If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.
Otto Von Bismarck
如果你喜欢法律和香肠，你从不会看到它们是怎样被泡制出来的。
奥托·冯·俾斯麦
【姑布评议】
人间有许多技艺擅长之家，即为专家行手！是为我最欣羡者吧！就从政之人，怀诸古今列国，Bismarck无疑是几个我最憧憬和崇拜的“能手”！我们的单位有许多匪夷所思的“能手”，他们的进步我也看到了：组成了考察团周游列国了，十天一程的美加之旅，六个狼狈为奸的地方高级官员花销达六十多万元！他们能我们做些什么事呢！一步步都是猎取功名，目的只在于个人享受则了！而真正的治国怀远之人，像俾斯麦公古今实寥寥无几！不必问他是否口口不离“爱民如子”否，不必问他曾对于社会主义做何钳制相逼否，但问国强民富否？！此是要道！如果要问法律和香肠是如何泡制出来的，我想绝非立法者闭门造车，也非喜欢权谋的纯粹个人亨利主义者所能知道，因为它们不是投机分子的产物，而是从社会的发展为业，从不会思虑今日何得猖狂、明日何得逃亡！可笑多少所谓自鸣得意的官员！该杀该剐犹有不足，何以能制造为人所喜欢的法律和香肠！
【名家档案】
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Otto von Bismarck (1815-98) has gone down in the history as 'Iron Chancellor', a rectionary and a militarist whose unification of Germany in 1871 set Europe on the road to the desaster of the First World War. Yet as this comprehensive study shows, the real Bismarck was a much more complicated figure than this traditional stereotype suggests. the 'Founder of The Reich' had been an opponent of liberal German nationalism; after the wars of 1866 and 1870, Bismarck spent the rest of his career to preserve peace in Europe to protect the Reich he had created; and the reactionary enemy of socialism introduced comprehensive health and unemployment insurance for German workers.
Bismarck and the Unification of Germany
otto von Bismarck
Prince Otto Edward Leopold von Bismarck was the mastermind of German Unification and was the first chancellor of the united nation. Bismarck caused Germany to transform from a loose net of 39 states into the strongest industrial nation of Europe. The unification of Germany had a tremendous impact on European balance of powers for the rest of history. For nearly 30 years Bismarck dominated Germany and European politics.
Germany before Unification
Before Bismarck came into power, the Congress of Vienna formed the Germany Confederation, which was really a collection of small states ruled by minor dukes, princes and kings. Revolutions in nearly every German State occurred. Rebels forced rulers to accept Constitutions, and allow elections to the German National Assembly in Frankfurt. In May 1848, shortly after the revolutionary outbreak in Berlin, delegates from all of the German states met at the Frankfurt Assembly to prepare for the formation of a united and constitutional German nation-state. The Frankfurt constitution established Germany as a federal union, which was to be headed by a monarch having a title. After the failure of the Frankfurt Assembly, a disagreement between moderate and radical liberals started and the German Confederation was renewed in 1851. Fredric Wilhelm IV died in 1861 leaving King Wilhelm I of Prussia to the throne. A year later Otto von Bismarck was appointed Prime minister of Prussia.
Bismarck and his Political Tactics
Bismarck's ultimate goal was to unite the German states into a strong German Empire with Prussia as its core. On September 30, 1862 Bismarck made his famous blood and iron speech, which implied that if Germany was to unify it would be with the use of military force. He hated liberalism, democracy and socialism. Following his speech, he dismissed the budget proposal and ordered the bureaucracy to collect taxes. This money would go to military use, and Bismarck would expand and strengthen the Prussian armies. These armies would than be used in three wars which Bismarck devised to unify the country.
A. The Danish War: 1864- 1865
Liberals in Germany had always wanted to separate Schleswig-Holstein from Denmark. Prussia joined forces with Austria and sent an ultimatum to Denmark on January 16, 1864 demanding a withdrawal of the former constitution, which incorporated Schleswig in Denmark within 48 hours or face military action. At this point, Denmark looked to the European powers for military support but received none. Denmark was beat by Prussian and Austrian military forces. Following their victory, the treaty of Gastein was created to compromise who ruled which lands. The treaty stated Prussia controlled Schleswig and Austria controlled Holstein.
B. Prussian Austrian War: 1866
For several years Bismarck had predicted a war with Austria. His governing policy from 1863 to 1866 was based around this war. One example of this plan was when Prussia made an alliance with Italy, stating that they would help Prussia if war broke out within the next 3 months. When the war actually did brake out, no other German states came to Prussia's aid. Bismarck also persuaded Russia to remain neutral. Austria was isolated and appeared very weak. Ordering his troops to march into the Holestein, an Austrian territory, provoked the country into declaring war. After isolating Austria from France and Russia and receiving Italy's help in a defensive war against the province, Bismarck was ready for his last step in enticing Austria to war. He proposed a unified Germany under the kleindeutsch plan to the Frankfurt Assembly. Under this plan he purposely excluded Austria from the German affairs. This action was what finally forced Austria to attack Prussia.
Most German states chose to side with Austria in the war against Prussia because they felt they were defending their independence. However, Prussia with Bismarck's military intelligence was victorious. Following their victory, Bismarck set up peaceful treaties with Austria to remain as future allies. Prussia joined with Northern German states to form the North German confederation. This was formed in 1867, and created a new powerful German state. Bismarck granted equal manhood suffrage and the budget control switched over to Parliament. The German states were allowed to govern themselves but they still were under the influence of the German Emperor. This pleased many Germans because it was a step towards total German Unification and it also granted Prussia more power.
After three wars Bismarck finished his plan and totally unified Germany.
C. Franco-Prussian war
Through the course of the Austrian-Prussian war, Bismarck made a territorial agreement with France in turn for neutrality, but he never intended on keeping his part of the deal. Bismarck's final step to unification was war with France, but first he had to manipulate countries to be on his side. After this victory, Prussia could then unify Germany once and for all. Bismarck provoked a patriotic war with France by mocking the French in a letter which was later printed in newspapers. The letter vexed nationalistic feelings, causing France to declare war on Prussia. Southern and Northern German states along with Prussia combined their powers to defeat the French army. Although Bismarck was pleasant to Austria, this was not the case towards the French. He brutally punished the already weak country with the Treaty of Frankfurt and took vitally important land from them. This created bad feelings among the French towards the Germans and later created problems.
UNIFICATION
Bismarck's victory led to the support he needed from his people to create a united Germany. In general the constitution stayed the same as Northern Germany's before unification; Bismarck only made a few changes. The three major changes were a German national Parliament, the Reichstag was now elected by the German people, and Germany developed a federal council. Also the country now had budgetary rights, but could not overthrow the government. Bismarck had succeeded in making Prussia in control of all-important decisions. An example of this is that each German State still had separate armies, but the armies were under Prussian order. Although Germans were pleased with unification, the rest of Europe felt that Germany was going to offset the European balance of power. The Unification of Germany made it a European power along with France, great Britain, Austria, the united states, and Russia. By Germany gaining power it allowed Bismarck to control most of Europe. Germany economically had a major impact and Bismarck's foreign policy created an intricate map of alliances preventing Germany to enter any wars after unification.
this is a map of the German Empire in 1871 the time of unification. Germany is outlined in red
The German empire in 1871 is highlighted in the map above. this also shows what this part of Europe looked like at this time.
German Nationalism
Nationalism, a feeling of loyalty towards one's country, differed from German nationalism. Bismarck used wars to cause national unity within Germany but these nationalistic feelings soon disappeared once the country was actually unified. There were several different types of people located in Germany, all of them containing different views on the how the Empire should be ruled. Bismarck was apart of the Junkers or upper class, who supported militarism, and didn't like universal suffrage because it was a threat on their way of life. On the other hand, Southern German states embraced a liberal constitution, and a movement towards democracy grew in this region.
Politics were not the only difference; religion broke down nationalism as well. Catholics who lived in the Empire felt uncomfortable living in a Protestant dominated environment. They soon created their own political party, the Center Party. This party opposed many of Bismarck's ideas and enticed him to make restrictions on Catholic education and work. Both Protestants and Catholics disliked Bismarck for putting restrictions on religion.
Along with confinements on religion Bismarck started putting restriction on politics. He created anti- socialist laws, which banned Socialism, prohibited the printing of Socialist ideas and Socialist meetings. All of these restrictions prove that German Nationalism was credited to the three wars but after these wars were won, Germany's many differences shone brightly through the country's seeping cracks.
Foreign Policy
Bismarck made Germany the strongest military power on the continent. Geographically Germany was between large military powers. Bismarck had to be sure no country would attack Germany. This caused him to create a secret alliance with Austria-Hungary and a triple treaty including Russia, Austria and Germany: otherwise known as the Alliance of three Emperors. The new country stayed out of the imperialistic race with Africa and Asia to keep peace between the other European countries. Eventually it did get into the imperialistic race but under Bismarck's rule Germany maintained a solid foreign policy.
A map of the five great powers. Bismarck after unifying Germany tried to keep good relations with these countries.
Cause to WW1
Bismarck united Germany, but later on the country he united would cause the First World War. One example of how Bismarck caused World War One relates to the French. Germany, after defeating the French in the Franco-Prussian war, they utterly humiliated them through the Treaty of Frankfort. After this treaty the French people had sour feelings towards Germany. The country had created this treaty to make sure the French would never attack Prussia again but the opposite occurred. This treaty, in the end probably caused the French to stand up to Germany in World War One. Bismarck manipulated several countries during this time and bad feelings just don't go away. after unification Bismarck's next goal was to prevent Germany from entering any other wars. His foreign policy created alliances which was a major long term cause of WW1. These alliances created tension within the continent and allowed Europe to get into a world war situation.
Bibliography
Otto von Bismarck
Graf Otto von Bismarck, Fürst von Bismarck-Schönhausen, Herzog von Lauenburg,geb. 01.04.1815 in Schönhausen, gest. 30.07.1898 in Friedrichsruh.Gründer und erster Kanzler des Deutschen Reiches.Reichskanzler von 1871 bis 1890,genannt »
Der Eiserne Kanzler« Sosehr Bismarck sich in der Außenpolitik zu einem Staatsmann von Weltbedeutung entwickelte, unabhängig von den wechselnden Strömungen der Zeit, sowenig konnte er sich in der Innenpolitik von seiner konservativen Herkunft lösen. Bismarck (
Bild /
Unterschrift) suchte den preußischen Staatsgedanken mit der Nationalbewegung des 19. Jahrhunderts zu verbinden.
Der Kulturkampf (1872 - 1878) führte zu einer Schwächung des Staates wie auch des Liberalismus. Bismarcks Kampf gegen die Sozialdemokratie
(Sozialistengesetz 1878) hat diese eher gefestigt.
Die große Leistung der Sozialgesetzgebung
(Kaiserliche Botschaft von 1881) konnte Arbeitertum und Staat nicht versöhnen, zumal Bismarck ihren durch Wilhelm II. geforderten Ausbau zu einer Arbeitsschutzgesetzgebung ablehnte. Bei aller an Bismarck geübten Kritik ist zu bedenken, dass der Außenpolitik sein Hauptinteresse galt und dass hier nicht das Wünschbare, sondern das Mögliche Bismarcks Ziel war (Realpolitik). Eine Außenpolitik gleichen Formats ist seinen Nachfolgern nicht mehr gelungen.Die unwürdige Form seiner
Entlassung am 20.3.1890 durch
Wilhelm II. wegen persönlicher und sachlicher Differenzen hat Bismarck in offenen Gegensatz zur Regierung des jungen Kaisers gebracht.(Nach "Bertelsmann Lexikothek", Gütersloh 1977 und "Das Große DUDEN-LEXIKON", Mannheim 1969)
Es gibt eine Reihe von Seiten zu Otto von Bismarck.Folgen Sie dazu jeweils dem Link
Mehr zu Bismarck Einen wirklich großen Mann erkennt man an drei Dingen:Großzügigkeit im Entwurf, Menschlichkeit in der Ausführungund Mäßigkeit beim Erfolg.Otto von Bismarck
