Otto von Bismarck – Iron Chancellor

Otto von Bismarck was a German statesman. He was largely responsible for the creation of the German Empire in 1871.
Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck was born on April 1, 1815 at his family’s estate of Schoenhausen in Prussia.
He studied at the University of Gottingen and by 1836 had qualified as a lawyer.
All his life, Bismarck was associated with Russia. He, more than anyone else, understood the power and contradictions of the Russian state. He was in love with Russian woman Katerina Orlova-Trubetskaya. They had a passionate romance in the resort of Biarritz.
In 1847, he became religious, entered politics and married Johanna von Puttkamer. Otto and Johanna had three children Herbert, Bill, and Marie.

Catherine Orlova

In 1851, Bismarck was appointed as Prussian representative to the Frankfurt Diet of the German Confederation.
The Prussian victory led to the formation of the Reich, a unified German empire under Prussian leadership. William was proclaimed kaiser, or emperor, and Bismarck became chancellor of the empire.
Bismarck modernized German administration, law, and education in harmony with the economic and technological revolution which was transforming Germany into an industrial society.
Bismarck established the Dreikaiserbund, or Three Emperors’ League (Germany, Russia, Austria), the 1882 Austro-German-Italian Triplice, and the secret 1887 Russo-German Reinsurance Treaty. He served as chairman of the 1878 Congress of Berlin.
Bismarck was retired because of ill health.
He died on July 30, 1898. Bismarck was the master statesman of his day.

Bismarck and his wife

Famous quotes
– The less people know about how sausages and laws are made, the better they’ll sleep at night
– When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.
– People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.
– Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.
– Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death.
– The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.