Speech+Page

In the early 1800’s, before I was born, Napoleon, who was from France, invaded and took over Germany. He became emperor and forced the emperor of Austria to become just king. Napoleon made changes to the German territories and states, some Germans liked it, and others didn’t. The people who didn’t like having a French ruler began to fight for a unified German State. Napoleon was defeated and the peacemakers created the German Confederation run by Austria.
 * Bismarck’s Speech **

In the 1830’s when I was about 15 years old, Prussia created an economic union called the Zollverein, which did away with taxes between the German states. But the states still had separate political parties. When I was 33, in 1848, the Germans still demanded that Germany will be one state with one ruler. They wanted Fredrick William IV from Prussia to be the king. He said no.

My full name is Otto Von Bismarck and I am from Prussia. I served as a diplomat in France and Russia, and in 1862, King William I made me Prime minister. 10 years later, I was made Chancellor. I believe that power is more important than principles.

Even though I was in charge of unifying the German states, I really supported Prussia. In order to make the military stronger I had to have money but the Prussian government would not give it to me, even after my 'Blood and Iron' Speech, in which I said: "The members of the House, however, have the task of standing over public sentiment, and of guiding it. Our blood is too hot; we prefer armor too great for our small body to carry, but we should put it to service. Germany does not look to Prussia's liberalism, but to its power." What I am basically saying is that the government has to power to overrule the people and a stronger Prussia will eventually lead to a unified Germany. Since they wouldn't give me the money for the military, I took it and I led Prussia into three Wars over the next 10 years.

I decided to work with Austria to take over parts of other countries. We took over part of Denmark and 2 years later, I tricked and took over Austria. It only took 7 weeks to win that War. I formed a new Confederation, and let Austria and 4 other Southern German States remain indepedent so they wouldn't want revenge.

After Germany was unified, it became an Industrial Giant. Germany had a well educated workforce to help improve the economy. The German middle class and educated professionals created a productive and efficient society. The German population grew by 26 million people in 43 years, so they had more Industrial workers. Germans also built more large companies and railroads which helped expand their economy.

Germany promoted science research by discovering new ways to improve their factories and developed synthetic chemicals and dyes. After 1871, Germany reorganized their banks and created one currency for the whole country. During a world wide depression, Germany raised their taxes to protect the industry in their own country. Germany believed that having a strong economy was just as important as having a strong military.

As a Lutheran, I didn't think it was right that the Catholic people were more loyal to the Pope, than to Germany. So from 1871-1878 I launched "The Battle for Civilization" against the Catholic Church. I passed some laws that gave the state the right to supervise Catholic education. Also, the state could approve who became priests and couples couldn't get married in a Catholic Church. The Catholic people were so upset over my laws that I decided to work with the church instead.

In the late 1870's I was afraid that the Social Democratic Party was going to cause a Revolution among the working class people. They believed that there should be better working conditions. So I banned social groups, meetings, and shut down their newspapers. Just like my plan to control the Catholic Church, my plan to defeat the Social Democratic Party backfired. So I decided to create my own laws to protect the workers so they would be on my side. I created Health Insurance, Accident Insurance and Retirement Savings Plans for all workers. My programs proved that we could make conditions better for all workers without them having a Revolution. Germany became the leader in Social reform and a model for other European countries.