In both cases his love of combat and delight in battles were a great support to me in carrying out the policy I regarded as necessary, in opposition
to the intelligible and justifiable aversion in a most influential quarter. It proved inconvenient to me in 1867, in the Luxemburg question, and in 1 875 and afterwards on the question whether it was desirable, as regards a war which we should probably have to face sooner or later, to bring it on anticipando before the adversary could improve his preparations. I have always opposed the theory which says ' Yes'; not only at the Luxemburg period, but likewise subsequently for twenty years, in the conviction that even victorious wars cannot be justified unless they are forced upon one, and that one cannot see the cards of Providence far enough ahead to anticipate historical development according to one's own calculation.
German statesman and Chancellor (1815-1898)
Prince Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg (1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), was a German aristocrat and statesman; he was Minister President of Prussia (1862–1890), and the first Chancellor of Germany (1871–1890). Nicknamed the Iron Chancellor, he is noted for his laconic remarks.
From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Alternative Names:
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg
•
Iron Chancellor
•
Prince Bismarck
•
Eduard Leopold, Prince von Bismarck-Schönhausen
•
Otto Eduard Leopold
•
Otto von Bismarck-Schönhausen
•
Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen Fürst von Bismarck
•
von Bismarck
•
Bismarck
From Wikidata (CC0)
All these considerations, conscious and unconscious, strengthened my opinion that war could be avoided only at the cost of the honour of Prussia and of the national confidence in it. Under this conviction I made use of the royal authorisation communicated to me through Abeken, to publish the contents of the telegram; and in the presence of my two guests I reduced the telegram by striking out words, but without adding or altering, to the following form : `After the news of the renunciation of the hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern had been officially communicated to the imperial government of France by the royal government of Spain, the French ambassador at Ems further demanded of his Majesty the King that he would authorise him to telegraph to Paris that his Majesty the King bound himself for all future time never again to give his consent if the Hohenzollerns should renew their candidature.
G. wollte ohne Zweifel, wenn nicht der unmittelbare Nachfolger M.s, doch früher oder später Minister werden. Er hatte auch das Zeug dazu, viel mehr als A., weil er weniger Eitelkeit und mehr Patriotismus und Charakter besaß; freilich auch mehr Zorn und Galle, die sich vermöge der ihm innewohnenden Energie als Subtrahenda von seiner praktischen Leistung geltend machten.
In looking back upon this situation, we have lamentable proof of the degree of dishonesty and cosmopolitanism to which political parties with us attained when actuated by party hatred. Something similar may have happened elsewhere; but I know of no other country where
the universal national feeling and love for the whole Fatherland offered so little resistance to the excesses of party passion as with us.