In the eighteenth century, the Industrial Revolution began in England and France. In the first half of the nineteenth century, these countries completed industrialization and accelerated their expansion.
During this period, 75% of the population of the neighboring German Confederation lived in the countryside and engaged in primitive production; at the same time, the country was fragmented, many people did not know that they were Germans, a castle or even a village dared to call itself a state, and a Frenchman could even become a German emperor.
It is a miracle that Germany can exist
In his later years, Goethe, faced with the state of the German states, once said bitterly:
"We don't have a city, not even a place where we can firmly point out: this is Germany! If we ask this question in Vienna, the answer is: this is Austria! If we ask this in Berlin, the answer is: this is Prussia! ”
After the decline of the Holy Roman Empire in Germany in the Middle Ages, Germany was already extinct in name only. Austrian Prime Minister Metternich, one of the German states at the time, was blunt:
The German nation is a mythical story that is essentially nothing more than a geographical concept.
By the same time, the industrialization of the Empire had expanded by 34 million square kilometers, while France, which bordered Germany, had expanded to 12.898 million square kilometers, and Russia in the east had exceeded 20 million square kilometers. Supposedly, the disappearance of three expansionist powers, one fragmented agrarian state, is almost doomed.
Beginning in 1862, however, Germany's fortunes changed rapidly. After Bismarck became Chancellor of Germany, he defeated Denmark, Austria and France in three dynastic wars to achieve German unification. After reunification, Germany was not only militarily powerful, but also developed rapidly in the fields of science and technology and economy, and it took only a few decades to approach the British Empire, which had accumulated for hundreds of years.
The country then began its legendary journey, as a defeated country in two world wars, after the war, it lost a large amount of territory and suffered massive destruction of the country. But not only was Germany able to rise from the ashes on every occasion, but each time it was once again a first-class European power in a short time. It has to be said that Bismarck became the German prime minister in 1862, which was a turning point.
"Those who do not seek the overall situation, not enough to seek a domain; those who do not seek the world, not enough to seek a moment", can be left and right in the intricate international environment, each breaking down; can become a leader under the historical conditions of the great changes of the times, Bismarck can be said to be thinking about the present and the part at the same time, for the overall situation and the future generations have also made a positive layout, so that an ancient agricultural empire that is about to disappear has changed from an ugly duckling to a fire phoenix.
Seek one domain, seek the overall situation
For Bismarck and his Germany, "seeking one domain" was the unification of Germany.
The Duchy of Prussia, the initiator of the War of Unification, had a natural advantage in this regard, and it itself evolved from the "Teutonic Knights" left over from the Crusades, with a very strong military tradition.
Thus, in 1862, when Bismarck gave a parliamentary speech, he said that "the great problems of our time cannot be solved by speeches and majority resolutions, but by iron and blood", which was greatly welcomed, and he was also called "Iron-Blooded Prime Minister" from then on, and Germany also embarked on the road of "Iron and Blood".
Bismarck united Germany through three dynastic wars: in the First Dynastic War, Prussia united with Austria to defeat Denmark and gain two states in Danish hands; in the Second Dynastic War, Prussia co-opted France and Russia and formed an offensive and defensive alliance with Italy, defeating the Austrian army and expelling Austria, the strongest country in the Holy Roman Empire, from the German Confederation.
The Third Dynastic War was the defeat of France by Prussia, the year in which the Second German Empire was officially born in 1871, marking the beginning of modern Germany's entry into the historical stage as a complete state. However, the crisis behind it is also approaching.
The uninterrupted war has plunged Germany into the hostility of neighboring countries, and at this time it is necessary to "seek the overall situation" to change international relations and survival situation.
Before the Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck had already realized that the hostility of his neighbors was difficult to dissipate, so he co-opted Britain and Russia, voluntarily recognized Britain's leadership in the world and Russia's influence in Europe, and even wanted to give up the two German-speaking areas controlled by France--- Alsace and Lorraine, but they were already involuntarily driven by the national sentiment at home.
However, he still actively promoted the easing of relations with France, and constantly warned the successor German Emperor Wilhelm II to improve relations with Russia. In 1888, at the age of 73, Bismarck told Wilhelm II and Austria not to provoke Russia:
The impregnable empire of ethnic Russians, strengthened by its harsh climate, vast wastelands, and modest needs, could become a natural enemy in need of revenge if defeated, just as it needed only a protective border to form an advantage, and if defeated, it could become a natural enemy of our vengeance, just like France today in the west.
This speech is obviously some reflection on past wars and a warning of Germany's future destiny.
For most of Germany's subsequent history, a considerable number of people adhered to Bismarck's ideas and sought to reach an understanding with the world powers: they even had honeymoons with Britain, the United States, or Soviet Russia (the Soviet Union) before the two world wars. Today, Germany is more at ease in Russian-European relations, and has almost completely digested Bismarck's understanding of "seeking the overall situation" in his later years. Today's Germany is a unique player in Europe, and it has continued to soar in the years of decline in Britain, France and Russia.
Seek a moment, plot a thousand worlds
Bismarck, who was "momentarily" and resolutely supported the German monarchy, which maintained the unity and stability of the newly unified country. Germany stifled all kinds of social trends, demanded allegiance to the Kaiser in propaganda, and vigorously promoted the supremacy of the army in the country. In 1867, at Bismarck's urging, Germany and Austria-Hungary rebuilt their parliaments and enacted new regulations to curb the development of new ideas and resist the influence of republican France and the Constitutional Monarchy of Britain.
Expediency was a last resort, and although it was backward, it also temporarily stabilized the new country. But Bismarck also knew deeply that a country could not be strong under the backward system of "expediency", and his "world-seeking" statecraft had a profound impact on Germany and the whole world.
During Bismarck's reign in Germany, the German parliament passed legislation to establish the world's earliest workers' pension, health insurance system and social insurance system, which solved the worries of workers and alleviated social contradictions with relatively gentle means. For Germany, the more positive significance was that the workers realized that they could benefit from the progress of the country, thus increasing the enthusiasm for production and enhancing the cohesion of the new state, providing the spiritual impetus for the rapid reconstruction of the country after a heavy blow.
The Soviet historian Yerusarimsky said he was "not only the gravedigger of the incomplete revolution of 1848, but also the executor of this revolution." "Bismarck pioneered a series of social welfare systems that gradually spread to the whole world in later generations.
Bismarck also had one of the most important initiatives for Germany's great cause: in 1873, he began to implement the "first educational program" throughout Germany, that is, to impose a systematic and national compulsory education nationwide, that is, to build secondary schools by the state, to promote students through examinations, and to provide education funds by the state.
As of 2017, a total of 104 Germans have won the Nobel Prize, ranking third in the world, and since the establishment of the Nobel Prize, people of German descent have won half of the Nobel Prizes, and the long-standing compulsory education is indispensable. With such scientific and technological strength and population quality support, it is not surprising that they can build a country on the ruins every time and quickly restore their status as a strong country. And the beginning of all this change came from the reform in 1873.
It is no wonder that Marshal Moltke of Prussia, who completed German reunification with Bismarck, once said that "germany's strength is built on the pulpit of the primary school."
In general, no one is a sage, and Bismarck, as a politician of the 19th century, had the limitations of his time in his freedom. However, when safeguarding the current interests of his country, he did not forget to carry out a more far-sighted layout, which is worthy of profound study by future generations.