Origin of German Empire As Revealed by Character of Its Founder, Bismarck BY JOHN HUBERT GREUSEL THE SHAKESPEARE PRESS 114-116 E. 28th St. New York 1915 Copyright, 1915, John Hubert Greusel Dedicated to Stella My Wife...

Hark, Hark! The giant’s ponderous hammer rings on the anvil of destiny. Enter, thou massive figure, Bismarck, and in deadly earnest take thy place before Time’s forge. ¶ It is, it must be, a large story—big with destiny! The details often bore with their monotony; they do not at all times march on; they drag, but they do indeed never halt permanently; ahead always is the great German glory. ¶ Forward march, under Prince Bismarck. He is our grim blacksmith, looming through the encircling dark, ma

Battle-born, Bismarck’s genius springs from the very fire and sword of human nature—resembling definitely his iron-headed barbarian ancestry, whose freedom remained unconquered through the centuries. ¶ We cannot hope to trace Bismarck to any complete legal basis—any more than we can defend the complete legitimacy of France, Belgium, or the United States, countries avowedly harking back to revolutionary origin. Bismarck’s life, likewise, presents unquestioned elements of anarchistic root. Inherit

Idyl of the child Otto, in his huge Gothic cradle at Schoenhausen; wonders that gather ’round his destiny, a forecast and a reality. ¶ Otto Edward Leopold von Bismarck, the great central figure in our story, was the fourth of six children, three dying in infancy. He was born April 1, 1815, but a few months before the crowning defeat at Waterloo—that year big with the hammer-blows of Destiny! ¶ In lonesome Schoenhausen on the Elbe, the village lately devastated by Marshal Soult and his plundering

Wherein is shown the amazing power of hereditary traits; history repeats itself. ¶ It was from his mother that Prince Bismarck, the future ruler of Germany, received his endowment of dauntless audacity, his gift of trenchant argument, his bursts of ironical laughter, his power of instant decisions, his scolding, and his bitter wrath. All these qualities shone in the parliamentary fight before the Austrian war, when for three years he defied the country, and raised the Prussian war-funds by extor

The German crazy-quilt, of many hues and colors, and how this blanket was patched and mended through the years. ¶ From the 18th Century, and indeed before that time, to say nothing of years to come as late as 1871, there was in fact no Germany. The term was a mere geographical “designation.” We shall hear more of this, as Bismarck assumes the stupendous task of German unity, in a real sense of the word; but we will never understand what Bismarck and other statesmen who hoped for German unity had

Humiliations heaped upon her by France; the strange combination, the lash and the kiss! ¶ First, let us quote from Bismarck, who looking backward after his amazing politico-military triumph at Koeniggraetz, (1866), tells a French interviewer for “Le Siecle” this root-fact about Germans, their weakness and their power: ¶ “No government, however it may act, will be popular in Prussia; the majority in the country will always be opposed to it; simply from its being the Government;—and holding author

The voice in the Wilderness proclaims the God-given glory of Kings, vicegerents of Christ on this earth. ¶ The French Revolution brought to Paris adventurers and patriots from every part of Europe. Among these was a young Corsican who, with his mother and sisters, had been driven out of his native island. This man, Napoleon Bonaparte, was in the course of a few years to become Emperor of France and Master of Europe. ¶ There is a classical picture of young Napoleon, at the time of the early riots

Wherein it is shown that Bismarck’s protest against disrespect for constituted authority was based on certain tragic historical instances he would not repeat. ¶ It is freely granted that ideas of “Liberty!” that many German patriots desired to see come to pass, in 1848, were not those of 1789; but elements of lawlessness, of mob-rule, of marchings to “Ca Ira!” of absurd glorification of the common man, and of snarlings at kings as kings, were largely in the spirit laid down by Robespierre, Danto

We will never get at Bismarck through a study of the interplay of politics; suppose we state his case in terms of human nature? ¶ From this time on, the shelves are freighted with volume after volume of German political jargon, forming a bewildering diagonal of forces crossing and recrossing in thousands the tangled threads. Bismarck’s presence runs throughout, but it is a long and complex story, hard to comprehend and difficult to compress without sacrificing important details. ¶ We find “Grand

Perfecting himself in political intrigue and in vituperative debating, also in caustic letter-writing; all is necessary grist for the Bismarck mill. ¶ We come now to the year 1851. ¶ The entrance of Emperor Francis Joseph, at this time, on the politico-military stage of Austria was followed by still another era of political reaction; the Liberal Austrian constitution, wrested during the riots, was revoked; as were also those Democratic constitutions pledged for almost every German state. ¶ The G

Supporting Bismarck’s idea of the mailed fist; Democracy stems from and is supported by aristocracy. ¶ Why is it that, in the American Republic, there is aversion to acknowledging the services of men sprung from aristocracy, like Bismarck? Are the facts unrecognized, or is the silence only another form of political quackery? ¶ To bring the matter home, let us ask, “How is it in the United States?” Washington was an aristocrat of fortune, one of the richest men of his time, dispassionate, cold, a

Bismarck tricks them all—and by under-play matches King against King. ¶ Von Roon had the soldiers up at 4 o’clock in the morning, incessantly drilling for the oncoming War of the Brothers. The deadly needle-guns—von Roon’s secret—were relied on to do superior work in the impending great crisis. ¶ Blood and iron—yes, that is the thing! ¶ About this time, Bismarck executes another master-stroke. He decides to intervene in Poland, in favor of Russia; and certainly he has now to face a “word of wrat

He is no longer the roaring delegate of the “White Saloon,” but has developed the astuteness of the devil, the open sincerity of a saint. ¶ Fight, fight, fight! Nothing but fight! And all this trying time, Bismarck suffered excruciating pains from his old rheumatic complaint. He was irritable, melancholy and jaundiced; sat up all night half-buried in his mounds of state papers; dictating telegrams, quarreling with callers, denouncing, adjusting, scheming; four o’clock found him in bed; he tossed

Bismarck and Von Moltke, over a bowl of sherry punch, discuss “these poor times”—The Emperor-hunt begins. ¶ Volumes have been written to explain the origin of the Franco-Prussian war, and the intricate and inter-related facts are gone over again and again, now with emphasis here, again on the other side. ¶ It is trite to say that Bismarck foresaw that a war with France was inevitable. Behind this simple statement is a world of intrigue and ambition. The French still hold that the annexation of A

The Kaiser’s crown at last, and how and why; herein, we sum up the very flower of our great man’s genius; and mark it well! ¶ The very name “Kaiser” brings up memories of the Middle Ages, thence backward to the days of imperial Cæsar. Kaiser, at best, is but Cæsar, rewritten. Yet Bismarck was at great pains to make clear that the substitution of Kaiser for King of Prussia involved no restoration of ancient imperial institutions. ¶ The use of Kaiser, as the title for the new monarch, had behind i

The secret discontent of the man who believed himself sole founder of the German Empire. ¶ When the Kaiser, on that eventful day in March, 1890, turned and told the old man to go, Bismarck received the heart-breaking sentence without a sign of protest. ¶ To a friend who called he told the news in a calm voice, a smile on his lips, congratulating himself on being able to resume his country life, of which he was so fond, of visiting again the forests on his estates, and “belonging to himself” in t

Prince Otto V. Bismarck receives his final and his one glorious decoration; and here we leave him, his fame secure among Germany’s immortals. ¶ The game is now all but played out. The last phase is to be the noblest expression. In his prime, Bismarck was of massive proportions in mind and body; but of his moral nature both friends and enemies had often been in doubt for many years. Now, even that was revealed to be in concord with his herculean bulk. ¶ The old glory passed from him, like a dream