Otto Von Bismarck
Until the end of the C18th, Germany was a collection of nearly 400 separate states, mostly under
Austrian control. During the 25 years of war between the French Revolution (1789) and the Battle
of Waterloo (1815) Napoleon Bonaparte consolidated these states into 39 units, with Austria as
the dominant Germanic state. However, Prussia was on the verge of issuing a challenge to Austrian
hegemony.
Frederick the Great of Prussia used his rule (1740 – 1786) to increase Prussia’s size and
importance by creating a large army. He had strong support from the Prussian Junker (the ruling
class).
Frederick’s grandson, Wilhelm I, continued the tradition of maintaining the nation’s military
strength. However, the Diet (Parliament) was concerned about military expenditure and rejected
Wilhelm’s budget. Wilhelm responded by appointing Bismarck as Minister-President. A diplomat
and member of the Junker, Bismarck solved Wilhelm’s problem by collecting the taxes needed to
pay for his military build up without the Diet’s permission. On top of that, prominent Liberals were
terrorised, the press was muzzled and opposition was portrayed as unpatriotic.
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Known as the architect of the German Empire and a member of the Junker.
A Conservative who was devoted to the Prussian Monarchy and State.
His combination of far-seeing diplomacy and steely resolve earned him the nickname
the “Iron Chancellor”.
A bluff character whose personal excesses in eating, drinking and enjoying himself
often made him appear an insensitive and heavy handed aristocrat, though this was
incorrect.
His political practice was built upon a foundation of knowing his own strengths and his
opponents’ weaknesses.
He possessed extraordinary sensitivity to the alignments and ambitions of other
nations, and these abilities allowed him to predict likely reactions and outcomes with
remarkable accuracy.
His diplomacy was such that he created the German Reich and kept it from falling foul
of those who wished it harm.
The most eloquent testament to his diplomatic genius lies in the thought that, in the
eight years between his dismissal by the Kaiser and his death, the very conditions that
would create the war that would bring Germany to her knees were the result of his
successors.
In a very famous quote, Bismarck believed that “the great questions of the day will be settled, not
by speeches and resolutions of the majority, but by blood and iron”. He was proved right in this
assertion and Prussia assumed control of Germany. In this new German Empire, the Imperial
Chancellor was directly under, and responsible only to, the Kaiser. Provision was made in the
Imperial Government for a popularly elected House of Representatives known as the Reichstag,
but although this body had powers both to legislate and to control finance, it functioned in
actuality as a rubber stamp for Bismarck. After all, Bismarck’s record was one of wholesale
success, and it seemed appropriate from him to have total control over foreign and domestic
policy.
In 1870, Bismarck found himself at odds with the Papacy over what he saw as Catholic attempts to
interfere in the internal politics of Prussia. As there could be only one master in the land,
Bismarck launched what historians have come to call “Kulturkampf” or “Clash Of Cultures”. This
featured a series of anti-Catholic measures in the May Laws of 1872 – 1876 which included:
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State control of the ordination, education and activities of priests;
The expulsion from Prussian territories of the international agents of the Papacy known
as the Jesuits;
The removal of the priesthood from education;
A complete readiness to support any and all of these measures by mass imprisonment
where necessary.
The results were mixed, and included the formation of a new political party, the Centre Party, for
the express purpose of fighting the state in Parliament. Realising that winning this fight would
alienate a substantial part of Catholic Germany, in 1889 Bismarck negotiated a reconciliation with
the Pope which saw the Catholic Church regain much of its former privilege in return for political
against the new enemy: German Socialism.
Germany’s rapid industrial expansion in the wake of Unification had seen much social unrest as the
nation’s workforce experienced precisely the same problems that Great Britain had faced a
century earlier. Unrestrained Capitalism was not a pretty sight either in Britain or Germany, but it
was necessary for the growth of Germany as a world power. The German writers Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels had clearly pointed out the importance of the proletariat in works such as the
“Communist Manifesto” and “Capital”. With the experience of British workers to draw upon, they
called for a new and extreme form of Socialism, Communism, to govern relations between the
state and the proletariat. Neither was acceptable to Bismarck, however, he accepted the need to
placate a sector of the population which a state with international ambitions could not do without.
As initial attempts to suppress Socialism by his usual club-wielding tactics resulted only in
increasing the vote for Socialist parties, Bismarck introduced “State Socialism” in an attempt to
weaken electoral support for them. This consisted of workplace legislation, insurance against ill
health and old age pensions – all measures designed to keep the workforce happy and convinced
that the state was genuinely concerned with its welfare rather than measures which offered any
prospect of power sharing. In the event, the bribe was unsuccessful and the Socialist vote
continued to rise until, on the eve of WWI, they became the strongest party in the Reichstag.
Otto Von Bismarck was the principal architect of the German state which:
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Valued the end above the means;
Preached the necessity for submission to higher authority;
Taught its citizens to believe in their special destiny;
Saw war as the continuation of diplomacy by other means;
Demonstrated the German ability to overcome adversity through planning and
preparation;
Proved the value of order and stability.
These characteristics were to appear again in the Germany of 1933 – 1945. It is therefore
difficult to avoid the conclusion that Germans held these ideas, and Bismarck, in high regard.