Otto von BISMARCK: A biography скачать в хорошем качестве

Otto von BISMARCK: A biography

Biography of Otto von BISMARCK (Full Audiobook): Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) famously said, "The great questions of the day will not be settled by speeches or the decisions of the majority...but by iron and blood." Prince Bismarck unified the German states under Prussian hegemony through a series of carefully orchestrated wars, which excluded Austria from the new Confederation and added Schleswig-Holstein, and Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. But Bismarck avoided useless confrontations and was, above all, a master of balance of power diplomacy. His skills, both at home and abroad, won him the loyal support of Kaiser Wilhelm I. Paternalistic and socially conservative, Bismarck established for workers the very first government sickness, accident, and old-age insurance. This pithy, if pungent little biography was written in 1918 by the French historian, Georges Lacour-Gayet, who often lets Bismarck tell his story in his own inimitable words. Otto von BISMARCK: Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg (1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), known as Otto von Bismarck (German: [ˈɔtoː fɔn ˈbɪsmark] ), was a conservative Prussian statesman who dominated German and European affairs from the 1860s until 1890. In the 1860s, he engineered a series of wars that unified the German states, deliberately excluding Austria, into a powerful German Empire under Prussian leadership. With that accomplished by 1871, he skillfully used balance of power diplomacy to maintain Germany's position in a Europe which, despite many disputes and war scares, remained at peace. For historian Eric Hobsbawm, it was Bismarck who "remained undisputed world champion at the game of multilateral diplomatic chess for almost twenty years after 1871, [and] devoted himself exclusively, and successfully, to maintaining peace between the powers". However, his annexation of Alsace-Lorraine gave new fuel to French nationalism and promoted Germanophobia in France. This helped set the stage for the First World War. In 1862, King Wilhelm I appointed Bismarck as Minister President of Prussia, a position he would hold until 1890 (except for a short break in 1873). He provoked three short, decisive wars against Denmark, Austria, and France, aligning the smaller German states behind Prussia in its defeat of France. In 1871, he formed the German Empire with himself as Chancellor, while retaining control of Prussia. His diplomacy of realpolitik and powerful rule at home gained him the nickname the "Iron Chancellor". German unification and its rapid economic growth was the foundation to his foreign policy. He disliked colonialism but reluctantly built an overseas empire when it was demanded by both elite and mass opinion. Juggling a very complex interlocking series of conferences, negotiations and alliances, he used his diplomatic skills to maintain Germany's position and used the balance of power to keep Europe at peace in the 1870s and 1880s. Credit for summary of Biography of Otto von Bismarck (Full Audiobook): Pamela Nagami, and Otto von Bismarck, Wikipedia.