BIOGRAPHY AND PERSONALITY OF A FAMOUS ARIES: OTTO BISMARCK

The first chancellor of the German Second Empire (1871–90), born in Schönhausen, Germany.

He was ambassador to Russia (1859–62), and was appointed prime minister of Prussia in 1862. He enlarged and reorganized the Prussian army. In 1864, in partnership with Austria, he led the German states in the defeat of Denmark, acquiring Schleswig-Holstein. In 1866 he provoked a confrontation with Austria, known as the ‘seven weeks's war’, from which he emerged victorious. He annexed Hanover and united most of the other German states in the North German Confederation (1867–71). Uniting German feeling, he deliberately provoked the Franco–Prussian War (1870–1), subjecting Paris to a long and terrible siege.

After the Peace of Frankfurt (1871), in which France ceded Alsace and Lorraine to Germany, his policies aimed at consolidating and protecting the young Empire. His domestic policy included universal male suffrage, a common currency, a central bank, a scheme of social insurance against unemployment, sickness, and old age, and the codification of the law.