Bismarck, Prince Otto Edward Leopold von, Duke of Lauenburg 1815-98
Prusso-German statesman, the first Chancellor of the German Empire

He was born in Sch�nhausen, Brandenburg, and studied law and agriculture at G�ttingen, Berlin and Greifswald. In 1847 he became known in the new Prussian parliament as an ultra-royalist, and opposed equally the constitutional demands of 1848 and the scheme of a German empire, as proposed by the Frankfurt parliament of 1849. In 1851, as Prussian member of the resuscitated German diet of Frankfurt, he resented the predominance of Austria, and demanded equal rights for Prussia. He was sent as Minister to St Petersburg in 1859, and in 1862 to Paris, the same year he became Prime Minister. The death of the King of Denmark (1863) fuelled the Schleswig-Holstein question, and excited a fever of German nationalism, which led to the defeat of Denmark by Austria and Prussia, and the annexation of the duchies. This provoked the 'Seven Weeks' War' between Prussia and Austria, which ended in the defeat of Austria at the Battle of K�niggratz (1866), and the reorganization of Germany under the leadership of Prussia. During this Bismarck was an influential figure, and, from being universally disliked, became highly popular and a national hero. He further unified German feeling during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), which he deliberately provoked, when he acted as spokesman of Germany, and in 1871 he dictated the terms of peace to France. Created a count in 1866, he was then made a prince and became the first Chancellor of the new German Empire (1871-90). After the Peace of Frankfurt (1871) the sole aim of his policy was to consolidate and protect the young empire. His long and bitter struggle with the Vatican, called the Kulturkampf, was a failure, but apart from this his domestic policy was marked by universal suffrage, reformed coinage, codification of the law, nationalization of the Prussian railways, repeated increase of the army, a protective tariff (1879), and various attempts to combat socialism and to establish government monopolies. To counteract Russia and France, in 1879 he formed the Austro-German Treaty of Alliance (published in 1888), which Italy joined in 1886, and he presided over the Berlin Congress in 1878. The phrase 'man of blood and iron' was used by the 'Iron Chancellor' in a speech in 1862. Two attempts were made on his life (1866, 1874). Disapproving the initially liberal policy of the Emperor Wilhelm II, along with his son Herbert (1849-1904), the Foreign Secretary, he resigned the chancellorship in March 1890, becoming Duke of Lauenburg. He was finally reconciled with Wilhelm in 1894.

Bibliography: Lothar Gall, Bismarck (2 vols, 1986)