Leadership

__ Leaders Involved in German Nationalism __
__Otto von Bismarck__
 * He was Born on April 1st, 1815 and died on July 30th, 1898.
 * He came from Prussia’s Junker class, made up of conservative landowning nobles.
 * Bismarck first served Prussia as a diplomat in Russia and France. However, in 1862 he was made Prime Minister by King William I.
 * Then, a decade later, he became chancellor (the highest official of a monarch).
 * He used his speech “Blood and Iron” to unite the German states under Prussian rule.
 * He was a Master of Realpolitik.
 * He was not really a German nationalist. His loyalty was to the Hohenzollerns (the ruling dynasty of Prussia).
 * He made the Prussia army much stronger, even though the liberal legislature refused to give him for funds for the military.
 * He led Prussia into three wars
 * In 1866, Bismarck planed to attack Austria, which was a victory for Prussia. Then Prussia took control of several other north German states
 * Bismarck set up a two-house legislature.
 * Later on Bismarck became the chancellor of the new German empire. He was also called the Iron Chancellor.
 * Otto von Bismarck planed to crush all opposition to the imperial state. He targeted two groups—the Catholic Church and the Socialists. In his view, both posed a threat to the new German state.

= __Kaiser William ll __ =
 * Born on 27 January 1859 and died 4 June 1941
 * He is also known as Wilhelm ll
 * He was born with a deformed arm
 * In 1888 he succeeded his grandfather as Kaiser
 * He took over Germany after Bismarck
 * William II seriously believed that his right to rule came from God.
 * William resisted efforts to introduce democratic reforms
 * His government provided programs for social welfare, programs to help certain groups of people, and provided services such as cheap transportation and electricity.
 * William II lavished funds on the German military machine, already the most powerful in Europe.
 * He also launched an ambitious campaign to expand the German Navy and win an overseas empire to rival those of Britain and France.
 * William’s nationalism and aggressive military stance helped increase tensions on the day of World War I.
 * In 1890, he shocked Europe by asking the Bismarck to resign. He said, “There is only one master in the Reich,” he said, “and that is I.”
 * William II seriously believed that his right to rule came from God.