[massatoosits]

Bismark was a bedwetting sissy who had to be held in order to sleep at night, Blood and iron my ass...

[yarddog]

I don’t know a lot bout Bismarck but remember a few things he said or did.

I am pretty sure he started the idea of Social Security. I also remember his saying that all of the Balkans “was not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier”.

Another one was something like “Lieber Spitzkugeln Als Spitreden” if I remember my college German right. Anyway it meant “rather pointed bullets than pointed words”.

[Boogieman]

Let’s also not forget that the Prussians’ reckless militarism led to them sponsoring Lenin’s revolt in Russia, simply to undercut a wartime enemy. So we have them to thank for the horrors of international communism that followed as well.

[Billthedrill]

Lots of context here. Germany had never been united, the Thirty Years' War had taught them one potential price of disunity, and Prussia had long been an aggressive state over-willing to upset the existing European modus vivendi in order to deflect a threat to Prussia - Frederick the Great's forcible annexation of Silesia is a case in point. Bismarck simply brought this pattern of activity to a higher level in forcibly uniting Germany under Prussian leadership. It is difficult to imagine a peaceful way of accomplishing that.

His basic foreign policy following this period of expansion was rather conservative and avoided war - that eventually got him fired in 1890 by the young and very aggressive Wilhelm II, whose own policies came to a thundering head in August 1914. That one didn't end well for Germany.

[fso301]

We think our culture wars were unique but Bismarck launched his own culture war (Kulturkampf) against Christianity and won. The American left merely followed the blueprints of Bismarck and Marx.

[mosesdapoet]

Viel danke for this posting

[dfwgator]

Jerk forced my ancestors to move out of Poland during the Kulturkampf.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Maybe someday.