The career of Otto von Bismarck (b.1815, d.1898) - nobleman, count, prince - chancellor, diplomat, self-identified non-statesman - followed a path of such contradictory influences that it is possible to view his actions as both conservative and progressive at the same time. The standard historical judgement is to adopt a perspective of moral superiority in regard to Bismarck's accomplishments. An understandable position: within the Germany he was so instrumental in forging festered the psychology of aggression that led to two World Wars. Yet Bismarck himself warned against such dangers - "Twenty years after my death the great crash will come if things go on as they are going" - his was not a personal philosophy that allowed self-destructive tendencies to grow. Rather, in pursuing a course of "Realpolitik" as opposed to blind ideology, Otto von Bismarck set a course in opposition to the major trends of his era, trends that he was ultimately unable to control beyond his own lifetime.
The prevailing wave of European nationalist sentiment was the greatest factor at work in influencing the purpose of Bismarck's career - or counter-purpose, as will be demonstrated. Nationalism was nothing new in Europe, England and France had long since consolidated their regional interests into centralized national power focus in the turbulent 17th century. It was fanned into renewed fire in the years just prior to Bismarck's birth. Napoleon Bonaparte and the French Revolution were the instigators.
Napoleon takes first credit by the simple magnitude of his actions: sweeping across Europe, employing universal conscription as an expression of national pride, Napoleon's armies overwhelmed the regional monarchies of Europe, successfully demonstrating the weakness of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the process. The lesson was clear: if the first purpose of a government was protection, and if regional government was too weak to effect such d...