How long was otto von bismarck chancellor

And how did he unify Germany? Through a series of wars, he unified 39 individual states into one German nation in His policies as chancellor were aimed at holding the newly-formed state together in the face of religious, political and social divisions — all while trying to maintain the fragile peace in Europe. When Bismarck was born in April , Napoleon was about to be defeated for good by a coalition that included a collective German force with many enthusiastic volunteers.

His father Karl was a junker Prussian aristocrat with staunchly conservative views. By contrast, his mother Wilhelmine was the daughter of a cabinet secretary and was keenly intelligent and witty. Their son Otto would be a combination of the two: an arch-conservative junker with the Machiavellian mind of a politician. But in his life changed forever. By chance, he was asked to step in for a member of the Prussian parliament who had fallen ill.

His father was a fifth-generation Junker a Prussian landowning noble , and his mother came from a family of successful academics and government ministers. Throughout his life Bismarck would emphasize his rural Junker roots, underplaying his considerable intellect and cosmopolitan outlook. In he married and was sent to Berlin as a delegate to the new Prussian parliament, where he emerged as a reactionary voice against the liberal, anti-autocratic Revolutions of From to Bismarck served a series of ambassadorships—at the German Confederation in Frankfurt, in St.

Though technically deferring to William, in reality Bismarck was in charge, manipulating the king with his intellect and the occasional tantrum while using royal decrees to circumvent the power of elected officials. In Bismarck began the series of wars that would establish Prussian power in Europe.

He attacked Denmark to gain the German-speaking territories of Schleswig-Holstein and two years later provoked Emperor Franz-Josef I into starting the Austro-Prussian War , which ended in a swift defeat for the aging Austrian empire. At the time, Bismarck wisely declined to levy a war indemnity against the Austrians. Bismarck was less circumspect in his conduct of the Franco-Prussian War The French declared war, but the Prussians and their German allies won handily.

Prussia levied an indemnity, annexed the French border provinces of Alsace and Lorraine and crowned William emperor of a unified Germany the Second Reich in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles—a tremendous insult to the French. He then escalated a quarrel with Austria and its German allies over the administration of these provinces into a war, in which Prussia was the victor. Prussia then annexed further territory in Germany. Unable to persuade the southern German states to join with his North German Confederation, he provoked hostilities with France as a way of uniting the German states together.

The German victory in the Franco-Prussian War won over the southern German states, and in they agreed to join a German empire. Wilhelm I of Prussia became emperor. As 'chancellor' of the new Germany, Bismarck concentrated on building a powerful state with a unified national identity. One of his targets was the Catholic Church, which he believed had too much influence, particularly in southern Germany. He also worked to prevent the spread of socialism, partly by introducing health insurance and pensions.

The minister of war in was Albrecht von Roon, who knew that Bismarck was the only person in the regime clever enough to have solved this problem. Otto von Bismarck unified a divided Germany into a distinct nation and helped to establish a strong national identity among Germans.

Otto von Bismarck was a brilliant strategist in multiple wars between Germany and France, Austria, and Denmark. This quality, along with his leadership in Prussia , helped him bring together German states that had become independent. Otto von Bismarck did engage in Realpolitik to start wars and manipulate political conditions, which ultimately helped him succeed in unification.

William was the new emperor of Germany and clashed with Otto von Bismarck as chancellor over personal as well as political points. Peter in Bremen, Germany, March Q: What makes Otto von Bismarck a famous historical figure? Q: How did Otto von Bismarck unify Germany?