Prince Klemens von Metternich and Prince Otto von Bismarck...

Prince Klemens von Metternich and Prince Otto von Bismarck can be compared to the dual sides of a Deutsche Mark, a Deutsche Mark that has sported different faces when repeatedly tossed over the years. After 1871, the Prussian-friendly German historians hailed Bismarck as the national hero who had united Germany while Metternich was deemed a failure. Then after the loss of the two world wars, the coin was again flipped, and Bismarck was seen as a bloodthirsty power monger while Metternich still carried the stigma of a failure. The events that lead to the diverse opinion of these two men were their characters, ideological backgrounds, goals, the means by which they reached their goals, their achievements and lastly, their failures. The†¦show more content†¦Metternich’s character can be summed in his 1819 memoirs: â€Å"I am always above and beyond the preoccupations of most public men†¦ I cannot help myself from saying about twenty times a day: how right I am and how wrong they are,† demonstrating the arrogance of his class (Pelling). Metternich was an opportunist and conservative, much like Bismarck, and they both hated the idea of revolution. Metternich wanted Austria to dominate the German Confederation and influence the rest of Europe but he was against a unified Germany because the Habsburg Empire did not embrace a single people speaking one language, but many people’s speaking different languages. Metternich was anti-nationalist and he was against student organization. His Carlsbad Decrees in 1819 dissolved the Burschenschaften, and he opposed a representative government. Prince Otto von Bismarck was seen as both a political genius and a power monger, like a Prussian version of Alexander the Great by the people. Bismarck was a conservative, who used the people around him to reach his goals; and in doing so, he pitted people against one another. According to the book 19th Century Germany: Politics, Culture and Society 1780-1918 by John Breuilly, modern historians have found it very hard â€Å"to separate the man from his achievements† (Breuilly 172). The historians have run into a roadblock that consists mostly ofShow MoreRelatedTwo Sides of the Same Mark: Bismarck and Metternich Essay599 Words   |  3 PagesPrince Otto von Bismarck and Prince Klemens von Metternich can be compared to the dual sides of a German Mark. A German Mark that has sported different faces when repeatedly tossed over the years. After 1871, the Prussian-friendly German historians hailed Bismarck as the national hero, who had united Germany while Metternich was deemed a failure. Then after the loss of the two world wars, the coin sides were flipped and Bismarck was seen as a bloodthirsty power monger while Metternich was hailedRead MoreA Brief Note On The World War II2159 Words   |  9 Pagesgrace. Calvinism stresses the power of God the moral weakness of human beings. 3. Otto von Bismarck- Otto Von Bismarck was the engineer in the unification of the German States. He helped to dominate German and European affairs from 1860 until 1890. Bismarck was the first chancellor of Germany in 1871. Bismarck was able to gain German unification through his blood and iron speech talking about Prussia’s power. Bismarck was a master political strategist who was able to make many alliances that helped