The Life of Bismarck, Private and Political

The Life of Bismarck, Private and Political
Author: George Hesekiel
Publisher: Good Press
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2019-12-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

"The Life of Bismarck, Private and Political" is a biographical book on the life of the famous German Chancellor and diplomat Otto Von Bismarck. From his origins in the upper class of Junker landowners, Bismarck rose rapidly in Prussian politics, and from 1862 to 1890 he was the minister president and foreign minister of Prussia. Before his rise to the executive, he was the Prussian ambassador to Russia and France and served in both houses of the Prussian Parliament. He masterminded the unification of Germany in 1871 and served as the first Chancellor of the German Empire until 1890, in which capacity he dominated European affairs. The book gives a personal look at the man, his childhood and the experiences that shaped the man and the politics.

Bismarck

Bismarck
Author: Jonathan Steinberg
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 592
Release: 2011-06-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199782660

This riveting, New York Times bestselling biography illuminates the life of Otto von Bismarck, the statesman who unified Germany but who also embodied everything brutal and ruthless about Prussian culture. Jonathan Steinberg draws heavily on contemporary writings, allowing Bismarck's friends and foes to tell the story. What rises from these pages is a complex giant of a man: a hypochondriac with the constitution of an ox, a brutal tyrant who could easily shed tears, a convert to an extreme form of evangelical Protestantism who secularized schools and introduced civil divorce. Bismarck may have been in sheer ability the most intelligent man to direct a great state in modern times. His brilliance and insight dazzled his contemporaries. But all agreed there was also something demonic, diabolical, overwhelming, beyond human attributes, in Bismarck's personality. He was a kind of malign genius who, behind the various postures, concealed an ice-cold contempt for his fellow human beings and a drive to control and rule them. As one contemporary noted: "the Bismarck regime was a constant orgy of scorn and abuse of mankind, collectively and individually." In this comprehensive and expansive biography--a brilliant study in power--Jonathan Steinberg brings Bismarck to life, revealing the stark contrast between the "Iron Chancellor's" unmatched political skills and his profoundly flawed human character.

Germany's Iron Chancellor

Germany's Iron Chancellor
Author: Bruno Garlepp
Publisher:
Total Pages: 500
Release: 1897
Genre: Heads of state
ISBN:

"Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg (1 April 1815? 30 July 1898), simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman who dominated European affairs from the 1860s to his dismissal in 1890 by Emperor Wilhelm II. In 1871, after a series of short victorious wars, he unified most of the German states (whilst excluding some, most notably Austria) into a powerful German Empire under Prussian leadership. This created a balance of power that preserved peace in Europe from 1871 until 1914"--Wikipedia.

Bismarck and the Creation of the Second Reich

Bismarck and the Creation of the Second Reich
Author: Friedrich Darmstaedter
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 466
Release: 2017-09-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 135131386X

Chancellor Otto Bismarck's "greatness" lay in what he created, the German Reich of 1871. This Reich was the product of his genius, and in it his genius took complete shape. In less than a decade German chaos was brought to an end and in its place a homogeneous state began to arise. The structure of this state left no room for opposing political forces, but rather made ready a roof under which these forces might rally, support each other, and gain strength. Bismarck and the Creation of the Second Reich begins as a biography but continues as a description of his political life and the ideas that led to the birth of an authoritarian political culture.The community from which Bismarck formed his conception of the state was first the family and clan, then the landlord caste, and finally the people. These communities found their unifying force in the Kaiser, who as their patriarchal head enjoyed divine honors as ruler by the grace of God. The existence of the state was justified as the framework within which these communities existed, and it had thus a biological as well as a religious content. This idea of the state as the supreme moral command of religion was too powerful a driving force to be dropped in favor of the rational view of the state as a potential war machine. Bismarck reconciled the two concepts by use of the concept of a "people in arms," an idea which had originated in German history as a means of defense, but which was changed into one of aggression. In order to become a means of aggression it was changed into a moral precept commanded by religion, and indeed into the supreme precept.Through the unfolding of the political life of Bismarck, we find the roots of the Nazi Third Reich--the inability of the people to educate themselves about politics enough to effect any change or satisfy their own political needs. In this loss of control, the authoritarian regime grew stronger. Though Bismarck's work led to the creation and implementation of the Second Reich, "it is in the Third Reich that we find the devilish distortion that was its fruit." This volume is an essential tool for understanding twentieth-century German history.

The Summer Capitals of Europe, 1814-1919

The Summer Capitals of Europe, 1814-1919
Author: Marina Soroka
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 608
Release: 2017-03-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351813471

"This is an original work, meticulously researched, rich in detail, and written in a clear and – here and there – refreshingly pungent style. (...) I regard it as a first-rate contribution to the diplomatic methods of the 100 years before the First World War." - G.R. Berridge, Emeritus Professor of International Politics, University of Leicester "Marina Soroka has made exceptional use of Russian manuscript sources from among imperial archives and family papers to enrich a well-grounded perspective of the European watering place as a forum for brokering national destinies and forging political careers." - Jonathan Keates, Times Literary Supplement "At times captivating like a novel, The Summer Capitals of Europe narrates the role of spas in the geopolitical set-up of nineteenth-century Europe." - Corriere della Sera "an important and overdue contribution" - Ben Anderson, Keele University, English Historical Review This book is about the European health spas of the nineteenth century: what they were, how they operated, what life was like there and how their functions evolved to the point where their original medicinal purpose was relegated to a secondary place by the unintended uses of spas as stages of social and political interactions. These popular resorts were nicknamed ‘the summer capitals of Europe’ because of the tendency of nations’ governing classes to gather there. Every summer between 1814 and 1914 (and in a few cases during World War I) continental watering places became a microcosm of cosmopolitan aristocratic Europe, incorporating its conventions, tastes, concerns and interests. As the nineteenth century advanced, fashionable watering stations increasingly became associated with social bonding, matchmaking, pleasure, career building, conspicuous consumption and diplomatic activity that took place during the high season.

Bismarck

Bismarck
Author: Volker Ullrich
Publisher: Haus Publishing
Total Pages: 156
Release: 2015-08-15
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1910376248

Otto von Bismarck (1815–98) has gone down in history as the Iron Chancellor, a reactionary and militarist whose 1871 unification of Germany set Europe down the path of disaster to World War I. But as Volker Ullrich shows in this new edition of his accessible biography, the real Bismarck was far more complicated than the stereotype. A leading historian of nineteenth- and twentieth-century history, Ullrich demonstrates that the “Founder of the Reich” was in fact an opponent of liberal German nationalism. After the wars of 1866 and 1870, Bismarck spent the rest of his career working to preserve peace in Europe and protect the empire he had created. Despite his reputation as an enemy of socialism, he introduced comprehensive health and unemployment insurance for German workers. Far from being a “man of iron and blood,” Bismarck was in fact a complex statesman who was concerned with maintaining stability and harmony far beyond Germany’s newly unified borders. Comprehensive and balanced, Bismarck shows us the post-reunification value of looking anew at this monumental figure’s role in European history.

Bismarck, the White Revolutionary: 1871-1898

Bismarck, the White Revolutionary: 1871-1898
Author: Lothar Gall
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 274
Release: 1986
Genre: Germany
ISBN: 9780044457794

A biography of the German statesman Bismarck, which looks not only at his personal achievements but at how he may have affected the subsequent history of Germany and Europe.

Bismarck and His Times

Bismarck and His Times
Author: George O. Kent
Publisher: SIU Press
Total Pages: 196
Release: 1978
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780809308590

A new account of the life and policies of the first German chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, this concise historical-biography reflects, for the first time in English, the historical shift in emphasis from the traditional political-economic approach to the more complex social-economic one of post--World War II scholarship. Since the middle of the 1950s, much new material on Bismarck and nine­teenth-century Germany and new inter­pretations of existing material have been published in Germany, Great Britain, and the United States. Pro­fessor George O. Kent's brilliant syn­thesis, drawing on this mass of mate­rial, examines changes in emphasis in post--World War II scholarship. The book, particularly in the historiograph­ical notes and bibliographical essay, provides the serious student with an invaluable guide to the intricacies of recent Bismarckian scholarship. For the general reader, the main text presents a picture of the man, the issues, and the age in the light of modern scholarship. The major shift in historical emphasis described in this new account is the importance scholars give to the period 1877-79, the years of change from free trade to protectionism, rather than to 1870-71 the founding of the Reich. Bismarck's political machinations, par­ticularly his willingness to explore the possibilities of a coup d'état, are more fully discussed here than in any other book.