So I just read about Bismarck but, what was his motivation ?
He was a nationalist and a royalist but still would betray his king to do what he sees as the best for the nation.
I didn't find any reason for him be the guy he was. He studied law, drank very much and didn't have any political actions before turning into this ultra-nationalist.
I AM PLAYING THE GAME
If I recall things correctly Bismarck was an Conservative and did at first dislike nationalism. later when cries for reforms began to get louder again he kinda united Germany as a way of distracting people.
so he won 3 wars and created the german empire just to fuck off the liberals ?
Yes.
He wanted to fuck the parliament once because socialists were in there too but Wilhelm II stopped him.
>what was his motivation ?
To unite the Germanic peoples under one fag.
He was a real life Oberstein
"I must unite the German people under one flag."
the mouth of the horse himself senpai
this absolute madman.
"I cant stand leftists. Lets change world history so they dont fuck up my country"
>I must subjugate the germanic nations to prussens yoke under the excuse of uniting the germanic people under one flag.
There you go.
One of the worst of that accursed race the Teutons, literally to blame for 2 world wars because of the poisonous ideology he had which infected Germany
less leftists and more other Prussian nobleman/politicians.
they had a big fight about the budget of the military and its usefulness, Bismarck feared his position as chancellor,
>so he fought a war against the danish, to bring the German states closer together
>a war against the Austrians to liquidate the competition
>provoke a war against the french, so that every other German state had to act, to defend their Teutonic brothers (everybody is looking at you Bavaria)
>everybody is looking at you Bavaria
And in that war of French agression a companionship of war was formed between Bavaria and Prussia
He was a Conservative Royalist, Nationalism was just a tool that he used. Most of what he did was to defend the Conservative order of Prussia and the Junker class, that was pretty much doomed once he was fired by Wilhelm II.
This isn't to say Willy was an idiot or villain though, he was really a product of Bismarck (who pretty much managed his upbringing to be at odds with his Liberal father) but Willy was more susceptible to the Nationalist and Liberal feelings than anybody could really anticipate, and he fired Bismarck because Otto wanted to incite a mass strike from the Socialists to justify using the German Army and Police to wipe them out.
Willy being Emperor of the Germans obviously took exception to Germans dying for cynical political gains he didn't understand, so Bismarck was sacked and Germany was doomed as the socialists outlived the Kaiser and went on to seize the country after a devastating war.
nah, Prussia just peer pressured these pretentious twats into joining the Kaiserreich
Is it safe to say Otto von Bismarck in the end placed Germany on the road to ruin?
What the fuck are you on about, if bizzy remained chancellor there wouldn't be a world war 1. He wanted status quo and that was the reason he was sacked by Willy.
>quite literally singlehandedly created the conditions which isolated Germany
Yes.
Lolno.
>diplomatically isolated france by allying russia
>an alliance which wasn't renewed by that retard wilhelm
Bismarck was literally sacked because he didn't agree with Wilhelms aggressive foreign policy.
that is the biggest question, that German Historians face.
Was Bismarck a blessing or a curse?
eternal Anglo never rests
>setting up a completely secret non-aggression pact that was only necessary because you completely assreamed Russia by siding with Austria in the Balkans
>an alliance
Yeah, no. You're literally retarded. Shut the fuck up and fuck off.
The picture I posted became famous in the Bavarian military history for showing exactly what I said. Believe it or not, with the Franco-German War detest for one another between Prussia and Bavaria became more of a sort of banter.
He played a very high risk high reward game with diplomacy and statecraft that nobody could really match at the time, so in a way yes, but he didn't really expect to be fired so in the same way no.
Germany becoming more than a geographic and cultural concept probably put it on the road to ruin more than anything else, since a lot of German cultural identity was lost with unification and the constant seizures of different influences (communism, national socialism, etc.) eventually wore down on something considered a single people instead of varying localities within a greater group.
Even Bismarck committed some atrocities like the Kulturkampf, which was a great persecution of Catholics.
Another point of ruin for Germany could have been the unfortunate death of Frederick III who was a mild liberal and a good man by all accounts. While he was at odds with Bismarck, he let the chancellor do his own thing for the most part and the Chancellor probably liked him on the throne, since Frederick was a good face for the state.
>Is it safe to say Otto von Bismarck in the end placed Germany on the road to ruin?
me being able to understand this conclusion (no matter whether right or wrong) just made me love history
Wow you've really convinced me there, fagtron. If bismarck remained chancellor there wouldn't be a world war.
>If bismarck remained chancellor there wouldn't be a world war
>If Bismarck continued to set Germany on it's path to destruction then there wouldn't be a World War
Ufockingwot.
No. I blame Willhelm. Bismarck didn't want to expand German territory after the Prussian wars.
He literally wanted to preserve peace in europe because he already won.
he know germany will unificate
so he just wanted to make sure it will be under Prussia hegemony
He literally tossed the League of Three Emperors out the window over the Balkans by not upholding neutrality and pissed off Britain by signing colonial charters for territory that Britain had already claimed as a protectorate (And you can't blame Wilhelm II for these in the slightest, the first one was signed in 1883). You can blame Wilhelm II all you like, but Germany was on rails well before he was coronated.
"no"
>This isn't to say Willy was an idiot or villain though, he was really a product of Bismarck (who pretty much managed his upbringing to be at odds with his Liberal father) but Willy was more susceptible to the Nationalist and Liberal feelings than anybody could really anticipate, and he fired Bismarck because Otto wanted to incite a mass strike from the Socialists to justify using the German Army and Police to wipe them out.
Bless Willy, at least he did something right
If only his father didn't get cancer and die
Him and Nicky should have never been leaders.
This, Frogs call him evil, but he's more of a tragic character imo, just a weird, semi-competent man not fit for leading
Emancipating the jews and allowing socdem party to exist was a mistake
Social Democrats and Centrists was the only sane people in the German empire, the SocDems even stood up against their socialist "peers" following the war.
Not their fault the generals blamed losing the war on them.
>he fired Bismarck because Otto wanted to incite a mass strike from the Socialists to justify using the German Army and Police to wipe them out
Kek, good man.
I know he issued the "social laws" (basic social security) so that he could also issue the "socialist laws" (fucking with commies). That led to an emigration wave to America. The commies went to Argentina, mostly.
>the SocDems even stood up against their socialist "peers" following the war.
>following the war
Correct. Because of the economical crisis and the Treaty even they had to learn to save some money instead of throwing tax payer's money into social programs that benefit 10% of the "workers".
Before the war they were your typical "more money, less work" workers party. They were even the strongest party in pre-war Germany.
>Not their fault the generals blamed losing the war on them.
Now, my memory might be a little rusty here. But didn't those two MSPD and USPD guys proclaim the German republic before they got an official go from the Kaiser (still head of government at the time)?
The Kaiser appointed Max von Baden as Chancellor who basically said fuck it and "confirmed" the abdication then gave that position to Friedrich Ebert (MSPD), who never bothered to check why the German Kaiser would simply let the whole form of government change. The official abdication letter was written a month later.
It just seems a little fishy to me.
>the SocDems even stood up against their socialist "peers" following the war.
u mean by murdering Rosa Luxemburg? :'(