otto von Bismarck
A politician and Statesman
Otto von Bismarck was a German Politician and conservative statesman. Having played an essential role in the unification of Germany in 1817, he is considered one of the most influential and important figures of German history. So let us dive a little bit deeper into Bismarck’s life by looking at his biography.
Otto Eduard von Bismarck-Schönhausen was born on 1 April 1815 in Schönhausen and and grew up in Konarzewo (German: Gut Kniephof). His parents Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Bismarck and Luise Wilhelmine von Bismack were of different social origins which was reflected in the way the young Bismarck was brought up. While his father taught him patriotism and pride, his mother- tending to a rational way of thinking- was responsible for Bismarck’s feeling of not being at home. In 1821 Bismarck began his educational training in the "Plamannsche Erziehungsanstalt" in Berlin, went to the Friedrichs-Wilhelm-Gymnasium in 1827 and three years later attended the "Evangelische Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster" where he made his Abitur after two years. Having finished school, he went on to the University in Göttingen, where he studied jurisdiction and later continued his study at the Friedrich-Wilhelm-University.
In 1938 he entered the Prussian civil service and one year later he and his brother took over their father's estates. Six years later he finally made his first political steps by joining the provincial state parliament of Pommern and about two years later he entered the United State Parliament of Prussia as a deputy for a diseased delegate. In 1849 he was actually elected to the Prussian Chamber of deputies and about two years later he was appointed to the Prussian representative of the Federal Diet in Frankfurt where he then lived for the subsequent eight years and began to reassess his view of German nationalism and the aims of Prussian foreign policy. From that moment on Bismarck made his first steps beginning a political career that was about to reform, characterise and influence a whole country and its history.
In the further course of his life Bismarck was appointed Prussian envoy for the Russian court in St. Petersburg, as well as in Paris , was elected Prussian governor and secretary of state for foreign affairs and in 1865 he was ennobled into the earldom turning into “Count Otto von Bismarck”. As two years went by Bismarck was for now elected chancellor of the Northern German association and in 1871 he took over the position that made him one of the most influential German politicians. He was appointed to the imperial chancellor of Germany and from that moment on he carried out some radical changes regarding Germany’s external policy, trade ministry and its reputation in general.
In 1890 he vacated his appointment of Germany's trade secretary and therefore slowly came to the end of his political work. Eight years later on 30 July 1898 Bismarck deceased in Friedrichsruh.