1. Otto Von Bismarck
Natassia

2. The Iron Chancellor
Transformed a collection of small German States into a Great Empire
Served as the first Chancellor from
Initiated social and welfare reform

3. Young Life
Born on 1 April 1815 at Schönhausen in Brandenburg, Prussia.
His father was an aristocrat and his mother was from an upper-middle class family of academicians and civil servants.

4. His Education Went to Gymnasium in Berlin
Studied Law at Göttingen and in Berlin. He received his degree in 1837.
Received a civil service appointment as an apprentice official but resigned in 1838.

5. Young Adult Life
From Otto was a “Wild Man.” He drank heavily and gambled recklessly.
Life changes in 1847 when he married Johanna Von Putkammer, converted his religion and began his political career.
These gave him stability and self discipline.

6. Prussian Legislature
Extremely conservative and wholeheartedly supported the monarchy
Strongly opposed any challenges to the position of the land owning aristocracy
Befriended by Prussia’s King Frederick William IV.
Appointed Ambassador to the German Confederation.
Appointed Ambassador to Russia in St. Petersburg.

7. Prussia 1858 Prince Regent William became Wilhelm I
1860 King and Parliament in deadlock about funding military reform
Appointed Bismarck Premier in 1862
Found a loophole by using the 1861 budget without parliament approval
“The great questions of today will not be settled by speeches and majority decisions…but by blood and iron.”
Wilhelm I

8. Wars
1864 Took provinces of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark with an alliance with Austria
weeks-war with Austria over the provinces
1866 Parliament retroactively sanctioned the wars
1870 Bismarck edited and important document to France to sound insulting. He provoked a war to unite Southern Germany with Northern Germany against a common threat.

9. Wilhelm Crowned Emperor
Crowned in the hall of mirrors in Versailles outside Paris, on January 18, 1871

10. Chancellor of the Empire
Uniform legal codes, nationalized railways, compulsory military service
Kulturkampf- (culture struggle) attack fueled by propaganda against the Center Party (Catholic).
Became a conflict with The Roman Catholic Church. Bismarck was force to Negotiate.
Used a similar attack on the Liberal groups successfully
At the same time instituted health, accident, and old age insurance

11. Foreign Policy
1873 negotiated the Three Emperor’s League with Austria-Hungary and Russia to isolate France
1879 Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary in case of Russian Attack
1877 Two Mediterranean Agreements to preserve Status quo
Complex system

12. Retirement
After many conflict with young Emperor Wilhelm II, Bismarck was dismissed in 1890
He retired to his estate and died on July 30, 1898

13. Quotes “Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.”
“Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable…the art of the next best.”
“Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.”
“Better pointed bullets than pointed words.”

14. Contemporaries Karl Marx 1818-1883 sociologist
Charles Darwin naturalist
Pope Pius IX
William Wordsworth Poet
Alphred Lord Tennyson Poet

15. More Contemporaries
Gregor Mandel Austrian Monk/Teacher Studied Plant Genetics
Henry David Thoreau Writer
Walt Whitman Writer
Queen Victoria
Sam Clemens Mark Twain

16. Notable Sources www.kbismarck.com www.fordham.edu www.ssa.gov
Encarta.msn.com
quotations.com