Bismarck's Great Questions Of The Day

In 1862 Otto von Bismarck became the Prime Minister of Prussia. During all of the years of his ruling, he focused his policies on unifying the state on three main ideas and carrying out the Prussification of the German states. Bismarck's great questions of day were those that enabled the development of all the plans he wanted for the German Empire; however, in one of his first speeches, he declared that the ideas he had for the state and the plans he wanted to carry out were not going to be obtained through mere speeches, votes or empty words. Instead, he wanted to rule the state with blood and iron, and this is what he achieved up until 1871. Bismarck's methods will be analyzed mainly focusing on the military interventions that took place during this time until the determined date.

Otto von Bismarck as Prime Minister of Prussia, from 1862 to 1871, established the main goals that he wanted to achieve for Germany; his main concern was the development of the German state he wanted to carry out by the increasing of the values of militarism, and therefore nationalism. While he acted as a very intelligent diplomat, inside his country he was harsh and severe with all the measurements he wanted to take. This is the first fact that permits us realize and primarily understand what he meant about the blood and iron. From his early years of rule up until 1871, Bismarck focused more on firstly unifying Germany in terms of land. Since German states were divided, Bismarck intended to join all these states under a sole thought and under a sole territory, dominated by Prussia. In these attempts of increasing Prussia's territory by unifying the German states we can include the defeat of Denmark. When the vacancy for the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein came to notice, Germany along with Austria decided to support the German candidate for these places in power; however, he then took the power himself and annexed these territories to his desired German state. At this point we can analyze how Bismarck did not want to unify the state through speeches or votes of people deciding what country do they want to belong to, but by taking what he believed was his and annex it to the empire he was in the process of building. Afterwards, in 1867, the North German States joined the North German Confederations as a result of an Austro-Prussian War, which reinforced Prussia's hegemony over the German states and made it official. Up until this point, Bismarck had proven the Prussian government of all the military success he was capable of and this built the step for his greater achievements in further years as Prime Minister. Finally, the last blow that until 1871 gave Bismarck a position of power and authority by demonstrating his blood and iron capacities, was the Franco-Prussian War. It all started when German Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was offered a position in the Spanish throne. France disagreed with this appointment

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