Bismarck, Ottovon(1815–1898)

AbstractOtto von Bismarck was the leading German statesman of the nineteenth century; he was also the guiding spirit behind the foundation in 1871 of the German Empire, a complex political unit which he then proceeded to lead for nineteen years as its first, most successful, and longest‐serving chancellor. Bismarck was born into a protestant Prussian land‐owning noble family and, as such, was a member of the Junker class. The stereotypical Junker, then as now, was of a deeply conservative, even reactionary, disposition. Wedded to the ideal of “Throne and Altar,” he wanted to preserve Prussia's traditional hierarchical society, in which his class, as hereditary titled landowners, were the dominant group in the localities, at court, and in the government and army. In reality, the Junkers, like any social group, were a diverse body of people that had many different attributes. Recent research has shown them to be more modern and more complicated than the caricature would suggest. Nevertheless, to many of his contemporaries, Bismarck seemed to fit the stereotype of a Junker perfectly and, in the earlypart of his career, when serving as Prussia's representative to the German Confederation in Frankfurt and then as ambassador to Russia, he gained a reputation as a staunch conservative and as an unbending opponent of the progressive forces in Europe. In reality, this reputation as an unthinking reactionary hid considerable political talents. Bismarck did, indeed, possess conservative views and wanted to see the preservation of the old order in Prussia; however, he was also a realist and was well aware that such goals could not be achieved by blindly standing in the way of inevitable developments. Consequently, he believed that the aim of a true conservative should not be to oppose modernity, a futile stance destined ultimately to fail, but rather to manage the forces of change and thereby channel them down more acceptable paths. This far‐sighted and most uncommonly perceptive attitude has led at least one historian to label Bismarck a “white revolutionary” (Gall 1990), someone who was willing to use new and seemingly progressive methods for traditional ends. To his intense frustration, however, for the first four decades of his life there seemed little prospect that he would ever be in a position to put these advanced ideas into practice. Hated by progressives and distrusted by the leading figures at the Prussian court, who did not share his unorthodox views, he did not seem destined for high office. However, when a lack of suitable alternative candidates led a reluctant King Wilhelm I to appoint Bismarck as minister‐president of Prussia in 1862, he finally got the opportunity to demonstrate his acumen for leadership.