Iirc, Otto von Bismarck helped to found the German empire out of Prussia and several successful southern states thereby pretty much becoming the Chancellor of the world's first superpower, then he invented blitzkrieg and helped forge the Second Reich.
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After a decade, he decided peace was preferable and made up a labyrinthine system of Bismarckian policies that, it turns out, only he could use effectively. When Kaiser Wilhelm II took over as emperor and fired Bismarck, he didn't care about that crap and stomped all over everything and actually did kinda cause WWI.
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If you like history at all, this stuff is fascinating. I just Googled around a bit and found a link that gives you a rough idea of the players involved:
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theguardian*com/world/blog/2014/dec/31/bismarck-escaped-blame-first-world-war
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Edit: autocorrect. I should really stop using my phone to type longer comments.
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After a decade, he decided peace was preferable and made up a labyrinthine system of Bismarckian policies that, it turns out, only he could use effectively. When Kaiser Wilhelm II took over as emperor and fired Bismarck, he didn't care about that crap and stomped all over everything and actually did kinda cause WWI.
,
If you like history at all, this stuff is fascinating. I just Googled around a bit and found a link that gives you a rough idea of the players involved:
,
theguardian*com/world/blog/2014/dec/31/bismarck-escaped-blame-first-world-war
,
Edit: autocorrect. I should really stop using my phone to type longer comments.