Otto von Bismarck
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| Order: | 1st Chancellor of Germany |
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| Term of Office: | 1871 – 1890 |
| Successor: | Count Leo von Caprivi |
| Date of Birth: | 1 April 1815 |
| Date of Death: | 30 July 1898 |
Prince Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (April 1, 1815 – July 30, 1898) was a very well known aristocrat and statesman of the 19th century in Europe. As Prime Minister of Prussia from 1862 to 1890, he was mainly responsible for unifying the many independent German countries and founding the German Empire in 1871. He became the first chancellor of the new Empire.
He was Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen (Count Bismarck-Schönhausen) in 1865, then since 1871 Fürst von Bismarck (Prince Bismarck) and since 1890 the Herzog von Lauenburg (Duke of Lauenburg). First he did not want the duke title, but accepted it later.
Bismarck was very conservative and he was strongly connected to the monarchy. He was not a big supporter of democracy. His most important goal was to make Prussia stronger and he achieved that through the unification of Germany. Bismarck tried to stop the socialist movement and to reduce the power of the Catholic Church. One way to stop socialism was to make the working class happy. He did that by introducing many social reforms like public health and accident insurance, as well as pensions for old people.
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 German Empire (1871–1918) |
Otto von Bismarck · Leo von Caprivi · Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst · Bernhard von Bülow · Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg · Georg Michaelis · Georg von Hertling · Prince Maximilian of Baden |
| Revolutionary period (1918–1919) | Friedrich Ebert |
.svg/22px-Flag_of_Germany_(2-3).svg.png){kind=small} Weimar Republic (1919–1933) |
Philipp Scheidemann · Gustav Bauer · Hermann Müller · Konstantin Fehrenbach · Joseph Wirth · Wilhelm Cuno · Gustav Stresemann · Wilhelm Marx · Hans Luther · Wilhelm Marx · Hermann Müller · Heinrich Brüning · Franz von Papen · Kurt von Schleicher |
 Nazi Germany (1933–1945) |
Adolf Hitler · Joseph Goebbels · Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk |
 Germany (since 1949) |
Konrad Adenauer · Ludwig Erhard · Kurt Georg Kiesinger · Willy Brandt ·Walter Scheel acting · Helmut Schmidt · Helmut Kohl · Gerhard Schröder · Angela Merkel |
