Otto von Bismarck

Il est considérablement plus intelligent que les meilleurs humains dans tous les domaines.

Par exemple, bien meilleur qu'Einstein en physique et bien meilleur que Bismarck en politique.

Près d'un million de chercheurs en IA surhumains travaillent jour et nuit à une vitesse quarante fois supérieure à celle des humains.

Les chercheurs humains en alignement ne peuvent espérer suivre le rythme.

We're going to discuss what happened.

Let's remember that in the year 1870 in which he was born, that was within the span of Otto Bismarck creating from a number of... shall we say, city-states, modern Germany as we speak.

I just arrived at the conclusion the other day, did not realize it, but finally made the connection.

Same thing happens with the Japanese.

Part 1 was all context, but now we actually get started with the wars of German unification.

Our episode will focus on the rise of Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian military reforms, and the Second Schleswig War of 1864, the rematch between Denmark and Prussia.

But first, it's time for a recap.

Previously on the Unknown Soldiers Podcast.

Friedrich Wilhelm IV, the romantic, indecisive king of Prussia who refused the crown from the gutter.

He will be leaving us in this episode when he dies and passes the throne to his younger brother, Prince Wilhelm, the grapeshot prince, the hardline soldier who wanted to turn the cannons on Berlin in 1848.

We have Otto von Bismarck, the fire-breathing young Prussian conservative we met very briefly last time and who is about to become the star of our show.

Friedrich von Wrangel, Papa Wrangel, the tough old Prussian general who marched into Berlin to end the revolution and who led Prussian forces in the First Schleswig War.

And also in the autumn of 1914, the summer of 1914, Germany hadn't been at war for decades.

The Franco-Prussian War, I mean, that's what there's many people who believe that Bismarck cultivated that war in order to bring the several German states into the Northern Confederation and the crushing victory scored over France.

That's what led to Germany becoming a real power and consolidating.

If that's true, that makes Bismarck the greatest Machiavellian who ever lived.

But regardless, you know, this idea of, oh, Germany was just hellbent on militarism, like where was German militarism? Like one of the reasons they had so many problems in the early stages of the war, they had a bunch of their combat commanders who were still in service were elderly men.

You know, you had a bunch of reservists on the frontier in East Prussia who were in their 40s and 50s.

How are you doing, Thomas?

I'm doing well, thank you.

Prussia was a powerful state in what is now known as modern-day Germany.

In the years before 1870, Prussia's Chancellor Otto von Bismarck had brought together an alliance of northern and central German states.

He saw war with France as an opportunity of increasing German nationalism and bringing together the remaining southern German states into the Union.

so he provoked them through a diplomatic telegram.