Bismarck, Otto von, 1815-98, German statesman, known as the Iron Chancellor.

Early Life and Career

Born of an old Brandenburg Junker family, he studied at Göttingen and Berlin, and after holding minor judicial and administrative offices he was elected (1847) to the Prussian Landtag [parliament]. There he opposed the liberal movement, advocated unification of Germany under the aegis of Prussia, and defended the privileges of his elite social class, the Junkers. As Prussian minister to the German diet at Frankfurt (1851-59) and as ambassador to St. Petersburg (1859-62) and to Paris (1862), he gained the insight and the experience was to partially determine his subsequent policy.

Wars with Austria and France

Bismarck was appointed premier in 1862 by William I in order to secure adoption of the Prussian king's army program, which was then being strenuously opposed in parliament. Bismarck, in direct violation of the constitution, dissolved parliament and collected taxes for the army without parliamentary approval.

To expel Austria from the German Confederation now became Bismarck's chief aim. The disposition of Schleswig-Holstein, former Danish territory annexed by Austria and Prussia after their defeat of the Danes in 1864, provided the necessary pretext. By the Gastein Convention of 1865 the two countries agreed to rule jointly—Austria was to administer Holstein and Prussia was to administer Schleswig; but friction soon developed. Bismarck accused Austria of violating the Gastein treaty and thus precipitated the Austro-Prussian War (1866), which ended after seven weeks with the defeat of Austria. By the treaty signed at the end of the war, Germany was reorganized under Prussian leadership in the North German Confederation, from which Austria was excluded.

Fear of France, skillfully propagated by Bismarck, was to bring the remaining German states into the Prussian orbit when the candidature of a Hohenzollern prince to the throne of Spain caused friction with the French Emperor Napoleon III. To make sure that this friction would provoke war, Bismarck published the famous Ems dispatch. In the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) that ensued the states of S Germany rallied to the Prussian cause as Bismarck had anticipated, and in Jan., 1871, William I of Prussia was proclaimed German emperor.

Alignments and Alliances

Bismarck, the creator of the German empire, became its first chancellor. When added to his Prussian positions (premier, foreign minister, and minister of commerce) the imperial chancellorship gave him almost complete control of foreign and domestic affairs. To maintain the peace necessary for the consolidation of the empire, he proposed to advance a strong military program, to gain the friendship of Austria, to preserve British friendship by avoiding naval or colonial rivalry, and to isolate France in diplomacy so that revanche would be impossible. Therefore, in 1872, he formed the Three Emperors' League (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia) and also maintained friendly relations with Italy.

The Balkan rivalries of Austria and Russia and the subsequent triumph of Austria at the Congress of Berlin (see Berlin, Congress of), over which Bismarck presided, caused a rift in Russo-German relations. A defensive alliance with Austria was now concluded (1879), and this Dual Alliance became a Triple Alliance when Italy adhered in 1882 (see Triple Alliance and Triple Entente). Friendship with Russia was revived in the Reinsurance Treaty of 1887. Bismarck, with his system of alignments and alliances, became the virtual arbiter of Europe and was acknowledged as its leading statesman.

Domestic Policies

Bismarck's influence upon German domestic affairs was no less apparent than his international stature. The empire, soon after its establishment, was disturbed by the Kulturkampf, a fierce struggle between the state on the one hand and the Roman Catholic Church and Catholic Center party on the other. The conflict initiated a period of cooperation between Bismarck and the liberals, who were violently anticlerical. However, the struggle lost intensity after Bismarck failed to break the power of the Center party, which made large gains in the Reichstag in 1878. The detente with the liberals foundered in the late 1870s after Bismarck's refusal to appoint three liberals to his ministry and his adoption of protective tariffs in place of the liberals' free trade position.

Relations between Bismarck and the Center party continued to improve, and the chancellor turned his attention toward the socialists, who had increased their strength in the Reichstag, particularly after the fusion of the Lassalle and Marxian socialists (1875). Bismarck at first met the socialist opposition with extremely repressive measures. The antisocialist law passed in 1878 prohibited the circulation of socialist literature, empowered the police to break up socialist meetings, and put the trial and punishment of socialists under the jurisdiction of police courts.

Although the socialists were initially weakened, they again began to increase their number in parliament. Now, partly to weaken the socialists and partly as a result of his policy of economic nationalism, Bismarck instituted a program of sweeping social reform. Between 1883 and 1887, despite violent opposition, laws were passed providing for sickness, accident, and old age insurance; limiting woman and child labor; and establishing maximum working hours. Bismarck's new economic policy also resulted in the rapid expansion of German commerce and industry and the acquisition of overseas colonies and spheres of influence (see Germany).

End of the Era

The Bismarckian era closed with the death of Emperor Frederick III. A struggle for supremacy between Bismarck and William II developed immediately upon that emperor's accession in 1888 and ended with Bismarck's dismissal in 1890. Bismarck, created prince (Fürst) after the Franco-Prussian War, was now made duke (Herzog) of Lauenburg. He retired and spent the remainder of his life in oral and written criticism of the emperor and his ministers and in defense of his own policies.

Bismarck Archipelago, volcanic island group, 19,200 sq mi (49,730 sq km), SW Pacific, a part of Papua New Guinea. The group includes New Britain (the largest island), New Ireland, the Admiralty Islands, the Mussau Islands, New Hanover, the Vitu Islands, and the Duke of York Islands. The islands are generally mountainous and have several active volcanoes. The chief agricultural products are copra, cacao, coffee, tea, and rubber. Some copper and gold are mined. The inhabitants are mainly Melanesians. Discovered in 1616 by the Dutch explorer Willem Schouten, the group became a German protectorate in 1884. Seized by Australian forces in World War I, the islands were mandated to Australia by the League of Nations in 1920. Japan operated several naval and air bases in the islands during World War II. In 1947, Australia received trusteeship over the group from the United Nations, which were administered as part of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. The archipelago was included in Papua New Guinea when it established as a self-governing country in 1973.

Bismarck, city (1990 pop. 49,256), state capital and seat of Burleigh co., S central N.Dak., on hills overlooking the Missouri River; inc. 1873. The trade center for a large spring-wheat, livestock, and dairying region, Bismarck is also a financial and telecommunications center, and development of the oil reserves in the nearby Williston Basin is important. Lewis and Clark camped nearby in 1804-5. With the beginning of river traffic in the 1830s, a steamboat port called the "Crossing on the Missouri" emerged here. In 1872, Camp Greeley (later Camp Hancock) was erected to protect workers building the Northern Pacific RR. When the railroad reached the fort the next year, a town was laid out, subsequently named Bismarck in the hope of attracting German investment in the railroad. Bismarck boomed as a river port and railroad center, a gateway for western expansion, and supply point for the Black Hills gold rush (1874). It became the territorial capital in 1883.

(born April 1, 1815, Schönhausen, Altmark, Prussia—died July 30, 1898, Friedrichsruh, near Hamburg) Prussian statesman who founded the German Empire in 1871 and served as its chancellor for 19 years. Born into the Prussian landowning elite, Bismarck studied law and was elected to the Prussian Diet in 1849. In 1851 he was appointed Prussian representative to the federal Diet in Frankfurt. After serving as ambassador to Russia (1859–62) and France (1862), he became prime minister and foreign minister of Prussia (1862–71). When he took office, Prussia was widely considered the weakest of the five European powers, but under his leadership Prussia won a war against Denmark in 1864 (see Schleswig-Holstein Question), the Seven Weeks' War (1866), and the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). Through these wars he achieved his goal of political unification of a Prussian-dominated German Empire. Once the empire was established, he became its chancellor. The “Iron Chancellor” skillfully preserved the peace in Europe through alliances against France (see Three Emperors' League; Reinsurance Treaty; Triple Alliance). Domestically, he introduced administrative and economic reforms but sought to preserve the status quo, opposing the Social Democratic Party and the Catholic church (see Kulturkampf). When Bismarck left office in 1890, the map of Europe had been changed immeasurably. However, the German Empire, his greatest achievement, survived him by only 20 years because he had failed to create an internally unified people.

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Island group, western Pacific Ocean. Lying northwest of New Guinea, it forms part of Papua New Guinea. It has a total area of about 18,600 sq mi (48,200 sq km); its largest components include New Britain, New Ireland, the Admiralty Islands, and Lavongai (New Hanover). Annexed by Germany in 1884, it was named for Otto von Bismarck. Occupied by Australia in 1914, it was made a mandated territory of Australia in 1920. The group became part of the UN Trust Territory of New Guinea after World War II and part of Papua New Guinea when it attained independence in 1975.

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City (pop., 2000: 55,532), capital of North Dakota, U.S. It was settled as a Missouri River port in the 1830s. In 1872 a military post was established to protect railway workers, and in 1873 it was named for Otto von Bismarck in the hope of attracting German investment. With the discovery of gold in the nearby Black Hills, it became a prospecting centre. In 1883 it was made the capital of Dakota Territory; when the territory was divided into two states in 1889, Bismarck became the capital of the northern state. Today it is the region's business, cultural, and financial centre.

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