Future Of Prussia example essay topic

Bismarck as a 'mad Junker' tried to unify Germany under Prussian domination excluding the Habsburgs through force. Bismarck played a key role in the development of Industrialization of Prussia. As the Prime Minister of Prussia, he was 'blood thirsty' man who had tried and even succeeded in unify Prussia and Germany through force. In a year alone he had fought 25 duels thus giving him the name 'The Iron Junker'.

While the Habsburg was weakened by the revolutions of 1848, Prussia took these years to develop into a great power. As he had planned the war ahead, he tried to develop Industrial infrastructure for the military of Prussia. Bismarck played a smart trick about making rail road links between the countries as well as borders. He ensured that all borders were connected with rail roads, as it would be of primary importance in future for a war. Militarily, Prussia was in a good health condition. The invention of a "field-gun with a cast-steel barrel" (page 250), made the Prussians like the 'big boys' in Europe.

By doing this he made Prussian position stronger than ever before. Bismarck had made his war with the Austrians a success by having the Russians, the big threat, stay out of the war. He had done this before the war with Austria because he wanted and knew that there would be a war coming ahead. In 1863 disturbances had upraised in Poland, Russia. The powers of Europe sympathized with the Russians, but Bismarck did the opposite. He helped Russians in crushing the revolution to make the czar of Russia towards his side in the process of unification.

He helped the czar not by only giving them money to crush the revolt, instead gave force to help the Russians crush the revolt. This showed he was 'blood thirsty'. He took this opportunity to make the Russians neutralized in the upcoming war with Austria, which he had planned and wanted. This showed his smartness in power politics.

In one of his letters to her sister, Bismarck wrote: "Strike the Poles so that they despair for their lives. I have every sympathy for their plight, but if we want to survive we cannot but exterminate them". (page 253). In his letter, he indicated all sympathies for the poles just not to make his image bad in front of his sister. He tried to show her as it was not he who wanted but they had, in fact the truth was the opposite as he wanted the Russians to come to his side. If the letter was not written to her sister instead to a political figure, the writing on it would be completely different. While doing this entire process, he had played smart politics in making his position secured.

Now Prussia was secured by all the treaties made by Bismarck. It was a time for him just to give it a kick. Luckily Bismarck got the ball to give it a punch, which was the conflict between the Duchies of Schlewig-Holstein. After the death of King of Denmark in 1863, the Prussian asked the Austrians to take over Schlewig-Holstein and declared a war on Denmark. As a result of pride and to get control over the trade in the Baltic Sea, the Austrians fell into the trap of Bismarck and fought the war. After winning the land, the 'Convention of Genetein' was proposed by the Austrians which divided Schlewig-Holstein into two halves.

This gave Bismarck the pretext for him to go in the war: "In later years he [Bismarck] claimed to have deliberately provoked Austria over the Schlewig-Holstein affair in order to draw her onto the battlefield". (page 254). Bismarck knew that the Habsburgs were injured internally by the revolutions of 1848, so he took this dispute to drag Austria on the field. When finally Austria was on the field he won, thus making the Austrians even weaker than before and making Prussia's position stronger. Later when the war broke out, declared by the Austrians, the main issue was for the future of the Duchies. When the Austrians asked for a Confederation to settle the matter about Schlewig-Holstein, Bismarck took this as an act against the convention and took over Holstein, thus making the Austrians angry. This made the Austrians and the German Confederation to mobilize their troops against the Prussians.

Bismarck reacted by sending troops to take the northern states and at last a victory at the end, showing that he was 'blood thirsty'. He had already made a blue print of his plan before and was following it as it was written. To play smart, Bismarck made an important decision about the future of Prussia. He ensured that after the war, Austria was not too weak, as it would make France, Russia and Great Britain would rise up against the Prussian empire: "We [Prussian] has to avoid wounding Austria too severely; we had to avoid leaving behind in her unnecessary bitterness of feeling or desire for revenge; we ought rather to reserve the possibility of becoming friends again with our adversary of the moment, and in any case to regard the Austrian state as a piece on the European chessboard and the renewal of friendly relations with her as a move open to us. If Austria were severely injured, she would become the ally of France and of every opponent of ours... ". (page 256). He played smart politics by thinking the future of Prussia instead of just expanding its power and leave it.

Even though Bismarck was 'blood thirsty', he was smart enough to think about serious consequences that might emerge when Austria weakened. If Prussia would have made the Habsburgs more feeble or even disappear, the countries around Prussia would consider Prussia as a threat to their nation. As a result, another war would have erupted.