Essay Example on Otto von Bismarck's political maneuvers from 1862 to 1871

He outfaced the liberals in the Prussian parliament this meant that proposed taxes were collected respect for officials was maintained and most importantly the army was fortified and updated for modern combat2 He also promoted the army in the eyes of the people claiming that the great questions of the day are not decided by speeches and majority votes but by blood and iron 3 All of this points to Bismarck fulfilling his vision for a towering authoritative government by keeping more liberal ideologies at bay and making sure that the nation's army was top tier as it was the key for his eventually realized dream for German unification4 The Schleswig Holstein crisis was the result of Austria and Prussia's victory over Denmark during the Second Schleswig war Bismarck wanted both Schleswig and Holstein for himself but realized that it was better to arrange Austria to provisionally occupy Holstein for the time being5 However dispute soon arose leading Bismarck to work to discredit and isolate Austria this meant taking advantage of Britain's policy of nonintervention in the affairs of the 

The Ems telegram is arguably the clearest example of Bismarck s masterful ability to provoke France into war this time through a dash of improvisation The Ems telegram was a heavily modified conversation between a French ambassador Victor Benedetti and King Wilhelm I where the former instructed the latter to never recommend a Hohenzollern to become a candidate for the Spanish throne 9 To give some context Bismarck had attempted to leverage Spain to put a Prussian king in power to further alienate France from the rest of Europe Unfortunately this plan backfired to Bismarck s disappointment when France heard about the scheme but the now disenfranchised country s attempt to put a pin in future German intervention with the Spanish throne gave Bismarck a much needed opportunity to further instigate a potential war With the Ems telegram in hand he condensed the conversation for publication making the tone of the exchange much more curt than it actually was10 This ruse was a brilliant example of Bismarck s opportunism he may have spent years and countless hours of effort turning the tide of Europe against France but it was a simple edit of a conversation that he somehow got a hold of that pushed Napoleon III to irresponsibly declare war on Prussia11 8 12 ibid