1in the spring of 862, Bismarck returned to Berlin. Due to internal pressure, King Pu could not promote him as prime minister. As a result, Bismarck resigned and was re-appointed as the ambassador to France. In the same year, the Liberal Party won an absolute victory in the new round of elections in the Prussian parliament, and immediately rejected all the funds allocated by the Prussian government for military reform. The government and parliament are deadlocked. Under major contradictions, Bismarck became the only possible candidate for prime minister. 1862 On September 23rd, William I recalled Bismarck and appointed him as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

Prime minister's career

Bismarck, who became prime minister, firmly told the parliament in his first speech in the House of Commons on September 26, "The major issues of the contemporary era cannot be solved by speeches and most resolutions ... but by iron and blood!" Since then, Bismarck has been nicknamed "Prime Minister of Iron Blood". Then the king said to Bismarck, "I know the ending very well." They will cut off your head in front of my window in the Opera Square, and then cut off my head later. " Bismarck responded: "Since you will die sooner or later, why not die disgracefully?" ..... whether you die on the gallows or on the battlefield, there is no difference between the two ... You must fight to the end! "Since then, the king and his prime minister have formed a very special and strong relationship.

Iron means steel. Blood means bleeding. There is an implication of war here.

After Bismarck became prime minister, he failed to solve the conflict with parliament. Therefore, he wants to divert the attention of parliamentarians with the great cause of German reunification and win the support of the working class to counter the bourgeois liberals. Soon, he began to plan three unified wars.

Pudan war

As Germany's northern neighbor, Denmark often intervened in German affairs, so Bismarck was the first to solve Denmark. 186 1 year, the Danish king wanted to take over Schleswig and Holstein on the border of Puttan, and Bismarck immediately created a dispute. He first promised that if Puttan went to war, other powers would not interfere, and made an alliance with Austria to attack Denmark, and finally forced Denmark to give up these two countries.

1864, 10 10 The Vienna Treaty signed on October 30th stipulated that Denmark should give up these two places. 1August 8651August 4, the two countries reached a special covenant of Gastin, which placed Schleswig under Prussian rule and Holstein under Austrian rule.

But this is actually a deliberate conspiracy by Bismarck, because the Holstein obtained by Austria is not only small in area, but also surrounded by Prussia. In this way, Austria can easily conflict with Prussia, so this is a fuse to promote the war between Austria and Prussia.

Puao war

The Main Project of Bismarck Monument in Hamburg: The Puo-Austrian War

After the Prussian War, Bismarck decided to drive Austria out of the German Confederation in order to facilitate the reunification of Germany in the future. So he set out to isolate Austria. First, Bismarck promised to help Russia cancel the Black Sea neutrality clause. And met with the French emperor Charles Louis Napolé on Bonaparte, said Prussia is not opposed to the cession of Luxembourg and the Rhine to France, to ensure that France remained neutral in the Puo-Austrian War. At that time, Britain continued to implement the policy of glorious isolation, so it would remain neutral in the event of conflict between Puao and Austria. Finally,1on April 8, 866, he signed an alliance treaty with Italy, stipulating that if Prussia goes to war with Austria within three months, Italy must declare war on Austria at the same time, and only when Austria returns Venice to Italy can it make peace with Austria.

Finally, the Austrian emperor, dissatisfied with the terms of the Gastin Special Covenant, demanded that Silesia, Prussia's richest industrial zone, be exchanged for Holstein, so Bismarck used this as an excuse to accuse Austria of breach of contract. As a result, in May of 1866, William I ordered a national mobilization 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 Defending Alliance.

Soon, Prussia conquered the small pro-Austria country in North Germany, and fought with 238,000 Austrian troops in Sadova on July 3, 866, that is, the Battle of Sadova, and finally the Austrian army was defeated.

At this time, Bismarck decided to make peace with Austria instead of pursuing it, because he realized that destroying Austria was not his primary goal, and the most important thing was to unify Germany. Therefore, in the Prague Treaty signed on August 23 of that year, he gave Austria extremely tolerant peace conditions in order to maintain good relations with Austria.

After the Puo-Austrian War, the only obstacle to German reunification was France, which controlled the southern German states from behind.

Franco-Prussian War

William I became emperor in the mirror hall of Versailles Palace in France, and the man in white was Bismarck's main entry: Franco-Prussian War.

Because France is still behind the scenes, it hinders the reunification of Germany. Therefore, Bismarck created a dispute over the succession of the Spanish throne, forcing the French emperor Charles Louis Napolé on Bonaparte to declare war on Prussia, and Prussia used this to unite the German nation and attack France.

Prussia quickly repelled the invading French army and fought back against France. In the Battle of Alsace, Pu Jun defeated the French army and Charles Louis Napolé on Bonaparte surrendered. Then Pu Jun marched into Paris to help the newly established national defense government in Paris destroy the Paris Commune, in order to obtain a large amount of reparations.

Finally, King William I of Prussia ascended the throne in the mirror hall of the Palace of Versailles in France, announced the establishment of the German Empire, and received war reparations from Alsace and Lorraine and 5 billion francs from France.

Although Germany was unified, Bismarck, the bloody prime minister, still had to face many problems at home and abroad.

domestic issue

On domestic issues, first of all, in the "cultural struggle" from 187 1 to 1877, they attacked each other with the Holy See, and finally ended in mutual compromise. Then at 1878, he immediately began to "encircle the left" and promulgated extraordinary laws to suppress the Social Democratic Party. But at the same time, he also formulated many measures to protect workers, making Germany the first country in the world to have labor legislation, although many of them are superficial.

Foreign problems

On foreign issues, Bismarck did not want to have any foreign wars since the reunification of Germany, so that Germany could recuperate and cultivate its national strength. So unlike other European countries, he didn't plunder a lot of colonies. But he was worried about French retaliation, so he adopted an alliance policy and isolated France. First, 1873 concluded the "Three Emperors Alliance" with Austria-Hungary and Russia. 1877, when the Russian-Turkish war broke out, Russia defeated Turkey and signed the Treaty of San Stefano, but this harmed the interests of Britain and France and other powers, so the powers invited Bismarck, who did not participate, to mediate. Results 1878, Berlin Conference was held in Berlin. In the meeting, he sided with Austria, but remained neutral on the surface, which made Russia a big loser. As a result, German-Russian relations deteriorated and Russia withdrew from the san huang League. However, in 1879, Russia withdrew due to the conflict of interests with Austria-Hungary in the Balkans, and Bismarck immediately renewed the Covenant with Austria, which was called the "German-Austrian Alliance" in history. But Bismarck was worried that Russia would switch to France, so he signed a "reinsurance treaty" with Russia in 1887.

These problems have been puzzling Bismarck's later reign, and even made him feel restless.

1882 "triple alliance" was signed with Italy and Austria-Hungary.