In 1838 he entered military service.
In 1839, after the death of his mother, he left the service and was involved in managing the family estates in Pomerania.
After his father's death in 1845, the family property was divided and Bismarck received the estates of Schönhausen and Kniephof in Pomerania.
In 1847-1848 - deputy of the first and second United Landtags (parliament) of Prussia, during the revolution of 1848 he advocated the armed suppression of unrest.
Bismarck became known for his conservative stance during the constitutional struggle in Prussia in 1848-1850.
Opposing the liberals, he contributed to the creation of various political organizations and newspapers, including the New Prussian Newspaper (Neue Preussische Zeitung, 1848). One of the organizers of the Prussian Conservative Party.
He was a member of the lower house of the Prussian parliament in 1849 and the Erfurt parliament in 1850.
In 1851-1859 - representative of Prussia in the Union Diet in Frankfurt am Main.
From 1859 to 1862, Bismarck was Prussia's envoy to Russia.
In March - September 1962 - Prussian envoy to France.
In September 1862, during the constitutional conflict between the Prussian royalty and the liberal majority of the Prussian Landtag, Bismarck was called by King William I to head the Prussian government, and in October of the same year became Minister-President and Foreign Minister of Prussia. He persistently defended the rights of the crown and achieved a resolution of the conflict in its favor. In the 1860s, he carried out military reform in the country and significantly strengthened the army.
Under the leadership of Bismarck, the unification of Germany was carried out through a “revolution from above” as a result of three victorious wars of Prussia: in 1864, together with Austria against Denmark, in 1866 - against Austria, in 1870-1871 - against France.
After the formation of the North German Confederation in 1867, Bismarck became Chancellor. In the German Empire proclaimed on January 18, 1871, he received the highest government post of Imperial Chancellor, becoming the first Reich Chancellor. In accordance with the constitution of 1871, Bismarck received virtually unlimited power. At the same time, he retained the post of Prussian Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Bismarck carried out reforms of German law, government and finance. In 1872-1875, on the initiative and under pressure of Bismarck, measures were taken against catholic church laws depriving the clergy of the right to supervise schools, banning the Jesuit order in Germany, compulsory civil marriage, repealing articles of the constitution that provided for the autonomy of the church, etc. These measures seriously limited the rights of the Catholic clergy. Attempts at disobedience led to reprisals.
In 1878, Bismarck passed through the Reichstag an “exceptional law” against socialists, prohibiting the activities of social democratic organizations. He mercilessly persecuted any manifestation of political opposition, for which he was nicknamed the “Iron Chancellor.”
In 1881-1889, Bismarck carried out " social laws" (on insurance of workers in case of illness and injury, on old-age and disability pensions), which laid the foundations social insurance workers. At the same time, he demanded a tightening of anti-labor policies and during the 1880s successfully sought an extension of the “exceptional law.”
My foreign policy Bismarck built on the basis of the situation that developed in 1871 after the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War and the capture of Alsace and Lorraine by Germany, and contributed to diplomatic isolation French Republic and sought to prevent the formation of any coalition that threatened German hegemony. Fearing a conflict with Russia and wanting to avoid a war on two fronts, Bismarck supported the creation of the Russian-Austro-German agreement (1873) “The Alliance of the Three Emperors”, and also concluded a “reinsurance agreement” with Russia in 1887. At the same time, in 1879, on his initiative, an agreement on an alliance with Austria-Hungary was concluded, and in 1882 - a Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy), directed against France and Russia and marking the beginning of the split of Europe into two hostile coalitions. The German Empire became one of the leaders international politics. Russia's refusal to renew the "reinsurance treaty" at the beginning of 1890 was a serious setback for the Chancellor, as was the failure of his plan to turn the "exceptional law" against the socialists into a permanent one. In January 1890, the Reichstag refused to renew it.
In March 1890, Bismarck was dismissed from his post as Reich Chancellor and Prussian Prime Minister as a result of contradictions with the new Emperor Wilhelm II and with the military command on foreign and colonial policy and on labor issues. He received the title of Duke of Lauenburg, but refused it.
Bismarck spent the last eight years of his life on his estate Friedrichsruhe. In 1891 he was elected to the Reichstag from Hanover, but never took his seat there, and two years later he refused to stand for re-election.
Since 1847, Bismarck was married to Johanna von Puttkamer (died 1894). The couple had three children - daughter Marie (1848-1926) and two sons - Herbert (1849-1904) and Wilhelm (1852-1901).
(Additional
17. Characteristics of Bismarck’s domestic policy (1871-1890)
Bismarck Otto Von - first chancellor German Empire, who carried out the plan unification of Germany By the Little German path and nicknamed the "Iron Chancellor". On retirement he received the title of Duke Lauenburgsky and the rank of Prussian colonel general with the rank of field marshal. The period of his reign is characterized by the term “Bonapartist rule” - a term used to characterize Bismarck’s policies as Chancellor of Germany. This means Bismarck’s constant balancing between individual states in the Federal Council (Bundesrat) and parties in the Reichstag, the contradictions between which allowed him to exercise his sole rule. In 1878, an exceptional law was adopted that prohibited the activities of all socialist unions and organizations and their press. Socialist agitation was punishable by imprisonment or deportation. The law was in force until 1890, but it was not possible to suppress the socialist movement. “Carrot and stick” - Bismarck’s policy towards the labor movement. The “exceptional law” of 1878 was used as a stick, and social reforms were used as a carrot. At the direction of Bismarck, a series of laws on social insurance were developed: the law on insurance in case of illness (May 1883), against industrial accidents (June 1884), on insurance in connection with disability and old age (May 1889). Workers were given the right to create legal trade unions, mutual aid funds, and publish workers' newspapers with the condition not to promote socialist ideas. Kulturkampf - Bismarck's struggle against the Catholic Church and Catholic clericalism. The reason for this policy was that Bismarck feared political Catholicism, which reinforced anti-Prussian and anti-imperial tendencies with the authority of religion. Also, the Kulturkampf was supposed to serve as a means of Germanization of the Polish provinces. During the Kulturkampf, the independent Catholic department in the Ministry of Cults was abolished, and priests were prohibited from conducting political agitation (1871). A law was passed on state inspections of Catholic schools, a law banning the Jesuit order in Germany (1872). The May Laws of 1873 required future priests to have German citizenship, study for three years at one of the German universities, and pass a special exam. The expulsion from the country of priests who did not obey the May laws was allowed. Compulsory civil marriage was introduced (1874-1876). The Kulturkampf policy failed. It was dismantled in 1878 and all that remained was civil marriage and state supervision of school education. Beginning in the late 1870s, Bismarck separated from the liberals. During this phase, he resorts to policies of protectionism and government intervention in the economy. In the 1880s, an anti-socialist law was introduced. Disagreements with the then Kaiser Wilhelm II led to Bismarck's resignation.
18. Characteristics of the domestic policy of the German chancellors in 1890-1914.
Leo von Caprivi - successor Otto von Bismarck as Chancellor of the German Empire (Second Reich) (from 20th of March 1890 By October 28, 1894). in February 1890 he was summoned by Kaiser Wilhelm II to Berlin. He was informed that the Kaiser wanted to see him as Chancellor instead of Otto von Bismarck if he did not agree to the Kaiser's proposed changes in the government. After Bismarck's resignation on March 18, 1890, Caprivi was appointed Chancellor of the German Empire and Minister-President (Prime Minister) of Prussia. His policies are called the “New Deal”: domestic policies included liberal social reform (repeal of the law against socialists on September 30, 1890, the establishment of compulsory Sunday rest, the introduction of an 11-hour working day for women and the prohibition of work for children under 13 years of age) and customs policy (concluded trade agreements with a number of countries, under which import duties were reduced by an average of 25%, grain duties by 30%, and Germany achieved easier exports for products of German industry). In 1892, following the failure of his draft education law in the Prussian parliament, Caprivi resigned as Prussian Minister-President and was succeeded by Count Botto von Eulenburg. This resulted in an awkward division of power between the chancellor and the Prussian premier; dual power ended with the resignation of both on October 28, 1894 and their replacement with the prince Clovis zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst. Clovis von Hugenlohe was 75 years old when he assumed the post of chancellor. Before becoming chancellor, he was a manager, diplomat, and member of the Reichstag. He was invited under the patronage of the emperor. I tried to pass 2 bills: 1- on criticism of the state, family, etc. 2 – send to hard labor workers who interfere with strikebreakers. None of the projects were accepted. Bernhard von Bülow - Reich Chancellor German Empire With 17 October 1900 By the 14 th of July 1909. Bülow's first act as chancellor was to defend Reichstag policy of German intervention in China, and subsequently he repeatedly defended the interests of German foreign policy before parliament. June 6 1905 he was given the title of prince (Fürst). Until 1906, foreign policy was actually determined by the baron Holstein, who served as adviser to the German Foreign Ministry. Back in 1900, Bülow offered him the portfolio of Minister of Foreign Affairs, but he refused. 1909, after the Reichstag refused to accept the budget developed by the government, Bülow resigned. July 14, 1909 his resignation was accepted. BETMAN-HOLLWEG in 1909-17 - Reich Chancellor (head of government). B.-G. sought to rely in his policies on the conservatives and the Catholic Party. Center ("Black and blue block"). Chancellorship of B.-G. was marked by a sharp aggravation of the class. struggle in Germany, the imperial government brutally suppressed the protests of workers, not stopping at mass arrests and weapons. suppression of the labor movement (for example, during the demonstration of the Berlin proletariat on March 6, 1910). Produced by B.-G. carried out active preparations for the war for the redivision of the world.
In 1838 he entered military service.
In 1839, after the death of his mother, he left the service and was involved in managing the family estates in Pomerania.
After his father's death in 1845, the family property was divided and Bismarck received the estates of Schönhausen and Kniephof in Pomerania.
In 1847-1848 - deputy of the first and second United Landtags (parliament) of Prussia, during the revolution of 1848 he advocated the armed suppression of unrest.
Bismarck became known for his conservative stance during the constitutional struggle in Prussia in 1848-1850.
Opposing the liberals, he contributed to the creation of various political organizations and newspapers, including the New Prussian Newspaper (Neue Preussische Zeitung, 1848). One of the organizers of the Prussian Conservative Party.
He was a member of the lower house of the Prussian parliament in 1849 and the Erfurt parliament in 1850.
In 1851-1859 - representative of Prussia in the Union Diet in Frankfurt am Main.
From 1859 to 1862, Bismarck was Prussia's envoy to Russia.
In March - September 1962 - Prussian envoy to France.
In September 1862, during the constitutional conflict between the Prussian royalty and the liberal majority of the Prussian Landtag, Bismarck was called by King William I to head the Prussian government, and in October of the same year became Minister-President and Foreign Minister of Prussia. He persistently defended the rights of the crown and achieved a resolution of the conflict in its favor. In the 1860s, he carried out military reform in the country and significantly strengthened the army.
Under the leadership of Bismarck, the unification of Germany was carried out through a “revolution from above” as a result of three victorious wars of Prussia: in 1864, together with Austria against Denmark, in 1866 - against Austria, in 1870-1871 - against France.
After the formation of the North German Confederation in 1867, Bismarck became Chancellor. In the German Empire proclaimed on January 18, 1871, he received the highest government post of Imperial Chancellor, becoming the first Reich Chancellor. In accordance with the constitution of 1871, Bismarck received virtually unlimited power. At the same time, he retained the post of Prussian Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Bismarck carried out reforms of German law, government and finance. In 1872-1875, on the initiative and under pressure from Bismarck, laws were passed against the Catholic Church to deprive the clergy of the right to supervise schools, to prohibit the Jesuit order in Germany, to compulsory civil marriage, to abolish articles of the constitution that provided for the autonomy of the church, etc. These The measures seriously limited the rights of the Catholic clergy. Attempts at disobedience led to reprisals.
In 1878, Bismarck passed through the Reichstag an “exceptional law” against socialists, prohibiting the activities of social democratic organizations. He mercilessly persecuted any manifestation of political opposition, for which he was nicknamed the “Iron Chancellor.”
In 1881-1889, Bismarck passed “social laws” (on insurance of workers in case of illness and injury, on old-age and disability pensions), which laid the foundations for social insurance of workers. At the same time, he demanded a tightening of anti-labor policies and during the 1880s successfully sought an extension of the “exceptional law.”
Bismarck built his foreign policy based on the situation that developed in 1871 after the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War and the seizure of Alsace and Lorraine by Germany, contributed to the diplomatic isolation of the French Republic and sought to prevent the formation of any coalition that threatened German hegemony. Fearing a conflict with Russia and wanting to avoid a war on two fronts, Bismarck supported the creation of the Russian-Austro-German agreement (1873) “The Alliance of the Three Emperors”, and also concluded a “reinsurance agreement” with Russia in 1887. At the same time, in 1879, on his initiative, an agreement on an alliance with Austria-Hungary was concluded, and in 1882 - a Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy), directed against France and Russia and marking the beginning of the split of Europe into two hostile coalitions. The German Empire became one of the leaders in international politics. Russia's refusal to renew the "reinsurance treaty" at the beginning of 1890 was a serious setback for the Chancellor, as was the failure of his plan to turn the "exceptional law" against the socialists into a permanent one. In January 1890, the Reichstag refused to renew it.
In March 1890, Bismarck was dismissed from his post as Reich Chancellor and Prussian Prime Minister as a result of contradictions with the new Emperor Wilhelm II and with the military command on foreign and colonial policy and on labor issues. He received the title of Duke of Lauenburg, but refused it.
Bismarck spent the last eight years of his life on his estate Friedrichsruhe. In 1891 he was elected to the Reichstag from Hanover, but never took his seat there, and two years later he refused to stand for re-election.
Since 1847, Bismarck was married to Johanna von Puttkamer (died 1894). The couple had three children - daughter Marie (1848-1926) and two sons - Herbert (1849-1904) and Wilhelm (1852-1901).
(Additional
The Prussian government eventually obtained from parliament the opportunity to implement the policy of its prime minister, Bismarck, aimed at ensuring Prussian hegemony in German affairs. This was also facilitated by the circumstances that arose in the international arena in the early 60s.
It was precisely at this time that a cooling began between France and Russia, since the French government, contrary to its obligations, did not raise the issue of revising the articles of the Treaty of Paris of 1856, which were unfavorable and humiliating for Russia after the defeat in the Crimean War. At the same time, due to the struggle for colonies, deterioration of relations between Russia, Great Britain and France. Mutual contradictions diverted the attention of the largest European powers from Prussia, which created a favorable environment for the implementation of the policy of Prussian Junkerism.
Given the great international influence in the Russian region, Bismarck set as his goal the improvement of Prussian-Russian relations. During the Polish uprising in 1863, he proposed to Alexander II a draft agreement on the joint struggle of Russia and Prussia against the Polish rebels. Such an agreement was concluded in February 1863 (the so-called Alvensleben Convention). Although it remained unratified and was not implemented in practice, its signing contributed to the improvement of relations between Prussia and Russia. At the same time, the contradictions between Great Britain and France, on the one hand, and Russia, on the other, became heated. Moreover, the first in connection with Civil War in the USA were busy with American affairs.
Bismarck took advantage of these contradictions among the European powers, primarily to tear away Schleswig and Holstein, which belonged to Denmark, from Denmark. These two provinces, located at the junction between the Baltic and North Seas, have long attracted the German military and the bourgeoisie with their advantageous economic and strategic position. A significant part of the population of these provinces was of German origin and gravitated toward Germany, which Bismarck also exploited.
In November 1863, the Danish king Frederick VII died and his heir Christian IX ascended the throne. Bismarck decided to use this moment to attack Denmark. Taking advantage of the good disposition of the Russian Emperor (an important circumstance was the fact that Tsar Alexander II was the nephew of the Prussian King William 1) and having agreed with the Emperor of Austria Franz Joseph, the Prussian Prime Minister began to look for a reason to declare war.
The reason was the new Danish constitution, which infringed on the rights of Schleswig. In January 1864, Prussian troops, together with Austrian troops, attacked Denmark. The war lasted 4 months: such a small and weak country as Denmark, from which both Great Britain and France turned their backs at that moment, was unable to resist two strong opponents. By the peace treaty Denmark was forced to give up Schleswig and Holstein; Schleswig with the seaport of Kiel came under the control of Prussia, Holstein - Austria. Denmark retained the small territory of Lauenburg, which a year later for 2.5 million thalers in gold became the final possession of Prussia, which played an important role in subsequent events.
Having successfully completed the war with Denmark, Prussia immediately began to prepare for war against its recent ally, Austria, in order to weaken it and thus eliminate its influence in Germany. The Prussian General Staff, under the leadership of General Helmuth Karl von Moltke, and the War Ministry, headed by General von Rosn, were actively developing plans for the decisive battle.
At the same time, Bismarck waged an active diplomatic war against Austria, aimed at provoking a conflict with it and at the same time ensuring the neutrality of the great powers - Russia, France and Great Britain. Prussian diplomacy achieved success in this. The neutrality of Tsarist Russia in the war between Prussia and Austria turned out to be possible due to the deterioration of Austro-Russian relations; the tsar could not forgive Austria for its policies during the Crimean War of 1853 - 1856. Bismarck achieved the neutrality of Napoleon III with the help of vague promises of compensation in Europe (to which the Emperor of France still did not agree). Britain was caught up in a diplomatic struggle with France. Bismarck also managed to secure an alliance with Italy: the latter hoped to take Venice from Austria.
To ensure that the great powers (primarily France) did not have time to intervene in the conflict, Bismarck developed a plan for a lightning war with Austria. This plan was as follows: Prussian troops defeat the main forces of the enemy in one, maximum two battles, and, without putting forward any demands for the seizure of Austrian territories, they seek the main thing from the Austrian emperor - so that he refuses to interfere in German affairs and does not interfere with the transformation of the powerless German Empire. union into a new union of German states without Austria under Prussian hegemony.
As a pretext for war, Bismarck chose the issue of the situation in the Duchy of Holstein. Having found fault with the actions of the Austrian governor, Bismarck brought Prussian troops into the duchy. Austria, due to the remoteness of Holstein, could not transport its troops there and submitted a proposal to the all-German parliament, sitting in Frankfurt, to condemn Prussia for aggression. The Austrian proposal was also supported by a number of other German states: Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg, Hanover, Baden. Bismarck's crude provocative policy set them against Prussia; the great-power plans of the Prussian military clique frightened them. The Prussian prime minister was accused of provoking a fratricidal war.
Despite everything, Bismarck continued to pursue his policy. June 17, 1866 war began. Prussian troops invaded the Czech lands of Austria. At the same time, Italy moved against Austria in the south. The Austrian command was forced to divide its forces. An army of 75 thousand was moved against the Italians, and 283 thousand people were deployed against the Prussians. The Prussian army numbered 254 thousand people, but was much better armed than the Austrian one; in particular, it had the most advanced needle gun for that time, loaded from the breech. Despite the significant numerical superiority and good weapons, the Italian army was defeated at the first meeting with the Austrians.
Bismarck found himself in a difficult position, because conflicts over the declaration of war had not been resolved between him, the Landtag and the king. Bismarck's position and the outcome of the entire war were saved by the talented strategist General Moltke, who commanded the Prussian army. On July 3, in the decisive battle of Sadovaya (near Königgrätz), the Austrians suffered a severe defeat and were forced to retreat.
In the circles of Prussian militarists, intoxicated by the victory, a plan arose to continue the war until the final defeat of Austria. They demanded that the Prussian army triumphantly enter Vienna, where Prussia would dictate peace terms to defeated Austria, providing for the separation of a number of territories from it. Bismarck strongly opposed this. He had serious reasons for this: two days after the Battle of Sadovaya, the government of Napoleon III, greatly alarmed by the unforeseen victories of Prussia, offered its peaceful mediation. Bismarck considered the danger of immediate armed intervention by France on the side of Austria, which could radically change the existing balance of forces; in addition, Bismarck's calculations did not include excessive weakening of Austria, since he intended to get closer to her in the future. Based on these considerations, Bismarck insisted on a speedy conclusion of peace.
On August 23, 1866, a peace treaty was signed between Prussia and Austria. Bismarck won another victory - Austria had to renounce its claims to a leading role in German affairs and withdraw from the German Confederation. Four German states that fought on the side of Austria - the kingdom of Hanover, the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel, the Duchy of Nassau and the city of Frankfurt am Main - were included in Prussia, and thus the stripes that separated the western and eastern possessions of the Prussian monarchy were eliminated. Austria also had to give Venice to Italy. New Italian attempts at Trieste and Triente failed.
5. North German Confederation
After new territorial conquests, Prussia became the largest German state with a population of 24 million people. Bismarck's government achieved the creation of the North German Confederation, which included 22 German states located north of the Main River. The Constitution of the North German Confederation, adopted in April 1867, legally consolidated Prussian hegemony in German territories. The Prussian king became the head of the North German Confederation. He had the supreme command of the armed forces of the union. In the Federal Council, which included representatives of the governments of all allied states, Prussia also occupied a dominant position.
Prussian Minister-President Bismarck became the Allied Chancellor. The Prussian General Staff actually became the highest military body of the entire North German Confederation. The all-Union parliament - the Reichstag - was to hold elections on the basis of universal (for men over 21 years of age) and direct (but not secret) voting, the majority of seats belonged to deputies from Prussia. However, the Reichstag enjoyed only minor political influence, since its decisions were not valid without the approval of the Federal Council, and, according to the law, the Bismarck government was not accountable to the Reichstag.
After the end of the Austro-Prussian War, Bavaria, Bürttemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt were forced to conclude agreements with Prussia to transfer the armed forces of these four southern German states under the control of the Prussian general staff.
Thus, Bismarck, having achieved the creation of the North German Confederation, in which the leadership indisputably belonged to Prussia, prepared Germany for a new war with France for the final completion of its unification.
The Franco-Prussian War was the result of the imperial policy of the moribund French Second Empire and the new aggressive state - Prussia, which wanted to assert its dominance in the center of Europe. The French ruling circles hoped, as a result of the war with Prussia, to prevent the unification of Germany, in which they saw a direct threat to the predominant position of France on the European continent, and, moreover, to seize the left bank of the Rhine, which had long been the object of desire of French capitalists. The French Emperor Napoleon III, in a victorious war, also sought a way out of a deep internal political crisis, which in the late 60s assumed a threatening character for his empire. The favorable outcome of the war, according to the calculations of Napoleon III, was supposed to strengthen the international position of the Second Empire, which had been greatly shaken in the 60s.
The Junkers and the major military industrialists of Prussia, for their part, sought war. They hoped, by defeating France, to weaken it, in particular, to capture the iron-rich and strategically important French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. Bismarck, who already considered a war with France inevitable since 1866, was looking only for a favorable reason to enter into it: he wanted France, and not Prussia, to be the aggressive party that declared war. In this case, it would be possible to provoke a nationwide movement in the German states to accelerate the complete unification of Germany and thereby facilitate the transformation of the temporary North German Confederation into a more powerful centralized state - the German Empire under the leadership of Prussia.
As a result of the defeat of the French in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, the French Emperor Napoleon III was captured, and Paris had to go through another revolution. And on March 2, 1871, the difficult and humiliating Treaty of Paris was concluded for France. The territories of Alsace and Lorraine, the kingdoms of Saxony, Bavaria and Württemberg were annexed to Prussia. France should have paid 5 billion indemnities to the winners. Wilhelm I returned to Berlin in triumph, despite the fact that all the credit for this war belonged to the chancellor.
Victory in this war made possible the revival of the German Empire. Back in November 1870, the unification of the southern German states took place within the framework of the United German Confederation, transformed from the Northern one. And in December 1870, the Bavarian king made a proposal to restore the German Empire and German imperial dignity, which were once destroyed by Napoleon Bonaparte. This proposal was accepted, and the Reichstag sent a request to Wilhelm I to accept the imperial crown. On January 18, 1871, Otto von Bismarck (1815 - 1898) proclaimed the creation of the Second Reich, and Wilhelm I was proclaimed Emperor (Kaiser) of Germany. At Versailles in 1871, when writing the address on the envelope, Wilhelm I indicated "Chancellor of the German Empire", thus confirming Bismarck's right to rule the created empire.
The “Iron Chancellor,” acting in the interests of absolute power, ruled the newly formed state in 1871-1890, from 1866 to 1878, with the support of the National Liberal Party in the Reichstag. Bismarck carried out global reforms in the field of German law, and he also did not ignore the system of management and finance. The implementation of educational reform in 1873 gave rise to a conflict with the Roman Catholic Church, although the main reason for the conflict was the growing distrust of German Catholics (who made up almost a third of all the country's inhabitants) towards the Protestant population of Prussia. In the early 1870s, after these contradictions manifested themselves in the work of the Catholic Center Party in the Reichstag, Bismarck was forced to take action. The fight against the dominance of the Catholic Church is known as the Kulturkampf (struggle for culture). During this struggle, many bishops and priests were placed under arrest, and hundreds of dioceses were left without leaders. Subsequently, church appointments had to be coordinated with the state; Church officials were not allowed to hold official positions in the state apparatus. Schools were separated from the church, the institution of civil marriage was created, and the Jesuits were completely expelled from Germany.
In constructing his foreign policy, Bismarck was based on the situation that arose in 1871 thanks to the victory of Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War and the acquisition of Alsace and Lorraine, which turned into a source of continuous tension. Using complex system alliances that made it possible to ensure the isolation of France, the rapprochement of the German state with Austria-Hungary, as well as support good relations With Russian Empire(the alliance of three emperors: Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1873 and 1881; the existence of the Austro-German alliance in 1879; the conclusion of the “Triple Alliance” between the rulers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy in 1882; the “Mediterranean Agreement” of Austria-Hungary , Italy and England in 1887, as well as the conclusion of a “reinsurance treaty” with Russia in 1887), Bismarck maintained peace throughout Europe. During the reign of Chancellor Bismarck, the German Empire became one of the leaders in the international political arena.
When building his foreign policy, Bismarck made a lot of efforts to consolidate the gains gained as a result of the signing of the Frankfurt Peace in 1871, sought to ensure the diplomatic isolation of the French Republic and tried by any means to prevent the formation of any coalition if it could become a threat to German hegemony. He preferred not to take part in discussing claims for weakened Ottoman Empire. Despite the fact that the “Triple Alliance” was concluded against France and Russia, the “Iron Chancellor” was firmly convinced that a war with Russia could be extremely dangerous for Germany. Availability secret agreement with Russia in 1887 - the “reinsurance agreement” - shows that Bismarck did not hesitate to act behind the backs of his own allies, Italy and Austria, in order to maintain the status quo both in the Balkans and in the Middle East.
And Bismarck did not clearly define the course of colonial policy until 1884; the main reason for this was friendly relations with England. Among other reasons, it is customary to cite the desire to preserve public capital by minimizing government expenses. The first expansionist plans of the “Iron Chancellor” were met with energetic protest from every party - Catholics, socialists, statists, as well as among the junkers who represented him. Despite this, it was during the reign of Bismarck that Germany became a colonial empire.
In 1879, Bismarck broke with the liberals, subsequently relying only on the support of a coalition of large landowners, the military and state elite, and industrialists.
At the same time, Chancellor Bismarck managed to get the Reichstag to adopt a protective customs tariff. Liberals were forced out of big politics. The direction of the new course of economic and financial policy of the German Empire reflected the interests of large industrialists and farmers. This union managed to take a leading position in the field government controlled And political life. Thus, there was a gradual transition of Otto von Bismarck from the Kulturkampf policy to the beginning of the persecution of socialists. After the attempt on the life of the sovereign in 1878, Bismarck passed through the Reichstag an “exceptional law” directed against the socialists, since it prohibited the activities of any social democratic organization. The constructive side of this law was the introduction of a state insurance system in case of illness (1883) or injury (1884), as well as old-age pensions (1889). But even these measures were not enough for the German workers to move away from the Social Democratic Party, although it distracted them from revolutionary solutions social problems. However, Bismarck strongly opposed any version of legislation that would regulate the working conditions of workers.
During the reign of Wilhelm I and Frederick III, who ruled for no more than six months, not a single opposition group managed to shake Bismarck's position. The self-confident and ambitious Kaiser was disgusted by the secondary role, and at the next banquet in 1891 he declared: “There is only one master in the country - I, and I will not tolerate another.” Shortly before this, Wilhelm II made a hint about the desirability of Bismarck's resignation, whose application was submitted on March 18, 1890. A couple of days later, the resignation was accepted, Bismarck was granted the title of Duke of Lauenburg and awarded the rank of Colonel General of the Cavalry.
Having retired to Friedrichsruhe, Bismarck did not lose interest in political life. The newly appointed Reich Chancellor and Minister-President, Count Leo von Caprivi, was especially eloquently criticized by him. In Berlin in 1894, a meeting took place between the emperor and the already aging Bismarck, organized by Clovis Hohenlohe, Prince of Schillingfürst, Caprivi's successor. The entire German people took part in the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the “Iron Chancellor” in 1895. In 1896, Prince Otto von Bismarck had the opportunity to attend the coronation of Russian Emperor Nicholas II. Death overtook the “Iron Chancellor” on July 30, 1898 at his Friedrichsruhe estate, where he was buried.
