Bismarck used Realpolitik in his quest to achieve Prussian dominance in Germany. He manipulated political issues such as the Schleswig-Holstein Question and the Hohenzollern candidature to antagonize other countries and cause wars if necessary to attain his goals.

Otto von Bismarck was a Prussian politician who became Germany’s first-ever chancellor, a position in which he served from 1871 to 1890. Through a series of wars, he unified 39 individual states into one German nation in 1871.

He crafted a strategy similar to Machiavelli’s “let the end justify the means.” Realpolitik, as it came to known, meant an unyielding drive to achieve national goals at any cost.

His main goal was to further strengthen the position of Prussia in Europe. Bismarck had a number of primary aims: to unify the north German states under Prussian control. to weaken Prussia’s main rival, Austria, by removing it from the German Federation.

Germany unifies through “Blood and Iron” This political philosophy became known as Realpolitik. Bismarck soon pushed for increased funds to expand the size of Prussia’s army. This policy is known as militarism. After building the Prussian army, Bismarck went about uniting the German states via military force.

Bismarck used war, trickery, and propaganda to unify the German States. He was a master if Realpolitik who also strengthened the Prussian army. He went to war with other countries to annex land and to prove the might of his military.

Although an arch-conservative, Bismarck introduced progressive reforms—including universal male suffrage and the establishment of the first welfare state—in order to achieve his goals. He manipulated European rivalries to make Germany a world power, but in doing so laid the groundwork for both World Wars.

In the 1860s, Otto von Bismarck, then Minister President of Prussia, provoked three short, decisive wars against Denmark, Austria, and France, aligning the smaller German states behind Prussia in its defeat of France. In 1871 he unified Germany into a nation-state, forming the German Empire.

What strategy did Otto von Bismarck use to try to make Prussia the leader of a united Germany? He provoked Austria and France into separate wars, reasoning that the two wars would unite the German people behind Prussia.

Bismarck was now determined to unite the German states into a single empire, with Prussia at its core. With Austrian support, he used the expanded Prussian army to capture the provinces of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark. Abroad, Bismarck aimed to make the German empire the most powerful in Europe.

But as usual he acted on his beliefs at the exact moment when they served a practical need”. When a reference was made to his friendship with Ferdinand Lassalle, a democratic and state-oriented reformist socialist, Bismarck stated that he was a more practical socialist than the Social Democrats.

Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck was born April 1, 1815, at his family’s estate in the Prussian heartland west of Berlin. His father was a fifth-generation Junker (a Prussian landowning noble), and his mother came from a family of successful academics and government ministers.

Alsace-Lorraine became an imperial territory of Germany. Wilhelm was declared Kaiser or emperor, and Bismarck became chancellor. Bismarck was also given the royal title of prince and awarded an estate. Chancellor of the Reich

Also Known As: Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg, Otto Eduard Leopold Fürst von Bismarck, the “Iron Chancellor” Education: University of Göttingen (1832–1833), University of Berlin (1833–1835), University of Greifswald (1838)

He also worked to prevent the spread of socialism, partly by introducing health insurance and pensions. Abroad, Bismarck aimed to make the German empire the most powerful in Europe. In 1879, he negotiated an alliance with Austria-Hungary to counteract France and Russia. Italy later joined the alliance.