Bismarck

The Iron Chancellor
By Volker Ullrich & Prince Ferdinand von Bismarck

Otto von Bismarck (1815-98) has gone down in the history as 'Iron Chancellor', a reactionary and a militarist whose unification of Germany in 1871 set Europe on the road to the disaster of the First World War. Yet as this comprehensive study shows, the real Bismarck was a much more complicated figure than this traditional stereotype suggests.
The 'Founder of The Reich' had been an opponent of liberal German nationalism; after the wars of 1866 and 1870, Bismarck spent the rest of his career to preserve peace in Europe to protect the Reich he had created; and the reactionary enemy of socialism introduced comprehensive health and unemployment insurance for German workers.

'It is not by speeches and motions of a majority that the great questions of the time are decided... but by iron and blood.'

Bismarck, 1862

Dr Volker Ullrich was born on 1943 and has studied history, literature and philosophy. Since 1990 he has been in charge of 'The political Book' section of German newspaper Die Zeit. He is the author of The Nervous Great Power: Rise and Decline of the German Empire 1871-1918 (1997).

Prince Ferdinand von Bismarck is the great grandson of Otto von Bismarck, and has written several books on politics and political history.