Otto von Bismarck was appointed as the first Chancellor of the German Empire on this day in 1871.
Bismarck masterminded the unification of Germany in 1871 and served as its first chancellor until 1890, in which capacity he dominated European affairs for two decades.
The "Iron Chancellor", as he came to be known, was instrumental in uniting Germany. He was a Conservative who hated Socialists, but in order to sway people away from the Socialism, he ended up adopting socialism and thereby creating the world first Welfare State in the modern world. Bismarck's social programs also helped to expand his power. His rule came to be known as the Second Reich.
"In the democratic countries, milder forms of statism were the rule. Most insidious of all was the form that had been invented in the 1880s, in Germany. There Otto von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor, devised a series of old-age, disability, accident, and sickness insurance schemes, run by the state. The German liberals of the time argued that such plans were simply a reversion to the paternalism of the absolutist monarchies. Bismarck won out, and his invention — the welfare state — was eventually copied everywhere in Europe, including the totalitarian countries." Source2
"Bismarck explained to an American sympathizer the strategy behind these laws that guaranteed every German national health insurance, a pension, a minimum wage and workplace regulation, vacation, and unemployment insurance. 'My idea was to bribe the working classes, or shall I say, to win them over, to regard the state as a social institution existing for their sake and interested in their welfare,' he said." Source
Bismarck was also very quotable:
"Americans are the luckiest people on earth. They are surrounded by weak neighbors and fish."
"People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election."
"Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied."
"A journalist is a person who has mistaken their calling."
"Politics ruins character."
"Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others."
"When you want to fool the world, tell the truth."
"One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans (1888)."
"Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made."
"Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war."
No comments:
Post a Comment