Saturday, April 25, 2015

Germany: Otto von Bismarck

Today I got seven postcards: six from Germany and one from New Zealand.

One of the cards from Germany shows Otto von Bismarck and Emperor Wilhelm I. Otto von Bismarck was born in 1815 in Schönhausen. He was a conservative Prussian statesman. From 1862 to 1890 he was Foreign Minister of Prussia, from 1867 to 1871 Chancellor of the North German Confederation, from 1862 until January 1873 and from November 1873 to 1890 Minister President of Prussia and from 1871 to 1890 Germany's first Chancellor. From 1864 to 1871 he provoked the Wars of German Unification against Denmark, Austria and France. He used balance of power diplomacy and was against the acquiring of German colonies. In 1890 he was removed by Emperor Wilhelm II from his tenure, but he still had an influence on the politics with his comments on his successors.
I bought this card when I recently visited the German Historical Museum in Berlin.


With a matching stamp:
200th birthday of Otto von Bismarck (issued 02-04-2015)
with a special postmark from Friedrichsruh, the town where Bismarck died


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