In the 1800’s Germany was divided into a three thousand kingdoms and city states. These kingdoms all had different culture, religions, and traditions. As well as an attitude that they were the best, the effect lead to the division of Germany as broken nation and Napoleon took advantage of that and attacked. This influenced Germany to reduce its self-down to 39 kingdoms and unite as Napoleon organized them and put his family at throne. In the 1860’s a leader known as Otto Van Bismarck took leadership of Germany with intentions of making it a nation to be recognized. With his time in power he was obviously a militaristic leader with intentions that a strong military leads to a strong nation. Bismarck who had a “blood and iron” policy showed his military ways. This meant iron as in weapons and blood as in killing that as long as the job gets done you just need these two components. This seemed to be effective policy, because Bismarck initiated three wars and defeated and lead the way with this policy, and even the Austro-Prussia war only lasting seven weeks until Germany defeated Austria. As well defeating Denmark in 1866 and France in the France-Prussia war. Bismarck policies and way of leading with an iron fist was best for Germany as they became a strong nation and a force to be reckoned with.…
Otto von Bismarck’s government policies represented a new kind of conservatism where Bismarck valued traditional ways but also advocated for idealistic reforms aligned with socialism. However, he was still criticized by both conservatives and socialists, arguing that Bismarck was too much of a socialist but still not liberal…
How successful was Bismarck in maintaining his political control in Germany in the years 1878 to 1890?…
In the nineteenth century, Germany was struggling to unify after the failure of the Frankfort Assembly of 1848, which was meant to unify Germany. In 1862, William I, formerly known as Frederick William IV, was appointed king of the military state known as Prussia. As a result of disputes from the rising middle class, William I choose to hire Otto von Bismarck as chancellor in order to quiet the unrest. Otto von Bismarck was a realpolitik, someone whose decisions were based on practicality, not morals. The policies of Otto von Bismarck’s government represented the new kind of conservatism because they represented realpolitik through doing what’s best for the country by incorporating the growing idea of socialism into reforms, all while valuing…
The unification of both Germany and Italy brought great change in these countries. This process resulted in these countries to focus on for their independence, economic growth, and a strong nationalism. Also, there is another role of the unification and it is an occurrence of war, separation and controlling politics. War is a natural force which leads to unite some nations as wells as divide others. In the unification process, it is essential to have a confident and courageous leader. Bismarck was a leader in Germany while Cavour was a leader in Italy. Bismarck’s ideas were based on the pure survival. He insisted to work hard in a forceful way thought it might be brutal, to unify the Germany and therefore he was recognized as “Bloddy Iron”. The leadership of Italy was primarily based on the political issues.…
However, Prussia realized Germany’s vulnerability, seeing how its loose union and its central geographical spot in the continent made it vulnerable to attack from strong neighbors like France and Russia. So, Prussia set out to unify Germany to form one large, stronger state. However, this unification could not have been possible without Otto von Bismarck, a Prussian noble who had risen through the ranks to become a major political figure and the driving force behind German unification. The question is begged, however: how did Bismarck do it? How did he rise to power and unite these fragmented pieces into one union? Well, for one, Bismarck had connections. A noble by birth, Bismarck had high social standing, but no governmental or military background that would facilitate a career in politics. Nonetheless, he befriended two military generals by the names of Helmut von Moltke and Albrecht von Roon. Moltke and Roon, both cunning military minds and dedicated ideologues, rose up the Prussian power ladder. In 1859, Roon was appointed minister of war, allowing him a direct link to the king. A strong believer in Bismarck’s potential, Roon lobbied the king to appoint Bismarck to a high post. It was a success, and in September 1862, Bismarck was appointed minister-president. Now that Bismarck had reached high office, it was up to him to use his power wisely. This is where Bismarck’s political cunning comes into play. Soon after receiving his position, Bismarck began winning the king over. Within a short while, Bismarck…
Otto Van Bismarck began his reign when he was appointed as the prime minister of Prussia in 1862 by King William I. At this point in time, Prussia was in a mediocre state of power, considerably inferior in comparison to its other surrounding nations. As Bismarck steps into his role as ruler, he had distinctive and clear goals for the rise of power of Prussia over the unification of Germany. His reign consisted of strategies that were effective in the manipulation of domestic and international politics and political parties (Merriman 663). Most significantly, his ability to satisfy both parties of nationalism and liberalism become a key factor in his successful ruling. Specifically, the unexpected victory of the Austro-Prussian war landed Bismarck…
Analyze the military, political, and social factors that account for the rise of Prussia between 1640 and 1786.…
Certain motivating political and economic factors enabled Germany to gain its unification in the late nineteenth century. Its economic prosperity from the zollverein, technological advances, and political moves in terms of actions allowed it to ultimately acquire a solid unification by 1871.…
Nationalism was a key factor in building nations. Throughout the years Italians were growing impatient and dissatisfied under foreign rule. Count Cavour was responsible for the brains behind the unification of Italy. He believed that releasing the Italians from foreign rule would not only leave the country authoritative and superb but also supply the people with intelligence and knowledge (Doc. 3). Italian Nationalists looked up to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia because of their power over the Italian states. In 1848, the kingdom had adopted a liberal constitution. So to the middle class liberals, unification under Piedmont Sardinia was appealing. Giuseppe Garibaldi, the leader of army of nationalists, captured Sicily. After marching across the Italian mainland their was an agreement to let the Sardinian king rule. Like Italy, Germany achieved national unity around the same time. The Austrian Empire took over the German confederation; however, Prussia was prepared to unify them. Prussia had a mainly German empire. Therefore, nationalism truly unified Prussia. When Bismarck took control, he was a master of realpolitik. Bismarck’s method for uniting Germany was through blood and iron (Doc 5). He believed that the power of Germany should be allocated over all German People. In his eyes, war was the only option to achieving success.…
As governments experienced many revolutions and uprisings in the name of nationalism, some countries’ respective leaders realized that their traditional conservatism would eventually destabilize their authoritative legitimacy. Thus, leaders such as Otto von Bismarck adopted a new kind of conservatism, mixing both liberal, semi-socialistic and conservative policies in order to keep a balance that would ensure some stability in his state. For Otto von Bismarck, his international policies were more conservative; he promoted nationalism, unification, and state sovereignty. His domestic policies, however, were more liberal; he allowed for progressive social reforms and implemented separation of church and state.…
Bismarck understood that war would be unavoidable in order for German unification. At first Bismarck's policies were not widely accepted my neither the parliament nor the people, public opinion began turning for his favor in 1864. In 1864 he used the Prussian army, in coalition with Austria, to extort the states of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark. In 1866 he enthralled a Prusso-Austrian fight over the management of these states which lead into the Seven Weeks' War against Austria. Austria and its allies were quickly defeated, and Bismarck added Schleswig-Holstein, and Hannover into Prussia. The German Confederation was removed and replaced by the North German Confederation, which was made up of the northern and central German states, under Prussian leadership. This new confederation did not include…
Both, Metternich and Bismarck sought to bring unity and stability to their nations, but in different ways. While Metternich was hard at work using his diplomatic skills trying to prevent German unification during the first half of the nineteenth century, Bismarck on the other hand was known as the Iron Chancellor, in the later nineteenth century set on to unite Germany through his many wars.…
Otto Von Bismarck was a man of manipulation, provocation, disdain, and most of all he was a man of change. Otto Von Bismarck was a man of manipulation or the changing of one’s surroundings to better fit their needs and desires. Otto Von Bismarck used his ability to manipulate others so that he could help Germany (Prussia), develop a standing in Europe that would make them the number one power in Europe. Otto Von Bismarck was also a man of provocation or the pushing of others for the intent of angering them to take action for or against something. When Otto Von Bismarck was devising his 3 step plan for Germany, he needed to start a war with France but he needed them to make the first move, to do this, he sent France a very mean letter that was…
Otto von Bismarck was a significant figure who put his stamp on his age, as only few have done before him. He remains one of the most important, influential and powerful political character of modern Germany. After victorious wars with Denmark, France and Austria on January 18th, 1871 a new German Empire, which included the southern Germany states, was built. The King of Prussia became German Emperor. Bismarck was awarded the title of Prince and was appointed as Reichskanzler and his main aim was to unify German states under Prussian role. When added to his Prussian positions (premier, foreign minister, and minister of commerce) the imperial chancellorship gave him almost complete control of foreign and domestic policy. The system was described at the time as a chancellor dictatorship'. Bismarcks iron man image and unique personality was a major factor in German development. He did all that he could to achieve his aims. There were no borders in ways in which he tried to succeed. Did he succeed?…