September 3, 2025 • 22 mins
Join Dr. Lord in this captivating installment of the European Leaders series, where he delves into the lives and legacies of influential figures such as William IV, Sir Robert Peel, Cavour, Czar Nicholas, Louis Napoleon, Prince Bismarck, and William Ewart Gladstone. Discover the pivotal moments that shaped Europe through the stories of these remarkable leaders. (Summary by KHand)
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section fifteen of beacon Lights of History, Volume ten, European
Leaders by John Lord. This LibriVox recording is in the
public domain. Recording by k Hand. Prince Bismarck, Part two.
Bismarck arose slowly but steadily, with the whole force of
his genius, among the defenders of the conservative interests of
(00:21):
his order and of the throne. He was then simply
Heir von Bismarck, belonging to an ancient and noble but
not wealthy family whose seat was Schoenhausen, where the future
prince was born April first, eighteen fifteen. The youth was
sent to a gymnasium in Berlin in eighteen thirty and
in eighteen thirty two to the University of Gottingen in Hanover,
(00:45):
where he was more distinguished for duels, drinking parties, and
general lawlessness than for a scholarship. Here he formed a
memorable friendship with a brother's student, a young American John
Lothrop Motley, later the historian of the Dutch Republic. Much
has been written of Bismarck's reckless and dissipated life at
the university, which differed not essentially from that of other
(01:07):
nobles he had a grand figure, superb health, extraordinary animal
spirits and could ride like a centaur. He spent but
three semesters at Gautingen and then repaired to Berlin in
order to study jurisprudence under the celebrated Savagni, But he
was rarely seen in the lecture room. He gave no
promise of the great abilities which afterward distinguished him. Yet
(01:29):
he honorably passed his state examination, and as he had
chosen the law for his profession, he first served on
leaving the university as a sort of clerk in the
city police, and in eighteen thirty four was transferred to
alex la Chappelle in the administrative department of the district.
In eighteen thirty seven he served the Crown office at Potsdam.
(01:51):
He then entered for a year as a sharpshooter of
the Guards to absolve his obligation to military service. The
next eight years, from the age of twenty four, he
devoted to farming, hunting, carousing and reading. On one of
his father's estates in Pomerania, he was a sort of
country squire, attending fairs, selling wool, inspecting timber, handling grain,
gathering rents, and sitting as a deputy on the local diet,
(02:14):
the talk and scandal of the neighborhood for his demon
like rides and drinking bouts. Yet now studying all the while,
especially history and even philosophy, managing the impoverished paternal estates
with prudence and success, and making short visits to France
and England, the languages of which countries he could speak
with fluency and accuracy. In eighteen forty seven he married
(02:35):
Johanna van Putkammer, nine years younger than himself, who proved
a model wife, domestic and wise, of whom he was
both proud and fond. That same year, his father having
died and left him Schoenhausen, he was elected a member
of the Lantag, a quasi parliament of the eight United
diets of the monarchy, and his great career began. Up
(02:56):
to this period, Bismarck was not a publicly marked man,
except in an avided for country, sport and skill in horsemanship.
He ever retained his love of the country and of
country life. If proud and overbearing, he was not ostentatious.
He had but few friends, but to these he was faithful.
He was never popular until he had made Prussia the
most powerful military state in Europe. He never sought to
(03:18):
be loved so much as to be feared. He never
allowed himself to be approached without politeness and deference. He
seemed to care more for dogs than men. Nor was
he endowed with those graces of manner which marked Mehernech.
He remained harsh, severe, grave proud throughout his whole career,
from first to last, except in congenial company what is
(03:39):
called society he despised with all his aristocratic tendencies and
high social rank. He was born for untrammeled freedom and
was always impatient under contradiction or opposition. When he reached
the summit of his power, he resembled Wallenstein, hero of
the Thirty Years War. Superstitious self sustained, unapproachable, inspiring all awe,
(04:00):
rarely kindling love, overshadowing by his vast abilities the monarch
whom he served and ruled. No account of the man, however,
would be complete, which did not recognize the cornerstone of
his character. An immovable belief in the feudalistic right of
royalty to rule its subjects, descended from an ancient family
of knights and statesmen of the most intensely aristocratic and
(04:23):
reactionary class, even in Germany. His inherited instincts and his
own tremendous will, backed by a fasique of colossal size
and power, made effective his loyalty to the king and
the monarchy, which from the first dominated and inspired him.
In the National Diet of eighteen forty seven, Herr von
Bismarck sat for more than a month before he opened
(04:44):
his lips. But when he did speak, it became evident
that he was determined to support to the utmost the
power of the crown. He was plus royalist queer leroux
in the ordinary sense. He was no orator. He has
a he coughed, he sought for words. His voice, in
spite of his herculean frame, was feeble but sturdy in
(05:07):
his loyalty. Although inexperienced in parliamentary usage, he offered a
bold front to the liberalism which he saw to be
dangerous to his sovereign's throne. Like Oliver Cromwell, in Parliament,
he gained daily in power, which, unlike the English statesman,
he was opposed to the popular side and held up
the monarchy after the fashion of Strafford From that time,
(05:29):
and in fact until eighteen sixty six, when he conquered Austria,
Bismarck was very unpopular, and as he rose in power,
he became the most bitterly hated man in Prussia, which
hatred he returned with arrogant contempt. He consistently opposed all reforms,
even the emancipation of the Jews, which won him the
favor of the monarch. When the Revolution of eighteen forty
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eight broke out, which hurled Louis Philippe from the French throne,
its flames reached every continental stape except Russia. Metternich, who
had been all powerful in all Austria for forty years,
was obliged to flee, as well as the Imperial family itself.
All the Germanic states were now promised liberal constitutions by
the fallen or dismayed princes. In Prussia, affairs were crucial,
(06:13):
and the reformers were sanguine of triumph. Berlin was agitated
by mobs to the verge of anarchy. The king, seriously alarmed,
now promised the boon which he had thus far withheld,
and summoned the Second United Diet to pave the way
for a Constituent Assembly. In this Constituent Assembly, Bismarck scorned
to sit For six months, it sat, squabbling and fighting,
(06:35):
but accomplishing nothing. At last, Bismarck found it expedient to
enter the new Parliament as a deputy, and again vigorously
upheld the absolute power of the crown. He did, indeed
accept the principle of constitutional government, but as he frankly said,
against his will, and only as a new power in
the hands of the monarch to restrain popular agitation and
maintain order through his influence. The king refused the imperial
(06:58):
crown offered by the Frankfurt Park Parliament because he conceived
that the Parliament had no right to give it, that
its acceptance would be a recognition of national instead of
royal sovereignty, and that it would be followed, probably by
civil war. As time went on, he became more and
more the leader of the Conservatives. I need not enumerate
the subjects which came up for discussion in the new
Prussian Parliament, in which Bismarck exhibited with more force than eloquence,
(07:22):
his loyalty to the crown and a conservatism which was
brainded by the liberals as medieval but his originality, his boldness,
his fearlessness, his rugged earnestness, his wit and humor, his
biting sarcasm, his fertility of resources, his knowledge of men
and affairs, and his devoted patriotism marked him out for promotion.
(07:43):
In eighteen fifty one, Bismarck was sent as first Secretary
of the Prussian embassy to the Diet of the Various
German States, convened at Frankfort, in which Austria held a
predominating influence. It was not a parliament, but an administrative
council of the Germanic Confederation, founded by the Congress of
Vienna in in eighteen fifteen. It made no laws and
its sittings were secret. It was a body which represented
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the League of Sovereigns and was composed of only seventeen delegates,
its main function being to suppress all liberal movements in
the various German states. Like the Congress of Vienna itself,
the Diet of Frankfurt was pretentious but practically impotent, and
was the laughing stock of Europe. It was full of
jealousies and intrigues. It was a mere diplomatic conference, as
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Austria and Prussia controlled it. Things went well enough when
these two powers were agreed, but they did not often agree.
There was a perpetual rivalry between them, and an unextinguishable jealousy.
There were many sneers at the appointment of a man
to this diplomatic post, whose manners were brusque and overbearing,
and who had spent most of his time after leaving
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the university among horses, cattle and dogs, who was only
a lieutenant of militia with a single decoration, and who
was unacquainted with what is called diplomacy. But the King
knew his man, and the man was conscious of a powers.
Bismarck found life at Frankfort intolerably dull. He had a
contempt for his diplomatic associates generally, and made fun of
(09:08):
them to his few intimate friends. He took them in
almost at a glance, for he had an intuitive knowledge
of character. He weighed them in his balance and found
them wanting. In a letter to his wife, he writes,
nothing but miserable trifles do these people trouble themselves about.
They strike me as infinitely more ridiculous, with their important
ponderosity concerning the gathered rags of gossip than even a
(09:31):
member of the Second Chamber of Berlin in the full
consciousness of his dignity. The men of the minor states
are mostly mere caricatures of Periwhig diplomatists, who at once
put on their official visage. If I merely beg of
them a light to my cigar. His extraordinary merits were, however,
soon apparent to the King and even to his chief,
old General Rokoff, who was soon transferred to Saint Petersburg
(09:55):
to make way for the Secretary. The king's brother, William,
Prince of Prussia, when at Frankfort, was much impressed by
the young Prussian envoy to the bound, and there was
laid the foundation of the friendship between the future soldier
king and the future Chancellor, between whom there always existed
a warm confidence and esteem. Soon after Bismarck made the
acquaintance of Metternich, who had ruled for so long a
(10:15):
time both the diet and the Empire. The old statesman,
now retired, invited the young diplomatist to his castle at Johannesburg.
They had different aims but similar sympathies. The Austrian statesman
sought to preserve the existing state of things, the Prussian
to make his country dominant over Germany. Both were aristocrats,
both were conservative, but Metternich was as bland and polished
(10:38):
as Bismarck was rough and brusque. Nothing escaped the watchful
eye of Bismarck at Frankfort, as the ambassador of Prussia,
he took note of everything, both great and small, and
communicated it to Berlin as if he were a newspaper correspondent.
In everything, he showed his sympathy with absolutism, and hence
recommended renewed shackles on the press and on the universities.
(10:59):
At Dame that time the hot bed of revolutionary ideas.
His central aim and constant thought was the ascendancy of Prussia,
first in royal strength at home, then throughout Germany as
the rival of Austria. Bismarck was not only a keen observer,
but he soon learned to disguise his thoughts. Nobody could
read him. He was frank when his opponents were full
of lies. Knowing that he would not be believed, he became
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a perfect master of the art of deception. No one
was a match for him in Stalecraft, even Prince Gorschtakoff
became his dupe. By his tact he kept Prussia from
being entangled by the usurpation of Napoleon the Third and
by the Crimean War. He saw into the character of
the French Emperor and discovered that he was shallow and
not to be feared. At Frankfurt, Bismarck had many opportunities
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of seeing distinguished men of all nations. He took their
gauge and penetrated the designs of cabinets. He counseled his
master to conciliate Napoleon, though regarding him as an upstart,
and he sought the friendship of France in order to
eclipse the star of Austria, whom it was necessary to
humble before or Prussia could rise. In his whole diplomatic
career at Frankfurt, it was Bismarck's aim to contravene the
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designs of Austria, having in view the aggrandizement of Prussia
as the true head and center of German nationality. He
therefore did all he could to prevent Austria from being
assisted in her war with Italy, and rejoiced in her misfortunes.
In the meantime, he made frequent short visits to Holland, Denmark,
Italy and Hungary, acquired the languages of these countries and
made himself familiar with their people and institutions. Besides shrewdly
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studying the characters, manners, and diplomatic modes of the governing
classes of European nations at large, cool, untiring self possessed,
he was storing up information and experience. At the end
of eight years, in eighteen fifty nine, Bismarck was transferred
to Saint Petersburg as the Prussian ambassador to Alexander the Second.
He was then forty three years of age and was
(12:50):
known as the sworn foe of Austria. His free and easy,
but haughty manners were a great contrast to those of
his stiff, buttoned up and pretentious predecessors, and he became
a great favorite in Russian court circles. The comparatively small
salary he received less than twenty thousand dollars with a house,
would not allow him to give expensive entertainment or to
(13:10):
run races in prodigality with the representatives of England, France
or even Austria, who received nearly fifty thousand dollars but
no parties were more sought or more highly appreciated than
those which his sensible and unpretending wife gave. In the
high society in which they moved with the Empress Dowager,
he was an especial favorite, and was just the sort
of man whom the autocrat of all the Russias would
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naturally like, especially for his love of hunting and his
success in shooting deer and bears. He did not go
to grand parties any more than he could help despising
their ostentation and frivolity, and always feeling the worse for them.
On the second of January eighteen sixty one, Friederic William
the Fourth, who had for some time been insane, died
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and was succeeded by the Prince Regent William the First,
already in his sixty fifth year, every inch a soldier
and nothing else. Bismarck was soon summoned to the councils
of his sovereign at Berlin, who was perplexed and annoyed
by the Liberal Party, which had the ascendancy in the
lower chamber of the General Diet. Office, was pressed upon Bismarck,
but before he accepted it, he wished to study Napoleon
(14:13):
and French affairs more closely, and was therefore sent as
ambassador of Paris in eighteen sixty two. He made that
year a brief visit to London, Disraeli, being then the Premier,
who smiled at his schemes for the regeneration of Germany.
It was while journeying amid the Pyrenees that Bismarck was
again summoned to Berlin. The Lower Chamber having ridden roughshod
over his Majesty's plan for army reform, the King invested
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him with the great office of President of the Ministry,
his abilities being universally recognized. It was now Bismarck's mission
to break the will of the Prussian Parliament and to
thrust Austria out of the Germanic body. He considered only
the end in view, caring nothing for the means. He
had no scruples. It was his religion to raise Prussia
to the same ascendancy that Austria had held under Menderinich.
(14:58):
He had a master whose will and ambition and were
equal to his own, yet whose support he was sure
of in carrying out his grand designs. He was now
a second Richelieu to whom the aggrandizement of the monarchy
which he served and the welfare of the fatherland were
but convertible terms. He soon came into bitter conflict not
with nobles, but with progressive liberals in the chamber, who
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detested him and feared him, but to whom he did
not condescend to reveal his plans, bearing obloquy with placidity
in the greatness of the end he had in view.
He was a self sustained, haughty, unapproachable man of power,
except among the few friends whom he honored as boon companions,
without ever losing his discretion, wearing a mask with apparent frankness,
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and showing real frankness in matters which did not concern
secrets of state, especially on the subjects of education and religion.
Like his master, he was more a Calvinist than a Lutheran.
He openly avowed his dependence on Almighty God and on
him alone as the hope of nations. In this respect
we trace a resemblance to Oliver Cromwell rather than to
Friederic the Great. Bismarck was a compound of both, in
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his patriotism and his unscrupulousness. The first thing that King
William and his minister did was to double the army.
But this vast increase of military strength seemed unnecessary to
the Liberal Party, and the requisite increase of taxes to
support it was unpopular. Hence Bismarck was brought in conflict
with the Lower Chamber, which represented the middle classes. He
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dared not tell his secret schemes without imperiling their success,
which led to grave misunderstandings. For four years, the conflict
raged between the Crown and the Parliament, both the King
and Bismarck being inflexible, and the lower House was equally
obstinate in refusing to grant the large military supplies demanded.
At last, Bismarck dissolved the chambers, and the King declared
that as the three estates could not agree, he should
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not continue to do his duty by Prussia without regard
to these pieces of paper called constitutions. The next four
sessions of the Chamber were closed in the same manner.
Bismarck admitted that he was acting unconstitutionally, but claiming the
urgency of public necessity. In the al Whig debates, he
was cool, sarcastic, and contemptuous. The press took up the fight,
and the press was promptly muzzled. Bismarck was denounced as
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a cataline, a strafford, a polygna, but he retained a
provoking serenity and quietly prepared for war, Since war he foresaw,
was sooner or later inevitable. Nothing can solve the question,
said he, but blood and iron. At last, an event
occurred which showed his hand. In November eighteen sixty three,
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Friederic the seventh, the King of Denmark, died. By his death,
the Schleischwig Holstein question again burst upon distracted Europe. Who
was to reign over the two Danish provinces. The King
of Denmark, as Duke of Schleiswig and Holstein, had been
represented in the Germanic Diet by the Treaty of London
in eighteen fifty two. He had undertaken not to incorporate
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the duchies with the rest of his monarchy, allowing them
to retain their traditional autonomy. In eighteen sixty three, shortly
before his death, Friederic the seventh, by a decree, dissolved
this autonomy and virtually incorporated Schleiswig, which was only partly German,
with the Danish monarchy, leaving the Holy German Holstein as before.
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Bismarck protested against this violation of treaty obligations. The Danish
parliament nevertheless passed a law which incorporated the province with
the Denmark and Christian the ninth. The new monarch confirmed
the law, but a new claimant to the duchies now
appeared in the person of Friedrich of Augustenburg, a German prince,
and the Prussian Chamber advocated his claims, as did the
(18:31):
Diet itself, but the Throne held its opinion in reserve.
Bismarck contrived by what diplomatic tricks and promises it is
difficult to say to induce Austria to join with Prussia
in seizing the provinces in question and in dividing the
spoil between them. As these two powers controlled the Diet
at Frankfurt, it was easy to carry out the program.
(18:53):
An Austro Prussian army accordingly evaded Schleischwig Holstein, and, to
the scandal of all Europe, drove the Danish defenders to
the wall. It was regarded in the same light as
the seizure of Celesia by Friederic the Great, a high
handed and unscrupulous violation of justice and right. England was
particularly indignant and uttered loud protests. So did the lesser
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states of Germany. Jealous of the aggrandizement of Prussia. Even
the Prussian Chamber refused to grant the money for such
an enterprise. But Bismarck laughed in his sleeve. This arch
diplomatist had his reasons, which he did not care to explain.
He had in view the weakening of the power of
the diet and a quarrel with Austria. True, he had
embraced Austria, but after the fashion of a bear, he
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knew that Austria and Prussia would wrangle about the division
of the spoil, which would lead to misunderstandings and thus
furnish the pretext for a war, which he felt to
be necessary before Prussia could be aggrandized and German unity
be affected. With Prussia at its head the two great
objects of its life. His policy was marvelously astute, but
he kept his own counsels and continued to hug his
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secret enemy. On the thirtieth of octob eighteen sixty four,
the Treaty of Vienna was signed, by which it was
settled that the King of Denmark should surrender Schleischwig, Holstein
and Lauenburg to Austria and Prussia, and he bound himself
to submit to what their majesties might think fit as
to the disposition of these three duchies. Probably both parties
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sought an occasion to quarrel, since their commissioners had received
opposite instructions, the Austrians defending the claims of Friedrich of
Augustenburg as generally desired in Germany, and the Prussians now
opposing them. Prussia demanded the expulsion of the pretender, to
which Austria said no. Prussia further sounded Austria as to
the annexation of the duchies to herself, to which Austria
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consented on condition of receiving an equivalent of some province
in Cilicia. What thought Bismarck, angrily give you back part
of what was won for Prussia by Friederic the Great.
Never affairs had a gloomy look, but war was averted
for a while by the Convention of Gastein, by which
the possession of Schleischwig was assigned to Prussia and Holstein
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to Austria, and further, in consideration of two and a
half millions of dollars. The Emperor Francis Joseph ceded to
King William all his rights of co proprietorship in the
Duchy of Lauenbourg, but the Chamber of Berlin boldly declared
this transaction to be null envoid, since the country had
not been asked to ratify the treaty. It must be
borne in mind that the conflict was still going on
(21:20):
between Bismarck as the defender of the absolute sovereignty of
the king, and the liberal and progressive members of the Chamber,
who wanted a freer and more democratic constitution opposed then
by the Chamber. Bismarck dissolved it and coolly reminded his
enemies that the Chamber had nothing to do with politics,
only with commercial affairs and matters connected with taxation. This
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was the period of his greatest unpopularity, since his policy
and ultimate designs were not comprehended. So great was the
popular detestation, in which he was held that a fanatic
tried to kill him in the street, but only succeeded
in wounding him slightly. End of Section fifteen.
Section fifteen of beacon Lights of History, Volume ten, European
Leaders by John Lord. This LibriVox recording is in the
public domain. Recording by k Hand. Prince Bismarck, Part two.
Bismarck arose slowly but steadily, with the whole force of
his genius, among the defenders of the conservative interests of
(00:21):
his order and of the throne. He was then simply
Heir von Bismarck, belonging to an ancient and noble but
not wealthy family whose seat was Schoenhausen, where the future
prince was born April first, eighteen fifteen. The youth was
sent to a gymnasium in Berlin in eighteen thirty and
in eighteen thirty two to the University of Gottingen in Hanover,
(00:45):
where he was more distinguished for duels, drinking parties, and
general lawlessness than for a scholarship. Here he formed a
memorable friendship with a brother's student, a young American John
Lothrop Motley, later the historian of the Dutch Republic. Much
has been written of Bismarck's reckless and dissipated life at
the university, which differed not essentially from that of other
(01:07):
nobles he had a grand figure, superb health, extraordinary animal
spirits and could ride like a centaur. He spent but
three semesters at Gautingen and then repaired to Berlin in
order to study jurisprudence under the celebrated Savagni, But he
was rarely seen in the lecture room. He gave no
promise of the great abilities which afterward distinguished him. Yet
(01:29):
he honorably passed his state examination, and as he had
chosen the law for his profession, he first served on
leaving the university as a sort of clerk in the
city police, and in eighteen thirty four was transferred to
alex la Chappelle in the administrative department of the district.
In eighteen thirty seven he served the Crown office at Potsdam.
(01:51):
He then entered for a year as a sharpshooter of
the Guards to absolve his obligation to military service. The
next eight years, from the age of twenty four, he
devoted to farming, hunting, carousing and reading. On one of
his father's estates in Pomerania, he was a sort of
country squire, attending fairs, selling wool, inspecting timber, handling grain,
gathering rents, and sitting as a deputy on the local diet,
(02:14):
the talk and scandal of the neighborhood for his demon
like rides and drinking bouts. Yet now studying all the while,
especially history and even philosophy, managing the impoverished paternal estates
with prudence and success, and making short visits to France
and England, the languages of which countries he could speak
with fluency and accuracy. In eighteen forty seven he married
(02:35):
Johanna van Putkammer, nine years younger than himself, who proved
a model wife, domestic and wise, of whom he was
both proud and fond. That same year, his father having
died and left him Schoenhausen, he was elected a member
of the Lantag, a quasi parliament of the eight United
diets of the monarchy, and his great career began. Up
(02:56):
to this period, Bismarck was not a publicly marked man,
except in an avided for country, sport and skill in horsemanship.
He ever retained his love of the country and of
country life. If proud and overbearing, he was not ostentatious.
He had but few friends, but to these he was faithful.
He was never popular until he had made Prussia the
most powerful military state in Europe. He never sought to
(03:18):
be loved so much as to be feared. He never
allowed himself to be approached without politeness and deference. He
seemed to care more for dogs than men. Nor was
he endowed with those graces of manner which marked Mehernech.
He remained harsh, severe, grave proud throughout his whole career,
from first to last, except in congenial company what is
(03:39):
called society he despised with all his aristocratic tendencies and
high social rank. He was born for untrammeled freedom and
was always impatient under contradiction or opposition. When he reached
the summit of his power, he resembled Wallenstein, hero of
the Thirty Years War. Superstitious self sustained, unapproachable, inspiring all awe,
(04:00):
rarely kindling love, overshadowing by his vast abilities the monarch
whom he served and ruled. No account of the man, however,
would be complete, which did not recognize the cornerstone of
his character. An immovable belief in the feudalistic right of
royalty to rule its subjects, descended from an ancient family
of knights and statesmen of the most intensely aristocratic and
(04:23):
reactionary class, even in Germany. His inherited instincts and his
own tremendous will, backed by a fasique of colossal size
and power, made effective his loyalty to the king and
the monarchy, which from the first dominated and inspired him.
In the National Diet of eighteen forty seven, Herr von
Bismarck sat for more than a month before he opened
(04:44):
his lips. But when he did speak, it became evident
that he was determined to support to the utmost the
power of the crown. He was plus royalist queer leroux
in the ordinary sense. He was no orator. He has
a he coughed, he sought for words. His voice, in
spite of his herculean frame, was feeble but sturdy in
(05:07):
his loyalty. Although inexperienced in parliamentary usage, he offered a
bold front to the liberalism which he saw to be
dangerous to his sovereign's throne. Like Oliver Cromwell, in Parliament,
he gained daily in power, which, unlike the English statesman,
he was opposed to the popular side and held up
the monarchy after the fashion of Strafford From that time,
(05:29):
and in fact until eighteen sixty six, when he conquered Austria,
Bismarck was very unpopular, and as he rose in power,
he became the most bitterly hated man in Prussia, which
hatred he returned with arrogant contempt. He consistently opposed all reforms,
even the emancipation of the Jews, which won him the
favor of the monarch. When the Revolution of eighteen forty
(05:49):
eight broke out, which hurled Louis Philippe from the French throne,
its flames reached every continental stape except Russia. Metternich, who
had been all powerful in all Austria for forty years,
was obliged to flee, as well as the Imperial family itself.
All the Germanic states were now promised liberal constitutions by
the fallen or dismayed princes. In Prussia, affairs were crucial,
(06:13):
and the reformers were sanguine of triumph. Berlin was agitated
by mobs to the verge of anarchy. The king, seriously alarmed,
now promised the boon which he had thus far withheld,
and summoned the Second United Diet to pave the way
for a Constituent Assembly. In this Constituent Assembly, Bismarck scorned
to sit For six months, it sat, squabbling and fighting,
(06:35):
but accomplishing nothing. At last, Bismarck found it expedient to
enter the new Parliament as a deputy, and again vigorously
upheld the absolute power of the crown. He did, indeed
accept the principle of constitutional government, but as he frankly said,
against his will, and only as a new power in
the hands of the monarch to restrain popular agitation and
maintain order through his influence. The king refused the imperial
(06:58):
crown offered by the Frankfurt Park Parliament because he conceived
that the Parliament had no right to give it, that
its acceptance would be a recognition of national instead of
royal sovereignty, and that it would be followed, probably by
civil war. As time went on, he became more and
more the leader of the Conservatives. I need not enumerate
the subjects which came up for discussion in the new
Prussian Parliament, in which Bismarck exhibited with more force than eloquence,
(07:22):
his loyalty to the crown and a conservatism which was
brainded by the liberals as medieval but his originality, his boldness,
his fearlessness, his rugged earnestness, his wit and humor, his
biting sarcasm, his fertility of resources, his knowledge of men
and affairs, and his devoted patriotism marked him out for promotion.
(07:43):
In eighteen fifty one, Bismarck was sent as first Secretary
of the Prussian embassy to the Diet of the Various
German States, convened at Frankfort, in which Austria held a
predominating influence. It was not a parliament, but an administrative
council of the Germanic Confederation, founded by the Congress of
Vienna in in eighteen fifteen. It made no laws and
its sittings were secret. It was a body which represented
(08:06):
the League of Sovereigns and was composed of only seventeen delegates,
its main function being to suppress all liberal movements in
the various German states. Like the Congress of Vienna itself,
the Diet of Frankfurt was pretentious but practically impotent, and
was the laughing stock of Europe. It was full of
jealousies and intrigues. It was a mere diplomatic conference, as
(08:27):
Austria and Prussia controlled it. Things went well enough when
these two powers were agreed, but they did not often agree.
There was a perpetual rivalry between them, and an unextinguishable jealousy.
There were many sneers at the appointment of a man
to this diplomatic post, whose manners were brusque and overbearing,
and who had spent most of his time after leaving
(08:48):
the university among horses, cattle and dogs, who was only
a lieutenant of militia with a single decoration, and who
was unacquainted with what is called diplomacy. But the King
knew his man, and the man was conscious of a powers.
Bismarck found life at Frankfort intolerably dull. He had a
contempt for his diplomatic associates generally, and made fun of
(09:08):
them to his few intimate friends. He took them in
almost at a glance, for he had an intuitive knowledge
of character. He weighed them in his balance and found
them wanting. In a letter to his wife, he writes,
nothing but miserable trifles do these people trouble themselves about.
They strike me as infinitely more ridiculous, with their important
ponderosity concerning the gathered rags of gossip than even a
(09:31):
member of the Second Chamber of Berlin in the full
consciousness of his dignity. The men of the minor states
are mostly mere caricatures of Periwhig diplomatists, who at once
put on their official visage. If I merely beg of
them a light to my cigar. His extraordinary merits were, however,
soon apparent to the King and even to his chief,
old General Rokoff, who was soon transferred to Saint Petersburg
(09:55):
to make way for the Secretary. The king's brother, William,
Prince of Prussia, when at Frankfort, was much impressed by
the young Prussian envoy to the bound, and there was
laid the foundation of the friendship between the future soldier
king and the future Chancellor, between whom there always existed
a warm confidence and esteem. Soon after Bismarck made the
acquaintance of Metternich, who had ruled for so long a
(10:15):
time both the diet and the Empire. The old statesman,
now retired, invited the young diplomatist to his castle at Johannesburg.
They had different aims but similar sympathies. The Austrian statesman
sought to preserve the existing state of things, the Prussian
to make his country dominant over Germany. Both were aristocrats,
both were conservative, but Metternich was as bland and polished
(10:38):
as Bismarck was rough and brusque. Nothing escaped the watchful
eye of Bismarck at Frankfort, as the ambassador of Prussia,
he took note of everything, both great and small, and
communicated it to Berlin as if he were a newspaper correspondent.
In everything, he showed his sympathy with absolutism, and hence
recommended renewed shackles on the press and on the universities.
(10:59):
At Dame that time the hot bed of revolutionary ideas.
His central aim and constant thought was the ascendancy of Prussia,
first in royal strength at home, then throughout Germany as
the rival of Austria. Bismarck was not only a keen observer,
but he soon learned to disguise his thoughts. Nobody could
read him. He was frank when his opponents were full
of lies. Knowing that he would not be believed, he became
(11:21):
a perfect master of the art of deception. No one
was a match for him in Stalecraft, even Prince Gorschtakoff
became his dupe. By his tact he kept Prussia from
being entangled by the usurpation of Napoleon the Third and
by the Crimean War. He saw into the character of
the French Emperor and discovered that he was shallow and
not to be feared. At Frankfurt, Bismarck had many opportunities
(11:45):
of seeing distinguished men of all nations. He took their
gauge and penetrated the designs of cabinets. He counseled his
master to conciliate Napoleon, though regarding him as an upstart,
and he sought the friendship of France in order to
eclipse the star of Austria, whom it was necessary to
humble before or Prussia could rise. In his whole diplomatic
career at Frankfurt, it was Bismarck's aim to contravene the
(12:05):
designs of Austria, having in view the aggrandizement of Prussia
as the true head and center of German nationality. He
therefore did all he could to prevent Austria from being
assisted in her war with Italy, and rejoiced in her misfortunes.
In the meantime, he made frequent short visits to Holland, Denmark,
Italy and Hungary, acquired the languages of these countries and
made himself familiar with their people and institutions. Besides shrewdly
(12:29):
studying the characters, manners, and diplomatic modes of the governing
classes of European nations at large, cool, untiring self possessed,
he was storing up information and experience. At the end
of eight years, in eighteen fifty nine, Bismarck was transferred
to Saint Petersburg as the Prussian ambassador to Alexander the Second.
He was then forty three years of age and was
(12:50):
known as the sworn foe of Austria. His free and easy,
but haughty manners were a great contrast to those of
his stiff, buttoned up and pretentious predecessors, and he became
a great favorite in Russian court circles. The comparatively small
salary he received less than twenty thousand dollars with a house,
would not allow him to give expensive entertainment or to
(13:10):
run races in prodigality with the representatives of England, France
or even Austria, who received nearly fifty thousand dollars but
no parties were more sought or more highly appreciated than
those which his sensible and unpretending wife gave. In the
high society in which they moved with the Empress Dowager,
he was an especial favorite, and was just the sort
of man whom the autocrat of all the Russias would
(13:32):
naturally like, especially for his love of hunting and his
success in shooting deer and bears. He did not go
to grand parties any more than he could help despising
their ostentation and frivolity, and always feeling the worse for them.
On the second of January eighteen sixty one, Friederic William
the Fourth, who had for some time been insane, died
(13:52):
and was succeeded by the Prince Regent William the First,
already in his sixty fifth year, every inch a soldier
and nothing else. Bismarck was soon summoned to the councils
of his sovereign at Berlin, who was perplexed and annoyed
by the Liberal Party, which had the ascendancy in the
lower chamber of the General Diet. Office, was pressed upon Bismarck,
but before he accepted it, he wished to study Napoleon
(14:13):
and French affairs more closely, and was therefore sent as
ambassador of Paris in eighteen sixty two. He made that
year a brief visit to London, Disraeli, being then the Premier,
who smiled at his schemes for the regeneration of Germany.
It was while journeying amid the Pyrenees that Bismarck was
again summoned to Berlin. The Lower Chamber having ridden roughshod
over his Majesty's plan for army reform, the King invested
(14:37):
him with the great office of President of the Ministry,
his abilities being universally recognized. It was now Bismarck's mission
to break the will of the Prussian Parliament and to
thrust Austria out of the Germanic body. He considered only
the end in view, caring nothing for the means. He
had no scruples. It was his religion to raise Prussia
to the same ascendancy that Austria had held under Menderinich.
(14:58):
He had a master whose will and ambition and were
equal to his own, yet whose support he was sure
of in carrying out his grand designs. He was now
a second Richelieu to whom the aggrandizement of the monarchy
which he served and the welfare of the fatherland were
but convertible terms. He soon came into bitter conflict not
with nobles, but with progressive liberals in the chamber, who
(15:18):
detested him and feared him, but to whom he did
not condescend to reveal his plans, bearing obloquy with placidity
in the greatness of the end he had in view.
He was a self sustained, haughty, unapproachable man of power,
except among the few friends whom he honored as boon companions,
without ever losing his discretion, wearing a mask with apparent frankness,
(15:39):
and showing real frankness in matters which did not concern
secrets of state, especially on the subjects of education and religion.
Like his master, he was more a Calvinist than a Lutheran.
He openly avowed his dependence on Almighty God and on
him alone as the hope of nations. In this respect
we trace a resemblance to Oliver Cromwell rather than to
Friederic the Great. Bismarck was a compound of both, in
(16:01):
his patriotism and his unscrupulousness. The first thing that King
William and his minister did was to double the army.
But this vast increase of military strength seemed unnecessary to
the Liberal Party, and the requisite increase of taxes to
support it was unpopular. Hence Bismarck was brought in conflict
with the Lower Chamber, which represented the middle classes. He
(16:22):
dared not tell his secret schemes without imperiling their success,
which led to grave misunderstandings. For four years, the conflict
raged between the Crown and the Parliament, both the King
and Bismarck being inflexible, and the lower House was equally
obstinate in refusing to grant the large military supplies demanded.
At last, Bismarck dissolved the chambers, and the King declared
that as the three estates could not agree, he should
(16:44):
not continue to do his duty by Prussia without regard
to these pieces of paper called constitutions. The next four
sessions of the Chamber were closed in the same manner.
Bismarck admitted that he was acting unconstitutionally, but claiming the
urgency of public necessity. In the al Whig debates, he
was cool, sarcastic, and contemptuous. The press took up the fight,
and the press was promptly muzzled. Bismarck was denounced as
(17:07):
a cataline, a strafford, a polygna, but he retained a
provoking serenity and quietly prepared for war, Since war he foresaw,
was sooner or later inevitable. Nothing can solve the question,
said he, but blood and iron. At last, an event
occurred which showed his hand. In November eighteen sixty three,
(17:27):
Friederic the seventh, the King of Denmark, died. By his death,
the Schleischwig Holstein question again burst upon distracted Europe. Who
was to reign over the two Danish provinces. The King
of Denmark, as Duke of Schleiswig and Holstein, had been
represented in the Germanic Diet by the Treaty of London
in eighteen fifty two. He had undertaken not to incorporate
(17:49):
the duchies with the rest of his monarchy, allowing them
to retain their traditional autonomy. In eighteen sixty three, shortly
before his death, Friederic the seventh, by a decree, dissolved
this autonomy and virtually incorporated Schleiswig, which was only partly German,
with the Danish monarchy, leaving the Holy German Holstein as before.
(18:10):
Bismarck protested against this violation of treaty obligations. The Danish
parliament nevertheless passed a law which incorporated the province with
the Denmark and Christian the ninth. The new monarch confirmed
the law, but a new claimant to the duchies now
appeared in the person of Friedrich of Augustenburg, a German prince,
and the Prussian Chamber advocated his claims, as did the
(18:31):
Diet itself, but the Throne held its opinion in reserve.
Bismarck contrived by what diplomatic tricks and promises it is
difficult to say to induce Austria to join with Prussia
in seizing the provinces in question and in dividing the
spoil between them. As these two powers controlled the Diet
at Frankfurt, it was easy to carry out the program.
(18:53):
An Austro Prussian army accordingly evaded Schleischwig Holstein, and, to
the scandal of all Europe, drove the Danish defenders to
the wall. It was regarded in the same light as
the seizure of Celesia by Friederic the Great, a high
handed and unscrupulous violation of justice and right. England was
particularly indignant and uttered loud protests. So did the lesser
(19:14):
states of Germany. Jealous of the aggrandizement of Prussia. Even
the Prussian Chamber refused to grant the money for such
an enterprise. But Bismarck laughed in his sleeve. This arch
diplomatist had his reasons, which he did not care to explain.
He had in view the weakening of the power of
the diet and a quarrel with Austria. True, he had
embraced Austria, but after the fashion of a bear, he
(19:36):
knew that Austria and Prussia would wrangle about the division
of the spoil, which would lead to misunderstandings and thus
furnish the pretext for a war, which he felt to
be necessary before Prussia could be aggrandized and German unity
be affected. With Prussia at its head the two great
objects of its life. His policy was marvelously astute, but
he kept his own counsels and continued to hug his
(19:57):
secret enemy. On the thirtieth of octob eighteen sixty four,
the Treaty of Vienna was signed, by which it was
settled that the King of Denmark should surrender Schleischwig, Holstein
and Lauenburg to Austria and Prussia, and he bound himself
to submit to what their majesties might think fit as
to the disposition of these three duchies. Probably both parties
(20:17):
sought an occasion to quarrel, since their commissioners had received
opposite instructions, the Austrians defending the claims of Friedrich of
Augustenburg as generally desired in Germany, and the Prussians now
opposing them. Prussia demanded the expulsion of the pretender, to
which Austria said no. Prussia further sounded Austria as to
the annexation of the duchies to herself, to which Austria
(20:38):
consented on condition of receiving an equivalent of some province
in Cilicia. What thought Bismarck, angrily give you back part
of what was won for Prussia by Friederic the Great.
Never affairs had a gloomy look, but war was averted
for a while by the Convention of Gastein, by which
the possession of Schleischwig was assigned to Prussia and Holstein
(20:59):
to Austria, and further, in consideration of two and a
half millions of dollars. The Emperor Francis Joseph ceded to
King William all his rights of co proprietorship in the
Duchy of Lauenbourg, but the Chamber of Berlin boldly declared
this transaction to be null envoid, since the country had
not been asked to ratify the treaty. It must be
borne in mind that the conflict was still going on
(21:20):
between Bismarck as the defender of the absolute sovereignty of
the king, and the liberal and progressive members of the Chamber,
who wanted a freer and more democratic constitution opposed then
by the Chamber. Bismarck dissolved it and coolly reminded his
enemies that the Chamber had nothing to do with politics,
only with commercial affairs and matters connected with taxation. This
(21:40):
was the period of his greatest unpopularity, since his policy
and ultimate designs were not comprehended. So great was the
popular detestation, in which he was held that a fanatic
tried to kill him in the street, but only succeeded
in wounding him slightly. End of Section fifteen.
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