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4.5
Otto von Bismarck was, according to A.J.P. Taylor, an ordinary and “boorish Junker” yet one who managed to break “into the charmed circle of privilege”. The Junkers were landed Prussian nobility of a mostly minor sort. The “boorish Junker” Bismarck was later granted the title of Prince, but that was the least of it. Far more important was the fact that for almost two decades of the second half of the 19th century he was by far the most powerful statesman on the continent of Europe. Appointed to the office of Minister-President in 1862 by the Prussian king Wilhelm I, a man he consistently intimidated and bullied, Bismarck went on to bring about dramatic and lasting changes in the face of Europe. He provoked wars with Denmark, Austria, and France. The Franco-Prussian war assisted him in pressuring the small German principalities into forming a German empire, with himself as chancellor, or “Iron Chancellor” as he soon became known. Hardheaded, egotistical, pragmatic and cynical, Bismarck had a “profound contempt for moralizing”. He engaged in “realpolitik” in both foreign and domestic matters. Domestically, he created Europe’s first welfare state and introduced universal suffrage, though he did so entirely to gain tactical domestic political advantage while actually entertaining a deep personal distrust of democracy. Bismarck’s luck ended in 1888 with the death of Wilhelm I, whose grandson, Wilhelm II, dismissed him two years later. Though long a hero to German nationalists, at the age of 75, his career was over. Little is known about Bismarck that is not covered in this dense, fact-packed biography. A.J.P. Taylor who ranked high among the most eminent of 20th century British historians, specialized in 19th century European diplomacy. He tends to assume a significant level of erudition on the part of the reader, resulting in the fact that references to previous historical events are sometimes bewildering or lost. This is, in other words, a serious and detailed scholarly work requiring intellectual exertion to work through. Those willing to put in the effort will be rewarded, however. Bismarck’s role in shaping the future of Europe was profound and so there is much of significant to be learned from this book,
