Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as its first chancellor from 1871 to 1890. As minister president and foreign minister of Prussia from 1862, he led Prussia through short, decisive wars against Denmark, Austria, and France, then oversaw the creation of the unified German Empire under Prussian rule in 1871. His balance-of-power diplomacy helped maintain Germany's position in Europe, earning him the nickname "Iron Chancellor."
Biography
Otto von Bismarck was born in 1815 into a Junker landowning family in Prussia. A conservative member of the Prussian diet in the revolutionary years of 1848–49, he then served as a diplomat in Frankfurt, St Petersburg and Paris. King Wilhelm I made him Minister-President of Prussia in 1862 to push army reform through a hostile parliament.
He unified Germany under Prussian leadership through three short wars: against Denmark in 1864, Austria in 1866 and France in 1870–71. The German Empire was proclaimed at Versailles in January 1871, and Bismarck became its first chancellor.
As chancellor he fought the Catholic Church in the Kulturkampf and banned the Social Democrats, but also created the first national systems of health, accident and old-age insurance. Abroad he built alliances to keep France isolated and hosted the Congress of Berlin and the Berlin Conference on Africa. He clashed with the young Wilhelm II and was dismissed in 1890. He died in 1898.
Offices held
Leo von Caprivi
2 terms
- Sep 23, 1862 – Jan 1, 1873
- Nov 9, 1873 – Mar 20, 1890 Succeeded by Leo von Caprivi
