They treat me like a fox, a cunning fellow (Schlaukopf) of the first rank. But the truth is that with a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and when I have to do with a pirate, I try to be a pirate and a half.
Otto von Bismarck
If the Germans had continued to follow the wise policies of Bismarck they might well be now the strongest country in the World. Few statesmen are also brilliant intellectually, and graced with a mordant wit, but Bismarck was that odd combination. He knew when to advance and when to retreat, as he did in his Kulturkampf against the Church. Through it all he achieved his goal of a unified Germany under Prussian rule, the strongest power on the Continent. His diplomacy was aimed at maintaining peace in Europe, after the formation of the Second Reich as a result of Prussian victory in the Franco-Prussian War, to allow Germany time to become dominant economically. It is a shame that he did not dedicate his retirement years to updating Machiavelli’s The Prince. Politics and stupidity do not have to go together, although they usually do.
Jena came twenty years after the death of Frederick the Great; the crash will come twenty years after my departure if things go on like this.
