Otto von bismarck accomplishments

Before launching the war, Bismarck acted to strengthen his army by providing sufficient training for his soldiers to face the enemy in war and equipping his army with the most modern weapons. The Prussian army was the best army in Europe at that time. Bismarck acted wisely and swiftly when waging wars with Denmark, Austria, and France.

He did not wage war with these countries at the same time. When waging war with a country, he first determines by means of wise diplomacy that other countries do not unite against him. Bismarck then formed the North German confederation and removed Austria from German territory. And then inthe Prussian conflict with France occurred when Napoleon expanded his territory to enter the territory of several German states.

The two countries fought a war for one year until finally, Prussia emerged victoriously. After the united north and south, the German Empire was founded in King Wilhelm I became emperor and Bismarck was promoted to the chancellor on March 21, Bismarck immediately set a political line that emphasized strengthening national identity so that the German Empire would not become divided.

Apart from stemming Catholic and liberal currents, Bismarck's domestic policies helped prevent the spread of socialism. Bismarck hated socialists and anarchists when he succeeded in establishing a government of the Paris Commune in when France suffered the defeat of Prussia. He called this left group the state rat and deserved to be destroyed.

Although only two representatives of the socialist voice sat in the Reichstag parliament inBismarck's desire to beat up the left remained strong. As proof, he proposed a law banning leftist-style parties in parliament in early and insisted on fighting for it to get a majority vote from otto von bismarck accomplishments but failed. Bismarck only succeeded in freezing the socialists who belonged to the Social Democratic Party in He used a propaganda campaign to blame socialists for the attempted assassination of Emperor Wilhelm I.

Bismarck did his job very well, one of which was by proposing a strong military program to maintain peace in the new empire. He also managed to maintain Britain as a neutral force for the European region and received support from the country he had defeated, Austria. In fact, Bismarck was diplomatically successful in preventing France from taking revenge for its previous defeat.

These various achievements succeeded in making Otto von Bismarck a "judge" for the European region. He also exerted great influence on problems in his country. When he dealt with socialists, he dealt with it a lot in a very repressive way. However, after their number increased in parliament, he created a program of social reform to weaken the work program of the socialists.

The reform includes such laws on child labor, regulations on working hours, and making guarantees for the elderly. Various economic policies also resulted in large growth for the industry in Germany and its colonies abroad. With support from the anticlerical National Liberal Partywhich had become Bismarck's chief ally in the Reichstaghe abolished the Catholic Department of the Prussian Ministry of Culture.

That left the Catholics without a voice in high circles. Moreover, inthe Jesuits were expelled from Germany. Inmore anti-Catholic laws allowed the Prussian government to supervise the education of the Roman Catholic clergy and curtailed the disciplinary powers of the Church. Incivil ceremonies were required for civil weddings.

Otto von bismarck accomplishments: Through a series of wars,

Hitherto, weddings in churches were civilly recognised. Kulturkampf became part of Bismarck's foreign policy, as he sought to destabilise and weaken Catholic regimes, especially in Belgium and France, but he had little success. The British ambassador Odo Russell reported to London in October that Bismarck's plans were backfiring by strengthening the ultramontane pro-papal position inside German Catholicism: "The German Bishops, who were politically powerless in Germany and theologically in opposition to the Pope in Rome, have now become powerful political leaders in Germany and enthusiastic defenders of the now infallible Faith of Rome, united, disciplined, and thirsting for martyrdom, thanks to Bismarck's uncalled for antiliberal declaration of War on the freedom they had hitherto peacefully enjoyed.

The Catholics reacted by organising themselves and strengthening the Centre Party. Bismarck, a devout pietistic Protestant, was alarmed that secularists and socialists were using the Kulturkampf to attack all religions. He abandoned it in to preserve his remaining political capital since he now needed the Centre Party votes in his new battle against socialism.

The Pope kept control of the selection of bishops, and Catholics for the most part supported unification and most of Bismarck's policies. However, they never forgot his culture war and preached solidarity to present organised resistance should it ever be resumed. Steinberg comments:. The anti-Catholic hysteria in many European countries belongs in its European setting.

Bismarck's campaign was not unique in itself, but his violent temper, intolerance of opposition, and paranoia that secret forces had conspired to undermine his life's work, made it more relentless. His rage drove him to exaggerate the threat from Catholic activities and to respond with very extreme measures. The bully, the dictator, and the "demonic" combined in him with the self-pity and the hypochondria to create a constant crisis of authority, which he exploited for his own ends.

Opponents, friends, and subordinates all remarked on Bismarck as "demonic", a kind of uncanny, diabolic personal power over men and affairs. In these years of his greatest power, he believed that he could do anything. A downturn hit the German economy for the first time since industrial development began to surge in the s. To aid faltering industries, the Chancellor abandoned free trade and established protectionist import-tariffswhich alienated the National Liberals who demanded free otto von bismarck accomplishments.

The Kulturkampf and its effects had also stirred up public opinion against the party that supported it, and Bismarck used this opportunity to distance himself from the National Liberals. That marked a rapid decline in the support of the National Liberals, and by their close ties with Bismarck had all but ended. Bismarck instead returned to conservative factions, including the Centre Party, for support.

He helped foster support from the conservatives by enacting several tariffs protecting German agriculture and industry from foreign competitors in Imperial and provincial government bureaucracies attempted to Germanise the state's national minorities situated near the borders of the empire: the Danes in the North, the Francophones in the West and Poles in the East.

As minister president of Prussia and as otto von bismarck accomplishments chancellor, Bismarck "sorted people into their linguistic [and religious] 'tribes'"; he pursued a policy of hostility in particular toward the Poles, which was an expedient rooted in Prussian history. Bismarck viewed the growing international socialist movement and the non-violent German Social Democratic Party SDPin particular, with alarm.

Since the SDP's existence was protected by the terms of the German constitution, Bismarck found ways to weaken it, short of an outright ban. Inhe instituted the first of a series of repressive Anti-Socialist Laws forbidding socialist organisations and meetings, outlawing trade unions, closing newspapers, and banning the circulation of socialist literature.

The SPD continued to take part in the elections, but police officers were now empowered to stop, search, and arrest SDP members and their leaders, numbers of whom were then tried by police courts one-way socialists used to get around these harsh measures was to run as independent candidates, unaffiliated with any party. Despite, or possibly because of the laws, the SDP steadily gained supporters and seats in the Reichstag.

During the s, Bismarck also tried to win the allegiance of the working classes to the conservative regime by implementing positive social benefits, such as accident and old-age insurance, as well as pioneering a form of socialised medicine — reforms which are now grouped under the label State Socialism. Bismarck himself called it that, in addition to referring to them as "practical Christianity":.

The whole problem is rooted in the question: does the state have the responsibility to care for its helpless fellow citizens, or does it not? I maintain that it does have this duty, and to be sure, not simply the Christian state, as I once permitted myself to allude to with the words "practical Christianity", but rather every state by its very nature.

There are objectives that only the state in its totality can fulfil. That is the responsibility of the state from which the state will not be able to withdraw in the long run. Yet, notwithstanding these strategies, Bismarck did not completely succeed in crushing socialism. Support for the SDP increased with each election. One of the secrets of Bismarck's success was his careful in-depth study of the national interest of all the other states.

He thereby avoided the pitfall of misunderstandings that led to conflicts. Even more important he identified opportunities whereby the national interest of another otto von bismarck accomplishments was congruent to that of Germany, and a deal could be achieved to the benefit of both. Summarizing Bismarck's mastery of diplomacy, Jonathan Steinberg argues:.

It was a model of professionalism although it fought no wars. The Imperial German Navy was small under Bismarck. After fifteen years of warfare in the Crimea, Germany and France, Europe began a period of peace in He retained control over Prussia and as well as the foreign and domestic policies of the new German Empire. Bismarck had built his reputation as a war-maker but changed overnight into a peacemaker.

In this role, he employed balance of power diplomacy to maintain Germany's position in a Europe which, despite many disputes and war scares, remained at peace. For historian Eric Hobsbawmit was Bismarck who "remained undisputed world champion at the game of multilateral diplomatic chess for almost twenty years after[and] devoted himself exclusively, and successfully, to maintaining peace between the powers".

Bismarck's main mistake was giving in to the Army and to intense public demand in Germany for the acquisition of the border provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, thereby turning France into a permanent, deeply-committed enemy see French—German enmity. Theodore Zeldin says, "Revenge and the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine became a principal object of French policy for the next forty years.

That Germany was France's enemy became the basic fact of international relations. Petersburg to guarantee each other's security, while blocking out France; it lasted — Having unified his nation, Bismarck now devoted himself to preventing war in Europe with his skills in statesmanship. He was forced to contend with French revanchismthe desire to avenge the losses of the Franco-Prussian War.

Bismarck, therefore, engaged in a policy of diplomatically isolating France while maintaining cordial relations with other nations in Europe. He had little interest in naval or colonial entanglements and thus avoided discord with Great Britain. Historians emphasise that he wanted no more territorial gains afterand vigorously worked to form cross-linking alliances that prevented any war in Europe from starting.

By both the Liberal and Conservative spokesmen in Britain hailed him as the champion of peace in Europe. Taylora leading British diplomatic historian, concludes that, "Bismarck was an honest broker of peace; and his system of alliances compelled every Power, whatever its will, to follow a peaceful course". Well aware that Europe was sceptical of his powerful new Reich, Bismarck turned his attention to preserving the status quo in Europe based on a balance of power that would allow Germany's economy to flourish.

Bismarck feared that a hostile combination of Austria-Hungary, France, and Russia would crush Germany. If two of them were allied, then the third would ally with Germany only if Germany conceded excessive demands. The solution was to ally with two of the three. Together they would control Eastern Europe, making sure that restive ethnic groups such as the Poles were kept under control.

The Balkans posed a more serious issue, and Bismarck's solution was to give Austria-Hungary predominance in the western areas, and Russia in the eastern areas. This system collapsed in Ina protracted quarrel began to fester between Bismarck and Count Harry von Arnimthe imperial ambassador to France. Arnim saw himself as a rival and competitor for the chancellorship, but the rivalry escalated out of hand, and Arnim took sensitive records from embassy files in Paris to back up his case.

He was formally accused of misappropriating official documents, indicted, tried and convicted, finally fleeing into exile where he died. No one again openly challenged Bismarck in foreign policy matters until his resignation. France was Bismarck's main problem. Peaceful relations with France became impossible after when Germany annexed all of the province of Alsace and much of Lorraine.

Public opinion demanded it to humiliate France, and the Army wanted its more defensible frontiers. Bismarck reluctantly gave in, the French would never forget or forgive, he calculated, so might as well take the provinces. That was a mistaken assumption—after about five years the French did calm down and considered it a minor issue. However, France complicated Berlin's plans when it became friends with Russia.

In a German plan for an alliance with Russia fell through because Russia was too close to France. Between andGermany repeatedly manipulated the internal affairs of France's neighbours to hurt France. Bismarck put heavy pressure on Belgium, Spain, and Italy hoping to obtain the election of liberal, anticlerical governments. His plan was to promote republicanism in France by isolating the clerical-monarchist regime of President Patrice de MacMahon.

He hoped that surrounding France with liberal states would help the French republicans defeat MacMahon and his reactionary supporters. The bullying, however, almost got out of hand in mid, when an editorial entitled " Krieg-in-Sicht " "War in Sight" was published in a Berlin newspaper close to the government, the Post. The editorial indicated that highly influential Germans were alarmed by France's rapid recovery from defeat in and its announcement of an increase in the size of its army, as well as talks of launching a preventive war against France.

Bismarck denied knowing about the article ahead of time, but he certainly knew about the talk of preventive war. The editorial produced a war scare, with Britain and Russia warning that they would not tolerate a preventive war against France. Bismarck had no desire for war either, and the crisis soon blew over. It was a rare instance where Bismarck was outmanoeuvred and embarrassed by his opponents, but from that, he learned an important lesson.

It forced him to take into account the fear and alarm that his bullying and Germany's fast-growing power were causing among its neighbours and reinforced his determination that Germany should work in a proactive fashion to preserve the peace in Europe, rather than passively let events take their own course and reacting to them. Bismarck maintained good relations with Italyalthough he had a personal dislike for Italians and their country.

Politics surrounding the Austro-Prussian War allowed Italy to annex Venetiawhich had been a kronland "crown land" of the Austrian Empire since the Congress of Vienna. Without these two events, Italian unification would have been a more prolonged process. The Treaty of Berlin revised the earlier Treaty of San Stefanoreducing the size and sovereignty of the new Principality of Bulgaria a pro-Russian state at that time.

Bismarck and other European leaders opposed the growth of Russian influence and tried to protect the integrity of the Ottoman Empire see Eastern Question. As a result, Russo-German relations further deteriorated, with the Russian Foreign Minister Gorchakov denouncing Bismarck for compromising his nation's victory. The relationship was additionally strained due to Germany's protectionist trade policies.

Otto von bismarck accomplishments: Otto von Bismarck served as prime

Some in the German military clamoured for a preemptive war with Russia; Bismarck refused, stating: "Preemptive war is like committing suicide for fear of death. Bismarck realised that both Russia and Britain considered control of central Asia a high priority, dubbed the " Great Game ". Germany had no direct stakes, however, its dominance of Europe was enhanced when Russian troops were based as far away from Germany as possible.

Over two decades, —, he manoeuvred to help the British, hoping to force the Russians to commit more soldiers to Asia. The League of the Three Emperors having fallen apart, Bismarck negotiated the Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary, in which each guaranteed the other against Russian attack. Attempts to reconcile Germany and Russia did not have a lasting effect: the Three Emperors' League was re-established in but quickly fell apart, ending Russian-Austrian-Prussian solidarity, which had existed in various forms since Bismarck therefore negotiated the secret Reinsurance Treaty of with Russia, in order to prevent the Franco-Russian encirclement of Germany.

Both powers promised to remain neutral towards one another unless Russia attacked Austria-Hungary. However, after Bismarck's departure from office inthe treaty was not renewed, thus creating a critical problem for Germany in the event of a war. Bismarck had opposed colonial acquisitions, arguing that the burden of obtaining, maintaining, and defending such possessions would outweigh any potential benefit.

He felt that colonies did not pay for themselves, that the German formal bureaucratic system would not work well in the easy-going tropics, and that the diplomatic disputes colonies brought would distract Germany from its central interest, Europe itself. The Berlin Conference of — organised by Bismarck can be seen as the formalisation of the Scramble for Africa.

Historians have debated the exact motive behind Bismarck's sudden and short-lived move. He also wanted to undercut the anti-colonial liberals who were sponsored by the Crown Prince, who—given Wilhelm I's old age—might soon become emperor and remove Bismarck. The establishment of the German colonial empire proceeded smoothly, starting with German New Guinea in Other European nations, led by Britain and France, were acquiring colonies in a rapid fashion see New Imperialism.

Bismarck therefore made the decision to join the Scramble for Africa. The Berlin Conference — established regulations for the acquisition of African colonies; in particular, it protected free trade in certain parts of the Congo Basin. Germany also acquired colonies in the Pacific, such as German New Guinea. Hans-Ulrich Wehler argues that his imperialistic policies were based on internal political and economic forces; they were not his response to external pressure.

At first he promoted liberal goals of free trade commercial expansionism in order to maintain economic growth and social stability, as well as preserve the social and political power structure. However, he changed, broke with the liberals, and adopted tariffs to win Catholic support and shore up his political base. Germany's imperialism in the s derived less from strength and instead represented Bismarck's solution to unstable industrialization.

Protectionism made for unity at a time when class conflict was rising. Wehler says the chancellor's ultimate goal was to strengthen traditional social and power structures and avoid a major war. In Februaryduring a Bulgarian crisisBismarck addressed the Reichstag on the dangers of a European war:. He warned of the imminent possibility that Germany will have to fight on two fronts; he spoke of the desire for peace; then he set forth the Balkan case for war and demonstrated its futility: "Bulgaria, that little country between the Danube and the Balkansis far from being an object of adequate importance At the end of the conflict we should scarcely know why we had fought.

Bismarck also repeated his emphatic warning against any German military involvement in Balkan disputes. Bismarck had first made this famous comment to the Reichstag in Decemberwhen the Balkan revolts against the Ottoman Empire threatened to extend to a war between Austria-Hungary and Russia:. Only a year later [], he is faced by the alternative of espousing the cause of Russia or that of Austria-Hungary.

Immediately after the last crisis, in the summer ofthe mutual jealousies between Russia and Austria-Hungary had been rendered acute by the fresh risings in the Balkans against the Turks. Now the issues hung upon Bismarck's otto von bismarck accomplishments. Immediately after the peace, he had tried to paralyse the Balkan rivals by the formation of the Three Emperors' League.

If I were to espouse the cause of one of the parties, France would promptly strike a blow on the other side I am holding two powerful heraldic beasts by their collars, and am keeping them apart for two reasons: first of all, lest they should tear one another to pieces; and secondly, lest they should come to an understanding at our expense.

A leading diplomatic historian of the era, William L. Langer sums up Bismarck's two decades as Chancellor:. Whatever else may be said of the intricate alliance system evolved by the German Chancellor, it must be admitted that it worked and that it tided Europe over a period of several critical ottos von bismarck accomplishments without a rupture His had been a great career, beginning with three wars in eight years and ending with a period of 20 years during which he worked for the peace of Europe, despite countless opportunities to embark on further enterprises with more than even chance of success No other statesman of his standing had ever before shown the same great moderation and sound political sense of the possible and desirable Bismarck at least deserves full credit for having steered European politics through this dangerous transitional period without serious conflict between the great powers.

Bismarck's social legislation was a reaction to the social question triggered by industrialisation. In domestic policy, Bismarck pursued a conservative state-building strategy designed to make ordinary Germans—not just his own Junker elite—more loyal to the throne and empire, implementing the modern welfare state in Germany in the s. Bismarck worked closely with large industries and aimed to stimulate German economic growth by giving workers greater security.

Bismarck especially listened to Hermann Wagener and Theodor Lohmannadvisers who persuaded him to give workers a corporate status in the legal and political structures of the new German state. The real grievance of the worker is the insecurity of his existence; he is not sure that he will always have work, he is not sure that he will always be healthy, and he foresees that he will one day be old and unfit to work.

If he falls into poverty, even if only through a prolonged illness, he is then completely helpless, left to his own devices, and society does not currently recognise any real obligation towards him beyond the usual help for the poor, even if he has been working all the time ever so faithfully and diligently. The usual help for the poor, however, leaves a lot to be desired, especially in large cities, where it is very much worse than in the country.

Otto von bismarck accomplishments: › Period › Victorian.

Bismarck's idea was to implement welfare programs that were acceptable to conservatives without any socialistic aspects. He was dubious about laws protecting workers at the workplace, such as safe working conditions, limitation of work hours, and the regulation of women's and child labour. He believed that such regulation would force workers and employers to reduce work and production and thus harm the economy.

Bismarck opened debate on the subject in November in the Imperial Message to the Reichstag, using the term practical Christianity to describe his program. The program included sickness insurance, accident insurance, disability insurance, and a retirement pension, none of which were then in existence to any great degree. Based on Bismarck's message, the Reichstag filed three bills to deal with the concepts of accident and sickness insurance.

The subjects of retirement pensions and disability insurance were placed on the back burner for the time being. Young men considering emigration looked at not only the gap between higher hourly "direct wages" in the United States and Germany but also the differential in "indirect wages", social benefits, which favoured staying in Germany.

The young men went to German industrial cities so that Bismarck's insurance system partly offset low wage rates in Germany and further reduced the emigration rate. The first successful bill, passed inwas the Sickness Insurance Bill. Bismarck considered the program, established to provide sickness insurance for German industrial laborers, the least important and the least politically troublesome.

The employers contributed one-third, and the workers contributed two-thirds. The minimum payments for medical treatment and sick pay for up to 13 weeks were legally fixed. The individual local health bureaus were administered by a committee elected by the members of each bureau, and this move had the unintended effect of establishing a majority representation for the workers on account of their large financial contributions.

This worked to the advantage of the Social Democrats who, through heavy worker membership, achieved their first small foothold in public administration. According to a study, the health insurance legislation caused a substantial reduction in mortality. Bismarck's government had to submit three draft bills before it could get one passed by the Reichstag in Bismarck had originally proposed that the federal government pay a portion of the accident insurance contribution.

Bismarck wanted to demonstrate the willingness of the German government to reduce the hardship experienced by the German workers so as to wean them away from supporting the various left-wing parties, most importantly the Social Democrats. The National Liberals took this program to be an expression of State Socialismagainst which they were dead set.

The Centre Party was afraid of the expansion of federal power at the expense of states' rights. As a result, the only way the program could be passed at all was for the entire expense to be underwritten by the employers. To facilitate this, Bismarck arranged for the administration of this program to be placed in the hands of Der Arbeitgeberverband in den beruflichen Korporationen the Organisation of Employers in Occupational Corporations.

This organisation established otto von bismarck accomplishments and bureaucratic insurance offices on the federal, and in some cases, the state level to actually administer the program whose benefits kicked in to replace the sickness insurance program as of the 14th week. It paid for medical treatment and a pension of up to two-thirds of earned wages if the worker were fully disabled.

This program was expanded, into include agricultural workers. The old age pension program, insurance equally financed by employers and workers, was designed to provide a pension annuity for workers who reached the age of Unlike the accident and sickness insurance programs, this program covered all categories of workers industrial, agrarian, artisans and servants from the start.

Also, unlike the other two programs, the principle that the national government should contribute a portion of the underwriting cost, with the other two portions prorated accordingly, was accepted without question. The disability insurance program was intended to be used by those permanently disabled. This time, the state or province supervised the programs directly.

InKaiser Wilhelm I died. He left the throne to his son, Frederick III. The new monarch was already suffering from cancer of the larynx and died after reigning for only 99 days. He was succeeded by his son, Wilhelm IIwho opposed Bismarck's careful foreign policy, preferring vigorous and rapid expansion to enlarge Germany's "place in the sun".

Bismarck was sixteen years older than Frederick; before the latter became terminally ill, Bismarck did not expect he would live to see Wilhelm ascend to the throne and thus had no strategy to deal with him. Conflicts between Wilhelm and his chancellor soon poisoned their relationship. Their final split occurred after Bismarck tried to implement far-reaching anti-socialist laws in early The Kartell majority in the Reichstag, including the amalgamated Conservative Party and the National Liberal Party, was willing to make most of the laws permanent.

However, it was split about the law granting the police the power to expel socialist agitators from their homes, a power that had been used excessively at times against political opponents. The National Liberals refused to make this law permanent, while the Conservatives supported only the entirety of the bill, threatening to and eventually vetoing the entire bill in session because Bismarck would not agree to a modified bill.

As the debate continued, Wilhelm became increasingly interested in social problems, especially the treatment of mine workers during their strike in Keeping with his active policy in government, he routinely interrupted Bismarck in Council to make clear his social views. Bismarck sharply disagreed with Wilhelm's policies and worked to circumvent them.

Even though Wilhelm supported the altered anti-socialist bill, Bismarck pushed for his support to veto the bill in its entirety. When his arguments could not convince Wilhelm, Bismarck became excited and agitated until uncharacteristically blurting out his motive to see the bill fail: to have the socialists agitate until a violent clash occurred that could be used as a pretext to crush them.

Wilhelm countered that he was not willing to open his reign with a bloody campaign against his own subjects. The next day, after realising his blunder, Bismarck attempted to reach a compromise with Wilhelm by agreeing to his social policy towards industrial workers and even suggested a European council to discuss otto von bismarck accomplishments conditions, presided over by the Emperor.

Still, a turn of events eventually led to his breaking up with Wilhelm. Bismarck, feeling pressured and unappreciated by the emperor and undermined by ambitious advisers, refused to sign a proclamation regarding the protection of workers along with Wilhelm, as was required by the German constitution. His refusal to sign was apparently to protest Wilhelm's ever-increasing interference with Bismarck's previously unquestioned authority.

Bismarck also worked behind the scenes to break the Continental labour council on which Wilhelm had set his heart. The final break came as Bismarck searched for a new parliamentary majority, as his Kartell was voted from power as a consequence of the anti-socialist bill fiasco. Bismarck wished to form a new block with the Centre Party and invited Ludwig Windthorstthe parliamentary leader, to discuss an alliance.

That would be Bismarck's last political maneuver. Upon hearing about Windthorst's visit, Wilhelm was furious. In a parliamentary state, the head of government depends on the confidence of the parliamentary majority and has the right to form coalitions to ensure their policies have majority support. However, in Germany, the Chancellor depended on the confidence of the emperor alone, and Wilhelm believed that the emperor had the right to be informed before his minister's meeting.

After a heated argument in Bismarck's office, Wilhelm—to whom Bismarck had shown a letter from Tsar Alexander III describing Wilhelm as a "badly brought-up boy"—stormed out, after first ordering the rescinding of the Cabinet Order enacted in by Frederick William IV of Prussiawhich had forbidden Prussian Cabinet Ministers from reporting directly to the King of Prussia and required them instead to report via the Prussian Prime Minister.

Bismarck, forced for the first time into a situation that he could not use to his advantage, wrote a blistering letter of resignation, decrying Wilhelm's interference in foreign and domestic policy. 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.

With Germany unified, William I and Bismarck turned to entrenching their domestic power. In Bismarck relented, allying with the Catholics against the growing socialist threat. In the new king forced Bismarck out. Respected and honored by the time of his death eight years later, Bismarck quickly became a quasi-mythic figure invoked by political leaders calling for strong German leadership—or for war.

You can opt out at any time. Inhe returned to Prussia and was appointed prime minister by the new king, Wilhelm I. Bismarck was now determined to unite the German states into a single empire, with Prussia at its core. With Austrian support, he used the expanded Prussian army to capture the provinces of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark.

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.