BISMARCK, OTTO EDUARD LEOPOLD, von. – German statesman, known as the Iron Chancellor, b. at Schönhausen on 10 Apr. 1815, d. at Friedrichsruhe on 30 July 1898. He soon demonstrated special aptitude for political life; indeed, he entered the Diet convened by Frederick William IV at a very young age; he was later ambassador to Paris and to St. Petersburg. Appointed President of the Council in 1862, his policy was chiefly directed toward asserting Prussian hegemony over the smaller German states, in opposition to Austria, which, for its part, aiming to counter Prussia, had convened on 17 Aug. 1863 in Frankfurt a Diet of German princes to submit to a federal reform. But the abstention, at B.’s suggestion, of William I of Prussia, who had meanwhile succeeded his brother Frederick William IV, frustrated the designs of the Habsburgs.
This was B.’s first political success, since Austria’s position became increasingly precarious, finding itself isolated from England and France and with Russia opposed to II. New disagreements arose between Austria and Prussia following the successful conclusion of the war against Denmark, conducted jointly for the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg; these disagreements, moreover, B. increasingly strove to exacerbate in order to bring about a complete rupture. Indeed, having secured the neutrality of Italy and France and formed a formal alliance with Italy, a conflict ensued that ended with the victory of Sadowa (2 July 1866) in favor of Prussia, whereby Austria was excluded from any influence in the German states, while Prussia proceeded to annex Hanover and the duchies of Holstein and Schleswig; on the other hand, Italy obtained Venetia. These were the precursors of the German Empire, founded and held by Prussia, and soon completed with Prussia’s victory over France (1871) and the consequent creation of the German Empire.
B.’s aggressive policy and the establishment of the German Empire severely disrupted the policy of moderates, who in the years 1870–71 saw the collapse of the Europeanist-liberal dream, precisely because B.’s policy was the realization of pure spirit of conquest (cf. F. Chabod, *Il pensiero europeo della Destra di fronte alla guerra franco-prussiana*, in *La Comunità internazionale*, I [1946], pp. 221 ff.). Even at the height of his successes, B. was forced to overcome immense difficulties, especially in his attempt to subjugate the Church and German Catholics to his designs. It was precisely in this way that the struggle began, to which Virchow gave the tendentious name *Kulturkampf* (struggle for civilization), which B. waged under the pretext of defending the rights of the state and combating the political ultramontanism of the clergy, but which in fact aimed by every means to detach German Catholicism from Rome, to subject it to the government, to make it easy prey to Lutheran penetration, and to destroy, if possible, the flourishing social and party organizations of German Catholics. Commencing in 1871 with the government’s refusal to recognize the dogma of papal infallibility and in conjunction with other factors, this struggle lasted until 1887, reaching its peak with the so-called “May Laws” of 1873–74–75, which were decidedly oppressive, leading to the imprisonment of not a few bishops. But in the face of the resolute stance maintained by Catholics, led by Windthorst and other energetic leaders, the dispute gradually resolved itself into a clear Catholic victory, until reconciliation was achieved. The May Laws were reviewed, diplomatic relations with the Vatican were resumed, and B. himself, who had come to recognize the grave political error into which he had fallen, sought arbitration from Leo XIII in the question of the Caroline Islands (1887).
B.’s star then went into a fatal decline; indeed, the accession of William II to the throne marked the end of his prestige and of his despotic authority, so that on 18 Mar. 1890 he abandoned power and retired to Friedrichsruhe, where he died.