Bismarck, Otto Eduard Leopold von (1815–1898)

A caricature of the emperors of Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary being manipulated by Prince Otto von Bismarck during the Dreikaiserbund alliance. The league crumpled under the pressures of renewed war in the East 1875–78.

A Prussian statesman and first chancellor of a united Germany, Bismarck believed that German problems must be solved by ‘blood and iron’ rather than by words. The ‘Iron Chancellor’ served under Kaiser Wilhelm I from 1871, but was dismissed in 1888 by Kaiser Wilhelm II.

A French cartoon entitled Entrée du Charlemagne moderne à Paris, depicting the German chancellor Bismarck, with Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany riding a pig (Napoleon) down the Champs Elysées in Paris, France.

German politician, prime minister of Prussia 1862–90 and chancellor of the German Empire 1871–90. He pursued an aggressively expansionist policy, waging wars against Denmark (1863–64), Austria (1866), and France (1870–71), which brought about the unification of Germany. He became Prince in 1871.

Bismarck was ambitious to establish Prussia's leadership within Germany and eliminate the influence of Austria. He secured Austria's support for his successful war against Denmark then, in 1866, went to war against Austria and its allies (the Seven Weeks' War), his victory forcing Austria out of the German Bund and unifying the northern German states into the North German Confederation under his own chancellorship in 1867. He then defeated France, under Napoleon III, in the Franco-Prussian War 1870–71, proclaimed the German Empire in 1871, and annexed Alsace-Lorraine. He tried to secure his work by the Triple Alliance in 1881 with Austria and Italy but ran into difficulties at home with the Roman Catholic Church and the socialist movement and was forced to resign by Wilhelm II on 18 March 1890.