1. Otto Von Bismarck 1815-1898 Natassia

2.  Transformed a collection of small German States into a Great Empire  Served as the first Chancellor from 1871- 1890  Initiated social and welfare reform The Iron Chancellor

3. Young Life  Born on 1 April 1815 at Schönhausen in Brandenburg, Prussia.  His father was an aristocrat and his mother was from an upper-middle class family of academicians and civil servants.

4. His Education  Went to Gymnasium in Berlin  Studied Law at Göttingen and in Berlin. He received his degree in 1837.  Received a civil service appointment as an apprentice official but resigned in 1838.

5. Young Adult Life  From 1838-1847 Otto was a “Wild Man.” He drank heavily and gambled recklessly.  Life changes in 1847 when he married Johanna Von Putkammer, converted his religion and began his political career.  These gave him stability and self discipline.

6. Prussian Legislature  Extremely conservative and wholeheartedly supported the monarchy  Strongly opposed any challenges to the position of the land owning aristocracy  Befriended by Prussia’s King Frederick William IV.  Appointed Ambassador to the German Confederation.  Appointed Ambassador to Russia in St. Petersburg.

7. Prussia  1858 Prince Regent William became Wilhelm I  1860 King and Parliament in deadlock about funding military reform  Appointed Bismarck Premier in 1862  Found a loophole by using the 1861 budget without parliament approval  “The great questions of today will not be settled by speeches and majority decisions…but by blood and iron.” Wilhelm I

8. Wars  1864 Took provinces of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark with an alliance with Austria  1866 7-weeks-war with Austria over the provinces  1866 Parliament retroactively sanctioned the wars  1870 Bismarck edited and important document to France to sound insulting. He provoked a war to unite Southern Germany with Northern Germany against a common threat.

9. Wilhelm Crowned Emperor  Crowned in the hall of mirrors in Versailles outside Paris, on January 18, 1871

10. Chancellor of the Empire  Uniform legal codes, nationalized railways, compulsory military service  Kulturkampf- (culture struggle) attack fueled by propaganda against the Center Party (Catholic).  Became a conflict with The Roman Catholic Church. Bismarck was force to Negotiate.  Used a similar attack on the Liberal groups successfully  At the same time instituted health, accident, and old age insurance

11. Foreign Policy  1873 negotiated the Three Emperor’s League with Austria-Hungary and Russia to isolate France  1879 Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary in case of Russian Attack  1877 Two Mediterranean Agreements to preserve Status quo  Complex system

12. Retirement  After many conflict with young Emperor Wilhelm II, Bismarck was dismissed in 1890  He retired to his estate and died on July 30, 1898

13. Quotes  “Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.”  “Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable…the art of the next best.”  “Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.”  “Better pointed bullets than pointed words.”

14. Contemporaries Karl Marx 1818-1883 sociologist Charles Darwin 1809-1882 naturalist Pope Pius IX 1797-1878 William Wordsworth 1770-1850 Poet Alphred Lord Tennyson 1809-1892 Poet

15. More Contemporaries Gregor Mandel 1822-1884 Austrian Monk/Teacher Studied Plant Genetics Henry David Thoreau 1817-1862 Writer Walt Whitman 1819-1892 Writer Queen Victoria 1837-1901 Sam Clemens 1835-1910 Mark Twain

16. Notable Sources www.kbismarck.com www.fordham.edu www.ssa.gov www.germanembassy-india.org Encarta.msn.com www.creative quotations.com www.cmtc.7atc.army.mil www.newgenevacenter.org

17. Special Thanks To Travis “Günther” Roberts Author and Historian

18. The End