Home > Otto von Bismarck
:Alternate meanings: See Bismarck (disambiguation).
Prince Otto von Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg ( April 1, 1815 – July 30, 1898) was one of the most prominent leaders of the 19th century; as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia ( 1862– 1890) he unified GermanyThe Federal Republic of Germany ( German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland is one of the world's leading industrialized countries, located in the middle of the European Union. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, to the east (except AustriaAustria is a landlocked country in Central Europe, a federation of nine states. Austria is bordered by Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the) with a series of successful wars and became the first ChancellorThe head of government in Germany has traditionally been called Kanzler ( Chancellor). The name of the office today is Bundeskanzler (Federal Chancellor); from 1871 to 1945, it was Reichskanzler (Imperial Chancellor). During the period of the Norddeutsche ( 1871– 1890) of the German Empire.
Initially a deeply conservative, aristocratic, and monarchist Junker politician, Bismarck fought the growing social democracy movement in the 1880s by outlawing several organizations and pragmatically instituting mandatory old-age pensions, and health and accident insurance for workers. He became known as the Iron Chancellor and is considered one of the most important figures in German history.
1 Early life and rise to power
He was born Otto Eduard Leopold Graf (count) von Bismarck in Schönhausen and studied law at Göttingen and Berlin. He married Johanna von Puttkamer in 1847, and their long and happy marriage produced three children.
Delighted after the failure of the revolution of 1848, he was elected to the Prussian parliament in 1849. Appointed to represent Prussia in Frankfurt, Bismarck slowly became convinced that a Prussian-led unified German nation was an important goal (this was considered a liberal objective at the time). Subsequently, he worked as ambassador in St. Petersburg and Paris. In 1862, the Prussian king Wilhelm I appointed him Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Prussia, as part of a conflict between the increasingly liberal Prussian parliament and the king.
