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Alternate meanings: See Bismarck (disambiguation)

Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck (April 1, 1815 - July 30, 1898) (also known as the Iron Chancellor) was the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia (1862 - 1890); he unified Germany with a series of wars and became the first Chancellor (1871 - 1890) of the German Empire. Initially a deeply conservative, aristocratic, and monarchist politician, Bismarck fought the growing social democracy movement in the 1880s by outlawing several organizations and pragmatically instituting mandatory old-age pensions, and health and accident insurance for workers.

< Delighted after the failure of the revolution of 1848, he was elected to the Prussian parliament in 1849. Appointed to represent Prussia in Frankfurt, Bismarck slowly became convinced that a Prussian-led unified German nation was an important goal (this was considered a liberal objective at the time). Subsequently, he worked as ambassador in Russia and Paris. In 1862, the Prussian king Wilhelm I appointed him Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Prussia, as part of a conflict between the increasingly liberal Prussian parliament and the king.

Bismarck then succeeded in unifying Germany by initiating several wars. First, in cooperation with Austria, Schleswig and Holstein were conquered and taken from Denmark in the Second War of Schleswig; a peace treaty was concluded in Vienna on October 30, 1864. Although already in 1865 Austria was pressured to let Prussia take care of these northern lands, in 1866 he attacked Austria and won quickly at the Battle of Königgratz, annexing Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau, and Frankfurt to Prussia and forming the North German Confederation. After Bismarck provoked France, the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870 and the southern German states, viewing France as the aggressor, joined the North German Confederation. France suffered a humiliating defeat, and Wilhelm I was crowned German Emperor in Versailles in 1871. Bismarck thus largely created the Prussia-led 1871 German Empire, at the exclusion of Austria.

Celebrated as a national hero, Bismarck was the first Reichskanzler (Chancellor) of the new Empire. In foreign policy, he now devoted himself to keeping peace among the European powers of France, Austria, Germany and Russia. Bismarck's belief was that Germany's central location in Europe would cause it to be devastated in case of any war.