# Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Bismarck-Schœnhausen (Prince von), Karl Otto

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​BISMARCK-SCHŒNHAUSEN (Prince von), Karl Otto, statesman, born at Schœnhausen, April 1, 1815; studied at Göttingen, Berlin, and Griefswald; entered the army, and was afterwards a lieutenant in the Landwehr. He became a member of the Diet of the province of Saxony in 1846, and of the General Diet, in which he made himself remarkable by the boldness of his speeches, in 1847. On one occasion he argued that all great cities should be swept from the face of the earth, because they were the centres of democracy and constitutionalism. Nor did the events of 1848 modify his opinions. In 1851 he entered the diplomatic service, and was intrusted with the legation at Frankfort. Regarding Austria as the antagonist of Prussia, he was sent in 1852 to Vienna, where he proved a constant adversary to Count Rechberg. In 1858, a pamphlet entitled "La Prusse et la Question Italienne" appeared, the authorship of which was generally attributed to him. In this publication reference was made to the antagonism existing between Austria and Prussia, and a triple alliance between France, Prussia, and Russia was advocated. In March, 1859, M. von Bismarck was sent as Ambassador to St. Petersburg, which post he held until 1862, and having conciliated the Czar, was decorated with the order of Saint Alexander Newski. In May, 1862, he was appointed Ambassador to Paris, where he received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour from the Emperor Napoleon, and he was made Minister of the King's House and of Foreign Affairs in Prussia, Sept. 22. The budget having been rejected by the Deputies, but adopted by the Upper Chamber, M. Bismarck, in the name of the king, dissolved the former after a series of angry altercations. The newspapers which protested against this despotic act were proceeded against with great severity, as were numerous public officials, magistrates, and others who openly expressed views hostile to the Government. In Jan., 1863, he protested against an address which the Deputies presented to the King, in which he was accused of having violated the constitution. Shortly after, the affairs of Poland caused fresh difficulties. The Chamber of Deputies, by a majority of five to one, censured the Ministry for having concluded (Feb. 8) a secret treaty with Russia. After the close of the aggressive war waged by Prussia and Austria against Denmark, in which Austria had very reluctantly taken part, Bismarck thought the time had arrived for carrying out his long-cherished project of making Prussia the real head of Germany. His preparations for another aggressive war were completed, and, aided by an alliance with Italy, in a campaign of a few weeks' duration Austria and her allies were defeated. It is probable that dread of a still more formidable alliance induced M. von Bismarck to stop short in his career of victory, as the Emperor Napoleon, in his speech to the French Chambers, declared that he had ​arrested the conqueror at the gates of Vienna. A preliminary treaty of peace with Austria was concluded at Nikolsburg, July 26, 1866, and as Austria consented to retire from Germany, the terms of a general pacification were arranged. M. von Bismarck was created a Count, Sept. 16, 1865, on which occasion he received from the King of Prussia a valuable estate in Luxemburg. He lost no time in turning to account the victory gained by Prussia over Austria, and in advancing his favourite scheme for the unification of Germany, provinces and kingdoms were at once annexed. The free town of Frankfort received a Prussian garrison in spite of the indignant protests of the population; Hanover was incorporated in the Germanic Confederation; and at the close of the year 1866 Count Bismarck succeeded in concluding with Bavaria, Baden, and Wurtemberg treaties of peace, and of alliance offensive and defensive, with a proviso that in the event of war the King of Prussia should have the chief military command. In 1867 Count Bismarck organised the North German Confederation, which comprised twenty-two States, representing a population of 29,000,000. The king of Prussia was at the head of this powerful Confederation, and a Federal Council, composed of delegates of the different States, was established, together with a Diet or common Parliament, the members of which were elected by universal suffrage. The new federal constitution was adopted by the Prussian Chambers in June, and came into operation on the 1st of the following month, Count Bismarck receiving as the reward of his services the post of Chancellor of the Confederation and President of the Federal Council. The Luxemburg question now gave rise to serious differences between the Prussian and French Governments, and Count Bismarck strenuously opposed the projected cession of that province by Holland to France. Eventually the dispute was settled by the Luxemburg territory being neutralized, and the fortresses dismantled. After this both Powers declared their intention to be pacific, but nevertheless they both increased their already bloated armaments. Ill-health compelled Count Bismarck to retire from public life for a short period in 1868, but he returned to Berlin in October of that year, and resumed the direction of affairs. On the 1st of January he entered on his functions as Foreign Minister of the North German Confederation. In July, 1870, it transpired that General Prim had sent a deputation to Prussia to offer the Crown of Spain to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern. The French people were greatly agitated at the receipt of this intelligence. Some of their leading statesmen declared that France would never consent to see a Prussian prince seated on the throne of Spain, and explanations were demanded from the Berlin cabinet. It was alleged by Count Bismarck that the King of Prussia gave his consent to the acceptance of the crown by the prince only as the head of the Hohenzollern family, and not as an act of the Government. A few days later the withdrawal of the prince's candidature was announced; but in spite of this France declared war against Prussia, and the campaign commenced, the latter Power receiving great assistance from the troops sent into the field by the King of Bavaria and the Dukes of Baden and Wurtemberg. This is not the place to record the complete successes of the German armies. Suffice it to say, that Count Bismarck accompanied the King throughout the campaign, and that after the capitulaion of Paris he dictated the terms of peace, which were adopted by the Assembly then sitting at Bordeaux. He succeeded in uniting Germany, and on Jan. ​18, 1871, he had the satisfaction of seeing King William of Prussia crowned Emperor of Germany in the Palace of the French kings, at Versailles. In the same month he was appointed by his Imperial master Chancellor of the German Empire, and in the following March raised to the rank of Prince. In September of the same year he was present at the memorable meeting of the German and Austrian emperors at Gastein. Subsequently Prince Bismarck greatly offended the Catholic party throughout Germany by promoting the legal measures which were directed against the freedom of the Church, and which resulted in the expulsion of the Jesuits, and the incarceration of several bishops. In Dec., 1872, he resigned the presidency of the State Ministry, although he continued to confer with the Emperor on the affairs of the empire and its foreign policy. The Emperor also authorised him, in the event of his being unable to appear personally at a meeting of the Ministry of State, to give his vote on matters concerning the interests of the empire through the President of the Imperial Chancellery. On this occasion Prince Bismarck received from his royal master the Order of the Black Eagle, set in diamonds. In Oct., 1873, he was re-appointed as Prussian Premier. On July 13, 1874, as the Prince was driving in the country at Kissingen, he was fired at by a young man named Kullman, and slightly wounded by a shot which grazed his right wrist. The culprit was apprehended, and eventually sentenced to fourteen years' hard labour, with a further ten years' loss of civil rights, police inspection, and costs. An attempt was made to prove that Kullman was connected with the clerical party, and a statement to that effect made by Prince Bismarck himself afterwards led to an exciting scene in the German Parliament. Towards the close of 1874, at the instigation of Prince Bismarck, Count Arnim was imprisoned, and tried on a charge of having abstracted documents from the archives of the German embassy at Paris. He presided over the Congress of the representatives of the Great Powers which assembled at Berlin to discuss the provisions of the Treaty of San Stefano in 1878.