He united Germany before it was cool and leaded us during a for european standards long peace time, but part of his uniting the germans programm was the rising of nationalism.
I think he is the most important chancelors we ever had and with the problems he had to face also the best too
He’s dead for quite some years now. I usually don’t think about him at all.
Idk much about him but theres one quote I’ll never forget:
Very intelligent policitian and historically very significant, but I am glad the monarchy he founded is now replaced with a proper form of government.
well, he is a divisive figure. He might have united Germany, yes. But through war and political pressure.
The German Kaiserreich was literally founded in Versailles, at the end of the German-French war. The other German states didn’t really have much choice there: uniting with Prussia was basically the only way to share in the victory and not get stomped by them right afterwards. As others have already said, this wasn’t even the last unification Germany had until the present. And that last unification, the fall of the DDR, is remembered as the time Germany was united, not the monarchy 150 years ago. A unification brought on by the people, without violence, to the benefit of all.
Bismarck fueled German colonialism/imperialism (including genocide on native people), his Reich cultivated the narrative of the French “Erbfeind”. Much of the early Nazi propaganda promised a return to these old ways.
The social reforms he implemented are another important point. Yes, they improved people’s lives and laid foundations for modern social security and insurance systems. But they were also a (very well) calculated political maneuver, intended to prevent strikes and riots by the growing social democratic opposition.
Now this is my own point of view: Bismarck was an autocrat, through and through. The nickname “Eiserner Kanzler” isn’t really a compliment. The “iron” stems from an uncompromising and ruthless style of politics, promoting archaic concepts like “noble blood”, and making enemies with almost everyone. Those are the very politics that laid the groundwork for WW1 to happen. Then, again, he was a man influenced by his time: France and britain were the most dominant colonial powers in the world, and very close to the less industrialized German states. He saw a need and a way for change, and was through luck and hard, intelligent work able to implement his visions. His actions brought the German Empire on the global stage. If that was a good thing in the end, I leave to all of you to judge for yourselves.
Many people only know of Bismarck from school, where most students were probably bored or wondering why they had to know about some long dead statesman. The only people who know and care more about these times are either very interested in history, and usually have differentiated views, or are nutjobs who believe that the German Federal Republic is actually a private company occupied by the allies.
Please be nice, it’s 5 am, I’m writing on my phone, and I’m no history professor.
The man played an important part in uniting the German states. He was a clever statesman. But he is hardly a part of the national Identity of today‘s Germany.
Wasn’t a great guy but played definitely very important role in creating the foundation of today’s Germany.
He unified Germany and created things like health insurance (Even though it was more out of spite towards parties like the SPD or KPD)
To me he‘s just an old historical guy. He unified Germany and pissed off the French. He invented the pension system (I think?) and I got a pretty good grade in my exam about him.
Other than that, my grandpa who is a little senile won’t shut up about him but he speaks so intelligible that I don’t really know what that‘s about
Bismarck was instrumental in founding what we today think of as the European welfare state – unemployment benefits, pensions, etc. But as others have also pointed out, he didn’t do this out of magnanimity. At the time, there was a strong socialist movement in Germany of various workers associations, Co-operatives and other citizens initiatives which were between them creating pretty much all of the institutions which we now think of as welfare statist – from insurance schemes to public libraries. Importantly, these citizens’ welfare institutions had a strong element of democratic participation: all of the members of a given initiative having a say in, for example, how a particular pension scheme should work. The growing popularity of these socialist movements was a threat to Bismarck’s conservative, nationalist political programme, so the welfare state which he implemented was essentially taking some elements of these socialist welfare institutions, stripping them of any element of democratic participation, and placing them under bureaucratic state control, in an effort to get workers on his side while curbing the threat of a broad workers movement.
This is a very simplified summary. A good overview can be found in “The Utopia of Rules” by the late David Graeber.
Edit: Thanks for the award! 🙂
I respect that he was a smart, pragmatic politician, that knew his craft unlike the Kaiser. He’s defintley most responsible for making Germany as powerful as it was in the 19th century, being a keyrole in the unification process and foundation of the Kaiserreich. Most of his moves were purely tactical and pragmatic. And when Willhelm II. came to power and kicked out Bismarck, things went downhill. Bismarck also knew how to maintain diplomacy.
But I despise his policies. (I mean he’s not worse than most of 19th century politician, but this doesnt make it any better)
he ded
The left wing hated him, obviously.
It think he was an important historical figure in Germany, in a positive way. But as always, no historical figure is perfect.
Like his social reforms, hate his anti-democratic stances
He had a cool mustache and helmet.
As someone who has read the whole thread it feels like u rather want to glorify him than read others opinions
Was für ein Otto
I like his herrings
He was a great statesman without whom any history of Germany would be incomplete. I say great as in grand but not as in good. He understood his craft so in that sense he was also a good statesman.
Other than that he was also a reactionary asshole who had only enemies and was responsible for slowing social, political and intellectual growth in Germany through brutal use of force.
Under him Germany united but it wasn’t like he could have prevented a unification. He only made sure that the feudalistic power structure in Germany preserved as much power as possible.
I’m very glad german thinking today is no longer directly impacted by him (and prussian ideas) because otherwise I would fear for a third world war.
He ruined our schooltime
Bismarck biss Mark, bis Mark Bismarck biss.
He did a lot of good things out of wrong reasons.
He achieved a lot. But the extreme nationalism that eventually lead to WWI has its roots in his doing.
I think he is dead
He certainly was a complicated character, and in many cases he did the right things for the wrong reasons.
But overall, i believe his impact on Germany was positive. He set in motion what eventually would become the modern welfare state. Made major contributions to German national identity and forming a unified German State and a whole bunch of other things.
But on the bad side, he kind of paved the way for Germany to enter WWI amongst a bunch of other things. (Although I believe that WWI would have unfolded in a very similar manner even without bismarcks doing)
That guy is the reason why it’s mandatory to go to school in Germany for at least 9 years.
Good looking grandpa.
If Wilhelm II the grandson of the great Friedrich II wouldn’t have fired Bismarck and would have worked with him, European history would have been totally different.
Very likely no World War I
Sorry: not Friedrich Ii, Wilhelm I, the great.
Everyone knows his achievements as a chancellor but his backstory is pretty funny too.
He was a genius from his Bound with Austria-Hungary and other European countrys to his time
I’m afraid I’ve never met him.
Its funny how most people outside of germany seem to ride his dick way harder than most germans, he was a anti democratic warmonger and is quite overrated
Today People want to tear down his statues and pictures because they see him as a racist and colonialist. Pretty dumb if you ask me, he focused on inner politics and wanted to get rid of German colonies because they brought no money but costed a lot.
To be totally honest with you: nothing.
…well that’s not the entire truth. I life in Hamburg and in our metropolitan-area (Aumühle) is the spring of a real nice bottled water, called: “Fürst Bismarck”, besides of that: simply nothing.
32 comments
He united Germany before it was cool and leaded us during a for european standards long peace time, but part of his uniting the germans programm was the rising of nationalism.
I think he is the most important chancelors we ever had and with the problems he had to face also the best too
He’s dead for quite some years now. I usually don’t think about him at all.
Idk much about him but theres one quote I’ll never forget:
>[„Die Liebe der Türken und Deutschen zueinander ist so alt, daß sie niemals zerbrechen wird.“](https://beruhmte-zitate.de/zitate/126403-otto-von-bismarck-die-liebe-der-turken-und-deutschen-zueinander-ist/)
As a german-turk myself this always cuts deep.
Very intelligent policitian and historically very significant, but I am glad the monarchy he founded is now replaced with a proper form of government.
well, he is a divisive figure. He might have united Germany, yes. But through war and political pressure.
The German Kaiserreich was literally founded in Versailles, at the end of the German-French war. The other German states didn’t really have much choice there: uniting with Prussia was basically the only way to share in the victory and not get stomped by them right afterwards. As others have already said, this wasn’t even the last unification Germany had until the present. And that last unification, the fall of the DDR, is remembered as the time Germany was united, not the monarchy 150 years ago. A unification brought on by the people, without violence, to the benefit of all.
Bismarck fueled German colonialism/imperialism (including genocide on native people), his Reich cultivated the narrative of the French “Erbfeind”. Much of the early Nazi propaganda promised a return to these old ways.
The social reforms he implemented are another important point. Yes, they improved people’s lives and laid foundations for modern social security and insurance systems. But they were also a (very well) calculated political maneuver, intended to prevent strikes and riots by the growing social democratic opposition.
Now this is my own point of view: Bismarck was an autocrat, through and through. The nickname “Eiserner Kanzler” isn’t really a compliment. The “iron” stems from an uncompromising and ruthless style of politics, promoting archaic concepts like “noble blood”, and making enemies with almost everyone. Those are the very politics that laid the groundwork for WW1 to happen. Then, again, he was a man influenced by his time: France and britain were the most dominant colonial powers in the world, and very close to the less industrialized German states. He saw a need and a way for change, and was through luck and hard, intelligent work able to implement his visions. His actions brought the German Empire on the global stage. If that was a good thing in the end, I leave to all of you to judge for yourselves.
Many people only know of Bismarck from school, where most students were probably bored or wondering why they had to know about some long dead statesman. The only people who know and care more about these times are either very interested in history, and usually have differentiated views, or are nutjobs who believe that the German Federal Republic is actually a private company occupied by the allies.
Please be nice, it’s 5 am, I’m writing on my phone, and I’m no history professor.
The man played an important part in uniting the German states. He was a clever statesman. But he is hardly a part of the national Identity of today‘s Germany.
Wasn’t a great guy but played definitely very important role in creating the foundation of today’s Germany.
He unified Germany and created things like health insurance (Even though it was more out of spite towards parties like the SPD or KPD)
To me he‘s just an old historical guy. He unified Germany and pissed off the French. He invented the pension system (I think?) and I got a pretty good grade in my exam about him.
Other than that, my grandpa who is a little senile won’t shut up about him but he speaks so intelligible that I don’t really know what that‘s about
Bismarck was instrumental in founding what we today think of as the European welfare state – unemployment benefits, pensions, etc. But as others have also pointed out, he didn’t do this out of magnanimity. At the time, there was a strong socialist movement in Germany of various workers associations, Co-operatives and other citizens initiatives which were between them creating pretty much all of the institutions which we now think of as welfare statist – from insurance schemes to public libraries. Importantly, these citizens’ welfare institutions had a strong element of democratic participation: all of the members of a given initiative having a say in, for example, how a particular pension scheme should work. The growing popularity of these socialist movements was a threat to Bismarck’s conservative, nationalist political programme, so the welfare state which he implemented was essentially taking some elements of these socialist welfare institutions, stripping them of any element of democratic participation, and placing them under bureaucratic state control, in an effort to get workers on his side while curbing the threat of a broad workers movement.
This is a very simplified summary. A good overview can be found in “The Utopia of Rules” by the late David Graeber.
Edit: Thanks for the award! 🙂
I respect that he was a smart, pragmatic politician, that knew his craft unlike the Kaiser. He’s defintley most responsible for making Germany as powerful as it was in the 19th century, being a keyrole in the unification process and foundation of the Kaiserreich. Most of his moves were purely tactical and pragmatic. And when Willhelm II. came to power and kicked out Bismarck, things went downhill. Bismarck also knew how to maintain diplomacy.
But I despise his policies. (I mean he’s not worse than most of 19th century politician, but this doesnt make it any better)
he ded
The left wing hated him, obviously.
It think he was an important historical figure in Germany, in a positive way. But as always, no historical figure is perfect.
Like his social reforms, hate his anti-democratic stances
He had a cool mustache and helmet.
As someone who has read the whole thread it feels like u rather want to glorify him than read others opinions
Was für ein Otto
I like his herrings
He was a great statesman without whom any history of Germany would be incomplete. I say great as in grand but not as in good. He understood his craft so in that sense he was also a good statesman.
Other than that he was also a reactionary asshole who had only enemies and was responsible for slowing social, political and intellectual growth in Germany through brutal use of force.
Under him Germany united but it wasn’t like he could have prevented a unification. He only made sure that the feudalistic power structure in Germany preserved as much power as possible.
I’m very glad german thinking today is no longer directly impacted by him (and prussian ideas) because otherwise I would fear for a third world war.
He ruined our schooltime
Bismarck biss Mark, bis Mark Bismarck biss.
He did a lot of good things out of wrong reasons.
He achieved a lot. But the extreme nationalism that eventually lead to WWI has its roots in his doing.
I think he is dead
He certainly was a complicated character, and in many cases he did the right things for the wrong reasons.
But overall, i believe his impact on Germany was positive. He set in motion what eventually would become the modern welfare state. Made major contributions to German national identity and forming a unified German State and a whole bunch of other things.
But on the bad side, he kind of paved the way for Germany to enter WWI amongst a bunch of other things. (Although I believe that WWI would have unfolded in a very similar manner even without bismarcks doing)
That guy is the reason why it’s mandatory to go to school in Germany for at least 9 years.
Good looking grandpa.
If Wilhelm II the grandson of the great Friedrich II wouldn’t have fired Bismarck and would have worked with him, European history would have been totally different.
Very likely no World War I
Sorry: not Friedrich Ii, Wilhelm I, the great.
Everyone knows his achievements as a chancellor but his backstory is pretty funny too.
He was a genius from his Bound with Austria-Hungary and other European countrys to his time
I’m afraid I’ve never met him.
Its funny how most people outside of germany seem to ride his dick way harder than most germans, he was a anti democratic warmonger and is quite overrated
Today People want to tear down his statues and pictures because they see him as a racist and colonialist. Pretty dumb if you ask me, he focused on inner politics and wanted to get rid of German colonies because they brought no money but costed a lot.
To be totally honest with you: nothing.
…well that’s not the entire truth. I life in Hamburg and in our metropolitan-area (Aumühle) is the spring of a real nice bottled water, called: “Fürst Bismarck”, besides of that: simply nothing.