Otto von Bismarck: life of the week

Hello and welcome to Life of the Week from History Extra, where leading historians delve into the lives of history's most intriguing and significant figures. Few 19th-century leaders have a CV quite like Otto von Bismarck's. This formidable statesman's cunning, charisma, and eye for an opportunity helped him drive the unification of Germany and engineer a stunning defeat to France in 1871. Here in conversation with Spencer Mizen, historian Katja Hoyer introduces a man whose rise would change the face of European geopolitics forever. Katja, thank you very much for joining us.

We're here today to talk about Otto von Bismarck. I wonder if I could start by asking you to give our listeners a a really quick introduction to Bismarck. I mean who was he in a nutshell? So Otto von Bismarck was the first German chancellor really when Germany was first founded as a nation state for the very first time in 1871.

He was kind of the first person to run that state as Chancellor and head of the government. And he stayed in power for quite a long time. So really the first two decades of what Germany is, how it was founded, how it was set up, are down to this man, which is why he's such a significant figure, really, not just within the 19th century, but with his legacy having some ramifications really to this day. And can you tell us a little bit about his early life? I mean, how did his formative experiences go on to shape him as a man, as a leader, and as a politician?

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