A brilliant, pragmatic statesman and who worked to unify Germany and was the first Chancellor of the German Empire.
He practiced
Realpolitik, a pragmatic approach that is often represented as Machiavellian.
He was called the Iron Chancellor because of a speech he made saying that "The great questions of the time will not be resolved by speeches and majority decisions...but by iron and blood."
He predicted that World War I will start because of "some
damned fool thing in the Balkans."
Putting his poster on your office is a great way to piss off uber
liberal college students.
"A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence."
"He who has his thumb on the purse has the power."
-Otto von
BismarckSL students
shit a brick when they see a picture of Otto von Bismarck on my
professor's wall.