Bismarck used Realpolitik to achieve Prussian dominance in Germany, as he manipulated political issues such as the Schleswig-Holstein Question and the Hohenzollern candidature to antagonize other countries, possibly with the intention of war.

In 1871 – 1878 Bismarck launched the " Kulturkampf " in Prussia to reduce the power of the Catholic Church in public affairs, and keep the Poles under control.

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.

Johanna was a shy, retiring and deeply religious woman — although famed for her sharp tongue in later life — and in his public life Bismarck was sometimes accompanied by his sister Malwine (" Malle ") von Arnim.

Bismarck then issued an edict restricting the freedom of the press ; this policy even gained the public opposition of the Crown Prince, Friedrich Wilhelm ( the future Emperor Friedrich III ).

The Kulturkampf and its effects also stirred up public opinion against the party that supported it, and Bismarck used this opportunity to distance himself from the National Liberals.

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.

Releasing the Ems Telegram to the public, Bismarck made it sound as if the king had treated the French envoy in a demeaning fashion.

The rejection by the Conservatives intensified, accompanied with constant public attacks by retired Bismarck.

Nevertheless, the draft penal law submitted by Bismarck in 1870 to the North German Confederation retained the relevant Prussian penal provisions, justifying this out of concern for " public opinion ":

Bismarck Municipal Airport is a public airport located three miles ( 5 km ) southeast of the central business district of Bismarck, a city in Burleigh County, North Dakota, United States.

Like many others, Bismarck noticed that the nature of the relationship between Wilhelm II and Eulenburg could " not be confided to paper ," but he, as those many others, felt that even these activities in the private sphere were not to be exposed to the public.

The film was made before 1975, when the British code breaking at Bletchley Park was made public, so it did not reveal that Shepard's hunches about the movements of Bismarck were based on solid intelligence.

KBME in Bismarck was established in 1979, bringing public television to the western portion of the state for the first time ( though KFME had been picked up on cable in Bismarck earlier in the decade ).

Robert Viktor von Puttkamer ( 5 May 182815 March 1900 ) was a Prussian statesman most prominent in his roles as Prussian minister of public education and worship in 1879 and then interior minister in 1881, under Otto von Bismarck.

In 1879 Puttkamer was appointed Prussian minister of education and public worship, the chosen instrument of the Clerical Conservative policy initiated by Bismarck when the Socialist peril made it expedient to conciliate the Catholic Centre.

Bismarck Tower The Killesbergpark ( Höhenpark Killesberg ) is an urban public park of half a square kilometre ( 123 acres ) in Stuttgart, Germany.

In January 1919 the Daily Express was echoing public opinion when, paraphrasing Bismarck, it exclaimed, " the frozen plains of Eastern Europe are not worth the bones of a single grenadier ".

Bismarck was able to keep the public indignation covered, accompagnied by his famous Blood and Iron speech in the Prussian Abgeordnetenhaus.

Prussia's prime minister Bismarck suggested shelling Paris to ensure the city's quick surrender and render all French efforts to free the city pointless, but the German high command, headed by the king of Prussia, turned down the proposal on the insistence of General Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal, who was directing the siege, on the grounds that a bombardment would affect civilians, violate the rules of engagement, and turn the opinion of third parties against the Germans, without speeding up the final victory.

It was to ask Bismarck officially to communicate a resolution in which a foreign parliament expressed an opinion in German affairs exactly opposed to that which the emperor at his advice had always followed.

Conservative thought developed alongside nationalism in Germany, culminating in Germany's victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War, the creation of the unified German Empire in 1871, and the simultaneous rise of Otto von Bismarck on the European political stage.

The combination of Bismarck, Defense Minister Albrecht von Roon, and Field Marshal Helmut von Moltke set the stage for victories over Denmark, Austria, and France, and led to the unification of Germany.

Bismarck tried to foster alliances in Europe, on one hand to contain France, and on the other hand to consolidate Germany's influence in Europe.

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

Following the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War ( 1870 – 1871 ), German Cancellor Otto von Bismarck proposed harsh terms for peace — including the German occupation of the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine.

As Minister President of Prussia 1862 – 90, Bismarck provoked wars that made Prussia dominant over Austria and France, and lined up the smaller German states behind Prussia.

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.

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 ).

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.

In reality Bismarck was sidelined from events in Germany, watching impotently as France drove Austria out of Lombardy during the Italian War of 1859.

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.

The King and his generals wanted to push on, conquer Bohemia and march to Vienna, but Bismarck, worried that Prussian military luck might change or that France might intervene on Austria's side, enlisted the help of the Crown Prince ( who had opposed the war but had commanded one of the Prussian armies at Königgrätz ) to change his father's mind after stormy meetings.

Bismarck, at the same time, did not avoid war with France.

In order to achieve this Bismarck kept Napoleon III involved in various intrigues whereby France might gain territory from Luxembourg or Belgium – France never achieved any such gain, but was made to look greedy and untrustworthy.

To provoke France into declaring war with Prussia, Bismarck published the Ems Dispatch, a carefully edited version of a conversation between King Wilhelm and the French ambassador to Prussia, Count Benedetti.

Bismarck opposed the annexation because he did not wish to make a permanent enemy of France.

Bismarck therefore engaged in a policy of diplomatically isolating France while maintaining cordial relations with other nations in Europe.

Also in 1872, a protracted quarrel began to fester between Bismarck and Count Harry von Arnim, a career diplomat and the imperial ambassador to France.

The ambassador disagreed unsuccessfully with Bismarck over policy vis-à-vis France.

As a penalty for this indiscretion, Bismarck intended to remove Arnim from Paris and reassign him as ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at İstanbul, which Arnim saw as a demotion given the relative importance of France to Germany as opposed to the Ottoman Empire.

* June 13 – The wreck of the German battleship Bismarck, which was sunk in 1941, is located west of Brest, France.

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.