Bismarck versus Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck’s completion of German unification in 1871 created a nation-state that dominated European politics until the end of World War II. That legacy is now reasserting itself – but with dire implications for Germany's own prosperity and security.
https://prosyn.org/W3gdhcq
ATHENS – The centrality of Germany to Europe and, more widely, to world affairs has been amply, and often bloodily, demonstrated over many centuries. Indeed, Germany’s strategic position at the heart of Europe, as well as its huge economic and military potential, made it first a prize to be sought, and then, following Otto von Bismarck’s completion of German unification in 1871, a nation-state to be feared. Bismarck’s legacy was a Germany that dominated European politics until the end of World War II.