Dbq Essay On Otto Von Bismarck

In the late 1800s, Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck used different strategical plans in order to gain as much power possible, the majority of the plans consisted of him taking advantage of the different political parties. Bismarck used many traditional political strategies in order to gain the power he craved for, such as creating harsh laws and prohibiting certain beliefs or ideas. Unfortunately, these strategies did not satisfy the people, so Bismarck later started to increase the welfare of the working class, apologized to the Socialists, and did much more to obtain more political strength which eventually created a new conservatism. In an effort to increase political power for the Kaiser, Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck uses liberal and traditional
Bismarck’s government first passed four laws starting reasonably with the abolishment of restrictions on civil rights based on religious beliefs, but later descending to an irrational law stating that social-democratic, Socialist, and communist endeavors are to be prohibited (doc 1). In an attempt to gain more power for himself, Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck naturally created this series of laws to diminish the power within religious organizations. Additionally, in response to Bismarck’s unjust governing, Wilhelm Liebknecht made a speech stating that there is no point in sending a candidate to Reichstag if the government has the power to eradicate that candidate if they oppose his viewpoints (doc 2). As a German Socialist of the Social-Democratic Party, Wilhelm Liebknecht naturally wanted to maintain the fair amount of power that the Social-Democratic Party originally held, but Bismarck and the government were willing to deprive the powerful political party of their rights in order to gain more power for themselves. Lastly, a political cartoon published in 1879 displayed Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck steering the helm of a boat, but on the helm were the names of political parties implying his negative treatment to each of them (doc 4). In the satirical German magazine where the political cartoon, “At the Helm”, was published, the
For example, in Herman Wagener’s memorandum, or private letter, to Otto Von Bismarck, he gave recommendations on strategies to strengthen the army and essentially gain more dominance and power (doc 3). Herman Wagener, being a conservative politician, advised Bismarck in the private letter that he shift the masses’ opinion while strengthening the power and reliability of the army. Also, Kaiser Wilhelm 1 made a speech to Reichstag proposing that they enforce “... the repression of Social Democratic excesses ...” (doc 5) and also promote workers’ welfare. This German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm 1, made his speech to Reichstag naturally hoping to influence the parliament to support Bismarck by saying that they need to convict the socialists in order to cure defects which will lead to more support from many people and more power. In addition, in 1884 Bismarck spoke in support of the Socialists, in support of their ideas, and apologized for the proposal that the government tried to win more support for the Anti-Socialist law (doc 6). Bismarck made this speech in support of the Socialists in order to gain their support to increase his dominance and power. Finally, Eugen Richter wrote a newspaper article in 1890 explaining Chancellor Otto Von