Otto von Bismarck's political maneuvers from 1862 to 1871 the latter year in which he achieved his ultimate goal of German unification can best be described as a combination of meticulous planning as well as being able to make the best out of opportunities that came his way However whether Bismarck relied on long term strategization as much as he proclaimed to has been contested by historians who rather believe that his biggest moves towards unification were off the cuff Ultimately I disagree with those historians in my opinion Bismarck was a planner to an average extent best exemplified by his early days of power where he waged a figurative war against the liberal factions of Germany and his involvement of Austria in the Schleswig Holstein Crisis but as some historians believe Bismarck was an opportunist to a similar extent best seen by his leak of the Ems telegram One of the sharpest instances of Bismarck being a planner was his efforts towards making the German government a more imposing presence Unlike other examples of his planning prowess this instance manifested itself in several ways Bismarck detested western ideologies liberalism democracy socialism that put more power in the hands of the people choosing to keep social affinities to the East and stress duty service order and the fear of God through 1 Joel Colton and A A Palmer A History of the Modern World New York McGraw Hill 1995 552 Mariott 2 his job1
