Otto von Bismarck

奥托·爱德华·利奥波德·冯·俾斯麦（德语：Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck，1815年4月1日－1898年7月30日），俾斯麦-申豪森公爵（Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen；1865年），俾斯麦亲王（Fürst von Bismarck；1871年），劳恩堡公爵（Herzog zu Lauenburg；1890年）^{[注 1]}。出生于德意志邦联申豪森，逝世于奥米勒弗里德里希斯鲁。于1867年至1871年出任北德意志邦联宰相。1871年德意志帝国成立时成为德意志帝国宰相，直至1890年辞职告终。

作为一名政治人物，他首先为普鲁士地区以容克阶级为主的保守派利益发声，并成为他们的代表，借此拓展自己的名声。随后在保守时代中成为一名外交官。1862年普鲁士宪政危机期间，他被普鲁士国王威廉一世任命为首相。在与自由派的斗争中，俾斯麦无视议会的存在，在1864年到1866年间连续对丹麦、奥地利开战，让普鲁士为主的小德意志变成德国问题的解答。借由1870年到1871年的普法战争，他促使了德意志帝国成立。

作为宰相，俾斯麦为新生的德意志帝国制定了许多新颖的政策，尤其是其“铁血政策”，更因此被史学家和人们称作“铁血宰相”（德语：Eiserner Kanzler；“铁”指武器，“血”指军人的鲜血，可指战争）。于1862年至1890年（于1873年短暂中断）担任普鲁士首相，为德意志帝国贡献良多。对外他致力于欧洲的权力平衡。

俾斯麦在1861年掌权后，其国内政策可以粗分为两个部分，一是与温和派自由主义者结盟，并推行许多政治改革，包括引入民事婚姻等，以此与天主教会相对抗。1870年开始，俾斯麦开始与自由主义者划清界线，转向实施保护政策和经济干预政策，并建立社会保险系统。在1880年代时，更推动社会党人法压制社会主义者。俾斯麦与1888年登基的威廉二世，一直有着诸多不合，使得俾斯麦在1890年被后者解职下台。

卸下宰相职务的俾斯麦，在政治上仍占有一席之地，并常常批评其后继者的政策。此外，他为自己撰写了名为《回忆与思考》的自传，里面描述了他记忆中，自己为德国还有德国人民的诸多贡献，以及自己会不断地为德国和德国人民做出贡献。

一直到20世纪中叶，史学家对俾斯麦的评价一直都是相当正面，或多或少体现了其理想化民族主义者的特质。第二次世界大战后，对俾斯麦的批评开始出现，认为德国民主发展的失败，以及德意志帝国不正确的国家结构，俾斯麦都脱离不了关系。近几年对俾斯麦的评论，逐渐跳脱这种两极化的对比，开始平等的探讨于其政策的成就和缺点，并将之与当代的政治结构和进程相对比。

由于其对德国统一的贡献，加上卓越及伟大成就，俾斯麦最后获昇任为德意志帝国陆军上将。在2005年德国电视二台票选最伟大的德国人活动中，他排名第九，次于第八伟大的印刷术发明者约翰内斯·古腾堡。
 
 

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg (born von Bismarck-Schönhausen; German: Otto Eduard Leopold Fürst von Bismarck, Herzog zu Lauenburg; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), known as Otto von Bismarck (German: [ˈɔto fɔn ˈbɪsmaʁk] (listen)), was a conservative German statesman who masterminded the unification of Germany in 1871 and served as its first chancellor until 1890, in which capacity he dominated European affairs for two decades. He had previously been Minister President of Prussia (1862–1890) and Chancellor of the North German Confederation (1867–1871). He provoked three short, decisive wars against Denmark, Austria, and France. Following the victory against Austria, he abolished the supranational German Confederation and instead formed the North German Confederation as the first German national state, aligning the smaller North German states behind Prussia. Receiving the support of the independent South German states in the Confederation's defeat of France, he formed the German Empire (which excluded Austria) and united Germany.

With Prussian dominance accomplished by 1871, Bismarck skillfully used balance of power diplomacy to maintain Germany's position in a peaceful Europe. To historian Eric Hobsbawm, Bismarck "remained undisputed world champion at the game of multilateral diplomatic chess for almost twenty years after 1871, [and] devoted himself exclusively, and successfully, to maintaining peace between the powers". However, his annexation of Alsace-Lorraine (Elsaß-Lothringen) gave new fuel to French nationalism and Germanophobia. This helped set the stage for the First World War. Bismarck's diplomacy of Realpolitik and powerful rule at home gained him the nickname the "Iron Chancellor". German unification and its rapid economic growth was the foundation to his foreign policy. He disliked colonialism but reluctantly built an overseas empire when it was demanded by both elite and mass opinion. Juggling a very complex interlocking series of conferences, negotiations and alliances, he used his diplomatic skills to maintain Germany's position.

A master of complex politics at home, Bismarck created the first welfare state in the modern world, with the goal of gaining working class support that might otherwise go to his Socialist enemies. In the 1870s, he allied himself with the low-tariff, anti-Catholic Liberals and fought the Catholic Church in what was called the Kulturkampf ("culture struggle"). He lost that battle as the Catholics responded by forming the powerful German Centre Party and using universal male suffrage to gain a bloc of seats. Bismarck then reversed himself, ended the Kulturkampf, broke with the Liberals, imposed protective tariffs, and formed a political alliance with the Centre Party to fight the Socialists. A devout Lutheran, he was loyal to his king, Wilhelm I, who argued with Bismarck but in the end supported him against the advice of his wife and his heir. While Germany's parliament was elected by universal male suffrage, it did not have much control of government policy. Bismarck distrusted democracy and ruled through a strong, well-trained bureaucracy with power in the hands of a traditional Junker elite that consisted of the landed nobility in eastern Prussia. He largely controlled domestic and foreign affairs, until he was removed by the young new headstrong Kaiser Wilhelm II. He retired to write his memoirs.

A Junker himself, Bismarck was strong-willed, outspoken and overbearing, but he could also be polite, charming and witty. Occasionally he displayed a violent temper, and he kept his power by melodramatically threatening resignation time and again, which cowed Wilhelm I. He possessed not only a long-term national and international vision but also the short-term ability to juggle complex developments. Bismarck became a hero to German nationalists; they built many monuments honoring the founder of the new Reich. Many historians praise him as a visionary who was instrumental in uniting Germany and, once that had been accomplished, kept the peace in Europe through adroit diplomacy.