Bismarck Stein

Otto Eduard Leopold von was a Prussian statesman who unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept the world at peace after 1871. As Minister President of Prussia from 1862 to 1890, he oversaw the unification of Germany. In 1867 he became Chancellor of the North German Confederation. Bismarck designed the German Empire in 1871, becoming its first Chancellor and dominating its affairs until he was removed by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1890. His diplomacy of Realpolitik and powerful rule gained him the nickname the "Iron Chancellor". As Henry Kissinger has noted, "The man of 'blood and iron' wrote prose of extraordinary directness and lucidity, comparable in distinctiveness to Churchill's use of the English language.”