Bismarck was bitterly opposed to the power of the Catholic Church, and his kulturkampf campaign against the church was controversial but ultimately not entirely successful. The French eventually surrendered on January 28, 1871. This strategic and opportunist thinking distanced Bismarck from the ideological conservatives, who were wedded to traditional concepts of authority. The existing social and political order was to be defended in order to prevent a Hobbesian chaos of all against all. His mother, Wilhelmine Mencken, came from an educated bourgeois family that had produced a number of higher civil servants and academics. He became the first Chancellor of Germany, after the unification. Within six weeks, Napoleon III was taken prisoner when his army was forced to surrender at Sedan. This soon led to the Austro-Prussian War, which Prussia won while offering Austria fairly lenient surrender terms. He took his university entrance examination (Abitur) in 1832. He spent five years at the school and went on to the Frederick William gymnasium for three years. English: Otto von Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (April 1, 1815 – July 30, 1898) was a prominent European aristocrats and statesmen of the nineteenth century. Bismarck made no secret of his bitterness. Bismarck was also given the royal title of prince and awarded an estate. Otto von Bismarck Quotes. Ferdinand was a typical member of the Prussian landowning elite. Professor of History, University of California, Riverside. There is no question that the marriage was a very happy one. The ‘Iron Chancellor’ serves as the more suitable model for the prime minister. Otto von Bismarck (1815—1898) Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg, Prussian minister and German statesman, Chancellor of the German Empire 1871–90 Quick Reference (1815–98) German statesman. Once the empire was established, he actively and skillfully pursued pacific policies in foreign affairs, succeeding in preserving the peace in Europe for about two decades. Among Bismarck's major diplomatic ac… McNamara, Robert. When her son Otto was seven, she enrolled him in the progressive Plamann Institute in Berlin and moved to the capital to be near him. "Biography of Otto Von Bismarck, Iron Chancellor Who Unified Germany." Alsace-Lorraine was overtaken by Prussia. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Military leaders were suspicious of what they perceived as excessive moderation from Bismarck. Otto Edward Leopold von Bismarck was born on April 1st, 1815, at Schönhausen, a family estate lying near Stendal in the Mark of Brandenburg to the northwest of Berlin. Changes in Ramadan spiritual … His mother’s death in 1839 gave him the opportunity of resigning in order to come to the assistance of his father, who was experiencing financial difficulties in the management of his estate. The vast majority of Prussians, however, were peasants and artisans, who, in Bismarck’s view, were loyal monarchists. The young Bismarck resented exchanging an easy life in the country for a more circumscribed life in a large city, where in school he was pitted against the sons of Berlin’s best-educated families. The French were concerned about a possible Spanish and German alliance, and a French minister approached Wilhelm, the Prussian king, who was in the resort town of Ems. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Otto von Bismarck (April 1, 1818–July 30, 1898), a son of the Prussian aristocracy, unified Germany in the 1870s. 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