How long did bismarck rule germany

In , he negotiated an alliance with Austria-Hungary to counteract France and Russia. Italy later joined the alliance.

To avoid alienating Britain, Bismarck arranged the two Mediterranean Agreements of , designed to preserve the status quo against a Russian threat.

In , Bismarck resigned after disagreeing with the new emperor, Wilhelm II. He retired to his estate near Hamburg and died there on 30 July Search term:. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled.

Bismarck became a hero to German nationalists; they built many monuments honoring the founder of the new Reich. Many historians praise him as a visionary who was instrumental in uniting Germany and, once that had been accomplished, kept the peace in Europe through adroit diplomacy. Historian Robert K.

Privacy Policy. Twitter Facebook Pinterest. And how did he unify Germany? Through a series of wars, he unified 39 individual states into one German nation in His policies as chancellor were aimed at holding the newly-formed state together in the face of religious, political and social divisions — all while trying to maintain the fragile peace in Europe. When Bismarck was born in April , Napoleon was about to be defeated for good by a coalition that included a collective German force with many enthusiastic volunteers.

His father Karl was a junker Prussian aristocrat with staunchly conservative views. By contrast, his mother Wilhelmine was the daughter of a cabinet secretary and was keenly intelligent and witty.

Their son Otto would be a combination of the two: an arch-conservative junker with the Machiavellian mind of a politician. But in his life changed forever. By chance, he was asked to step in for a member of the Prussian parliament who had fallen ill. The Reichstag Fire was a dramatic arson attack occurring on February 27, , which burned the building that housed the Reichstag German parliament in Berlin.

Claiming the fire was part of a Communist attempt to overthrow the government, the newly named Reich Chancellor Adolf Under the cover of darkness in the early morning hours of May 19, , the most formidable battleship to have ever been built slipped into the Baltic Sea on its maiden voyage. An ocean-bound castle, the thickly armored Bismarck was the first full-scale battleship constructed by From its Eugenics is the practice or advocacy of improving the human species by selectively mating people with specific desirable hereditary traits.

Educated in the cadet corps, Ludendorff was named chief of staff to the Eighth Army after the outbreak of war and earned renown for the victory at the Battle of Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Recommended for you.