Bismarck's time as the Prussian minister-president
Otto von Bismarck became the minister-president of Prussia in 1862 when the Prussian Diet refused to authorise the funding for a proposed re-organization of the army. King Wilhelm I appointed him since he believed he could assist him in persuading the Diet. However, Bismarck in return demanded the control over foreign affairs which Wilhelm was reluctant to give into at first. He was, nevertheless, persuaded to call Bismarck back to Prussia through Albrecht von Roon when the House of Deputies rejected the budget. Therefore, he appointed Bismarck minister-president and foreign minister on the September 23, 1862. Bismarck remained in the position of minister-president until January 1, 1873 and in the position of foreign minister until March 20, 1890.
In a short span of time Otto von Bismarck was able to establish a powerful hold over the King through persuasion and the force of personality and intended to maintain the royal supremacy by breaking up the budget deadlock in the King’s favour, even if he had to operate on the fringe of the law. In order to attain this goal he made use of a loop-hole in the constitution created through this situation as the King and legislators all had to agree on the terms of the budget and on refusing to do so the legislators created a case which was not covered by the constitution. This allowed Bismarck to adopt the budget of the previous year for the next four years. Bismarck’s power on King Wilhelm I also allowed him to evade the members of Diet through royal decrees on other occasions.
In his second year of tenure the legislators declared that they could no longer come to terms with Bismarck. King Wilhelm I saw this as a threat against himself and dissolved the Diet whilst accusing them of trying to obtain unconstitutional control over the ministry which only was responsible to the King. In reaction to this Bismarck issued an edict restricting the freedom speech and with that gained the public opposition even from the Crown Prince. Over the following years Bismarck remained largely unpopular amongst the people and had only a few supporters during the elections of 1863.
In opposition to that he remained under the support of the King who feared that if he dismissed Bismarck he would be succeeded by a liberal. In order to establish Prussian power Bismarck intended to attack various countries. Through the Second Schleswig War in 1865 he was able to gain the German-speaking territories of Schleswig-Holstein from Denmark. In this year he was also granted the title of Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen. In 1866 he overpowered Austria during the Austro-Prussian war. Through his manipulation skills he triggered the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1871 which resulted in the French border provinces Alsace and Lorraine to be part of the German unity.
During his office time Bismarck delivered the famous “Blood and Iron speech“ in front of the Budget Committee of the Prussian Chamber of Deputies on September 30, 1862. He believed in the use of “blood and iron“ to achieve Prussian goals.
“The great questions of the time will not be solved by speeches and majority decisions - that was the great mistake of 1848 and 1849 - but by iron and blood“