592 pages, Oxford University Press, ISBN-13: 978-0199782529
No single person was more responsible for the creation of Germany in
1871 than Otto von Bismarck. First as minister-president of Prussia,
then as chancellor of the German Empire, he shaped and guided the
creation and development of the country for over a quarter of a century.
Yet as Jonathan Steinberg points out in the introduction to Bismarck: A Life, he was a ruler without any sort of sovereignty or
popular support, a fact that makes his achievement all the more
remarkable. How Bismarck came to occupy this role and stamp his will on Germany is detailed in this perceptive book, which provides an
understanding of his achievements within the context of his life and
times.
Little about Bismarck's early years indicated the outsize role he would
play in history. Born to a Prussian landowning family, he benefited
from the opportunities open to him as a member of the Junker class.
Drawn to politics in his early thirties, he soon made a name for himself
as a staunch supporter of the Prussian king, Frederick William IV, and
in 1851 was named the Prussian representative to the Diet of the German
Confederation. It was here that he developed his famous pragmatism as a
politician, as well as fostering an image of recklessness he felt would
serve him well in his political dealings. Yet he desired to be at the
heart of power, and he succeeded in winning appointment as Prussia's Minister-President in 1862 thanks to the active support of Albrecht von
Roon and other members of a conservative camarilla.
Once in power, Bismarck began a remarkable transformation of European
politics. The key to his power, as Steinberg notes, lay not with party
support or military backing, but from his ability to dominate Frederick
William's brother and successor, William I. With the king's backing,
Bismarck was able to remake the map of Europe, forging the German Empire from the disparate states that survived the Napoleonic era. Yet
the governing system he constructed was one designed to maximize his
authority as chancellor, thwarting the demands of liberal politicians
for a greater voice in parliamentary democracy. This system proved to
be a double-edged sword, however, as Bismarck found out when William's
grandson, William II, ultimately took the throne. Lacking the hold that he had on
the new emperor's grandfather, Bismarck's resignation was finally
accepted in 1890, leaving the governing power of the advanced industrial
state in the hands of a mercurial young monarch and his independent and
assertive military.
Steinberg's book is an excellent account of Bismarck's life and times.
He offers a fascinating portrait of a dramatic politician who dominated
the politics of his nation as few have before or since. By setting
Bismarck's life into the context of its times, he demonstrates well the
impact Bismarck's policies had - for better and for worse - on the
development of Germany as a nation. Unfortunately, this does come at a
cost, as Bismarck's private life is generally given short shrift outside
of its impact upon his temperament, but such a sacrifice is
understandable given the challenge of summarizing such a long career
within the confines of a single volume. Steinberg succeeds in providing
readers with what is likely to be the best single-volume biography of
the "Iron Chancellor" for decades to come, one that should be read by
anyone seeking to understand this fascinating and important figure.
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