Quote Suitable for Framing: Otto von Bismarck
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Epstein Island comes to mind
This was also quoted in Yes, Minister. I love the quote because it appeals to my inner cynic.
It is a catchy saying, noting the way that so many politicians consistently deny the truth.
But was Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor, and the leader of the Kulturkampf against Pius IX and the Catholic Church, really a model of an honest politician?
He was a successful politician and a far seeing one. He said that Kaiser Wilhelm would lead Germany to destruction and he made this prediction: “that one day the great European War would come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans.”
His Kulturkampf with Pio Nono was one of the few battles he lost. A pity that he and the Pope never met so far as I am aware. A conversation between two masters of biting wit would have been worth listening to.
While he was indeed a masterful politician he lacked the finesse and deftness to attain his greater objectives without resorting to armed conflict. The German adventures in colonialism also eventually came a cropper. All four of my grandparents, Catholic and Lutheran, left for America when they saw little in the future but an unhinged Kaiser and endless conflicts.
Bismarck had little interest in colonialism as he recognized that any territories the Germans would get would be hard to defend and not worth the effort. A unified Germany was not in the cards without conflict in my opinion. First Prussia and Austria fought to see which would be the de facto head of the unified German. Next, Bismarck used the war against France to create the Second Reich. It was masterful achievement. Bismarck hoped to avoid a great war in Europe through an alliance with Russia, a policy Kaiser Bill did not succeed in maintaining.
A forgotten man in this is Kaiser Frederich, only emperor for a month before succumbing to throat cancer. Unlike Kaiser Bill, he was a man of moderate temperament and a combat veteran. One may speculate how he would have listened to Bismarck and what difference it would have made.
(As an aside, i once had a student whose middle name was “Bismarck” because he was born in North Dakota. I used to josh with him that it was fortunate he wasn’t born in Montana. :))