Otto von bismarck quotes

British Broadcasting Corporation Home. He then entered the Prussian civil service but was bored by his job and in resigned. For nearly a decade, he helped his father manage the family estates. In , Bismarck married Johanna von Puttkamer, who provided him with stability.

How did otto von bismarck die

It was a year of significant change in his life, when he also embraced the Christian tradition of Lutheranism, and began his political career in the Prussian legislature, where he gained a reputation as an ultra-conservative royalist. He then served as ambassador to Russia and France. In , he returned to Prussia and was appointed prime minister by the new king, Wilhelm I.

Bismarck was now determined to unite the German states into a single empire, with Prussia at its core. With Austrian support, he used the expanded Prussian army to capture the provinces of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark. He then escalated a quarrel with Austria and its German allies over the administration of these provinces into a war, in which Prussia was the victor.

Prussia then annexed further territory in Germany. Unable to persuade the southern German states to join with his North German Confederation, he provoked hostilities with France as a way of uniting the German states together.

Otto von bismarck fun facts

The German victory in the Franco-Prussian War won over the southern German states, and in they agreed to join a German empire. Wilhelm I of Prussia became emperor. As 'chancellor' of the new Germany, Bismarck concentrated on building a powerful state with a unified national identity. One of his targets was the Catholic Church, which he believed had too much influence, particularly in southern Germany.