When he came to Germany, there was a big man that Pingo felt he could not get around: Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, the first chancellor of the German Empire (April 1, 1815 – July 30, 1898).

He was the Duke of Lauenburg, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia, the first Chancellor of the German Empire, known as the "Iron Chancellor", "German Architect" and "German Navigator", and pursued the "Iron and Blood Policy". But he was so wise that after the reunification of Germany in 1871, he immediately relented to the outside world, emphasizing that he was nothing more than an "honest broker."

It is rare to see it in the world like Bismarck's, Pingguo has always thought so.

Bismarck was the most prominent German statesman in the 19th century, and during his tenure as Prime Minister of Prussia, he unified Germany through a series of iron-blooded wars and became the first chancellor of the German Empire.

Bismarck was a conservative, defending authoritarianism and suppressing the social democratic movement of the eighties of the 19th century.

But he passed legislation that established the world's first workers' pension, health and health insurance system, and social insurance.

As a result of his contributions, as well as his outstanding and great achievements, Bismarck was finally awarded the rank of Colonel General of the Imperial German Army.

It is said that in 2005, he was also ranked ninth in the 2005 German TV 2 voting for the greatest German, which shows his status in the hearts of the people.

On April 1, 1815, in the Prussian town of Hün-Osen, Bismarck was born.

Bismarck's father was a landowner and retired military officer, hunting only with friends, and at the age of 35 he married his 17-year-old wife, Bismarck's mother.

Bismarck's mother was born from a very different background from her father's, she lived in a bourgeois family since she was a child, and lived in the city for a long time, and had a relatively open and advanced mind, so she hoped that Bismarck would grow up to become a politician.

When Bismarck was 6 years old, he studied at a primary school in Berlin. Since most of his classmates grew up in bourgeois families, most of them were excluded, which caused him great pain and pressure in his childhood.

At the age of 12, Bismarck entered secondary school, but was still ostracized by his classmates. Undeterred, he worked hard, learning English, French, Russian, Polish, and Italian, making him a multilingual genius and laying the foundation for his future career as a diplomat.

When Bismarck was not yet 17 years old, he enrolled at the University of Göttingen.

Bismarck was not satisfied with his university life, so he often wore a sword at his waist and led a big wolf dog, and he had no intention of learning and became addicted to vices. It is said that he duels with his classmates 27 times. Later, he transferred to the University of Berlin to study law, but he was still not satisfied.

In 1838, while training as a reserve soldier, he entered the University of Greifswald to study agriculture.

While in Göttingen, he became friends with John Lossrop Mottley, an American student and later American historian and diplomat. In Morton's Hope, or Countryman's Memory, a friend says: "Bismarck was reckless and eccentric, but he was a young man of great talent and charm. ”

Although Bismarck really became a lawyer after graduation, he was still not willing to do so, so he applied for a government official position and became a small clerk.

Bismarck began a series of unfortunate events:

He met a noble woman and made a marriage contract, but he had no money and wanted to make money by gambling but lost all his money and owed a lot of debts, so the marriage contract was cancelled.

He became acquainted with the daughter of a priest and became engaged again, but the woman also went with a wealthy soldier.

As a result, Bismarck had no choice but to return to his hometown with debts.

When he returned to his hometown, he separated from his brother and became the owner of the estate, but he was still dissatisfied with this life and soon re-entered the political arena.

This entry into the political arena changed the fate of Bismarck, who was already 32 years old, in his life.

First, he became the overseer of the embankment. When he was very competent, he quickly established a positive image. He took the opportunity to stand in the parliamentary elections as an alternate, but he succeeded in forcing one of the deputies to withdraw on the grounds of illness, and he was elected as a full-fledged member of the state of Berlin.

Second, he was betrothed to a woman named Joanna, and they were married in the same year.

The famous German Revolution of 1848 broke out and the King of Prussia was captured. Bismarck decided to go to Berlin to find out what was going on. He met Augusta, the wife of Prince William, who had fled to England, but Augusta did not accept Bismarck's help.

Bismarck's original idea was to mobilize the peasants of his territory to join the army to defend the king, but upon arrival in Berlin he was told that his value was only to supply the army.

Bismarck was elected to the new Prussian state parliament in 1849 when his position was anti-German unity.

He then became a Prussian delegate to the Erfurt Parliament, but his aim was still to thwart the unification of Germany.

In the end, the parliament failed because it could not get the support of two of Germany's largest components, Prussia and Austria.

In 1851 Bismarck was the Prussian delegate to the Confederation Conference in Frankfurt and was soon promoted to ambassador, a post he held for eight years.

In 1857, Frederick Wilhelm IV went insane and was regent by his brother Prince Wilhelm, who immediately summoned Bismarck and appointed him ambassador to Russia.

In 1861, Prince Wilhelm ascended the throne for William I, but he immediately clashed with Parliament over the build-up of armaments. In desperation, he had no choice but to appoint Bismarck as the prime minister, but Bismarck was not willing to be only the prime minister and did not fulfill it.

In the spring of 1862, Bismarck returned to Berlin, but when King Prussia did not promote him to the position of prime minister, Bismarck resigned and was reassigned ambassador to France.

In the same year, the liberals won an absolute victory in the new elections to the Prussian parliament and immediately rejected the entire Prussian government's appropriation for military reform, leaving the government and parliament at an impasse.

In the face of major contradictions, Bismarck became the only possible candidate for prime minister.

On September 23, 1862, Wilhelm I recalled Bismarck's appointment as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

Bismarck, who became chancellor, made a firm "iron-clad speech" to parliament in his inaugural speech: "The great problems of our time cannot be solved by speeches and majority resolutions...... Rather, it is to be solved with iron and blood! Since then, Bismarck has been given the nickname of "Iron Prime Minister".

Bismarck, who was in power, wanted to distract the parliamentarians from the cause of German reunification and enlist the support of the working class against the bourgeois liberals, and soon began to plan three wars for unification.

Denmark, as Germany's northern neighbor, often intervened in German affairs, so Bismarck was the first to settle Denmark.

Another reason was the fact that in 1863 Schleswig was incorporated into Denmark during the Polish Revolution. At the same time, the war can observe the strength of Austria and prepare for the Austro-Prussian war.

In 1861, when the Danish king wanted to take over the two borders of Prussia, Bismarck immediately created a dispute, first ensuring that other powers would not interfere if Prussia went to war, and allied with Austria to attack Denmark, and finally forced Denmark to abandon the two states.

But this was actually a deliberate conspiracy by Bismarck, because the Holstein acquired by Austria was not only small in size, but also surrounded by Prussia. In this way, Austria could easily come into conflict with Prussia, so it was a trigger that pushed Austria to war with Prussia.

After the Prussian-Danish War, Bismarck decided to drive Austria out of the German Confederation in order to facilitate the future unification of Germany.

He therefore set about isolating Austria, first by agreeing to assist Russia in rescinding the Black Sea Neutrality Clause. He also met with French Emperor Napoleon III and stated that Prussia had no objection to ceding Luxembourg and the Rhine to France, thus ensuring France's neutrality in the Austro-Prussian War. Britain continued its policy of honorable isolation, and therefore remained neutral in the event of a conflict between Austria and Prussia. Finally, on April 8, 1866, he signed a treaty of offensive and defensive alliance with Italy, stipulating that if Prussia went to war with Austria within three months, Italy must declare war on Austria at the same time, and that peace could only be made with Austria if Austria returned Venice to Italy.

In the end, Bismarck accused Austria of breaking the treaty because he was dissatisfied with the terms of the Gastein Treaty and demanded the use of the two richest places in Prussia, and declared war on Austria in June of the same year. Italy also declared war on Austria in accordance with the Treaty of Offensive and Defensive Alliance.

Soon after, Prussia conquered the small pro-Austrian states of North Germany and fought at Sadova, which resulted in the defeat of the Austrians.

At this point, Bismarck decided to make peace with Austria rather than pursue it, knowing that the best course for Prussia was not to destroy Austria, but to expel Austria from the Germanic Confederation and use it as a bulwark against Russia's westward advance.

Therefore, in the Treaty of Prague, signed on 23 August of that year, he granted Austria the most tolerant terms of peace in order to maintain good relations with Austria.

After the end of the Austro-Prussian War, the only obstacle to German reunification was France, which controlled the southern German states behind the scenes.

France was still behind the scenes controlling the states of South Germany, hindering German unity. Therefore, Bismarck created a dispute over the succession to the Spanish throne and forced the French Emperor Napoleon III to declare war on Prussia, while Prussia used this to unite the German nation and launch an attack on France, and Napoleon III surrendered. The Prussian army then marched to Paris to assist the newly formed defense government in Paris in eliminating the Paris Commune, and obtained a large amount of reparations.

Finally, King Wilhelm I of Prussia ascended the throne in the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, France, proclaimed the German Empire, and received war reparations of 5 billion francs from Alsace and Lorraine from France.

Although Germany was reunified, Bismarck still had to face many domestic and foreign problems, so he adopted both internal and external attitudes. In the German Empire, he continued to maintain a high-pressure and domineering style, suppressing Catholic and leftist laborers; Abroad, he avoided setting up foreign enemies and called himself an "honest broker" to mediate the disputes of European powers, showing a posture and style that was completely opposite to that of the "iron-blooded prime ministers" of the past.

In terms of domestic issues, the "cultural struggle" between 1871 and 1877 began with an attack on the Holy See and ended with a compromise between the two sides. In 1878, he began to "encircle and suppress the left" and enacted the "Anti-Socialist Extraordinary Law" to suppress the Social Democratic Party. At the same time, however, he enacted a number of measures to protect workers, many of which were superficial, but nevertheless made Germany the first country in the world to have labour legislation.

In terms of foreign issues, since the reunification of Germany, Bismarck did not want any more foreign wars, so that Germany could recuperate and cultivate its national strength.

On 9 March 1888, at the age of 91, Wilhelm I died and was succeeded by his son Frederick Wilhelm, known as Frederick III, who died of illness shortly after 99 days on his throne. As a result, his son Wilhelm II succeeded to the throne at the age of 29. The young and vigorous young emperor was unwilling to be subject to Bismarck, and disagreed with him on many issues. Bismarck, who had reached the age of 73 and had been in power for 26 years, understood the truth of the bird hiding the bow and the rabbit and the dead dog, and was disheartened to submit his resignation to Wilhelm II and officially leave the wilderness.

Later, he lived in the Friedrichslu estate near Hamburg, where he wrote his memoir "Reflections and Memories", in which he exaggerated historical events too dramatically and was criticized for always portraying himself very well.

On July 30, 1898, Bismarck, the world-famous iron-blooded prime minister, died quietly at the age of 83.

Soon after Bismarck's death, Bismarck's political enemies quickly purged him of his influence in politics, and the reforms came to an end, and Germany moved towards the militarism that Bismarck had worked so hard to control and prevent, culminating in the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

After the First World War, the defeated Germany always wanted to get rid of the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles, and began to conduct theoretical studies on the construction of 35,000-ton battleships, and conducted feasibility studies on their armament, armor and speed.

After Nazi Germany announced the tearing up of the Treaty of Versailles, the Anglo-German Naval Agreement was signed with Great Britain in 1935. The German Navy began preparations for the construction of Bismarck-class battleships. Britain had asked Germany to limit the displacement of the ship to 35,000 tons, but Germany flatly refused on the grounds that it was not a signatory to the Washington Naval Treaty.

Back in the 1930s, the commander of the German Navy, Erich Raeder, decided that a 35,000-ton warship would not meet Germany's needs, so he began secretly studying the construction of larger battleships.

When the construction of a new generation of French Dunkirk-class battleships began, Germany decided to build super battleships with a displacement of more than 40,000 tons, codenamed "G" in order to compete with the French Navy.

The battleship G was keeled at the Blom Wirth shipyard in Hamburg on July 1, 1936, and was subsequently named "Bismarck" after Bismarck, the "iron-blooded prime minister". It was launched on 14 February 1939 and commissioned on 24 August 1940 under the command of Captain Ernst Lindemann.

After the Bismarck broke through into the vast waters of the Atlantic, German tankers were responsible for refueling and stayed in the Atlantic, attacking the British convoy, but it was never discovered and intercepted by British and American aircraft, submarines and warships until it was hit and sunk in 1941.

The battleship Bismarck was one of the most important ships in the main surface operations of the Nazi German Navy in World War II, and was the first ship of the Bismarck-class battleships, the largest battleship in tonnage at that time, and the strongest battleship built by Germany in World War II.

There are many such commemorations in Germany.

Therefore, Pingo thinks that when traveling in Germany, Bismarck is a big man who cannot but be said.

Ping Hanhan also thought so.

In the middle of the night, Pingguo asked Pingwei how he felt?

It was unanimously recognized.

The green smoke is ethereal, and the affection is lingering.

So, at least take a visit to the Friedrichslu estate near Hamburg, Germany, right? But Ping Hanhan said that there is no time to arrange, and everything needs to be booked.

"Next time, when I come back to Europe, I will try to take you to visit Bismarck on a road trip!"

What else does Pinggo say? There are so many places and so many characters that Pingguo is eager to visit or appreciate.

It's not so easy to be a strong-willed man.

However, Pingguo felt that there were two Pingwei and Pingfu beside him, both of whom were iron-blooded people, both of whom were iron-blooded people who were unswervingly committed to their ideal careers.