Otto von Bismarck's Political Prowess
Otto von Bismarck's Political Prowess
Introduction
The political philosophy, that Otto von Bismarck practiced, is often being referred to his political career without actually stating the question of whether or not the political pragmatism, that he clearly used, was an evolution of his views or whether it had always been present in his mind, even during his earliest political activities.
This historical figure played a significant role in world politics, and no other person in the history of modern Europe, with an exception of Napoleon, has ever attracted as much interest and attention, partially due to the magnetic appeal of his genius personality and achievements.
Otto von Bismarck’s political practices is known to be one of the most durable in the history of statecraft, as in almost four decades he made himself the dominant figure in German and European politics. As the result, Bismarck, promoting his unification ideas, became as notorious and respectful for German people, as Lincoln, with the civil war, for Americans.
Political prowess and opposing ideas
Otto von Bismarck could have achieved such power and greatness only if he had geniality in his mind and strong character that would allow him to disarm and command his opponents, as well as his supporters, for quite a long period of time. “But at the time of his political rise he was only described as tall, slender, bearded, extremely lazy young squire, with excessive drinking problems, needlessly belligerent atheism, and rudeness, after graduation in 1836 and qualifying as a lawyer, absolutely failed to make a career of any kind, most of the times being employed by protectorate” (Encyclopedia Britannica. Otto von Bismarck). [1]. A logical conclusion can be made that all this could not have been achieved without any help.
When talking about the causes that contributed to Bismarck’s astounding success, four factors can be named:
- rapid shift of international politics and power balance in Europe
- institutional structure of Prussia alterations to it after the events of 1848 (French revolution)
- appointment of General Helmut von Moltke to the post of Chief of the Prussian General Staff , which Bismarck benefited greatly from
- support of a several influential people that helped Bismarck to become the key figure in preserving the Prussian military monarchy in the already changing political world
French revolution of 1848
“Soon, after the revolution of 1848 took place in France, Bismarck realized that it posed no potential threat to Prussia, and that Napoleon would only help to reach the desired goal of destabilizing political situation in Europe with his intentions of liberating Italy. As the result a war with Austria was provoked, the main aim of which (weakening the Habsburg monarchy), according to Bismarck, was successfully accomplished” (Pflanze 44). [2].
Another major political player of that period, Imperial Russia, was being put out of active diplomacy for a long time, by “the reform era” that was implicated by just recently crowned Tsar Alexander II. Russian Empire decided that it was in critical need of reformation partially due to a defeat in the Crimean war that revealed the risks of serfdom and backwardness to the existence of the Tsarist state. Monarch state blamed Austria for losing war, as Austria refused to come to help in fighting against the Western Powers, the help that was promised in exchange for intervening and crushing the Hungarian Revolution of 1849. Thus the incompetence and cowardice of the Austrian monarch and his advisors gave Bismarck enough time to be able deal with weakened, isolated and indecisive remains of Habsburg Monarchy.
Therefore Otto von Bismarck did not actually create any opportunities, but exploited the given ones and benefited from it instead.
Prussian Constitution
When Bismarck got power, along with it he inherited the Prussian Constitution of 1850, which came out to be a hybrid compromise version of modern representative government model and partially the absolutism model. According to this new Constitution, Parliament had power neither over military, nor over civil affairs, which did create a version of cabinet, but until the Cabinet Order of 1852 there was no clear definition of the office of Prime Minister; Parliament on the other hand had the right to represent the constantly growing middle class, whereas the House of Lords got the representation of the dominating aristocracy.
Helmuth von Moltke
And it was not Bismarck to create a conflict for the army between the King and the Parliament. The fact is that William I, King of Prussia, was behaving himself foremost as a soldier, entrusting his king’s responsibilities in civil affairs to Otto von Bismarck, finally surrendered his command of army to Helmuth von Moltke. And that is only due to Moltke’s appointment that Prussia acquired a unified military command structure for four years, and his great modern strategic and military planning skills. Under Moltke’s command, Prussian General Staff had developed a range of sophisticated war games and up-to-date warfare tactics, which included plans of how to use a railroad for transportation of large military troops to the needed places using a special deployment strategy. Because of this innovation Moltke became the idol to his soldiers; therefore, without Moltke and his military support, Bismarck could have possibly failed to become a significant political figure of his time.
William I and General Roon
Another figure that helped Otto von Bismarck to reach his greatness was general Roon. His major difference was the ability to provide Bismarck with the only thing he lacked himself, and that was the immediate access to the King. General could request the King’s audience at any time due to being his commanding officer. Roon Bismarck was loyally serving Bismarck till his death in 1879; as one of Moltke’s employees shared, Roon has become an apprentice of Bismarck, with the help of whom he was able to execute his gift of manipulating and controlling to influence a rigid, stubborn, reactionary old King of Prussia. “If William I had died in 1867, the Bismarck’s creation of the North German Federation with further unification with the South German kingdoms could be done without starting a devastating war. But because of the long life of the King, Bismarck had full 26 years in office at his disposal, during which he forced and tricked the King, using temper tantrums, hysteria, tears, and threats, into doing things that the King would not do himself, consciously at least. For twenty-six years Bismarck reigned with the use of his strategy that he exerted over the King” (Steinberg 14). [3]. Therefore Bismarck’s career was mainly based on personal relations - especially with the King and the Minister of War. Indeed, had the king not been weak, Bismarck could not have used the remnants of royal absolutism to make his will felt through the entire political system.
Personal tragedy’s effects on Germany
He paid a terrible price in hypochondria, hysteria, illness, sleeplessness, rage and over-eating; he destroyed much of his social life, the happiness of his children, the friendships of his youth and his peace of mind, but he dominated his society so utterly that contemporaries called him a dictator. He destroyed more than just his health, but causing disastrous effects for Germany. He destroyed German liberalism and tried to stamp out the Catholic Center Party; he outlawed Social Democracy and wanted to deprive socialists and trade unionists of their votes. He helped the worst elements of the old ruling class to survive, so they could, as the result, give the office that the ‘Iron Chancellor’ had created to a ‘Bohemian corporal’, who destroyed the rest of the Germany Bismarck had made in 1933.
Conclusion
Bismarck was a major figure in his time period. When he got the post of a Prime minister of Prussia, the kingdom was considered to be the weakest of those five European powers present at the time. And amazingly, in less than nine years later he transformed Prussia into an empire that was victorious in three wars, stood unified in the center of Europe, becoming more powerful at the time. By the end of his office work in 1890 the map of Europe had been changed dramatically with Europe’s centre being transformed from a weak concentration of small and medium-sized states into the home to the strongest military and industrial power on the continent. He designed his empire to be conservative, thus opposing the Catholic Centre and the socialists, due to the unpredictable threats posed to his creation. With German industry developing rapidly during his years of administering, he did not allow any evolution in the political system though, even if it was aimed for greater participation. In this sense, he was the last representative of the ancient regimes and cabinet diplomacy. In foreign affairs his skills granted Europe with 20 years of peace, which had gained him a deserved reputation of a moderator with an exceptional sense of limits; though his foremost achievement, the German Empire, only lasted for 20 years and never actually internally unifying German citizens. Such a political failure led to various arguments on whether Bismarck was himself a failure. He is, however, still widely regarded to as an exceptionally extraordinarily astute statesman who had a complete understanding of not only how to use power successfully in order not to assess your own strength but also the produced circumstances. Analyzing and managing these circumstances, Bismarck proved himself to be the master of real politics.
Bismarck’s career shows that there can be no justification for pessimism. To be sure, he did not create any forces to deal with, but by manipulating he changed them. The results that he achieved had become of historical importance.
Notes
“But at the time of his political rise he was only described as tall, slender, bearded, extremely lazy young squire, with excessive drinking problems, needlessly belligerent atheism, and rudeness, after graduation in 1836 and qualifying as a lawyer, absolutely failed to make a career of any kind, most of the times being employed by protectorate” (Encyclopedia Britannica. Otto von Bismarck). [1].
“Soon, after the revolution of 1848 took place in France, Bismarck realized that it posed no potential threat to Prussia, and that Napoleon would only help to reach the desired goal of destabilizing political situation in Europe with his intentions of liberating Italy. As the result a war with Austria was provoked, the main aim of which (weakening the Habsburg monarchy), according to Bismarck, was successfully accomplished” (Pflanze 44). [2].
“If William I had died in 1867, the Bismarck’s creation of the North German Federation with further unification with the South German kingdoms could be done without starting a devastating war. But because of the long life of the King, Bismarck had full 26 years in office at his disposal, during which he forced and tricked the King, using temper tantrums, hysteria, tears, and threats, into doing things that the King would not do himself, consciously at least. For twenty-six years Bismarck reigned with the use of his strategy that he exerted over the King” (Steinberg 14). [3].
References
Encyclopedia Britannica. Otto von Bismarck. Web. 25 June. 2013
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/66989/Otto-von-Bismarck/9610/Early-career
Encyclopedia of World Biography. Bismarck, Otto Eduard Leopold von (1815-1898). Detroit: Gale, 1998. Print.
Pflanze, O. Bismarck and the development of Germany: The period of Unification. Web. 25 June. 2013
http://www.panzertruppen.org/2011/politica/mh024.pdf
Steinberg, J. Bismark: A Life. Web Penn History. Review, Fall. 2010. Web. 25 June. 2013
http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1041&context=phr
