Otto von Bismarck (1815 to 1898)

Bismarck married Johanna von Puttkamer (1824 – 1894) on July 28, 1847. They were married in the parish church Alt-Kolziglow (modern Kołczygłowy) near Reinfeld. He then followed his wife's religion and beliefs. The couple had three children, Marie (1848–1926), Herbert (1849–1904), and Wilhelm (1852–1901).

After taking office in the Prussian government, he was elected to the Prussian parliament in 1847. During his time as a member of parliament, Bismarck strongly opposed the liberal movement. He preferred to unite the German state under the Prussian flag. In addition, he is known to defend the privileges of the elite class of society more often.

In the summer of 1848, he was involved in the founding and content of the Neue Preußische Zeitung (also known as the Kreuzzeitung because of the cross on the title page ). He wrote numerous articles for the paper. In August 1848 he was one of the main initiators of the so-called Junker Parliament. Several hundred aristocratic landowners gathered there to protest against the encroachment on their property.

In January and July, 1849 Bismarck was elected to the second chamber of the Prussian state parliament. During this time he decided to devote himself entirely to politics and moved to Berlin with his family. This made him one of the first professional politicians in Prussia. In Parliament, he appeared as the mouthpiece of the die-hards. He defended the rejection of the imperial dignity and the imperial constitution by Friedrich Wilhelm IV because from his point of view it was to be feared that Prussia would become part of Germany. For him, the national question was secondary to securing Prussian power.

Bismarck's political career began when he became a member of the Prussian legislature and fully supported the monarchy. His career continued to climb when in 1851 he was appointed King Frederick Wilhelm IV as Prussian representative for the German Confederation and then ambassador to Russia and France. Returning to Prussia in 1862, he was entrusted with the new Prussian king Wilhelm I to sit as Prime Minister of Prussia.

Since given the mandate by King Wilhelm I to become Prime Minister of Prussia, Bismarck was determined to unite the kingdoms, haryapatih, and duchies in Germany into a single empire in which Prussia was its great leader. One by one the regions were conquered with initial capital in the form of support from Austria and took the provinces of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark and then fought Austria and other allies to seize other provinces.

At that time, the greatest obstacle Bismarck faced was the strong influence of the Roman Catholic Church in southern Germany. Bismarck also questioned Roman Catholic allegiance to the German Empire. To overcome this, Bismarck launched the Kulturkampf, a program that brought the Roman Catholic church under state control or a series of anti-Catholic rules. Despite receiving support from liberals in Catholic affairs, Bismarck remained a conservative and a staunch supporter of the Prussian monarchy. His famous speech of September 30, 1862, contained allusions to liberals. "The big questions of the day will not be resolved through speeches and majority decisions, but with iron and blood," Bismarck said, referring to the failure of the German Revolution of 1848 which opposed the rule of the Prussian and Austrian monarchs over the German Confederation.

What Bismarck did at that time was that he had launched wars against Denmark, Austria, and France. Before launching the war, Bismarck acted to strengthen his army by providing sufficient training for his soldiers to face the enemy in war and equipping his army with the most modern weapons. The Prussian army was the best army in Europe at that time. Bismarck acted wisely and swiftly when waging wars with Denmark, Austria, and France. He did not wage war with these countries at the same time. When waging war with a country, he first determines by means of wise diplomacy that other countries do not unite against him.

In 1866, the conflict between Prussia and Austria culminated in the Austro-Prussian War, which Prussia won. Bismarck then formed the North German confederation and removed Austria from German territory. And then in 1870, the Prussian conflict with France occurred when Napoleon expanded his territory to enter the territory of several German states. The two countries fought a war for one year until finally, Prussia emerged victoriously.

After the united north and south, the German Empire was founded in 1871. King Wilhelm I became emperor and Bismarck was promoted to the chancellor on March 21, 1871. Bismarck immediately set a political line that emphasized strengthening national identity so that the German Empire would not become divided.

Apart from stemming Catholic and liberal currents, Bismarck's domestic policies helped prevent the spread of socialism. Bismarck hated socialists and anarchists when he succeeded in establishing a government of the Paris Commune in 1871 when France suffered the defeat of Prussia. He called this left group the state rat and deserved to be destroyed.

Although only two representatives of the socialist voice sat in the Reichstag (parliament) in 1871, Bismarck's desire to beat up the left remained strong. As proof, he proposed a law banning leftist-style parties in parliament in early 1876 and insisted on fighting for it to get a majority vote from parliament but failed. Bismarck only succeeded in freezing the socialists who belonged to the Social Democratic Party in 1878. He used a propaganda campaign to blame socialists for the attempted assassination of Emperor Wilhelm I.

Bismarck did his job very well, one of which was by proposing a strong military program to maintain peace in the new empire. He also managed to maintain Britain as a neutral force for the European region and received support from the country he had defeated, Austria.

In fact, Bismarck was diplomatically successful in preventing France from taking revenge for its previous defeat. These various achievements succeeded in making Otto von Bismarck a "judge" for the European region.

He also exerted great influence on problems in his country. When he dealt with socialists, he dealt with it a lot in a very repressive way. However, after their number increased in parliament, he created a program of social reform to weaken the work program of the socialists.

The reform includes such laws on child labor, regulations on working hours, and making guarantees for the elderly. Various economic policies also resulted in large growth for the industry in Germany and its colonies abroad.

The founding of the German Empire fundamentally changed the European balance of power. The new empire was initially outside the pentarchy that had developed in the last hundred years, as it had a completely different power-political quality than the very small Prussia. The era of Otto von Bismarck ended after Emperor Wilhelm II assumed the imperial throne in 1888. He lost his influence and was forced to resign as chancellor on March 15, 1890. Otto von Bismarck spent the rest of his life criticizing the policies of the new government while maintaining his own.

He returned to his estate in Friedrichsruh near Hamburg. Bismarck was actually waiting to be called back by Willem II to rule Germany. But until his death in 1898, the call did not come. 

The death of his wife in 1894 struck Bismarck deeply. From 1896 onwards his health deteriorated more and more and he was finally dependent on a wheelchair. In 1897 Bismarck made a special gift to the towns of Birkholz and Schwanebeck. From his possession Sachsenwald I was on March 22, at the ceremony commemorating the 100th birthday of Wilhelm I in both places two powerful Emperor Oak (bot. Oak trees ) planted. 

The diseases of old age and other ailments, which he concealed from the public and even from his family, led to his death on July 30, 1898. Immediately after his death, two paparazzi created the photograph of Bismarck on his deathbed. Bismarck found his final resting place next to his wife in a mausoleum in Friedrichsruh.