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Otto von Bismarck was responsible for transforming a collection of small German states, and unifying them into the German empire, and becoming its first chancellor. His diplomacy of realpolitik and powerful rule gained him the nickname of the "Iron Chancellor."

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Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898) / German Unification

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Germany became a modern, unified nation under the leadership of the Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), who between 1862 and 1890 effectively ruled first Prussia and then all of Germany.

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Table of Contents

1. Otto von Bismarck: Early Years

2. Otto von Bismarck: The Iron Chancellor

3. Otto von Bismarck: Kulturkampf, Welfare State, Empire

4. Otto von Bismarck: Final Years and Legacy

Germany became a modern, unified nation under the leadership of the "Iron Chancellor" Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), who between 1862 and 1890 effectively ruled first Prussia and then all of Germany. A master strategist, Bismarck initiated decisive wars with Denmark, Austria and France to unite 39 independent German states under Prussian leadership. Although an arch-conservative, Bismarck introduced progressive reforms-including universal male suffrage and the establishment of the first welfare state-in order to achieve his goals. He manipulated European rivalries to make Germany a world power, but in doing so laid the groundwork for both World Wars.

Otto von Bismarck: Early Years

Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck was born April 1, 1815, at his family's estate in the Prussian heartland west of Berlin. His father was a fifth-generation Junker (a Prussian landowning noble), and his mother came from a family of successful academics and government ministers. Throughout his life Bismarck would emphasize his rural Junker roots, underplaying his considerable intellect and cosmopolitan outlook.

Did you know? Although German leader Otto von Bismarck wore a general's uniform in public for much of his later life (and successfully prosecuted three wars as chancellor), his only prior military service was a brief, unwilling stint in a reserve unit.

Bismarck was educated in Berlin and after university took a series of minor diplomatic posts before retiring, at age 24, to run his family's estate at Kneiphof. In 1847 he married and was sent to Berlin as a delegate to the new Prussian parliament, where he emerged as a reactionary voice against the liberal, anti-autocratic Revolutions of 1848.

From 1851 to 1862 Bismarck served a series of ambassadorships-at the German Confederation in Frankfurt, in St. Petersburg and in Paris-that gave him valuable insight into the vulnerabilities of Europe's great powers.

Otto von Bismarck: The Iron Chancellor

William I became Prussia's king in 1861 and a year later appointed Bismarck as his chief minister. Though technically deferring to William, in reality Bismarck was in charge, manipulating the king with his intellect and the occasional tantrum while using royal decrees to circumvent the power of elected officials.

In 1864 Bismarck began the series of wars that would establish Prussian power in Europe. He attacked Denmark to gain the German-speaking territories of Schleswig-Holstein and two years later provoked Emperor Franz-Josef I into starting the Austro-Prussian War (1866), which ended in a swift defeat for the aging Austrian empire. At the time, Bismarck wisely declined to levy a war indemnity against the Austrians.

Bismarck was less circumspect in his conduct of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). Seeing the opportunity to unify Germany's loose confederations against an outside enemy, Bismarck stirred political tensions between France and Prussia, famously editing a telegram from William I to make both countries feel insulted by the other. The French declared war, but the Prussians and their German allies won handily. Prussia levied an indemnity, annexed the French border provinces of Alsace and Lorraine and crowned William emperor of a unified Germany (the Second Reich) in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles-a tremendous insult to the French.

Otto von Bismarck: Kulturkampf, Welfare State, Empire

With Germany unified, William I and Bismarck turned to entrenching their domestic power. For much of the 1870s Bismarck pursued a Kulturkampf (cultural struggle) against Catholics, who made up 36 percent of Germany's population, by placing parochial schools under state control and expelling the Jesuits. In 1878 Bismarck relented, allying with the Catholics against the growing socialist threat.

In the 1880s Bismarck set aside his conservative impulses to counter the socialists by creating Europe's first modern welfare state, establishing national healthcare (1883), accident insurance (1884) and old age pensions (1889). Bismarck also hosted the 1885 Berlin Conference that ended the "Scramble for Africa," dividing the continent between the European powers and establishing German colonies in Cameroon, Togoland and East and Southwest Africa.

Otto von Bismarck: Final Years and Legacy

William I died in 1888 and was succeeded by his son Frederick III and then his grandson William II, both of whom Bismarck found difficult to control. In 1890 the new king forced Bismarck out. William II was left in control of a flourishing unified state but was ill-equipped to maintain Bismarck's carefully manipulated balance of international rivalries. Respected and honored by the time of his death eight years later, Bismarck quickly became a quasi-mythic figure invoked by political leaders calling for strong German leadership-or for war.

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Otto von Bismarck - Biography, World Wars & Facts

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Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898)-also known as the "Iron Chancellor"-was Chancellor of the newly-united German Empire from 1862 to 1890. During his tenure he modernized the nation and helped set the stage for World War I.

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Guiseppe Mazzini and Guiseppe Garabaldi were the two main leaders helped to unify Italy. Garabaldi was a well known man making it easy to have many people join his army, and while walking on their journey they would recruit locals of other villages to help unify Italy.

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One of the great masters of guerilla warfare, Garibaldi was responsible for most of the military victories of the Risorgimento. Garibaldi was an Italian patriot and soldier of the Risorgimento, a republican who, through his conquest of Sicily and Naples with his guerrilla Redshirts, contributed to the achievement of Italian unification under the royal house of Savoy.

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There Garibaldi found himself surrounded and decided to disband his men. Soon afterward, he was pursued by the Austrians as he tried to escape. Although Anita died, Garibaldi successfully crossed the Apennines to the Tuscan coast. The retreat through central Italy, coming after the defense of Rome, made Garibaldi a well-known figure. From then on he was the "hero of two worlds." Some criticized his military skill in this campaign, but his qualities as a leader had proved to be extraordinary, and his courage and determination not to surrender were a lesson in patriotism for his fellow countrymen.

The Piedmontese monarchy, however, was too frightened to let this rebel return to his mother and children, and soon he was in exile again, first in Tangier, then on Staten Island, and finally in Peru, where he returned to his original trade as a ship's captain. Only in 1854 was he allowed to return to Italy. The conte di Cavour, the prime minister of Piedmont, believed that by permitting Garibaldi's repatriation he could pry him away from the republican Mazzini. In the following year, Garibaldi bought part of the island of Caprera off the Sardinian coast, which remained his home for the rest of his life. In 1856 he tried to lead an expedition to release political prisoners held by the Bourbon kings of Naples, but it came to nothing. In 1858 he received an invitation from Cavour to help prepare for another war against Austria. His task was to lead an army of volunteers from other Italian provinces, and he was given the rank of major general in the Piedmontese army. When war broke out in April 1859, he led his Cacciatori delle Alpi (Alpine Huntsmen) in the capture of Varese and Como and reached the frontier of the south Tirol. This war ended with the acquisition of Lombardy by Piedmont.

In September 1859, after peace had returned to northern Italy, Garibaldi transferred his attention to central Italy, where a revolutionary government had been established in Florence. There, on several occasions, he had private meetings with King Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia, and it was agreed that he should prepare to invade the Papal States; the king would support his venture if it succeeded but disown him if it failed. At the last moment, however, the king realized that the undertaking was too dangerous and asked him to give up the idea. Garibaldi agreed, though reluctantly. He was ready at any moment to revive this kind of unwritten agreement with Victor Emmanuel, but it became increasingly clear that their aims were not identical. Though both men were patriots, Garibaldi was already working for the unification of Italy. The king was more prudent, concerned foremost with expanding Piedmont. Garibaldi was especially furious when, early in 1860, Cavour and Victor Emmanuel gave his hometown of Nice back to France (it had become Piedmontese in 1814), and he made one of his rare appearances in parliament to protest this violation of the national principle. In January 1860 he married Giuseppina, the daughter of the Marchese Raimondi, but abandoned her, within hours of the marriage, when he discovered she was five months pregnant, almost certainly by one of his own officers. Twenty years later, he was able to obtain the decree of nullity that enabled him to legitimize his children by Francesca Armosino, his longtime companion.

In May 1860 Garibaldi set out on the greatest venture of his life, the conquest of Sicily and Naples. This time he had no government backing, but Cavour and Victor Emmanuel did not dare to stop him, for he had become a popular hero. They stood ready to assist, but only if he proved successful, and he accepted this unwritten arrangement, confident that he could thus force Cavour to support a new move toward the unification of the Italian peninsula. Sailing from near Genoa on May 6 with about 1,000 men, he reached Marsala in Sicily on May 11 and in the name of Victor Emmanuel proclaimed himself dictator. A popular revolution in Sicily helped him considerably, for his personal charm was irresistible, and many of the peasants thought him a god intent on freeing them from slavery and feudalism. The decisive moment for his forces was a small engagement at Calatafimi, when he gave convincing proof that he could defeat the regular soldiers of the king of Naples's army. Immediately there was a great popular movement in his support, and at the end of May he captured Palermo.

The seizure of Palermo was one of Garibaldi's most remarkable military successes, and it convinced Cavour that this volunteer army should now be strongly, if still secretly, supported by Piedmont. Moving across the island, Garibaldi won the Battle of Milazzo in July, helped by reinforcements from northern Italy. In August he crossed over the Strait of Messina and landed on the mainland in Calabria. As always, his strategy was to deny the enemy a moment's pause. After a lightning campaign, he moved up through Calabria and on September 7, 1860, entered Naples, Italy's largest city, where he proclaimed himself "Dictator of the Two Sicilies" (the name of the territories of the king of Naples, comprising Sicily and most of southern Italy).

With 30,000 men under his command, he then fought the biggest battle of his career, on the Volturno River north of Naples. After his victory, he held plebiscites in Sicily and Naples, which allowed him to hand over the whole of southern Italy to King Victor Emmanuel. When the two met, Garibaldi was the first person to hail Victor Emmanuel as king of a united Italy. The king made a triumphal entry into Naples on November 7, and Garibaldi sat beside him in the royal carriage. But immediately afterward the former dictator returned to Caprera, refusing all the rewards thrust on him. He had asked for only one thing-to be allowed to continue governing Naples as the king's viceroy until conditions returned to normal; but this was refused him, for in the eyes of the conservatives he was still a dangerous radical-an anticlerical who also professed to hold advanced ideas on social reform. He was also a man who was known to want to reconquer Rome from the pope and make it into Italy's capital. This was too dangerous a scheme for Victor Emmanuel, for a French garrison defended papal temporal power in Rome. There was also another, more insidious danger: Garibaldi was more popular than the king himself. Furthermore, the regular army of Piedmont was deeply jealous of his successes and determined that he should not be permitted to score fresh ones. Finally, it was feared that Mazzini and the republicans might recapture Garibaldi's allegiance and make him desert the monarchical cause.

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Giuseppe Garibaldi - Giuseppe Garibaldi - Retreat: There Garibaldi found himself surrounded and decided to disband his men. Soon afterward, he was pursued by the Austrians as he tried to escape. Although Anita died, Garibaldi successfully crossed the Apennines to the Tuscan coast.

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The Mexican War of Independence was started by Miguel Hidalgo with the "Grito de Dolores." Miguel Hidalgo had many recruits who helped through hardship to get freedom.

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Mexican War of Independence | 3 Minute History

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Miguel Hidalgo was a Roman Catholic priest and revolutionary leader who is now celebrated and called the father of Mexican independence

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Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, (born May 8, 1753, Corralejo, near Guanajuato, Mexico-died July 30, 1811, Chihuahua), Roman Catholic priest and revolutionary leader who is called the father of Mexican independence.

Hidalgo was the second child born to Cristóbal Hidalgo and his wife. He studied at a Jesuit secondary school, received a bachelor's degree in theology and philosophy in 1773 from San Nicolás College (now Michoacán University of San Nicolás de Hidalgo) in Valladolid (now Morelia), and was ordained a priest in 1778. He had an uneventful early career, but in 1803 Hidalgo assumed his recently deceased elder brother's duties as parish priest in Dolores (now Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato state). His interest in the economic advancement of his parishioners-for example, through the introduction of newer methods of agriculture-and his political convictions regarding the oppression of the people by the Spanish authorities caused the latter to regard him with suspicion.

In 1808 Spain was invaded by French troops, and Napoleon I forced the abdication of King Ferdinand VII in favour of the French emperor's brother Joseph Bonaparte. Though Spanish officials in Mexico were loath to oppose the new king, many Mexicans formed secret societies-some supporting Ferdinand, others advocating independence from Spain. Hidalgo belonged to a pro-independence group in San Miguel (now San Miguel de Allende), near Dolores. When the plot was betrayed to the Spanish, several members were arrested. Warned to flee, Hidalgo decided instead to act promptly. On September 16, 1810, he rang the church bell in Dolores to call his parishioners to an announcement of revolution against the Spanish. His speech was not only an encouragement to revolt but a cry for racial equality and the redistribution of land. It became known as the Grito de Dolores ("Cry of Dolores").

What he began in San Miguel as a movement for independence became a social and economic war of the masses against the upper classes. Joined by thousands of Indians and mestizos, Hidalgo marched forth from Dolores under the banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe. With his followers he captured the city of Guanajuato and other major cities west of Mexico City. Soon Hidalgo was at the gates of the capital, but he hesitated, and the opportunity was lost. His followers melted away. Royalists as well as other elements in Mexico were frightened by the prospect of social upheaval and supported the suppression of the rebellion. After his defeat at Calderón Bridge, outside Guadalajara, on January 17, 1811, Hidalgo fled north, hoping to escape into the United States. He was caught, expelled from the priesthood, and executed by firing squad as a rebel.

Though his accomplishments were not lasting ones, Hidalgo's name became the symbol of the independence movement for most Mexicans. September 16, the anniversary of the Grito de Dolores, is now celebrated as Mexico's Independence Day.

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Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla | Facts, Accomplishments, & Biography

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Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Roman Catholic priest and revolutionary leader who is called the father of Mexican independence.