Bismarck missed an opportunity

Submitted by myth (Germany), Jun 17, 2014 at 07:11

Ludvikus, you point to Bismarck as an example of wise diplomacy. I disagree. He represents the militarization of German foreign policy. In the 19th century Germany was overtaking the rest of Europe in terms of industry, science and overall economy. Bismarck's focus on military means and achievement ignored de-facto German hegemony on those three fields.

Starting a civil war in Germany 1866 in order to forge a Prussian dominated all-German state was politically retrograde even at the time.The newly Germany created indicated a unite-and-conquer policy rather than divide-and-conquer. The benign path West-Germany took in 1949 was equally open to Germany 1871 and it stood on solid economical feet - a missed opportunity.

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