HIST2086Bismarck: The Iron Chancellor

Bismarck’s family and youth, 1847-51

Lecture 5

16 September 2010

Young Bismarck (1)

• * 1 April 1815 at Schönhausen in Brandenburg Province

• Son of a traditional Prussian Junker family:

His father: Conservative, Lutheran, agrarian-oriented

His mother: Intellectual, critical, Enlightened, intelligent

= Bismarck: Both streams coined his character!

• Family moved to rural Pomerania Province, 1816

Young Bismarck (2)

• High School (Gymnasium) in Berlin, 1827-32

• Göttingen University: Law Studies, 1832-35

• Member of Burschenschaften (students’ societies devoted to the cherishing of revolutionary

spirit) but later of aristocratic students- corps

Young Bismarck (3)

• Civil servant at Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), 1835-37

• Served in Potsdam District Government, 1837

• Served compulsory military service at Potsdam, 1838-39

• Retired to the family estate in Pomerania, 1839: Junker life, journeys, leisure

• Married Johanna von Puttkamer, 1847, from a conservative pietistic Junker family of

Pomerania

Bismarck’s Public Life (1)

• Member of ‘United Diet’ (Vereinigter Landtag): Joint meeting of 8 provincial diets (Landtage) at

Berlin, 1847 = first major parliament in Germany

• Bismarck: A strict-conservative MP strongly opposed to liberal MPs

= His dislike of parliamentary life + of liberal dogmatism and principles

= His impression that MPs are egoistic and short-term oriented

= His conviction that political principles are no base for politics

= His full support for Prussian monarchy

Bismarck’s Public Life (2)

• Strongly opposed to 1848-49 Revolution but almost politically inactive

• Strongly opposed to liberal Frankfurt parliament = Bismarck’ ideal: A wise and patriotic monarch, guided by

his faithful Junkers

= His strong distrust in bourgeois liberal reformer

= His conviction that only a Prussian ruler choosing the right moment + right cause should bring German unity with Prussian dominance

Prussia’s Constitution of 1850

• Created a ‘constitutional monarchy of Prussian style’ based on ‘monarchical principle’

• Hereditary monarchy (Hohenzollern House)• King with full political power but needed

countersigning of ministers who carried full responsibility

• Prime minister as primus inter pares in cabinet• Upper House members mainly appointed • Lower House members elected with Three-class

franchise system + its right to pass budget

Bismarck’s Characteristics

• Very curious, active, flexible, eager to read + learn, partly a bon-vivant

• Passionate, dogmatic, sometimes opportunistic man: Able to explore + grasp diverse

possibilities of men and movements

• Basic loyalties: Prussia, Hohenzollern dynasty, Lutheran Church

• His dominating impulse: exercise of power