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Blood and Iron Blood and Iron; nothing can
encapsulate Otto von Bismarck's policies nor his
huge character and will as well as these two simple words. Though many are
familiar with Bismarck's Iron and Blood speech, not many people understand
its significance. In order to understand what Bismarck's address before the Landtag was about and what it meant to accomplish, it is
necessary to understand the history of the German Confederation beforehand. In 1848 each German state sent
liberal representatives to an assembly whose goals were nothing less than to
unify Germany under a liberal constitutional monarchy.1 The
assembly came to be known as the Frankfurt Parliament. Unfortunately, though
the Parliament wanted to see Germany unite, the assembly was fraught with
both internal and external problems. Moderate liberals wanted a
constitutional monarchy while radicals wanted a republic. Though these as
well as other internal issues were eventually resolved, the parliament could
not escape the simple fact that it owned no lands and had no army.2
When offered the crown of what the parliament hoped would be a united Germany
Frederick William of Prussia replied: "What, you bring an imperial crown?
You are beggars! You have no money, no land, no law, no power, no people, no soldiers! You are bankrupt speculators in cast-off
popular sovereignty!"3 Though many Germans wanted their
separate states united into one nation, the Frankfurt Parliament was a
miserable failure. It simply did not have the support from already organized
governments it needed to succeed. Hope for unification was not dead, however.
Each state had benefited from an agreement that allowed interstate commerce
without the detriment of tariffs. This agreement called the Zollverein was
hugely successful and very popular. Many wanted a united government in order
to gain more advantages and have a better bargaining position with other
nations. Unfortunately liberal elections and meetings were not going to
accomplish this goal, especially after counter-revolutions began around 1849. By 1862 King William I wished to
expand the Prussian military for a variety of reasons, not the least of which
was that a powerful military would increase Prussia's bargaining power with
other states and nations. The military funding bill, however, reached an
impasse in the lower house of the Landtag where it
was defeated. King William I dismissed the parliament and held new elections.
Much to his dismay, an equally liberal parliament was voted in.4
They promptly defeated the bill again. Clearly a constitutional crisis was at
hand in Prussia. The situation was bad enough that King William I threatened
to abdicate in favor of his more liberal son. The army was his personal
responsibility and he would not compromise on the issue. Desperately searching for a
solution, King William appointed Otto von Bismarck Prime Minister in 1862
with the hope that he would be able to end the crisis. Bismarck was able to
play on the liberal's wishes for a united Germany by saying that it could
only occur through a powerful military. Bismarck used the failed Frankfurt
Parliament as an example of how talking failed to produce a united Germany.
Though Bismarck favored a united Germany his primary goal in life was to
remain loyal and serve his king to the best of his ability. He disliked
liberals and any form of government other than a monarchy. Despite his
personal beliefs he was shrewd enough to play to the liberal parliament's
nationalism because it would suit his purposes of passing the military
funding bill.5 Though Bismarck eventually overrode the popularly
elected Landtag in order to end the stalemate, his
speech softened the blow by convincing people that military funding was in
their best interest. Germany could only be united with "Blood and
Iron," Bismarck argued. What he meant was unification could only occur
through pure military force. Bismarck's speech before the Landtag
should have served as a warning to all of Prussia's neighbors that Prussia
was laying the foundations of a foreign policy that included military action
whenever it was advantageous to do so. In examining the chancellor's
memoirs Bismarck reveals more fully the motives and reasoning behind his
Blood and Iron speech in support of a strong Prussian military. He firmly
believed that Prussian, being the most powerful military state, bore the
responsibility of looking over the rest of the confederation. Bismarck argued
that if Prussian were to continue in this capacity it would need additional
funding for the military stating, "Prussia- such was the point of my
speech- as a glance at the map will show, could no longer wear unaided on its
long narrow figure the panoply which Germany required for its security; that
must be equally distributed over all German peoples."6
Bismarck is both making a case for the increased funding of the military as
well as the unification of Germany. Though many may not have though of Germany as being in a vulnerable position in
its non-unified state, Bismarck certainly thought it was. The chance to
finally unite the German Confederation into one nation, even if by military
force, was just too good a chance to pass up. Funding for the military was
eventually approved and the chancellor took full advantage of it. In 1864
Bismarck orchestrated an incident involving Prussian and Austrian troops so
he could seize Schleswig-Holstein. In 1866 he entered an all
out war with Austria and quickly defeated them. Finally in 1870
Bismarck orchestrated an incident Between Prussia and France by editing a
telegram. The French were outrages as were the Prussians. The hot headedness
of the French prevailed and they declared war on Prussia. Bismarck with his
newly funded and completely modern military was ready for the fight. The
attack against France was so swift that the French army was not even able to
mobilize quickly enough to wage an effective war. Prussia crushed France by
1871 after her one sided victories at Metz and Sedan. Bismarck added Alsace
and Lorraine to Germany completing the unification of the German Empire. Though many may not have seen
Bismarck entering into three separate conflicts with Prussia's neighbors,
further insight into Bismarck's motivations behind the Iron and Blood speech
were revealed in an 1888 speech before the Reichstag. Bismarck would go on to
say in this address that unlike Russian and France, Germany was surrounded by
potential enemies on both her east, west, and southern boarders. By this time
Bismarck had toned down his aggressiveness as compared to his earlier speech
to the Landtag. Ironically Bismarck told all
assembled at the Reichstag that he was never in favor of an offensive war,
even though his Iron and Blood speech insinuated quite to the contrary!7
Bismarck's Iron and Blood speech set the tone for German militarism and
Realpolitik for a long time to come. Bismarck was a master of political
games and his speech of 1861 proves he knew what to say in order to deal with
almost any situation. With the advantage of hindsight one is able to see
plans laid out in Bismarck's speeches, especially his Blood and Iron speech.
He could not have made it any clearer and woe to any nation that would stand
in his way. Three separate nations did not pay close enough attention to
Bismarck's actions. The attacks on Austria and Denmark should have been a
large clue to Napoleon III as well as his speech itself that Bismarck would
probably be up to something and well prepared for it. Bismarck lived up to
his statement that the great questions of the day would not be settled
through talking, but with blood and iron. 1 Eleanor L. Turk The History
of Germany (London: Greenwood Press, 1999 ), 71. 2 Mary Fulbrook
A Concise History of Germany (New York: Cambridge University Press,
1990, ), 122. 3 John Merriman A History of
Modern Europe Volume I (London: W. W. Norton and Company, 1993, ), 736. 4 Ibid.,
768. 5 Edward Crankshaw
Bismarck (New York: Penguin Books, 1983,), 133. 6 Otto Bismarck The Man and the
Statesman (London: Harper and Brothers Publishing, 1898,
), 314. Biblography Eleanor L. Turk The History of
Germany (London: Greenwood Press, 1999 ), 71. Mary Fulbrook
A Concise History of Germany (New York: Cambridge University Press,
1990, ), John Merriman A History of
Modern Europe Volume I (London: W. W. Norton and Company, 1993, ) Edward Crankshaw
Bismarck (New York: Penguin Books, 1983,) Otto Bismarck The Man and the
Statesman (London: Harper and Brothers Publishing, 1898, ) Speech by Bismarck before
Reichstag 1888 The German Reich, University of Hong Kong, available
from http://hkuhist2.hku.hk/firstyear/Share/shareE14.html;
Internet; accessed November 16, 2001. |