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Otto Von Bismarck

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John O’Malley
Visionary Leaders Project Guided Questions
1) Who is your guided leader? (Give some background: When born/died, basic life overview, personality). -My guided leader is Otto Von Bismarck (1815-1898). Otto Von Bismarck was conservative Prussian statesman, and was later the Prime Minister of Prussia, appointed by King Wilhelm I. He dominated German and European affairs from the 1860s until 1890. Early on in his political career, promised to promulgate a constitution, agreed that Prussia and other German states should merge into a single nation-state in 1848. In 1849, he opposed the unification of Germany, arguing that Prussia would lose its independence in the process. He grew up representing the land-owning nobility. His mother also had close connections to the Prussian court. He opposed his mother’s beliefs and ambitions.
2) Where/when is your leader from? What major historical events connect with his/her life? (Think in terms of national, international, and global context). -Bismarck was born in Saxony, Germany in 1815). He spent his childhood and college years studying in Germany as well. The Crimean War of the mid-1850s shocked Bismarck. The Eastern Crisis of the 1870s, put fear in Bismarck and pushed him to signing the Dual-Alliance with Austria-Hungary in 1879. He launched his political career during the revolutions of 1848.
3) In concrete terms, what was your leader’s “vision”? (Political goals, life mission, etc.) How does that vision connect to nationalism? -Otto Von Bismarck’s “vision” was to preserve German hegemony in a Europe and to secure Prussia's position in Germany and Europe. As for dealing with the bankruptcy crisis, his stance was to refuse to compromise with the legislature and collect the taxes anyway. His visions connected to nationalism because he wanted to join together with Germany and Europe. He also claimed that the

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