Otto Von Bismarck was born Otto Eduard Leopold on April 1, 1815 to Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Bismarck and Wilhelmine Luise Mencken in Schonhausen, the Kingdom of Prussia. (Barkin, Otto Von Bismarck German Chancellor and Prime minister, n.d.) Otto Von Bismarck was a traditionalist and an effective leader in foreign issues. He embarked on unifying Germany, and through those endeavors he would achieve his foreign policy objectives. Bismarck was a true pioneer and his journey to becoming the Master of Foreign Policy was built on the premise of preserving peace in Europe.
Bismarck’s focus was always his homeland, Prussia to which he dedicated his heart in the succession of keeping Germany safe from war until she was strong enough to defend herself.
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These two forces, Prussia and Austria fought against Denmark to seize the Danish territories Schleswig and Holstein. The Danish were powerless against the dominant forces of Prussia and Austria therefore easily defeated. The Convention of Gastein came into effect in 1865 which granted political power respectively to Prussia, Schleswig and to Austria, Holstein. The partnership of Prussia and Austria was short lived thus enters the Austro-Prussian War.
On May 29th of 1865 King William called to assemble his ministers and leading generals including the Army Chief of Staff, Moltke to discuss the demands posed by the Prussian which begged the question, “should the Prussian Government ask for annexation or only insist on the conditions of February even at the risk of war”. (Eyck, 1950, p. 98)
Bismarck in his callous ways was looking to annexation with the unification of Germany in sight nothing more, however to get to that point he had to manipulate the minds of the assembly to which he used Prussia as the bait as they would see this as conciliatory gesture. Thus, putting the responsibility on the King and slowing the talks of war until he was well prepared in every aspect to engage in a war with
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The focus of this study is the effect that Otto Von Bismarck's leadership and politics had on Pre-World War One tensions in Europe. This study investigates to what extent the actions of Otto Von Bismarck led to World War One. The focus of this study is the period between Bismarck's appointment to Minister President of Prussia on September 23, 1862 and the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. Bismarck's earlier career is discussed briefly but only as a method to understand his political attitudes. And similarly, as Bismarck was removed from office in 1890, the only events discussed between 1890 and 1914 will be based off of policies instilled by Bismarck, not those of Wilhelm II.
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 believed that Germany should be united under Prussian leadership and that Austria should have nothing to do with Germany. Bismarck was chosen as chancellor by the Prussian king as he had a proven record as a monarchist and had little time for liberal and excessive parliamentary ideas. Bismarck helped his long term plan to unite Germany and to be the ruler by getting in a strong position with the king. The king owned Bismarck a 'favour´ as Bismarck had solved the king´s constitutional crisis. Bismarck played a crucial part in the unification of Germany as he helped to set up the Northern German Confederation after defeating Austria in the second of three wars.
The biographical approach to German unification in Bruce Waller’s Bismarck leaves the reader without much information on the European political picture as a whole and by no means provides a plethora of information on many of the political power players outside of Bismarck’s Germany. For example, Waller’s approach to Bismarck’s economic foreign policy is clearly lacking an explanation of outside factors, and those factors of the European economic situat...
The war was the result of a succession dispute over the Spanish crown. What was seemingly a Prussian-Spanish alliance made the French feel encircled. Bismarck was able to entice Napoleon III into quick, aggressive action through the manipulation of Ems Telegram. This prompt action from Napoleon III led to growing anti-French and pro-German sentiment and led to the southern German states aiding the Prussian cause. William Carr has argued that South Germany’s involvement in Prussia’s cause meant that they had to come to terms with the new political situation. Although numerous southern states were reluctant to join the German Confederation, Bismarck therefore had to make numerous concessions. None the less the German Empire was born on the 18th January 1871. Harry Hearder argues that the North German Confederation already signified a unified German State. The declaration of the German Empire in 1871 re-emphasized the creation of a unified Germany and included the southern states. This would suggest that the Seven Weeks War with Austria had more significance in the eventual unification of
Political structure at that time led to Bismarck's success in war. With the untimely death of the Danish King, Christian VII, both Schleswig and Holstein refused to recognize the dynastic succession of the Danish King Frederick VII and appealed to the Frankfurt Assembly for recognition of Schleswig-Holstein as an independent German state, free from the Danish crown (doc2). With the declaration of an all-German war on the Kingdom of Denmark by the Frankfurt Assembly, Prussia immediately prepared a small military force to fight for the independence of Schleswig and Holstein (docs3,4). Prussia's aid proved victorious with the Danish defenses easily besieged (doc5). The English heard about the success of Prussia and of their preparations for an invasion of Jutland.
At a young age Bismarck was more interested in his estates and farming than in politics. Even in his later years he kept watch over his estate in Vorzin. It was during these years that he learned to know the land and its people well. This knowledge was to aid him later in his political career. Much of his earlier life was spent on his lands and it is from here that he learned to love Germany. He believed later in life that it was country life that made people more practical and city life took away from life.
Frederick II, the Great, overcame the resource limitations within Prussia by mastering three aspects of the western way of war: the ability to finance war, possessing a highly disciplined military, and an aggressive mindset toward achieving quick decisive victory, which established Prussia as a major European power. Frederick II accomplished this feat while being surrounded by powerful neighbors that possessed larger populations, armies, and financial excess. His initial assessment on the state of his Prussian inheritance from his personal writings follows:
The alliance system ideated by the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck kept peace in Europe but its main aim was, however, to forestall the possibility that, in the event of war, Germany would have to fight it on two fronts (basically France and Russia). This was achieved by diplomatically isolating France so that its dream of recapturing its lost provinces of Alsace-Lorraine couldn't be fulfilled. This was done by, firstly, the creation of the League of the Three Emperors or Dreikaiserbund. It was first projected as a meeting of the monarchs of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia in 1872 and confirmed the following year, the 22nd of October 1873. Here, the very general and formless agreement was given a more solid form by military agreements promising to help any country attacked by a fourth party. And all this even though that there was mutual rivalry between Russia and Austria-Hungary in the Balkans. This proved to be a concrete way to isolate France for as E. Eyck mentions, "the League ensured that neither Austria-Hungary nor Russia was available as an ally for France". At this point, Bismarck didn't consider Britain as a potential French ally as they had a long history of rivalry. Secondly, in 1887 the Reinsurance Treaty was signed with Russia in which it promised to support Russia's claims to the strait and to remain neutral in the event of war unless it attacked Austria-Hungary, the same with Russia, who promised to remain neutral unless it attacked France.
After years of trying to unify as one nation and countless failures, the German people now believed that they themselves were among the superior races of the world and it was Germany’s destiny to become the greatest nation the world had ever seen. Under Bismarck’s rule, the economy boomed. The German Industrial Complex, powered by its heavy war production, made many men and the nation very wealthy. This wealth and prosperity led to an intoxicating feeling among its people, a feeling that they were the next great world power.
The Franco-Prussian War (also called the Franco-German War) was a military conflict between France and Germany that occurred from 1870 to 1871. The idea of a unified German nation was very popular at the time. The other major nations of Europe feared that a unified Germany would be a threat on the global stage. Germany had recently been victorious under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in 1864 against Denmark and 1866 against Austria. These victories helped “establish Prussia as the dominant power among the German states” (“Franco-Prussian War”). Bismarck negotiated an alliance with the southern German states and prepared the Prussian army for war against France because Bismarck saw “French opposition as a major obstacle to German unification” (“Franco-Prussian War”).
“Bismarck and German Nationalism.” The American Historical Review Vol. 60, No.3 (1955): pg. 78. 548-556.
Bismarck's Foreign Policy „Versuche zu Dreien zu sein, solange die Welt durch das un sunny“ Gleichweighed the five Großmächten bestimmt! “ This was the general formula of Bismarck’s foreign policies meaning “When there are. five great powers be one of three. “ The five great powers at that time. were France, England, Russia, Austria-Hungary and the new United States.
... These three wars achieved Bismarck’s goals of obtaining support for the army reforms and unifying Germany under Prussian leadership (which meant the expulsion of Austria from Germany’s affairs). So, the unification of Germany in 1871 was achieved through a combination of factors: the idea held by the German people of a unified nation (nationalism), the fear held by the German aristocracy of anything which may result in a reduction to their power, such as liberalism and the ‘Napoleonic Fear’, the Prussian King William the first whose most important roles were appointing Bismarck and the introduction of the army reforms, and of course, Otto Von Bismarck. Bismarck was the reason for the three wars against Austria, France and Denmark, the implication of the Prussian army reforms and he made sure that the German states finally unified under the rule of a Prussian monarch, or ‘German Kaiser’, ruler of the newly founded German Empire in 1871.
In this task I am going to write a report on the effects of electronic communication on me, my family and the society. I will extend my report by giving a clear explanation that includes society in general, i.e. people and situations outside of my normal experience (i.e. business). I will also include in this report the people that do not have access to electronic communication.