Bismarck, Prince Otto Edward Leopold von (1815-98) was the architect and first chancellor (1871-90) of the German Empire. Bismarck from the landowning nobleman segment of Prussina society known as Junkers. Driven by a strong sense of power, Bismarck entered politics in 1847.
By 1859 he had become ambassador to Russia, and in 1862 he was posted to France. The issue of Unification was a bitter dispute between the Prussian government and Parliament particularly over the size of the army reached an impasse and to break this stalemate by 1862 Bismarck was named minister-president. He collected additional taxes, to finance the military.
To justify the increase of the army, he warned that "the great questions of the day [meaning German unification] will not be settled by speeches and majority decisions � but by blood and iron." Public opinion soon began to refer to this strong leader as "the Iron Chancellor."

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