Wilhelm threatened to abdicate ( though his son opposed his abdication ) and believed that Bismarck was the only politician capable of handling the crisis.

Bismarck believed that the Catholic Church held too much political power ; he was further concerned about the emergence of the Catholic Centre Party ( organised in 1870 ).

Perhaps on account of his prominent role in Wilhelm's upbringing, Bismarck believed that he could dominate the young Kaiser and showed little respect for his policies in the late 1880s.

Bismarck's biographer A. J. P. Taylor said: " It would be unfair to say that Bismarck took up social welfare solely to weaken the Social Democrats ; he had had it in mind for a long time, and believed in it deeply.

Lady Randolph is believed to have had numerous lovers during her marriage, including Karl Kinsky, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Herbert von Bismarck.

Prince of Wales had already correctly identified and targeted Bismarck, whereas Hood is believed to have continued to fire at Prinz Eugen for some time.

For a long time, Bismarck had refused to give in widespread public demands to give Germany " a place in the sun " through the acquisition of overseas colonies.

After Prussia unified the other states into the second German Empire, its long-time leader Otto von Bismarck ( 1862-90 ) had long opposed colonial acquisitions, arguing that the burden of obtaining, maintaining and defending such possessions would outweigh any potential benefit.

In 1888, after long bargaining, it was sold to the Bibliotheca Palatina of Heidelberg, following a public subscription headed by William I and Otto von Bismarck.

They also occupied deep and long underground tunnels ( the Bismarck, the Kronprinz and the Gallwitz tunnels ) that connected the German front lines to their rear underneath the " Mort-Homme " and " Cote 304 " hills.

Bismarck had fought and succeeded in leaving out Austria, Prussia's long standing competitor, and Prussia became the largest and by far most influential state in the new German Empire.

*“ Bismarck ’ s Failure: the Kulturkampf ” long description

The balance of power between the Great Powers became a major influence in European politics, prompting Otto von Bismarck to say " All politics reduces itself to this formula: try to be one of three, as long as the world is governed by the unstable equilibrium of five great powers.

This left just two new warships available to the Germans: the battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen ( while the Kriegsmarine had three serviceable light cruisers, none had the endurance necessary for a long Atlantic operation ), both initially stationed in the Baltic Sea.

Lütjens had requested that Raeder delay Rheinübung long enough either for Scharnhorst to complete repairs to her engines and be made combat worthy and to rendezvous at sea with Bismarck and Prinz Eugen or for Bismarcks sister-ship Tirpitz to accompany them.

Hood, with Ted Briggs aboard, encountered Bismarck and engaged her at long range.

Wilhelm II had long desired the appointment of " his own Bismarck "-a powerful chancellor who would enact the Kaiser's will-and Eulenburg was the first to suggest Bülow for this role.

Bismarck was also horrified by Prussia's isolation during the Crimean War of the mid-1850s ( in which Austria sided with Britain and France against Russia ; Prussia was almost not invited to the peace talks in Paris ).

Bismarck, Roon and Moltke took charge at a time when relations among the Great Powers — Great Britain, France, Austria and Russia — had been shattered by the Crimean War of 1854 – 55 and the Italian War of 1859.

Many films made in Britain drew on true stories, such as The Dam Busters ( 1954 ), Dunkirk ( 1958 ), Reach for the Sky ( 1956 ) telling the life of Douglas Bader and Sink the Bismarck!

As a result, the Treaty of Berlin ( 1878 ), under the supervision of Otto von Bismarck of the German empire and Benjamin Disraeli of Britain, revised the earlier treaty, and scaled back the proposed Bulgarian state.

Prince Otto von Bismarck also wanted a greater role in Africa for Germany, which he thought he could achieve in part by fostering competition between France and Britain.

Believing that Britain was soon about to declare the whole area a protectorate, Lüderitz advised the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck to claim it.

Discouraged at the destruction of his work building the Hamburg-America fleet, and perhaps fearing the loss of his ships, Ballin committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills two days before the armistice ended World War I. Ballin's fears were soon to be realized ; the company's flagships, the triumvirate SS Imperator, SS Vaterland and SS Bismarck were ceded as war prizes to Great Britain and the United States.

In Germany, Imperial Chancellor Otto von Bismarck revised his initial dislike of colonies ( which he had seen as burdensome and useless ), partly because he was under pressure for colonial expansion matching that of the other European states, but also under the mistaken notion that Germany's entry into the colonial scramble could press Britain into conceding to broader German strategic ambitions.

Due to alliances orchestrated by German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, France was initially isolated, but after Kaiser Wilhelm II took the throne in 1888 and gradually estranged Germany from Russia and Britain, the prospect of fighting a future war on two fronts simultaneously caused increasing unease among German leaders.

New Britain, or Niu Briten, is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago ( named after Otto von Bismarck ) of Papua New Guinea.

In November 1884, Germany proclaimed its protectorate over the New Britain Archipelago ; the German colonial administration gave New Britain and New Ireland the names of Neupommern ( or Neu-Pommern ; " New Pomerania ") and Neumecklenburg ( or Neu-Mecklenburg ; " New Mecklenburg ") respectively, and the whole island group was renamed the Bismarck Archipelago.

* Bismarck of Germany had vast new holdings in South-West Africa, and had no plans for the Congo, but was happy to see rivals Britain and France excluded from the colony.

The protests of Great Britain and Russia against the action of the German federal assembly, together with the proposal of Count Beust, on behalf of Saxony, that Bavaria should bring forward in that assembly a formal motion for the recognition of Duke Frederick's claims, helped Bismarck to persuade Austria that immediate action must be taken.

Sailing east, he traced the southeastern coasts of New Hanover, New Ireland and New Britain, charting the Dampier Strait between these islands ( now the Bismarck Archipelago ) and New Guinea.

The islands to the east of Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, on annexation, were renamed the Bismarck Archipelago ( formerly the New Britannia Archipelago ) and the two largest islands renamed Neu-Pommern ( or New Pomerania, today's New Britain ) and Neu-Mecklenburg ( New Ireland ).

For a number of years More remained a large star in Britain, enjoying noble success with Sink the Bismarck!

Bismarck explained that he considered relations with Russia much more important than Britain, and this was why he had posted Bülow there.

German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who led the Congress, undertook to stabilize the Balkans, recognize the reduced power of the Ottoman Empire, and balance the distinct interests of Britain, Russia and Austria-Hungary ; at the same time he tried to diminish Russian gains in the region and to prevent the rise of a big Bulgaria.

The congress was solicited by the rivals of the Russian Empire, particularly by Austria-Hungary and Britain, and hosted in 1878 by Otto von Bismarck.

* March 2 – 5 – In the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, U. S. Army Air Forces and Royal Australian Air Force aircraft attack a convoy of eight Japanese cargo ships escorted by eight destroyers carrying troops from Rabaul, New Britain, to Lae, New Guinea, as it transits an unnamed body of water soon to be named the Bismarck Sea.

They are found in St George's Channel between New Britain and New Ireland islands and form part of the Bismarck Archipelago.

Bismarck needed good relations with Russia in order to keep France isolated.

In 1879, Bismarck formed a Dual Alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary, with the aim of mutual military assistance in the case of an attack from Russia, which was not satisfied with the agreement reached at the Congress of Berlin.

Bismarck also worked to maintain the friendship of Russia and a working relationship with Napoleon III's France — the latter being anathema to his conservative friends the Gerlachs, but necessary both to threaten Austria and to prevent France allying herself to Russia.

However, in the 1850s Bismarck correctly foresaw that by failing to support Russia ( after Russian help in crushing the Hungarian Revolt in 1849, and at Olmütz in 1850, the Austrian leader Schwarzenberg had said that " Austria would astonish the world by the depth of her ingratitude ") Austria could no longer count on Russian support in Italy and Germany, and had thus exposed herself to attack by France and Prussia.

As a further snub, the Regent, who scorned Bismarck as a " Landwehrleutnant " ( reserve lieutenant ), had declined to promote him to the rank of major-general, normal for the ambassador to Saint Petersburg ( and important as Prussia and Russia were close military allies, whose heads of state often communicated through military contacts rather than diplomatic channels ).

In 1872, Bismarck offered friendship to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia, whose rulers joined Wilhelm I in the League of the Three Emperors, also known as the Dreikaiserbund.

Some in the German military clamored for a preemptive war with Russia, but Bismarck said that " Preemptive war is like committing suicide for fear of death.

Bismarck therefore negotiated the Reinsurance Treaty of 1887 with Russia, in order to prevent the Bismarckian Nightmare of a Franco-Russian Encirclement.

Bismarck had first made this famous comment to the Reichstag in December 1876, when the Balkan revolts against the Ottoman Empire threatened to extend to a war between Austria and Russia.

* Lord, Robert H. " Bismarck and Russia in 1863 ," American Historical Review, Vol.

Bismarck was able to ignore the French for most of the 1870s and early 1880s, but as he found problems with his three erstwhile allies ( Austria, Russia, and Italy ) he realized France might one day take advantage of this ( as it did with Russia in 1894 ).

In Germany, it was compared with Bismarck ’ s famous " Reinsurance Treaty " with Russia in 1887.

Under support from the British and the initiative of Portugal, Otto von Bismarck, German Chancellor, called on representatives of Austria – Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway ( union until 1905 ), the Ottoman Empire, and the United States to take part in the Berlin Conference to work out policy.

In an attempt to stop Russia from allying with France, Bismarck signed the secret Reinsurance Treaty with Russia in 1887, assuring both parties would remain neutral toward each other should war break out .‏

Due to the alliance between Russia and France, and Bismarck ′ s exclusion of Russia from the German financial market in 1887, the treaty was not renewed, ending the alliance between Germany and Russia.