How Did Otto Von Bismarck's Impact On History

There’s a reason Otto Eduard Leopold, or more commonly known as Otto von Bismarck, is nicknamed the Iron Chancellor. His impacts on both national German/Prussian and international history are arguably second to none throughout all of history. The Iron Chancellor’s impact can still be seen and still continue to influence the world today, which truly shows how large his significance on history is. His military and political victories strengthened Germany into a global world power which lasted for almost five decades until the end of the First World War and even after the war, into the turbulent period of the inter-wars.
The first of Bismarck’s impact on history is his contribution to the unification of Germany. His tactics ‘Blood and Iron’ from his famous speech of 1862 and Realpolitik to pursue the needs of the state managed to affect Germany through their diplomatic and military victories. After the disaster of the 1850 Erfurt Union the German people were reluctant to attempt to unite all the states in fear that Austria
With Bismarck, Prussia had managed to change world borders and merged into an Empire which was effectively the strongest military- and arguably industrial- power on the continent and due to its geographic location many other nations in Europe began to view Germany as a possible ally but more possibly a future threat especially after their annihilation of the French and Austrian armies. Bismarck’s contribution to the unification of Germany built up an international hype to a possible invasion from the newly formed German powerhouse. This inevitably caused his to attempts to steer from his former policies of war into a attempting to preserve peace to allow the German Empire to continue living, which is his second greatest impact on