There is no case so confusing that its core cannot be husked out in a few words."
The Chancellor said that it would be better to have no Germany than a Germany governed by Parliament. He hated the liberals with all his heart: "These talkers cannot govern .., I have to resist them, they have too little intelligence and too much contentment, they are stupid and impudent. The expression" stupid "is too general and therefore inaccurate: among these people there are and smart, for the most part they are educated, they have a real German education, but they understand politics as little as we understood when we were students, even less, they are just children in foreign policy. He despised the socialists a little less: in them he found something of the Prussians, at least some desire for order and system. But from the podium, he shouts at them: "If you make tempting promises to people, with mockery and mockery, declare everything that has been sacred to them so far to be a lie, and faith in God, faith in our kingdom, attachment to the fatherland, to the family , to property, to the transfer of what was acquired by inheritance - if you take all this away from them, it will not be at all difficult to bring a person with a low level of education to the point that in the end, shaking his fist, he will say: damn hope, damn faith and above all, damn patience! And if we have to live under the yoke of bandits, then all life will lose its meaning! And Bismarck expels the socialists from Berlin, closes their circles and newspapers.

He transferred the military system of total subjugation to civilian soil. The vertical Kaiser - Chancellor - Ministers - officials seemed to him ideal for the state structure of Germany. Parliament became, in fact, a clownish deliberative body; little depended on the deputies. Everything was decided in Potsdam. Any opposition was ground to powder. "Freedom is a luxury that not everyone can afford," said the Iron Chancellor. In 1878, Bismarck introduced an "exceptional" legal act against the socialists, putting the adherents of Lassalle, Bebel and Marx virtually outlawed. He calmed the Poles with a wave of repressions, in cruelty they were not inferior to the royal ones. The Bavarian separatists were defeated. With the Catholic Church, Bismarck led the Kulturkampf - the struggle for free marriage, the Jesuits were expelled from the country. Only secular power can exist in Germany. Any rise of one of the confessions threatens with a national split.
Great continental power.

Bismarck never rushed beyond the European continent. He said to one foreigner: "How I like your map of Africa! But look at mine - This is France, this is Russia, this is England, this is us. Our map of Africa lies in Europe." On another occasion, he declared that if Germany were chasing colonies, it would become like a Polish nobleman who boasts of a sable coat without having a nightgown. Bismarck skillfully maneuvered in the European diplomatic theater. "Never fight on two fronts!" he warned the German military and politicians. Calls, as you know, were not heard.
“Even the most favorable outcome of the war will never lead to the decomposition of the main force of Russia, which is based on millions of Russians themselves ... These latter, even if they are dissected by international treatises, just as quickly reconnect with each other, like particles of a cut piece of mercury. This is an indestructible state Russian nation, strong with its climate, its spaces and limited needs," Bismarck wrote about Russia, which the chancellor always liked with its despotism, became an ally of the Reich. Friendship with the tsar, however, did not prevent Bismarck from intriguing against the Russians in the Balkans.

Decreasing by leaps and bounds, Austria has become a faithful and eternal ally, rather even a servant. England anxiously watched the new superpower, preparing for a world war. France could only dream of revenge. Germany, created by Bismarck, stood like an iron horse in the middle of Europe. They said about him that he made Germany big and the Germans small. He really didn't like people.
Emperor Wilhelm died in 1888. The new Kaiser grew up an ardent admirer of the Iron Chancellor, but the now boastful Wilhelm II considered Bismarck's policies too old-fashioned. Why stand aside when others are dividing the world? In addition, the young emperor was jealous of someone else's glory. Wilhelm considered himself a great geopolitician and statesman. In 1890, the aged Otto von Bismarck received his resignation. The Kaiser wanted to rule himself. It took twenty-eight years to lose everything.

Bismarck's childhood and youth
Bismarck - landowner
Bismarck's entry into politics

Bismarck's childhood and youth.

Otto von Bismarck (Eduard Leopold von Schönhausen) was born on April 1, 1815 in the family estate of Schönhausen in Brandenburg northwest of Berlin, the third son of the Prussian landowner Ferdinand von Bismarck-Schönhausen and Wilhelmina Mencken, at birth he received the name Otto Eduard Leopold.
Schönhausen Manor was located in the heart of the province of Brandenburg, which occupied a special place in the history of early Germany. Five miles to the west of the estate was the Elbe River, the main waterway of Northern Germany. Schönhausen Manor has been in the hands of the Bismarck family since 1562.
All generations of this family served the rulers of Brandenburg in peace and military fields.

The Bismarcks were considered Junkers, descendants of the conquering knights who founded the first German settlements in the vast lands east of the Elbe with a small Slavic population. Junkers belonged to the nobility, but in terms of wealth, influence and social status, they could not be compared with the aristocrats of Western Europe and the Habsburg possessions. The Bismarcks, of course, did not belong to the ranks of the land magnates; they were also pleased with the fact that they could boast of a noble origin - their genealogy can be traced back to the reign of Charlemagne.

Otto von Bismarck in his youth

Wilhelmina, Otto's mother, came from a family of civil servants and belonged to the middle class. Such marriages increased in the nineteenth century as the educated middle classes and the old aristocracy began to coalesce into a new elite.
At the urging of Wilhelmina, Bernhard, the older brother, and Otto were sent to study at the Plamann School in Berlin, where Otto studied from 1822 to 1827. At the age of 12, Otto left school and moved to the Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium, where he studied for three years. In 1830, Otto moved to the gymnasium "At the Gray Monastery", where he felt freer than in previous educational institutions. Neither mathematics, nor the history of the ancient world, nor the achievements of the new German culture attracted the attention of the young cadet. Most of all, Otto was interested in the politics of past years, the history of military and peaceful rivalry between different countries.
After graduating from high school, on May 10, 1832, at the age of 17, Otto entered the University of Göttingen, where he studied law. When he was a student, he gained a reputation as a reveler and a fighter, and excelled in duels. Otto played cards for money and drank a lot. In September 1833, Otto moved to the New Capital University in Berlin, where life turned out to be cheaper. To be more precise, Bismarck was only listed at the university, since he hardly attended lectures, but used the services of tutors who attended him before exams. In 1835 he received a diploma and was soon enlisted to work at the Berlin Municipal Court. In 1837, Otto took up the post of tax official in Aachen, a year later - the same post in Potsdam. There he joined the Guards Jaeger Regiment. In the autumn of 1838, Bismarck moved to Greifswald, where, in addition to performing his military duties, he studied animal breeding methods at the Elden Academy.

Bismarck is a landowner.

On January 1, 1839, Otto von Bismarck's mother, Wilhelmina, died. The death of his mother did not make a strong impression on Otto: only much later came to him a true assessment of her qualities. However, this event resolved for some time an urgent problem - what should he do after the end of his military service. Otto helped his brother Bernhard manage the Pomeranian estates, and their father returned to Schönhausen. His father's financial loss, together with an innate distaste for the lifestyle of a Prussian official, forced Bismarck to resign in September 1839 and take over the management of the family estates in Pomerania. In private conversations, Otto explained this by the fact that, due to his temperament, he was not suitable for the position of a subordinate. He did not tolerate any superiors over himself: "My pride requires me to command, and not to fulfill other people's orders." Otto von Bismarck, like his father, decided to "live and die in the countryside".
Otto von Bismarck himself studied accounting, chemistry, and agriculture. His brother, Bernhard, took almost no part in the management of the estates. Bismarck proved to be a quick-witted and practical landowner, gaining the respect of his neighbors both with his theoretical knowledge of agriculture and with his practical successes. The value of the estates rose by more than a third in the nine years Otto ruled them, with three of the nine years having experienced a widespread agricultural crisis. And yet Otto could not be just a landowner.

Johanna von Puttkamer - wife of Otto von Bismarck

He shocked his junker neighbors by driving around their meadows and forests on his huge stallion Caleb, not caring who these lands belonged to. In the same way, he acted in relation to the daughters of neighboring peasants. Later, in a fit of remorse, Bismarck admitted that in those years he "did not shy away from any sin, making friends with bad company of any kind." Sometimes during the evening Otto lost at cards everything that he managed to save after months of painstaking management. Much of what he did was pointless. So, Bismarck used to notify friends of his arrival by shooting at the ceiling, and one day he appeared in a neighbor's living room and brought a frightened fox on a leash, like a dog, and then released her to loud hunting cries. For violent temper, the neighbors nicknamed him "mad Bismarck."
On the estate, Bismarck continued his education, taking up the works of Hegel, Kant, Spinoza, David Friedrich Strauss and Feuerbach. Otto was an excellent student of English literature, for Bismarck was more interested in England and her affairs than in any other country. Intellectually, the "mad Bismarck" was far superior to his neighbors - the junkers.

In mid-1841, Otto von Bismarck wanted to marry Ottoline von Puttkamer, the daughter of a wealthy Junker. However, her mother refused him, and in order to unwind Otto went traveling, visiting England and France. This vacation helped Bismarck to dispel the boredom of rural life in Pomerania. Bismarck became more sociable and made many friends.

Bismarck's entry into politics.

After his father's death in 1845, the family property was divided and Bismarck received the Schönhausen and Kniephof estates in Pomerania. In 1847 he married Johanna von Puttkamer, a distant relative of the girl he courted in 1841. Among his new friends in Pomerania were Ernst Leopold von Gerlach and his brother, who not only were at the head of the Pomeranian pietists, but were also part of a group of court advisers.

Friedrich Wilhelm IV (1795-1861), Prussian king from 1840, from the Hohenzollern dynasty

Bismarck, a student of Gerlach, became known for his conservative stance during the constitutional struggle in Prussia in 1848-1850. From a "mad junker" Bismarck turned into a "mad deputy" of the Berlin Landtag. Opposing liberals, Bismarck contributed to the creation of various political organizations and newspapers, including the "New Prussian newspaper" ("Neue Preussische Zeitung"). He was a member of the lower house of the Prussian parliament in 1849 and of the Erfurt parliament in 1850, when he opposed a federation of German states (with or without Austria), because he believed that this union would strengthen the revolutionary movement that was gaining strength. In his Olmutz speech, Bismarck spoke in defense of King Frederick William IV, who capitulated to Austria and Russia. The contented monarch wrote of Bismarck: "An ardent reactionary. To be used later."
In May 1851, the King appointed Bismarck as Prussian representative to the Allied Diet in Frankfurt am Main. There, Bismarck almost immediately concluded that Prussia's goal could not be a German confederation under Austrian dominance, and that war with Austria was inevitable if Prussia were to dominate a united Germany. As Bismarck improved in the study of diplomacy and the art of government, he increasingly moved away from the views of the king and his camarilla. For his part, the king began to lose confidence in Bismarck. In 1859, the king's brother Wilhelm, who was then regent, relieved Bismarck of his duties and sent him as an envoy to St. Petersburg. There, Bismarck became close to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince A.M. Gorchakov, who assisted Bismarck in his efforts to diplomatically isolate first Austria and then France.

Otto von Bismarck - Minister-President of Prussia. His diplomacy.

In 1862, Bismarck was sent as an envoy to France at the court of Napoleon III. He was soon recalled by King William I to resolve the contradictions on the issue of military appropriations, which was vigorously discussed in the lower house of parliament.

Wilhelm I of Hohenzollern (1797-1888), King of Prussia from 1861 and German Emperor from 1871

In September of the same year, he became the head of the government, and a little later - the minister-president and minister of foreign affairs of Prussia.
A militant conservative, Bismarck announced to the liberal middle-class majority in parliament that the government would continue to collect taxes in accordance with the old budget, because parliament, due to internal contradictions, would not be able to pass the new budget. (This policy continued in 1863-1866, which enabled Bismarck to carry out military reform.) At a meeting of the parliamentary committee on September 29, Bismarck emphasized: "The great questions of the time will not be decided by speeches and majority resolutions - this was a blunder of 1848 and 1949 - but iron and blood." Since the upper and lower houses of parliament were unable to develop a unified strategy on the issue of national defense, the government, according to Bismarck, should take the initiative and force parliament to agree with its decisions. By limiting the activities of the press, Bismarck took serious measures to suppress the opposition.
For their part, the liberals sharply criticized Bismarck for offering to support the Russian Emperor Alexander II in suppressing the Polish uprising of 1863-1864 (the Alvensleben convention of 1863). Over the next decade, Bismarck's policies led to three wars: the war with Denmark in 1864, after which Schleswig, Holstein (Holstein) and Lauenburg were annexed to Prussia; Austria in 1866; and France (the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871).
On April 9, 1866, the day after Bismarck signed a secret agreement on a military alliance with Italy in the event of an attack on Austria, he submitted to the Bundestag his draft of a German parliament and universal secret suffrage for the country's male population.

After the decisive Battle of Kötiggrätz (Sadova), in which the German troops defeated the Austrian ones, Bismarck managed to get the annexationist claims of Wilhelm I and the Prussian generals, who wanted to enter Vienna and demanded large territorial acquisitions, to be abandoned, and offered an honorable peace to Austria (Prague Peace of 1866) . Bismarck did not allow Wilhelm I to "bring Austria to its knees" by occupying Vienna. The future chancellor insisted on relatively easy peace terms for Austria in order to ensure her neutrality in the future conflict between Prussia and France, which year by year became inevitable. Austria was expelled from the German Confederation, Venice joined Italy, Hanover, Nassau, Hesse-Kasel, Frankfurt, Schleswig and Holstein went to Prussia.
One of the most important consequences of the Austro-Prussian war was the formation of the North German Confederation, which, along with Prussia, included about 30 more states. All of them, according to the constitution adopted in 1867, formed a single territory with laws and institutions common to all. The foreign and military policy of the union was actually transferred into the hands of the Prussian king, who was declared its president. A customs and military treaty was soon concluded with the South German states. These steps clearly showed that Germany was rapidly moving towards its unification under the leadership of Prussia.

Alexander II the Liberator (1818-81), Russian emperor from 1855

The southern German lands of Bavaria, Wurtenberg, and Baben remained outside the North German Confederation. France did everything possible to prevent Bismarck from including these lands in the North German Confederation. Napoleon 3 did not want to see a united Germany on its eastern borders. Bismarck understood that this problem could not be solved without a war. In the next three years, Bismarck's secret diplomacy was directed against France. In Berlin, Bismarck introduced a bill to Parliament exempting him from liability for unconstitutional acts, which was approved by the Liberals. French and Prussian interests kept clashing on various issues. In France at that time militant anti-German sentiments were strong. Bismarck played on them.
The appearance of the "Ems dispatch" was caused by the scandalous events around the nomination of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern (nephew of Wilhelm I) to the Spanish throne, vacated after the revolution in Spain in 1868. Bismarck correctly calculated that France would never agree to such an option, and in the event of Leopold's accession in Spain, he would begin to rattle weapons and make belligerent statements against the North German Confederation, which would sooner or later end in war. Therefore, he vigorously promoted the candidacy of Leopold, assuring, however, Europe that the German government was completely uninvolved in the claims of the Hohenzollerns to the Spanish throne. In his circulars, and later in his memoirs, Bismarck denied his participation in this intrigue in every possible way, arguing that the nomination of Prince Leopold to the Spanish throne was a "family" affair of the Hohenzollerns. In fact, Bismarck and Minister of War Roon and Chief of Staff Moltke, who came to his aid, spent a lot of effort to convince the reluctant Wilhelm I to support Leopold's candidacy.

Moltke (Senior) Helmut Karl (1800-91), Count (1870), German Field Marshal General (1871) and military theorist. Since 1858 the chief of the Prussian, in 1871-88 the German General Staff, in fact the commander in chief in the wars with Denmark, Austria and France

As Bismarck had hoped, Leopold's bid for the Spanish throne caused an uproar in Paris. On July 6, 1870, the French Foreign Minister, the Duke de Gramont, exclaimed: "This will not happen, we are sure of it ... Otherwise, we would be able to fulfill our duty without showing any weakness or hesitation." After this statement, Prince Leopold, without any consultation with the king and Bismarck, announced that he was renouncing his claims to the Spanish throne.
This step was not included in Bismarck's plans. Leopold's refusal destroyed his hopes that France herself would unleash a war against the North German Confederation. This was fundamentally important for Bismarck, who sought to secure the neutrality of the leading European states in a future war, which he later succeeded largely due to the fact that France was the attacking side. It is difficult to judge how sincere Bismarck was in his memoirs when he wrote that upon receiving the news of Leopold's refusal to take the Spanish throne, "my first thought was to resign" (Bismarck repeatedly submitted his resignations to Wilhelm I, using them as one from the means of pressure on the king, who without his chancellor meant nothing in politics), however, another of his memoirs dating back to the same time looks quite authentic: “I already at that time considered the war a necessity, from which we could not evade with honor ".

While Bismarck was thinking about what other ways France could be provoked into declaring war, the French themselves gave a wonderful reason for this. On July 13, 1870, the French ambassador Benedetti appeared to Winhelm, who was resting on the waters of the Ems, in the morning and conveyed to him a rather brazen request from his minister Gramont to assure France that he (the king) would never give his consent if Prince Leopold again put forward his candidacy for the Spanish throne. The king, outraged by such a trick that was really daring for the diplomatic etiquette of those times, answered with a sharp refusal and interrupted Benedetti's audience. A few minutes later, he received a letter from his ambassador in Paris, which stated that Gramont insisted that Wilhelm, in his own handwritten letter, assured Napoleon III that he had no intention of harming the interests and dignity of France. This news completely pissed off William I. When Benedetti asked for a new audience for a conversation on this topic, he refused to receive him and conveyed through his adjutant that he had said his last word.
Bismarck learned about these events from a dispatch sent that afternoon from Ems by adviser Abeken. The dispatch was delivered to Bismarck at lunchtime. Roon and Moltke dined with him. Bismarck read the dispatch to them. The dispatch made the most difficult impression on the two old soldiers. Bismarck recalled that Roon and Moltke were so upset that they "neglected food and drink." Having finished reading, after some time Bismarck asked Moltke about the state of the army and about its readiness for war. Moltke replied in the spirit that "an immediate outbreak of war is more advantageous than a delay." After that, Bismarck edited the telegram right there at the dinner table and read it to the generals. Here is its text: “After the news of the abdication of the Crown Prince of Hohenzollern was officially communicated to the French imperial government by the Spanish royal government, the French ambassador presented his royal majesty in Ems with an additional demand: to authorize him to telegraph to Paris that his majesty the king undertakes for all future times never give his consent if the Hohenzollerns return to their candidacy. His Majesty the King refused to receive the French ambassador again and ordered the adjutant on duty to tell him that his majesty had nothing more to tell the ambassador. "

Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon Bonaparte) (1808-73), French emperor from 1852-1870

Even Bismarck's contemporaries suspected him of falsifying the Ems dispatch. The German Social Democrats Liebknecht and Bebel were the first to speak about this. Liebknecht in 1891 even published the pamphlet "The Ems Despatch, or How Wars Are Made". Bismarck, in his memoirs, wrote that he only crossed out "something" from the dispatch, but did not add "not a word" to it. What did Bismarck strike out of the Ems dispatch? First of all, something that could point to the true inspirer of the king's telegram appearing in print. Bismarck crossed out the wish of Wilhelm I to submit "to the discretion of your Excellency, i.e. Bismarck, the question of whether our representatives and the press should be informed of Benedetti's new demand and the king's refusal." To reinforce the impression of the French envoy's disrespect for William I, Bismarck did not include in the new text the mention that the king had responded to the ambassador "rather sharply." The rest of the reductions were not significant. The new edition of the Ems dispatch brought Roon and Moltke, who dined with Bismarck, out of depression. The latter exclaimed: "That sounds different; before it sounded like a signal to retreat, now it's a fanfare." Bismarck began to develop his future plans for them: “We must fight if we do not want to take on the role of the defeated without a fight. But success depends largely on the impressions that the origin of the war will cause in us and others; it is important that we are those who who was attacked, and Gallic arrogance and resentment will help us in this ... "
Further events unfolded in the most desirable direction for Bismarck. The publication of the "Ems dispatch" in many German newspapers caused an uproar in France. Foreign Minister Gramont shouted indignantly in parliament that Prussia had slapped France in the face. On July 15, 1870, the head of the French cabinet, Emile Olivier, demanded a loan of 50 million francs from Parliament and announced the government's decision to call up reservists into the army "in response to the call to war." The future President of France, Adolphe Thiers, who in 1871 would make peace with Prussia and drown the Paris Commune in blood, was still a member of parliament in July 1870, and was perhaps the only sensible politician in France in those days. He tried to convince the deputies to refuse credit to Olivier and to call up reservists, arguing that since Prince Leopold had renounced the Spanish crown, French diplomacy had achieved its goal and one should not quarrel with Prussia over words and bring matters to a break on a purely formal occasion. Olivier replied to this that he was "with a light heart" ready to bear the responsibility that henceforth fell on him. In the end, the deputies approved all the proposals of the government, and on July 19, France declared war on the North German Confederation.
Bismarck meanwhile communicated with the deputies of the Reichstag. It was important for him to carefully hide from the public his painstaking behind-the-scenes work to provoke France into declaring war. With his usual hypocrisy and resourcefulness, Bismarck convinced the deputies that in the whole story with Prince Leopold, the government and he personally did not participate. He shamelessly lied when he told the deputies that he learned about Prince Leopold's desire to take the Spanish throne not from the king, but from some "private person", that the North German ambassador left Paris himself "for personal reasons", but was not recalled by the government (in fact, Bismarck ordered the ambassador to leave France, being annoyed by his "softness" towards the French). Bismarck diluted this lie with a dose of truth. He did not lie when he said that the decision to publish the dispatch about the negotiations in Ems between William I and Benedetti was made by the government at the request of the king himself.
William I himself did not expect that the publication of the Ems Dispatch would lead to such a quick war with France. After reading Bismarck's edited text in the papers, he exclaimed: "This is war!" The king was afraid of this war. Bismarck later wrote in his memoirs that Wilhelm I should not have negotiated with Benedetti at all, but he "left his person as a monarch to shameless processing by this foreign agent" largely due to the fact that he succumbed to the pressure of his wife Queen Augusta with "her justified in a feminine way by timidity and the national feeling that she lacked. Thus, Bismarck used Wilhelm I as a front for his behind-the-scenes intrigues against France.

When the Prussian generals began to win victory after victory over the French, not a single major European power stood up for France. This was the result of the preliminary diplomatic activity of Bismarck, who managed to achieve the neutrality of Russia and England. He promised Russia neutrality in the event of its withdrawal from the humiliating Treaty of Paris, which forbade it to have its own fleet in the Black Sea, the British were outraged by the draft treaty of annexation by France of Belgium published at the direction of Bismarck . But the most important thing was that it was France that attacked the North German Confederation, despite the repeated peace-loving intentions and small concessions that Bismarck made towards her (withdrawal of Prussian troops from Luxembourg in 1867, statements of readiness to abandon Bavaria and create from it a neutral country, etc.). In editing the Ems dispatch, Bismarck did not impulsively improvise, but was guided by the real achievements of his diplomacy and therefore emerged victorious. And the winners, as you know, are not judged. The authority of Bismarck, even in retirement, was so high in Germany that it never occurred to anyone (except the Social Democrats) to pour tubs of dirt on him when, in 1892, the original text of the Ems dispatch was made public from the Reichstag rostrum.

Frederick III - German emperor and Prussian king after Wilhelm I, reigned 99 days

Otto von Bismarck - Chancellor of the German Empire.

Exactly one month after the start of hostilities, a significant part of the French army was surrounded by German troops near Sedan and capitulated. Napoleon III himself surrendered to William I.
In November 1870, the South German states joined the Unified German Confederation, which had been transformed from the North. In December 1870, the Bavarian king offered to restore the German Empire and the German imperial dignity, destroyed in his time by Napoleon. This proposal was accepted, and the Reichstag turned to Wilhelm I with a request to accept the imperial crown. In 1871, at Versailles, Wilhelm I inscribed on an envelope an address to the "Chancellor of the German Empire", thus confirming Bismarck's right to rule the empire that he created, and which was proclaimed on January 18 in the hall of mirrors of Versailles. On March 2, 1871, the Treaty of Paris was concluded - difficult and humiliating for France. The border regions of Alsace and Lorraine were ceded to Germany. France had to pay 5 billion indemnities. Wilhelm I returned to Berlin as a triumph, although all the merit belonged to the Chancellor.
The "Iron Chancellor", representing the interests of the minority and absolute power, ruled this empire in 1871-1890, relying on the consent of the Reichstag, where from 1866 to 1878 he was supported by the National Liberal Party. Bismarck reformed German law, administration and finance. The educational reforms he carried out in 1873 led to a conflict with the Roman Catholic Church, but the main reason for the conflict was the growing distrust of German Catholics (who accounted for about a third of the country's population) in Protestant Prussia. When these contradictions surfaced in the activities of the Catholic "Centre" party in the Reichstag in the early 1870s, Bismarck was forced to take action. The struggle against the dominance of the Catholic Church was called "kulturkampf" (Kulturkampf, struggle for culture). During it, many bishops and priests were arrested, hundreds of dioceses were left without leaders. Now church appointments had to be coordinated with the state; church employees could not be in the service of the state apparatus. Schools were separated from the church, civil marriage was introduced, the Jesuits were expelled from Germany.
Bismarck built his foreign policy on the basis of the situation that developed in 1871 after the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian war and the capture of Alsace and Lorraine by Germany, which became a source of constant tension. With the help of a complex system of alliances that ensured the isolation of France, the rapprochement of Germany with Austria-Hungary and the maintenance of good relations with Russia (the alliance of the three emperors - Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia in 1873 and 1881; the Austro-German alliance of 1879; "Triple Alliance "between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy in 1882; the "Mediterranean agreement" in 1887 between Austria-Hungary, Italy and England and the "reinsurance agreement" with Russia in 1887) Bismarck managed to maintain peace in Europe. The German Empire under Chancellor Bismarck became one of the leaders in international politics.
In the field of foreign policy, Bismarck made every effort to consolidate the gains of the Peace of Frankfurt in 1871, contributed to the diplomatic isolation of the French Republic, and sought to prevent the formation of any coalition that threatened German hegemony. He chose not to participate in the discussion of claims to the weakened Ottoman Empire. When at the Berlin Congress of 1878, under the chairmanship of Bismarck, the next phase of the discussion of the "Eastern Question" ended, he played the role of an "honest broker" in the dispute between the rival parties. Although the "Triple Alliance" was directed against Russia and France, Otto von Bismarck believed that a war with Russia would be extremely dangerous for Germany. The secret treaty with Russia in 1887 - the "treaty of reinsurance" - showed Bismarck's ability to act behind the backs of his allies, Austria and Italy, to maintain the status quo in the Balkans and the Middle East.
Until 1884, Bismarck did not give clear definitions of the course of colonial policy, mainly because of friendly relations with England. Other reasons were the desire to preserve Germany's capital and keep government spending to a minimum. Bismarck's first expansionist plans provoked vigorous protests from all parties - Catholics, statesmen, socialists and even representatives of his own class - the Junkers. Despite this, under Bismarck, Germany began to turn into a colonial empire.
In 1879, Bismarck broke with the liberals and henceforth relied on a coalition of large landowners, industrialists, senior military and government officials.

In 1879, Chancellor Bismarck secured the adoption by the Reichstag of a protectionist customs tariff. Liberals were forced out of big politics. The new course of German economic and financial policy corresponded to the interests of large industrialists and large farmers. Their union occupied a dominant position in political life and in public administration. Otto von Bismarck gradually moved from the Kulturkampf policy to the persecution of socialists. In 1878, after an attempt on the life of the emperor, Bismarck passed through the Reichstag an "exceptional law" against the socialists, which prohibited the activities of social democratic organizations. On the basis of this law, many newspapers and societies, often far from socialism, were closed. The constructive side of his negative prohibitive stance was the introduction of a system of state insurance for sickness in 1883, in case of injury in 1884 and an old-age pension in 1889. However, these measures failed to isolate the German workers from the Social Democratic Party, although they diverted them from the revolutionary methods of solving social problems. At the same time, Bismarck opposed any legislation regulating the working conditions of workers.

August Bebel (1840-1913), one of the founders (1869) and leader of the German Social Democratic Party and the 2nd International. Critic of Bismarck's policy

Conflict with Wilhelm II and the resignation of Bismarck.

With the accession of Wilhelm II in 1888, Bismarck lost control of the government.

Under Wilhelm I and Frederick III, who ruled for less than six months, Bismarck's position could not be shaken by any of the opposition groups. The self-confident and ambitious Kaiser refused to play a secondary role, declaring at one of the banquets in 1891: "There is only one master in the country - this is me, and I will not tolerate another"; and his strained relationship with the Reich Chancellor became increasingly strained. Differences manifested themselves most seriously in the question of amending the "Exceptional Law Against Socialists" (in force in 1878-1890) and in the question of the right of ministers subordinate to the chancellor to a personal audience with the emperor. Wilhelm II hinted to Bismarck that his resignation was desirable and received a letter of resignation from Bismarck on March 18, 1890. The resignation was accepted two days later, Bismarck received the title of Duke of Lauenburg, he was also awarded the rank of Colonel General of the cavalry.

Wilhelm II of Hohenzollern (1859-1941), German Emperor and King of Prussia 1888-1918, grandson of Wilhelm I. Deposed by the November Revolution of 1918

Bismarck's removal to Friedrichsruhe was not the end of his interest in political life. He was especially eloquent in his criticism of the newly appointed Chancellor and Minister-President Count Leo von Caprivi. In 1891, Bismarck was elected to the Reichstag for Hanover, but never took his seat there, and two years later refused to run for re-election. In 1894, the emperor and the already aging Bismarck met again in Berlin - at the suggestion of Clovis Hohenlohe, Prince Schillingfürst, Caprivi's successor. In 1895, all of Germany celebrated the 80th anniversary of the Iron Chancellor. In June 1896, Prince Otto von Bismarck participated in the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Bismarck died in Friedrichsruhe on July 30, 1898. The "Iron Chancellor" was buried at his own request in his Friedrichsruhe estate, on the tombstone of his tomb the inscription was embossed: "Devoted servant of the German Kaiser Wilhelm I." In April 1945, the house in Schönhausen, where Otto von Bismarck was born in 1815, was burned down by Soviet troops.
Bismarck's literary monument is his Thoughts and Memoirs (Gedanken und Erinnerungen), and the Great Politics of European Cabinets (Die grosse Politik der europaischen Kabinette, 1871-1914, 1924-1928) in 47 volumes serves as a monument to his diplomatic art.

Retired "Iron Chancellor"

References.

1. Emil Ludwig. Bismarck. - M.: Zakharov-AST, 1999.
2. Alan Palmer. Bismarck. - Smolensk: Rusich, 1998.
3. Encyclopedia "The World Around Us" (cd)