WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are tackling 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:06.240 a figure who is, well, just massive. I mean, 00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:09.220 physically, historically, politically, he's a 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:11.839 giant in every sense of the word. He really is. 00:00:11.980 --> 00:00:13.439 We're talking about the Iron Chancellor himself, 00:00:14.179 --> 00:00:17.899 Otto von Bismarck. It is impossible to understand 00:00:17.899 --> 00:00:20.660 modern Europe, or really the modern world, without 00:00:20.660 --> 00:00:23.859 getting a handle on Bismarck. He is the fulcrum 00:00:23.859 --> 00:00:27.739 upon which the entire 19th century turns. And 00:00:27.739 --> 00:00:30.039 usually, you know, when you hear 19th century 00:00:30.039 --> 00:00:32.939 German politics, your eyes might glaze over a 00:00:32.939 --> 00:00:34.719 little bit. A little, maybe. You picture these 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:37.619 dusty men with, I don't know, mutton chops, signing 00:00:37.619 --> 00:00:40.719 treaties in drafty palaces. But the sources we 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:42.579 have for this deep dive, they came to picture 00:00:42.579 --> 00:00:45.320 of a man who was... Well, frankly, he was wild. 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:47.439 He certainly wasn't a boring bureaucrat, that's 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:49.299 for sure. Not at all. We're talking about a guy 00:00:49.299 --> 00:00:51.939 who fought duels, who chased romances all across 00:00:51.939 --> 00:00:54.140 Europe, who manipulated kings like they were 00:00:54.140 --> 00:00:56.420 children, and who basically created the country 00:00:56.420 --> 00:00:58.859 of Germany out of thin air. All through sheer 00:00:58.859 --> 00:01:02.500 force of will. Exactly. And in this incredibly 00:01:02.500 --> 00:01:04.939 cynical twist, he invented the modern welfare 00:01:04.939 --> 00:01:07.329 state. Right, but not out of charity. He did 00:01:07.329 --> 00:01:09.810 it mostly just to annoy his political enemies. 00:01:10.049 --> 00:01:12.769 It's incredible. So our mission today is to unpack 00:01:12.769 --> 00:01:15.590 this contradiction. How did this one man, this 00:01:15.590 --> 00:01:19.629 Yunker from the countryside, completely reshape 00:01:19.629 --> 00:01:24.209 the map of the world? And was his genius? Was 00:01:24.209 --> 00:01:26.409 it actually the very thing that doomed the empire 00:01:26.409 --> 00:01:28.930 he built? That is the central question, isn't 00:01:28.930 --> 00:01:31.290 it? Because Bismarck built this incredibly complex 00:01:31.290 --> 00:01:33.930 machine that, well, only he could operate. A 00:01:33.930 --> 00:01:36.420 machine built for one. So let's start at the 00:01:36.420 --> 00:01:38.859 beginning. Who was this guy? before he became 00:01:38.859 --> 00:01:42.060 the Iron Chancellor. Because looking at his early 00:01:42.060 --> 00:01:44.680 life, you wouldn't necessarily peg him as the 00:01:44.680 --> 00:01:46.900 future architect of European peace. No, not at 00:01:46.900 --> 00:01:48.920 all. You really wouldn't. He was born in 1815 00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:51.299 into the junker class. Now, for those who aren't 00:01:51.299 --> 00:01:53.879 steeped in Prussian social hierarchy, the junkers 00:01:53.879 --> 00:01:56.060 were essentially the landowning nobility. The 00:01:56.060 --> 00:01:57.980 country squires, almost. Pretty much. They were 00:01:57.980 --> 00:02:00.040 conservative, traditional, and very much the 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:02.620 masters of their own little domains. Military 00:02:02.620 --> 00:02:05.200 service, loyalty to the king. That was their 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:08.569 code. But Bismarck wasn't exactly the disciplined, 00:02:08.930 --> 00:02:11.330 stoic soldier type right out of the gate, was 00:02:11.330 --> 00:02:14.550 he? Oh, not even close. I found this detail in 00:02:14.550 --> 00:02:17.009 the biographical notes. Hilarious at university. 00:02:17.389 --> 00:02:20.990 His American friend, John Lothrop Motley, described 00:02:20.990 --> 00:02:24.060 him as reckless and dashing. He was a bit of 00:02:24.060 --> 00:02:25.879 a party animal. He attended the University of 00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:28.259 Göttingen and then Berlin, but he wasn't exactly 00:02:28.259 --> 00:02:32.300 hitting the books. He was known for drinking 00:02:32.300 --> 00:02:36.020 heavily, for being loud, and for just being generally 00:02:36.020 --> 00:02:39.379 eccentric. There's a story here that he actually 00:02:39.379 --> 00:02:42.159 quit his early legal training. He was supposed 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:43.979 to go into the civil service, right? That was 00:02:43.979 --> 00:02:46.520 the path for a man of his station, yes. And he 00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:49.599 quit because he took unauthorized leave to chase 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:52.039 two different English girls across Europe. Yes, 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:54.759 Laura Russell and then Isabella Lorraine Smith. 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:57.500 He was apparently quite the romantic pursuer. 00:02:57.639 --> 00:03:00.240 He essentially ghosted his job as a junior lawyer 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:02.379 to travel around Germany and Switzerland with 00:03:02.379 --> 00:03:05.210 them. It shows a certain, well... an impulsiveness 00:03:05.210 --> 00:03:07.430 that he later learned to control. Or at least 00:03:07.430 --> 00:03:09.810 to channel into politics. Exactly. He weaponized 00:03:09.810 --> 00:03:12.550 it. But yeah, his superiors were not impressed. 00:03:12.830 --> 00:03:15.370 I can't imagine they were. And the duels, the 00:03:15.370 --> 00:03:17.169 sources mentioned he fought something like 25 00:03:17.169 --> 00:03:19.590 duels in his first year of university. It was 00:03:19.590 --> 00:03:22.069 part of the student corps culture, but he seems 00:03:22.069 --> 00:03:25.020 to have taken to it with... Particular enthusiasm. 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:27.759 Most were minor affairs. But then there was the 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:30.199 famous one later with Georg von Wicke, a political 00:03:30.199 --> 00:03:32.379 rival. And what happened with that one? It's 00:03:32.379 --> 00:03:34.460 interesting because it ended without injury, 00:03:34.659 --> 00:03:37.819 but it shows the culture he was steeped in. Honor, 00:03:38.099 --> 00:03:40.759 violence, and standing your ground were just 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:43.039 baked into his personality from the very beginning. 00:03:43.240 --> 00:03:46.300 But we need to be careful not to mistake this 00:03:46.300 --> 00:03:49.520 wildness for, you know, stupidity. Oh, absolutely 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:51.500 not. That's the biggest mistake people make with 00:03:51.500 --> 00:03:54.620 Bismarck. Even in his crazy junker phase, he 00:03:54.620 --> 00:03:56.780 was incredibly sharp. He was an intellectual 00:03:56.780 --> 00:03:59.120 who just liked to dress up and act like a brute. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:01.560 He wasn't just a simple country nobleman. Far 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:04.860 from it. He was genuinely a cosmopolitan. He 00:04:04.860 --> 00:04:07.460 was fluent in English, French. Italian, Polish, 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:10.479 and Russian, he could quote Shakespeare and Byron. 00:04:10.699 --> 00:04:13.699 He had a deep, deep intellect that was often 00:04:13.699 --> 00:04:16.379 masked by this persona he projected. The persona 00:04:16.379 --> 00:04:18.779 of the man of action. The man of iron and blood, 00:04:18.939 --> 00:04:22.100 yes. He understood the power of image long before 00:04:22.100 --> 00:04:24.699 modern politicians did. So when does he finally 00:04:24.699 --> 00:04:27.069 settle down? Because you can't chase English 00:04:27.069 --> 00:04:29.470 girls and fight duels forever if you want to 00:04:29.470 --> 00:04:31.850 run a country. Right. Well, the stabilization 00:04:31.850 --> 00:04:34.829 comes in his mid -20s. His family's finances 00:04:34.829 --> 00:04:37.310 are a bit of a mess, so he goes back to run the 00:04:37.310 --> 00:04:40.470 family estate at Nifov. And he's actually very 00:04:40.470 --> 00:04:42.550 good at it. He brings some order to things. He 00:04:42.550 --> 00:04:45.250 does. But the real turning point, the thing that 00:04:45.250 --> 00:04:48.430 grounds him, is his marriage to Johanna von Puttkummer 00:04:48.430 --> 00:04:51.910 in 1847. And from what I read, she was his complete 00:04:51.910 --> 00:04:55.839 opposite, right? Totally. She was shy. retiring, 00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:59.079 deeply religious. She came from this very pietistic 00:04:59.079 --> 00:05:02.720 background. Bismarck himself had a sort of religious 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:05.399 reawakening around this time, partly to convince 00:05:05.399 --> 00:05:07.579 her parents that he was a suitable husband. So 00:05:07.579 --> 00:05:09.639 it was a strategic conversion. Maybe a little, 00:05:09.740 --> 00:05:12.180 but it seems to have stuck. It gave him a certain 00:05:12.180 --> 00:05:15.240 gravity he lacked before. She gave him a stable 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:17.819 home life, a base from which he could launch 00:05:17.819 --> 00:05:20.420 his political career. But even with that stability, 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:23.899 the wild man never really went away, did it? 00:05:24.170 --> 00:05:26.529 This is where the historian Jonathan Steinberg 00:05:26.529 --> 00:05:30.250 talks about Bismarck's demonic personality. Demonic. 00:05:30.310 --> 00:05:32.689 It's a strong word, but it fits. What does he 00:05:32.689 --> 00:05:35.230 mean by that? Steinberg argues he had this almost 00:05:35.230 --> 00:05:38.209 supernatural power over men. It was this bizarre 00:05:38.209 --> 00:05:42.009 mix of brutal honesty, deceit and absolute terrifying 00:05:42.009 --> 00:05:45.519 rage. He was known for having these massive temper 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:48.180 tantrums. Like actually breaking things. Smashing 00:05:48.180 --> 00:05:51.180 things, screaming, weeping. And then there was 00:05:51.180 --> 00:05:54.000 the hypochondria. Ah, yes, the strategic illnesses. 00:05:54.379 --> 00:05:57.379 It was weaponized hypochondria. He had a million 00:05:57.379 --> 00:06:00.300 ailments, insomnia, digestive problems, nerve 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:02.740 pain. And whenever he was in a tough political 00:06:02.740 --> 00:06:05.680 spot, they would suddenly flare up. So he'd use 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:08.420 it to get sympathy. Or to guilt people. He would 00:06:08.420 --> 00:06:10.939 claim to be dying or exhausted or suffering from 00:06:10.939 --> 00:06:13.199 these terrible nerves to guilt the king or his 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:15.639 rivals into submission. He used his physical 00:06:15.639 --> 00:06:17.839 and emotional state as a political tool. It's 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:20.540 utterly manipulative, but, you know. Incredibly 00:06:20.540 --> 00:06:22.920 effective. It really was. So let's fast forward. 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:27.100 How does this demonic, hypochondriac, genius 00:06:27.100 --> 00:06:29.920 personality actually get into a position of real 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:32.560 power? Because it happens during a crisis, doesn't 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:36.160 it? It does. It's 1862. Prussia is completely 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:39.540 stuck in a constitutional deadlock. King Wilhelm 00:06:39.540 --> 00:06:43.079 I wants to reform the army, make it bigger, stronger, 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:46.259 more professional. Which costs money. A lot of 00:06:46.259 --> 00:06:48.459 money. And the liberal -dominated parliament, 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:52.160 the Landtag, says, no, we're not giving you the 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:54.970 money. They were afraid the king would use a 00:06:54.970 --> 00:06:57.250 stronger army to crush them and roll back liberal 00:06:57.250 --> 00:06:59.930 freedoms. So it's a standoff. A total standoff. 00:06:59.990 --> 00:07:02.449 And the king is so frustrated, so convinced he 00:07:02.449 --> 00:07:05.149 can't fulfill his duty, that he's ready to abdicate. 00:07:05.389 --> 00:07:07.509 He actually wrote the letter? He literally wrote 00:07:07.509 --> 00:07:09.730 out the abdication letter. He felt he couldn't 00:07:09.730 --> 00:07:11.769 rule if a bunch of politicians could hold his 00:07:11.769 --> 00:07:15.490 army hostage. In desperation, his advisors basically 00:07:15.490 --> 00:07:18.069 say, look, there's only one man scary enough 00:07:18.069 --> 00:07:20.529 and ruthless enough to fix this. You have to 00:07:20.529 --> 00:07:22.569 call Bismarck. That's quite the reputation to 00:07:22.569 --> 00:07:25.139 have. have calling the bulldog exactly he had 00:07:25.139 --> 00:07:27.100 a reputation for being an ultra conservative 00:07:27.100 --> 00:07:30.459 anti -parliamentary hardliner so he was brought 00:07:30.459 --> 00:07:32.839 in as minister president and his solution defines 00:07:32.839 --> 00:07:35.220 his entire political style right he doesn't negotiate 00:07:35.220 --> 00:07:40.899 no he doesn't compromise he finds a well he calls 00:07:40.899 --> 00:07:43.420 it a legal loophole i love this part it's so 00:07:43.420 --> 00:07:46.819 clever but in this really dictatorial way what 00:07:46.819 --> 00:07:49.149 was the loophole He called it the Luckin theory, 00:07:49.329 --> 00:07:52.430 which translates to the gap theory. He went before 00:07:52.430 --> 00:07:54.949 Parliament and argued that, yes, the Constitution 00:07:54.949 --> 00:07:58.209 says how a budget is passed. The king and Parliament 00:07:58.209 --> 00:08:01.110 have to agree. OK, that seems clear enough. But 00:08:01.110 --> 00:08:04.410 he said the Constitution does not say what happens 00:08:04.410 --> 00:08:06.370 if they don't agree. It's a gap in the text. 00:08:06.529 --> 00:08:08.550 And since there's a gap. Bismarck argued that 00:08:08.550 --> 00:08:11.189 the state can't just stop functioning. The army 00:08:11.189 --> 00:08:13.250 still needs to be paid. The government still 00:08:13.250 --> 00:08:16.329 needs to run. So in the absence of an agreement. 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:19.660 The sovereign, the king, has the right to continue 00:08:19.660 --> 00:08:22.240 collecting taxes and spending money based on 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:24.740 the previous year's budget. So he just hit copy 00:08:24.740 --> 00:08:26.620 and paste on last year's budget and completely 00:08:26.620 --> 00:08:28.879 ignored parliament. For four straight years. 00:08:29.079 --> 00:08:31.800 He ran the government. He funded the army reforms, 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:34.740 all without a legally approved budget. It was 00:08:34.740 --> 00:08:37.159 blatantly unconstitutional in spirit, but he 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:40.059 just bulldozed right through it. And this is 00:08:40.059 --> 00:08:42.240 the context for that famous speech, the one everyone 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:45.580 knows him for, Blood and Iron. Yes. September 00:08:45.580 --> 00:08:50.840 1862, right after he takes office, he goes to 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:52.580 the Budget Committee of the Parliament and he 00:08:52.580 --> 00:08:55.080 lays it all out for them, point blank. What did 00:08:55.080 --> 00:08:56.960 he say? He tells them, the great questions of 00:08:56.960 --> 00:08:58.940 the time will not be resolved by speeches and 00:08:58.940 --> 00:09:00.779 majority decisions, that was the great mistake 00:09:00.779 --> 00:09:05.210 of 1848, but by iron and blood. Wow. That gives 00:09:05.210 --> 00:09:07.669 me chills just hearing it. It's such a complete 00:09:07.669 --> 00:09:10.190 and total rejection of democracy. It is. He's 00:09:10.190 --> 00:09:12.090 telling them, your debates are pointless. Your 00:09:12.090 --> 00:09:14.870 votes mean nothing. Power, military power, is 00:09:14.870 --> 00:09:16.909 what actually matters. This is the definition 00:09:16.909 --> 00:09:20.289 of real politic. Politics based on practical 00:09:20.289 --> 00:09:23.490 power, not on ethics or ideology. He must have 00:09:23.490 --> 00:09:25.590 been the most hated man in Prussia. Oh, absolutely 00:09:25.590 --> 00:09:28.389 despised. The liberals, the progressives, they 00:09:28.389 --> 00:09:31.169 saw him as a medieval dinosaur, a reactionary 00:09:31.169 --> 00:09:33.809 trying to drag Prussia back into absolutism. 00:09:34.250 --> 00:09:37.120 got dangerous for him didn't it Very. In fact, 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:40.279 in May of 1866, he survived an assassination 00:09:40.279 --> 00:09:43.700 attempt. A young radical student named Ferdinand 00:09:43.700 --> 00:09:46.600 Cohen -Blein walked right up to him on the street 00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:50.139 on Unter den Linden in Berlin and shot him five 00:09:50.139 --> 00:09:53.720 times at close range. Five times. And he lived. 00:09:53.899 --> 00:09:55.960 How is that even possible? It's an incredible 00:09:55.960 --> 00:09:58.820 story. Bismarck had only minor injuries. He was 00:09:58.820 --> 00:10:01.320 wearing a thick coat and maybe a rib deflected 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:03.740 a bullet, but he basically turned around, grappled 00:10:03.740 --> 00:10:06.440 the assassin himself. and handed him over to 00:10:06.440 --> 00:10:08.200 some nearby guards. And then what did he do? 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:10.740 He went home and ate dinner. That's insane. That 00:10:10.740 --> 00:10:13.399 just adds to the myth, doesn't it? The Iron Chancellor 00:10:13.399 --> 00:10:15.639 indeed. You can't even shoot him. Precisely. 00:10:15.639 --> 00:10:17.820 It made him look invincible, like he was a man 00:10:17.820 --> 00:10:20.740 of destiny. And he would need that aura of invincibility 00:10:20.740 --> 00:10:23.179 because he was about to launch a series of three 00:10:23.179 --> 00:10:26.460 short, sharp wars that would change the map of 00:10:26.460 --> 00:10:28.740 Europe forever. Okay, let's unpack these wars. 00:10:29.340 --> 00:10:31.720 The outline calls him the Architect of Germany. 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:35.000 But he didn't just want war for the sake of war, 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:37.519 did he? He wasn't some kind of warmonger. No, 00:10:37.580 --> 00:10:40.080 that's another common misconception. Bismarck 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:42.940 was not a warmonger in the sense of loving battle. 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:45.820 For him, war was a tool. It was an instrument 00:10:45.820 --> 00:10:48.519 of policy. You know the famous saying from Clausewitz 00:10:48.519 --> 00:10:51.120 that war is the continuation of politics by other 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:53.820 means. Right. Bismarck lived that. Every war 00:10:53.820 --> 00:10:56.419 he fought had a very specific, limited diplomatic 00:10:56.419 --> 00:10:59.960 goal. And the overarching goal was the unification 00:10:59.960 --> 00:11:02.600 of the German states. But not all the German 00:11:02.600 --> 00:11:05.039 states. This is the crucial part. This is absolutely 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:07.519 crucial. He wanted what was called the Kleindeutschland, 00:11:07.740 --> 00:11:10.639 a little Germany. This meant a unified Germany 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:13.740 dominated by Protestant Prussia. And to achieve 00:11:13.740 --> 00:11:16.500 that, he had to exclude the other great German 00:11:16.500 --> 00:11:20.179 power, the huge, multi -ethnic, Catholic Austrian 00:11:20.179 --> 00:11:22.840 Empire. So all three wars are... They're really 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:25.019 about sidelining Austria and getting the other 00:11:25.019 --> 00:11:27.179 German states to line up behind Prussia. Exactly. 00:11:27.179 --> 00:11:29.960 It's a three -act play. So act one, the war against 00:11:29.960 --> 00:11:32.059 Denmark in 1864. This one always seems a bit 00:11:32.059 --> 00:11:35.169 obscure. It seems that way, but it was a masterstroke 00:11:35.169 --> 00:11:38.029 of diplomacy. It was a trap. The dispute was 00:11:38.029 --> 00:11:40.389 over these two duchies, Schleswig and Holstein. 00:11:40.649 --> 00:11:43.470 They had a really complicated legal status tied 00:11:43.470 --> 00:11:45.870 to both Denmark and the German Confederation. 00:11:46.070 --> 00:11:48.409 And Bismarck sees an opportunity. A huge one. 00:11:48.450 --> 00:11:51.230 He gets Austria to ally with Prussia to fight 00:11:51.230 --> 00:11:53.929 Denmark over the issue. They win easily, of course. 00:11:54.149 --> 00:11:56.210 Okay, so now Prussia and Austria are buddies. 00:11:56.309 --> 00:11:59.179 They fought together. And that's the trap. After 00:11:59.179 --> 00:12:01.980 the war, Bismarck sets up this very complicated 00:12:01.980 --> 00:12:04.460 joint administration of the captured territories. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:07.539 Prussia would administer Schleswig and Austria 00:12:07.539 --> 00:12:10.080 would administer Holstein, which was sandwiched 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:12.460 between Prussian territories. So it was designed 00:12:12.460 --> 00:12:14.740 to be awkward. It was designed to cause friction. 00:12:15.019 --> 00:12:17.340 He knew that sharing control would inevitably 00:12:17.340 --> 00:12:20.139 lead to arguments and conflicts. He essentially 00:12:20.139 --> 00:12:23.159 planted a diplomatic bomb and just waited for 00:12:23.159 --> 00:12:25.759 it to explode. Which leads us directly to war 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:30.700 number two. Austria in 1866. He uses that friction 00:12:30.700 --> 00:12:32.899 over the administration of Schleswig -Holstein 00:12:32.899 --> 00:12:35.899 to provoke Austria into war. He makes all sorts 00:12:35.899 --> 00:12:38.480 of demands he knows they can't accept. Most of 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:40.460 Europe, by the way, thought Austria would crush 00:12:40.460 --> 00:12:43.820 Prussia. Why? Austria was an ancient empire, 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:47.159 the traditional leader of the German world. Prussia 00:12:47.159 --> 00:12:50.259 was seen as the upstart, the newcomer. Prussia 00:12:50.259 --> 00:12:52.600 had a secret weapon, or a few of them. They did. 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:55.720 First, they had General Helmut von Moltke, an 00:12:55.720 --> 00:12:58.500 absolute military genius who understood modern 00:12:58.500 --> 00:13:00.820 warfare, especially the use of railways to move 00:13:00.820 --> 00:13:03.559 troops quickly. And second, they had the needle 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:06.639 gun. The Dres needle gun. Right. It was a breech 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:09.159 -loading rifle. A Prussian soldier could lie 00:13:09.159 --> 00:13:11.480 down, load a new cartridge in a few seconds, 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:14.440 and fire five or six times a minute. The Austrians 00:13:14.440 --> 00:13:17.200 had muzzleloaders. They had to stand up to reload, 00:13:17.419 --> 00:13:19.840 which was slow and made them easy targets. That's 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:22.539 a huge technological advantage. Massive. And 00:13:22.539 --> 00:13:25.960 the result was the Seven Weeks War. It was unbelievably 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:28.840 fast and ended decisively at the Battle of Königgrätz. 00:13:28.919 --> 00:13:31.700 The Austrian army was shattered. Now, here's 00:13:31.700 --> 00:13:33.320 where it gets really interesting to me, and it 00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:36.600 shows his genius. Prussia wins. They have Austria 00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:40.240 on the ropes. The king, Wilhelm I, wants to march 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:42.679 into Vienna. He wants a victory parade. He wants 00:13:42.679 --> 00:13:44.720 to humiliate the Habsburgs. And the generals 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:46.879 agree with him. They want their moment of glory. 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:50.379 And Bismarck says no. He fights them tooth and 00:13:50.379 --> 00:13:53.639 nail. This is maybe the most important moment 00:13:53.639 --> 00:13:56.799 in his career. There are screaming matches. Bismarck 00:13:56.799 --> 00:13:58.919 is in tears. He threatens to resign. He even 00:13:58.919 --> 00:14:02.159 hints at suicide. He does everything he can to 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:05.779 stop the army from marching on Vienna. Why? Why 00:14:05.779 --> 00:14:07.679 not take the Capitol? It seems like the natural 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:10.080 thing to do after such a big victory. Because 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:12.480 he was already thinking about the next war. He 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:15.100 knew he needed Austria. If he humiliated them, 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:17.460 if he marched through their capital and annexed 00:14:17.460 --> 00:14:20.340 their land, they would become a permanent bitter 00:14:20.340 --> 00:14:23.139 enemy just waiting for a chance for revenge. 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:24.940 And they'd probably ally with France to get it. 00:14:25.019 --> 00:14:28.639 Exactly. He wanted Austria defeated, not destroyed. 00:14:28.840 --> 00:14:31.240 He needed them as a potential future ally or 00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:33.860 at least a neutral party. So he forced the king 00:14:33.860 --> 00:14:37.399 to accept a soft peace. No victory parade, no 00:14:37.399 --> 00:14:40.220 annexations of core Austrian territory. Austria 00:14:40.220 --> 00:14:42.519 just had to agree to be excluded from German 00:14:42.519 --> 00:14:45.480 affairs. That is just incredible foresight. Most 00:14:45.480 --> 00:14:47.480 leaders in the heat of victory want the glory. 00:14:47.659 --> 00:14:50.200 He's looking 10, 20 years down the road. Always. 00:14:50.440 --> 00:14:53.679 But now the puzzle wasn't quite finished. He 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:57.019 had knocked out Austria. He'd created a new North 00:14:57.019 --> 00:14:59.059 German confederation under Prussian control. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:03.320 But the southern German states, Bavaria, Württemberg, 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:06.039 they were still... independent and suspicious 00:15:06.039 --> 00:15:08.419 of Prussia. They were Catholic and they were 00:15:08.419 --> 00:15:10.440 wary of being dominated by Protestant Berlin. 00:15:10.659 --> 00:15:13.399 Right. So to complete the unification, he needed 00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:16.720 a common enemy. He needed a national threat that 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:18.879 would make. Those southern states feel like they 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:21.879 had no choice but to run into Prussia's arms 00:15:21.879 --> 00:15:24.100 for protection. Enter France. Enter Napoleon 00:15:24.100 --> 00:15:27.299 III's France and specifically the Ems Dispatch. 00:15:27.299 --> 00:15:30.259 This is 1870. This is maybe the ultimate example 00:15:30.259 --> 00:15:32.519 of fake news changing the course of history. 00:15:32.659 --> 00:15:34.519 Yeah. Walk us through this because it's brilliant 00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:36.919 and terrifying. So it starts with a dispute over 00:15:36.919 --> 00:15:39.659 the Spanish throne. A German prince is a candidate, 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:41.720 which makes the French very nervous about being 00:15:41.720 --> 00:15:44.159 surrounded by German influence. The French ambassador 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:47.299 approaches King Wilhelm I, who is on vacation 00:15:47.299 --> 00:15:50.440 at a spa town called Bad Ems. The ambassador 00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:52.740 is quite pushy and demands that the king promise 00:15:52.740 --> 00:15:55.100 to never again support a German candidate for 00:15:55.100 --> 00:15:58.000 the Spanish throne. And the king. The king politely 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:01.019 refuses. He says he can't make that kind of promise 00:16:01.019 --> 00:16:04.200 for all time. The meeting is a bit tense, but 00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:07.679 it's not a disaster. Afterwards, the king sends 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:10.279 a telegram to Bismarck in Berlin describing what 00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:12.720 happened. And it was a fairly standard, factual, 00:16:12.940 --> 00:16:16.000 diplomatic telegram? It was. It was long and 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:19.539 detailed and honestly a bit boring. But Bismarck's 00:16:19.539 --> 00:16:21.980 having dinner with his top generals, Moltke and 00:16:21.980 --> 00:16:25.240 Ruhn. He reads the telegram and he sees his chance. 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:27.980 He asks Moltke if the army is ready for war. 00:16:28.570 --> 00:16:30.690 Moltke says yes. And then he takes out a red 00:16:30.690 --> 00:16:32.789 pencil. He takes a red pencil and he edits the 00:16:32.789 --> 00:16:35.009 telegram. He doesn't add any words, but he cuts 00:16:35.009 --> 00:16:37.830 out all the diplomatic niceties. He condenses 00:16:37.830 --> 00:16:39.970 it to make the king's response sound incredibly 00:16:39.970 --> 00:16:42.830 blunt and dismissive and to make the French ambassador's 00:16:42.830 --> 00:16:45.049 request sound like an outrageous demand. So he 00:16:45.049 --> 00:16:47.649 turned a polite refusal into a slap in the face. 00:16:47.769 --> 00:16:49.750 A public slap in the face. And then he released 00:16:49.750 --> 00:16:52.190 the edited version to the press. On Bastille 00:16:52.190 --> 00:16:55.389 Day, of all days. He knew exactly what he was 00:16:55.389 --> 00:16:58.600 doing. The French press and public went absolutely 00:16:58.600 --> 00:17:01.200 insane. They saw it as a national insult. Crowds 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:04.440 in Paris were chanting to Berlin. Napoleon III, 00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:07.339 under immense public pressure, declared war on 00:17:07.339 --> 00:17:09.910 Prussia. So Bismarck had tricked France into 00:17:09.910 --> 00:17:12.390 looking like the aggressor. Perfectly. And because 00:17:12.390 --> 00:17:14.789 France was the aggressor, the defensive treaties 00:17:14.789 --> 00:17:17.069 Prussia had with the southern German states were 00:17:17.069 --> 00:17:19.730 activated. Bavaria and the others immediately 00:17:19.730 --> 00:17:23.150 joined Prussia. The trap snapped shut. And the 00:17:23.150 --> 00:17:25.950 war itself. It was even more decisive than the 00:17:25.950 --> 00:17:28.269 one against Austria. The German armies, again 00:17:28.269 --> 00:17:30.890 led by Moltke, were far superior in organization 00:17:30.890 --> 00:17:33.569 and strategy. They surrounded and captured the 00:17:33.569 --> 00:17:36.609 main French army and Napoleon III himself at 00:17:36.609 --> 00:17:39.029 the Battle of Sedan. And then comes the crowning 00:17:39.029 --> 00:17:41.009 moment. Literally, it doesn't happen in Berlin. 00:17:41.190 --> 00:17:43.589 No, that would be too simple for Bismarck. The 00:17:43.589 --> 00:17:46.089 climax happens in France, in the Hall of Mirrors 00:17:46.089 --> 00:17:48.130 at the Palace of Versailles. The Palace of Louis 00:17:48.130 --> 00:17:51.529 XIV, the symbol of French power and glory. The 00:17:51.529 --> 00:17:55.369 very same. In January 1871, with Paris under 00:17:55.369 --> 00:17:57.890 siege, the German princes gather in the Hall 00:17:57.890 --> 00:18:00.230 of Mirrors and they proclaim the German Empire. 00:18:00.859 --> 00:18:03.420 Wilhelm I is named German Emperor or Kaiser. 00:18:03.720 --> 00:18:07.059 It was the ultimate calculated assertion of dominance. 00:18:07.380 --> 00:18:10.019 They created Germany in the very heart of the 00:18:10.019 --> 00:18:12.299 French palace. But the expert note here in our 00:18:12.299 --> 00:18:14.359 outline says this incredible victory contained 00:18:14.359 --> 00:18:17.289 a fatal mistake. It did. Amid the nationalist 00:18:17.289 --> 00:18:20.130 fervor, the military and the German public demanded 00:18:20.130 --> 00:18:22.430 that Germany annex the French border territories 00:18:22.430 --> 00:18:24.910 of Alsace and Lorraine. Bismarck was hesitant 00:18:24.910 --> 00:18:27.390 about this, wasn't he? He was. He saw the danger 00:18:27.390 --> 00:18:30.150 of creating a permanent grievance. But for once, 00:18:30.230 --> 00:18:32.309 he was overruled by the generals and by public 00:18:32.309 --> 00:18:35.289 opinion. He gave in. And that made France a permanent 00:18:35.289 --> 00:18:39.210 enemy. Forever. Or at least until 1945. Taking 00:18:39.210 --> 00:18:41.670 that territory, which was deeply French in identity, 00:18:41.930 --> 00:18:44.549 meant that France would never, ever forgive Germany. 00:18:45.099 --> 00:18:47.400 They would spend the next 40 years dreaming of 00:18:47.400 --> 00:18:49.920 revanche revenge. It locked Europe into a path 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:52.440 of hostility that led directly to World War I. 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:57.140 So it's 1871. Germany is unified. Bismarck has 00:18:57.140 --> 00:19:00.420 won. He is, without question, the most powerful 00:19:00.420 --> 00:19:02.559 man in Europe. You'd think he would just keep 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:05.130 going. But this is where we see the pivot. Once 00:19:05.130 --> 00:19:07.309 the country is built, Bismarck switches gears 00:19:07.309 --> 00:19:09.869 completely. He goes from being the arsonist to 00:19:09.869 --> 00:19:12.470 being the firefighter. He famously declares that 00:19:12.470 --> 00:19:14.809 Germany is a satiated state. Meaning they're 00:19:14.809 --> 00:19:17.009 full. They don't want any more territory. Exactly. 00:19:17.109 --> 00:19:19.730 His entire foreign policy for the next 20 years 00:19:19.730 --> 00:19:22.660 is about one thing. preserving what he has built, 00:19:22.779 --> 00:19:26.539 peace and stability. But first, he has some domestic 00:19:26.539 --> 00:19:28.920 housecleaning to do. And this brings us to what's 00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:31.680 sometimes called his white revolutionary phase. 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:34.940 White, as in from above, a revolution from the 00:19:34.940 --> 00:19:37.599 top. Right. Bismarck was a conservative, but 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:40.660 he was willing to do radical revolutionary things 00:19:40.660 --> 00:19:43.920 to preserve the conservative monarchical order. 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:46.859 First on his list, the Catholics. The Kulturkampf. 00:19:47.059 --> 00:19:49.319 The culture struggle. Prussia was overwhelmingly 00:19:49.319 --> 00:19:52.500 Protestant. But the new German Empire had a huge 00:19:52.500 --> 00:19:55.559 Catholic minority, especially in the south, in 00:19:55.559 --> 00:19:57.880 Bavaria, and among the Poles in the east. And 00:19:57.880 --> 00:20:00.180 Bismarck didn't trust them. Not at all. This 00:20:00.180 --> 00:20:03.059 was the era of papal infallibility, and Bismarck 00:20:03.059 --> 00:20:05.480 was paranoid that German Catholics were more 00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:08.299 loyal to the pope in Rome than to the Kaiser 00:20:08.299 --> 00:20:11.500 in Berlin. He saw the Catholic Center Party as 00:20:11.500 --> 00:20:15.079 a threat to his new unified state. So he went 00:20:15.079 --> 00:20:17.859 on the attack. Aggressively. He passed a series 00:20:17.859 --> 00:20:20.880 of laws expelling the Jesuits, putting all clerical 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:23.319 education under state supervision and making 00:20:23.319 --> 00:20:26.519 civil marriage mandatory. He tried to crush the 00:20:26.519 --> 00:20:28.500 political influence of the church. And how did 00:20:28.500 --> 00:20:32.619 that work out for him? It backfired spectacularly. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:35.400 It actually united the Catholics and strengthened 00:20:35.400 --> 00:20:38.039 them. The center party became a powerhouse in 00:20:38.039 --> 00:20:40.660 the Reichstag, the German parliament. They resisted 00:20:40.660 --> 00:20:43.319 him at every turn. So what did he do? Well, being 00:20:43.319 --> 00:20:45.059 the ultimate pragmatist, when he realized he 00:20:45.059 --> 00:20:47.579 was losing, he just stopped. He abandoned the 00:20:47.579 --> 00:20:49.900 culture camp and began to walk back the harshest 00:20:49.900 --> 00:20:51.700 laws. He just walked away from the fight. He 00:20:51.700 --> 00:20:53.720 did. Because he needed the center party now. 00:20:53.859 --> 00:20:56.539 Why? Because he had found a new and in his mind 00:20:56.539 --> 00:20:59.279 much scarier enemy, the socialists. The Red Menace. 00:20:59.460 --> 00:21:02.079 Exactly. Industrialization was taking off in 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:05.099 Germany, creating a large... often miserable, 00:21:05.319 --> 00:21:07.640 urban working class, and they were listening 00:21:07.640 --> 00:21:10.660 to the ideas of Karl Marx and others. The Social 00:21:10.660 --> 00:21:14.279 Democratic Party, the SPD, was growing. Bismarck 00:21:14.279 --> 00:21:16.859 saw this as an existential threat to the monarchy 00:21:16.859 --> 00:21:20.119 and the entire social order. So he tried the 00:21:20.119 --> 00:21:23.539 stick approach first, I assume. Of course. After 00:21:23.539 --> 00:21:25.660 a couple of assassination attempts on the Kaiser, 00:21:25.880 --> 00:21:28.519 which he blamed on the socialists, he passed 00:21:28.519 --> 00:21:32.900 the anti -socialist laws in 1878. He banned socialist 00:21:32.900 --> 00:21:36.039 meetings, unions and newspapers. He drove the 00:21:36.039 --> 00:21:38.799 movement underground. But he realized that wasn't 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:41.059 enough. And here's the aha moment. This is the 00:21:41.059 --> 00:21:43.640 cynical genius part. He realized that you can't 00:21:43.640 --> 00:21:45.759 just beat socialism with police truncheons. You 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:47.880 have to offer the workers something better. You 00:21:47.880 --> 00:21:49.640 have to beat the socialists at their own game. 00:21:49.859 --> 00:21:51.839 This is where he invents the well. welfare state. 00:21:52.140 --> 00:21:54.319 Not because he's a bleeding heart liberal who 00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:56.500 cares about the poor. Not at all. He did it to 00:21:56.500 --> 00:21:58.480 buy the loyalty of the workers and steal the 00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:00.420 thunder of the socialists. For the programs. 00:22:00.990 --> 00:22:03.410 In the 1880s, he pushed through a series of groundbreaking 00:22:03.410 --> 00:22:07.509 laws. Sickness insurance in 1883, accident insurance 00:22:07.509 --> 00:22:10.730 in 1884, and old age and disability insurance 00:22:10.730 --> 00:22:14.009 in 1889. These are things we completely take 00:22:14.009 --> 00:22:16.890 for granted in most modern countries today. They 00:22:16.890 --> 00:22:18.990 were revolutionary then. Germany was the first 00:22:18.990 --> 00:22:20.849 country in the world to do this on a national 00:22:20.849 --> 00:22:24.349 level. Bismarck basically told the workers, why 00:22:24.349 --> 00:22:26.609 do you need the socialists promising you a revolution 00:22:26.609 --> 00:22:29.240 in the future? The state, your Kaiser state, 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:31.220 will take care of you right now when you're sick 00:22:31.220 --> 00:22:33.279 or when you're old. I think I read someone called 00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:35.720 it putting the workers in golden chains. That's 00:22:35.720 --> 00:22:37.700 a great way to put it. It tied the worker to 00:22:37.700 --> 00:22:40.880 the state. And it worked in many ways. It gave 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:43.259 workers a stake in the system. It even slowed 00:22:43.259 --> 00:22:45.980 down immigration to America because these indirect 00:22:45.980 --> 00:22:48.839 wages, the benefits made staying in Germany more 00:22:48.839 --> 00:22:51.279 attractive. It was, as he called it, practical 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:53.500 Christianity. So he's juggling these domestic 00:22:53.500 --> 00:22:55.940 enemies, the Catholics, the socialists. But at 00:22:55.940 --> 00:22:58.450 the same time. He's juggling the entire continent 00:22:58.450 --> 00:23:01.329 of Europe. Section 5 here calls him the master 00:23:01.329 --> 00:23:03.740 of the chessboard. This is where his diplomatic 00:23:03.740 --> 00:23:08.079 skill really, really shines. From 1871 until 00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:11.980 he's fired in 1890, his single overriding goal 00:23:11.980 --> 00:23:15.380 was to prevent a coalition from forming against 00:23:15.380 --> 00:23:18.500 Germany. He knew France hated him and would always 00:23:18.500 --> 00:23:21.799 want revenge. So the key was to make sure France 00:23:21.799 --> 00:23:24.059 never had any powerful friends. It sounds like 00:23:24.059 --> 00:23:26.319 a high stakes balancing act. He described it 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:28.960 himself. He said his job was like holding two 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:31.799 powerful heraldic beasts by their collars. keeping 00:23:31.799 --> 00:23:33.859 them from tearing each other apart. And who were 00:23:33.859 --> 00:23:36.440 the beasts? Russia and Austria -Hungary, they 00:23:36.440 --> 00:23:38.640 were both rivals. They both wanted to expand 00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:41.079 their influence into the Balkans, into the decaying 00:23:41.079 --> 00:23:43.539 Ottoman Empire. If they ever went to war with 00:23:43.539 --> 00:23:45.839 each other, Germany would be dragged in. And 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:48.539 worse, if one of them allied with France, Germany 00:23:48.539 --> 00:23:51.440 would be surrounded. The two -front war nightmare. 00:23:51.880 --> 00:23:54.000 So what did he do? He created this incredibly 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:56.839 complex and frankly contradictory web of alliances. 00:23:57.240 --> 00:23:59.480 There was the lead of the three emperors trying 00:23:59.480 --> 00:24:01.690 to keep Germany, Austria, and Russia on the same 00:24:01.690 --> 00:24:04.109 page. There was a triple alliance with Austria 00:24:04.109 --> 00:24:06.950 and Italy, and then there was his secret masterpiece. 00:24:07.309 --> 00:24:09.430 The Reinsurance Treaty. The Reinsurance Treaty, 00:24:09.589 --> 00:24:12.009 a top secret treaty just between Germany and 00:24:12.009 --> 00:24:14.630 Russia. Basically, Germany and Russia promised 00:24:14.630 --> 00:24:16.990 to stay neutral if the other got into a war with 00:24:16.990 --> 00:24:19.910 a third power. It was a masterpiece of duplicity, 00:24:19.930 --> 00:24:22.910 really, but it kept the peace. Most importantly, 00:24:23.069 --> 00:24:25.309 it kept Russia away from France. So what about 00:24:25.309 --> 00:24:27.900 colonialism? This is the age of the scramble 00:24:27.900 --> 00:24:30.539 for Africa. Everyone was grabbing land. Was Bismarck 00:24:30.539 --> 00:24:33.240 into that? He famously said, I am no man for 00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:35.700 colonies. He thought they were a waste of money 00:24:35.700 --> 00:24:38.279 and a dangerous distraction. He pointed to a 00:24:38.279 --> 00:24:41.140 map of Europe once and said, here is Russia and 00:24:41.140 --> 00:24:42.900 here is France and we are in the middle. That 00:24:42.900 --> 00:24:45.460 is my map of Africa. His focus was always on 00:24:45.460 --> 00:24:48.140 Europe. Always. But Germany did get colonies. 00:24:48.420 --> 00:24:51.779 Togo, Cameroon, Namibia. So why did he change 00:24:51.779 --> 00:24:54.420 his mind? He did it eventually, but mostly for 00:24:54.420 --> 00:24:57.180 domestic political reasons. There was a powerful 00:24:57.180 --> 00:25:00.220 colonial lobby in Germany, and sometimes he needed 00:25:00.220 --> 00:25:02.500 their support in Parliament. And other times 00:25:02.500 --> 00:25:04.619 he used the colonial issue just to pick small 00:25:04.619 --> 00:25:06.539 fights with Britain when he needed to create 00:25:06.539 --> 00:25:08.859 a little diplomatic leverage. It was never his 00:25:08.859 --> 00:25:11.359 passion. It was just another pawn on his very 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:14.160 crowded chessboard. So for two decades, he's 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:15.660 running the whole show. He's the puppet master 00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:19.460 of Europe. But nothing lasts forever. Section 00:25:19.460 --> 00:25:23.119 6, The Downfall. The fundamental problem with 00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:25.480 the system built on one man's genius is that 00:25:25.480 --> 00:25:29.000 men are mortal. In 1888, the old Kaiser, Wilhelm 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:32.279 I, dies at the age of 90. And Bismarck and the 00:25:32.279 --> 00:25:35.200 old king had a special relationship. It was stormy, 00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:38.519 but it worked. It did. Wilhelm I knew he wasn't 00:25:38.519 --> 00:25:40.940 a genius, and he basically let Bismarck run the 00:25:40.940 --> 00:25:43.420 country, even when he disagreed with him. But 00:25:43.420 --> 00:25:46.299 then the real tragedy happens. Wilhelm's son, 00:25:46.500 --> 00:25:48.859 Frederick III, who was liberal and admired the 00:25:48.859 --> 00:25:51.700 British system, finally becomes Kaiser. And he 00:25:51.700 --> 00:25:54.500 dies of throat cancer after only 99 days on the 00:25:54.500 --> 00:25:56.940 throne. The Year of the Three Emperors, which 00:25:56.940 --> 00:25:59.140 leaves the throne to Frederick's son, Wilhelm 00:25:59.140 --> 00:26:01.819 II. And this is a disaster for Bismarck. A total 00:26:01.819 --> 00:26:04.819 disaster. Wilhelm II is young, he's arrogant, 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:07.519 he's insecure, and he wants to be a modern emperor. 00:26:07.660 --> 00:26:10.579 He wants to rule, not just reign. He famously 00:26:10.579 --> 00:26:13.180 wants Germany to have its place in the sun. And 00:26:13.180 --> 00:26:15.039 he probably doesn't appreciate this 75 -year 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:16.839 -old man in his office telling him what to do 00:26:16.839 --> 00:26:19.380 all the time. Not at all. They clashed on everything. 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:22.839 Wilhelm II wanted to be seen as a friend of the 00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:24.980 workers, so he wanted to let the anti -socialist 00:26:24.980 --> 00:26:28.140 laws expire. Bismarck wanted to make them permanent 00:26:28.140 --> 00:26:31.039 and crush the strikers. Wilhelm wanted a bigger 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:33.920 navy and more colonies. Bismarck thought it was 00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:36.279 a foolish provocation of... Britain. It sounds 00:26:36.279 --> 00:26:38.700 like a classic generational clash. The old guard 00:26:38.700 --> 00:26:41.420 versus the new blood. It came to a head in March 00:26:41.420 --> 00:26:44.259 of 1890. There was a series of heated arguments 00:26:44.259 --> 00:26:47.680 in Bismarck's office. Philem II basically ordered 00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:49.940 Bismarck to give him direct access to the other 00:26:49.940 --> 00:26:52.279 ministers, which would destroy the chancellor's 00:26:52.279 --> 00:26:55.039 power. So what did Bismarck do? He played his 00:26:55.039 --> 00:26:58.059 old trump card. He offered his resignation, probably 00:26:58.059 --> 00:27:00.619 expecting the young Kaiser to back down and come 00:27:00.619 --> 00:27:02.500 crawling back, just like his grandfather always 00:27:02.500 --> 00:27:05.700 had. And Wilhelm II just say, OK, bye. He said, 00:27:05.819 --> 00:27:09.460 I accept. He called Bismarck's bluff. Bismarck 00:27:09.460 --> 00:27:12.619 was stunned. He was forced out. At age 75, the 00:27:12.619 --> 00:27:15.000 man who had run Europe for decades was suddenly 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:17.039 unemployed. And they gave him a parting gift, 00:27:17.140 --> 00:27:19.660 right? Some kind of title. A completely meaningless 00:27:19.660 --> 00:27:24.099 one. The Duke of Lauenburg. Bismarck mocked it. 00:27:24.279 --> 00:27:26.380 He said he would only use the title when he was 00:27:26.380 --> 00:27:29.539 traveling incognito. He felt utterly, completely 00:27:29.539 --> 00:27:32.019 humiliated. And his retirement wasn't exactly 00:27:32.019 --> 00:27:35.180 a quiet, peaceful one. He was furious. He was 00:27:35.180 --> 00:27:37.759 bitter. He retreated to his estate and wrote 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:40.180 his memoirs, which were basically a long, brilliant 00:27:40.180 --> 00:27:43.140 and deeply biased justification of his life and 00:27:43.140 --> 00:27:45.619 an attack on all his enemies, especially Wilhelm 00:27:45.619 --> 00:27:48.319 II. And he even leaked state secrets. He did. 00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:50.920 The most damaging thing he did was leak the existence 00:27:50.920 --> 00:27:53.359 of that top secret reinsurance treaty with Russia 00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:56.099 to the press just to spite the Kaiser and his 00:27:56.099 --> 00:27:58.440 new government and show how incompetent they 00:27:58.440 --> 00:28:00.900 were. That's incredibly petty for a statesman 00:28:00.900 --> 00:28:03.200 of his stature. It was vindictive. He watched 00:28:03.200 --> 00:28:05.460 from the sidelines as Wilhelm II and his new 00:28:05.460 --> 00:28:08.079 advisors proceeded to unravel his entire complex 00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:10.900 alliance system. They let the treaty with Russia 00:28:10.900 --> 00:28:12.900 lapse. Which was the one thing he feared most. 00:28:13.079 --> 00:28:15.819 His worst nightmare. And almost immediately, 00:28:15.859 --> 00:28:18.440 Russia began to drift into an alliance with France. 00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:21.339 The two -front war scenario that Bismarck had 00:28:21.339 --> 00:28:23.819 spent 20 years preventing was now becoming a 00:28:23.819 --> 00:28:26.619 reality. He predicted it, didn't he? I read he 00:28:26.619 --> 00:28:28.539 made a prediction about what would happen. He 00:28:28.539 --> 00:28:31.519 did. He reportedly said, the crash will come 00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:34.559 20 years after my departure. He was forced out 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:37.900 in 1890. World War I started in 1914. He was 00:28:37.900 --> 00:28:40.559 out by four years. Chilling, isn't it? He saw 00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:42.920 exactly where it was all heading, and even his 00:28:42.920 --> 00:28:46.400 tombstone was one final bitter jab. What did 00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:48.779 it say? He specifically ordered the inscription 00:28:48.779 --> 00:28:52.539 himself. It reads, A loyal German servant of 00:28:52.539 --> 00:28:56.839 Emperor Wilhelm I. Wow. Ouch. Completely ignoring 00:28:56.839 --> 00:28:58.940 the current emperor, just pretending he didn't 00:28:58.940 --> 00:29:02.160 even exist. To the bitter end. He died in 1898, 00:29:02.299 --> 00:29:05.180 a grumpy, angry old man watching his life's work 00:29:05.180 --> 00:29:07.900 being dismantled. So let's wrap this up. When 00:29:07.900 --> 00:29:10.400 we try to weigh the legacy of Otto von Bismarck, 00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:13.000 it's just so complicated. It's deeply, deeply 00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:15.220 complicated. On the one hand, you have the achievements. 00:29:15.460 --> 00:29:18.519 He unified Germany. He created a nation. He built 00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:20.599 the template for the modern welfare state with 00:29:20.599 --> 00:29:23.140 social security and health care. We are, in many 00:29:23.140 --> 00:29:25.019 ways, still living in the world he designed. 00:29:25.380 --> 00:29:27.240 He was a nation builder and a peacemaker for 00:29:27.240 --> 00:29:29.559 two decades. But on the other hand... He left 00:29:29.559 --> 00:29:32.609 a fatal flaw. He created a constitution and a 00:29:32.609 --> 00:29:35.250 political system that had no checks and balances. 00:29:35.569 --> 00:29:38.210 It was designed to be run by a singular genius. 00:29:39.029 --> 00:29:42.289 It relied on one man with immense prestige and 00:29:42.289 --> 00:29:45.069 ruthless skill, forcing everyone else to agree. 00:29:45.369 --> 00:29:48.549 And when the genius was gone and lesser, more 00:29:48.549 --> 00:29:51.230 arrogant men took over. The machine crashed. 00:29:51.529 --> 00:29:55.029 The complex alliances fell apart. The militarism 00:29:55.029 --> 00:29:57.269 and nationalism he had stoked remained, but his 00:29:57.269 --> 00:30:01.079 caution and restraint were gone. And it led directly, 00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:03.160 you can draw a straight line, to the catastrophe 00:30:03.160 --> 00:30:06.700 of 1914. It raises a really provocative thought 00:30:06.700 --> 00:30:09.140 to leave you with. Bismarck always claimed to 00:30:09.140 --> 00:30:11.759 be a faithful servant of the king of the state. 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:14.420 But he created a system where only he could rule. 00:30:14.819 --> 00:30:17.299 So was his genius actually the very thing that 00:30:17.299 --> 00:30:19.920 doomed the Germany he built. That's the paradox 00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:21.940 of the great man in history, isn't it? He could 00:30:21.940 --> 00:30:23.299 build the structure, but he couldn't build a 00:30:23.299 --> 00:30:25.299 system that could survive without him. His greatest 00:30:25.299 --> 00:30:27.400 creation was also, in a way, his most fragile. 00:30:27.880 --> 00:30:30.779 A fascinating deep dive into a man of iron, blood, 00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:33.819 and massive, massive contradictions. Thanks for 00:30:33.819 --> 00:30:36.019 helping us unpack it. It was my pleasure. And 00:30:36.019 --> 00:30:38.079 thank you for listening. Keep an eye out for 00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:40.839 those Bismarckian moves in modern politics. You 00:30:40.839 --> 00:30:43.119 might be surprised how often you spot them. We'll 00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:43.740 see you next time.