Otto Von Bismarck's Responsibility For World War I

Otto von Bismarck became the Prime Minister of Prussia in 1862 and began his campaign for unifying Germany the same year. He managed to unify his country and become Chancellor of Germany in 1871 after years of war and political turmoil. This unification along with the other actions by Bismarck make him fairly responsible for starting WWI but nowhere near entirely at fault. These other actions include creation of strong nationalism in both Germany and other countries as a consequence, build up of armaments, and the creation of the Dual Alliance and Triple Alliance. Though other people were responsible for abusing his creations to begin WWI. Primarily this falls on Wilhelm II who, used Bismarck’s creations to further his desire of colonialism. Also Germans were not entirely at fault for WW1’s outbreak as many
other countries and leaders are to blame for its start. One example of such is Sir Edward Grey and England who created the Triple Entente as a response to the Triple Alliance.
Otto von Bismarck’s quest for a unified Germany first began with Schleswig and Holstein and a war with the Danes in 1864.
Bismarck began this war after securing the friendship of both the Russians, the French, and that of Austria as to prevent any interference from bigger stronger nations. To gain the trust of these nations made a number of decisive moves. He had the Prussians fight alongside the Russians and quell a Polish rebellion together. He promised the French some territory and told the Austrians it was simply Germans protecting Germans. Together the Prussians and Austrians quickly crushed the Danes and secured the two territories. Next came the war with Austria. Bismarck again set himself up with allies and other diplomatic persuasions to keep any other major power out of the fighting. He formed an alliance with Italy for the price of Venice and got Napoleon III to remain neutral. Bismarck, with the help of the Prussian general Helmuth von Moltke, defeated the Austrians in a matter of weeks and unified most of the rest of the German states. The recruitment of the southern German states was a difficult process. As he could not just go to war with them as that would not create the Germany Bismarck had envisioned.
Bismarck had to come up with a plan, the plan he came up with was war with France. After some carefully executed political moves as well as a blunder by Napoleon III Bismarck had a war on his hands, a defensive war at that. This war had the southern German states align themselves with Prussia, thus creating the German Empire that Bismarck sought. This unification of the German states created an extremely powerful central power. One that even rivaled Britain and was well beyond France. Bogdanor even blame this single event as the initial point of WWI, as from this point on a European war seemed inevitable. However those very Bogdanor as well as those at Extra Credits say that had Bismarck still been alive and in office the war would likely not have happened. They blame Bismarck instead for his inability to see a world without himself. Bismarck set Germany up to have high ambitions with a strong sense of national pride and many allies which it would rely on for support against its enemies.