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The Foundations of Germany; A Documentary Account Revealing the Causes of Her Strength, Wealth, and Efficiency
The Foundations of Germany A Documentary Account Revealing the Causes of Her Strength Wealth and Efficiency Author:J. Ellis Barker General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1918 Original Publisher: Dutton Subjects: Germany History / General History / Europe / Germany History / Military / World War I Political Science / General Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or... more » missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER III THE POLICY OP BISMARCK AND OF WILLIAM II1 Prince Otto Eduard Leopold Von Bismarck, Germany's greatest son, was born on April 1, 1815, at Schonhausen. He died on July 80, 1898, at Friedrichsruh. Fate has its ironies. Apparently William the Second took the terrible decision which brought about the present war at a Council held at the Neues Palais in Potsdam on July 80, 1914, tb.9 anniversary of Bismarck's death ; and the celebration of the centenary of Bismarck's birth has taken place in the turmoil of a war which seems likely to end in the destruction of Bismarck's life-work and of the Empire which he had laboriously created. To the broad masses of the English-speaking people,' and even to most well-informed men in this country, Prince Bismarck is an unknown and a sinister figure, a mysterious and terrible character, a man of blood and iron, Germany's evil genius, a statesman devoid of human feeling; who by diabolical cunning, unscrupulousness and violence, by the medieval methods of Machiavelli, united Germany ; who imprinted his character deeply, and fatally, upon the new Empire, and forced it into a path which inevitably led to the present catastrophe. Those, however, who see in Bismarck a bloodthirsty and unscrupulous schemer of boundless ambition, who believe that the Iron Chancellor is responsible for the present war, and that William theSecond and hig supporters have merely acted in accordance with Bismarck's teachings, are in er...« less