biography
| name: |
Bismarck, Otto Eduard Leopold, Fürst von (Prince of)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1815–98)
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| biography:
| The first chancellor of the German Second Empire (1871–90), born in Schönhausen, EC Germany. A member of the Brandenburg nobility, he studied law and agriculture at Göttingen, Berlin, and Greifswald. In the new Prussian parliament (1847) he became known as an ultraroyalist, resenting Austria's predominance and demanding equal rights for Prussia. During the Revolutions of 1848 he opposed demands for constitutional reform and opposed democratization of the political system. He was ambassador to Russia (1859–62), and was appointed prime minister of Prussia in 1862. He enlarged and reorganized the Prussian army. In 1864, in partnership with Austria, he led the German states in the defeat of Denmark, acquiring Schleswig-Holstein, whose Kiel Canal became of strategic importance to Germany. In 1866 he provoked a confrontation with Austria, known as the ‘seven weeks's war’, from which he emerged victorious. He annexed Hanover and united most of the other German states in the North German Confederation (1867–71). Uniting German feeling, he deliberately provoked the Franco–Prussian War (1870–1), subjecting Paris to a long and terrible siege. He was made a count in 1866, and created a prince and chancellor of the new German Empire. After the Peace of Frankfurt (1871), in which France ceded Alsace and Lorrain to Germany, his policies aimed at consolidating and protecting the young Empire. His domestic policy included universal male suffrage, a common currency, a central bank, a scheme of social insurance against unemployment, sickness, and old age, and the codification of the law. He engaged in a lengthy conflict with the Vatican (known as the Kulturkampf) for the control of schools and church appointments, which proved to be a failure. In foreign affairs, he initiated the Three Emperors League (1872–87) between Prussia, Austria, and Russia. He presided with great success over the Congress of Berlin (1878). As a result of his protective tariffs, German industry and commerce flourished and new colonies were acquired overseas. To counteract Russia and France, he formed the Austro–German Treaty of Alliance (1879), which was later joined by Italy. Called the ‘Iron Chancellor’, he clashed with Emperor William II, who saw him as a rival for power, and was forced to resign from the chancellorship (1890). In the same year he was made Duke of Lauenburg. |
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