Bismarck's politics during the wars of German Unification (1864-1871)

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Published on August 2, 2019 12:00:02 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0l96uHKexY

Game:

Bismarck (1987)

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Let's Play

Duration: 23:42

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In the 19th century, there was one European Statesman that towered above all others, contrary to the expectation of both his friends and foes. Otto von Bismarck as a person managed to captivate my imagination and historical curiosity ever since my first year of university. One of his curiosities, and certainly his greatest achievement, was the unification of Germany under the King of Prussia. Now, what stands out in terms of this achievement is the near-universal consensus that Bismarck was a practitioner of Realpolitik. The fact that he is so well known, and such a historical anomaly due to his Realpolitik, made me wonder if his practice was observable, and why it was seemingly rare in history. So, well, I decided to research it. Since this is a long one, timestamps, as always, will be in the description.

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Time Codes:

1:29 Historical Background and Introduction of Analysis
4:00 Realpolitik: The Exception or the Rule?
7:39 Bismarck the Politician
10:39 Bismarck's Realpolitik: Schleswig War (1864)
14:32 Bismarck's Realpolitik: Bruderkrieg (1866)
18:57 Why wasn't Austria invaded?
21:23 Franco-German war and Epilogue

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Sources:

Bew, John, “The Real Origins of Realpolitik,” National Interest, 130 (2014) 40-52.
Emery, Henry, “What is Realpolitik?” The International Journal of Ethics 25:4 (1915) 448-468.
Feuchtwanger, Edgar, Bismarck: A Political History (Routledge, 2014).
Franz, Günther, Bismarck’s Nationalgefühl (Springer-Verlag, 2013).
Gall, Lothar, Bismarck, the White Revolutionary (Taylor & Francis, 1990).
Holborn, Hajo, "Bismarck's Realpolitik." Journal of the History of Ideas 21:1 (1960) 84-98.
Kennedy, Paul, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers (New York, 1987).
Ludwig, Emil, Bismarck: Story of a Fighter (New York, 2012).
Meinecke, Friedrich, Machiavellianism: The Doctrine of Raison D’état and Its Place in Modern
History (New Haven, 1957).
Morgenthau, Hans, Politics among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace (New York, 1948).
Pflanze, Otto, "Bismarck and German nationalism." The American Historical Review 60:3
(1955) 548-566.
Pflanze, Otto, “Bismarck’s Realpolitik.” The Review of Politics 20:4 (1958) 492-514.
Pflanze, Otto, Bismarck and the Development of Germany: The Period of Unification,
1815-1871 (Princeton, 1963).
Rathbun, Brian, "The Rarity of Realpolitik: What Bismarck's Rationality Reveals about
International Politics." International Security 43:1 (2018) 7-55.
Rochau, August Ludwig von, Grundsätze der Realpolitik, angewendet auf die staatlichen
Zustände Deutschlands (Stuttgart, 1853).
Schnabel, Franz, Deutsche Geschichte im neunzehnten Jahrhundert (Freiburg, 1949).
Smith, Michael Joseph, Realist Thought from Weber to Kissinger (London, 1986).
Steinberg, Jonathan, Bismarck: A Life (Oxford, 2012).
Wangh, Martin, “The ‘Evocation of a Proxy’: A Psychological Maneuver, Its Use as a Defense, Its Purposes and Genesis,” Psychoanalitic Study of the Child, 17 (1962), 451-469.
Ziblatt, Daniel, Structuring the State: The Formation of Italy and Germany and the Puzzle of
Federalism (Princeton, 2006).

Photos, paintings and imagery: Public Domain, Wikicommons
Film: Bismarck (1940)

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