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Editor says, what if Bismarck himself had died years earlier? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the October 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1866, on this day Ministerpräsident Otto von Bismarck was assassinated by a German student called Ferdinand Cohen-Blind as he walked across the Unter den Linden boulevard in Berlin near the Russian Embassy. Bismarck's death occurred later in the evening in the presence of King Wilhelm I and the King's physician Gustav von Lauer. Ferdinand Cohen-Blind committed suicide after being taken to police headquarters by members of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Guard.
Otto von Bismarck dies earlierAt the high point of his political career, the "Iron Chancellor" had been killed by a radical democrat who desperately wanted to stop the possible outbreak of a war between Prussia and Austria.
Even if it was the end for Bismarck the assassination was certainly not the end of his expansionist policies. However his more cautious successors favoured the peaceful absorption of most of the South German States into the North German Confederation. And instead, their focus turned to faster colonial expansion, ensuring that the new Germany would have its "place in the sun". This is a companion article to the Kaiser Wilhelm I of Prussia dies earlier blog post.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Bismarck, Kaiser, Germany, Prussia, Premature Death. Editor says, in reality Wilhelm I lived until 1888 giving Bismarck twenty-six years to fully implement his strategies. This point of divergence is explored on the Alternate History web site.
~ If it ended with "Austria" absorbed into Greater Germany, the balance of religions in Germany would be tipped in favor of Catholics, and the "Austro-Hungarian" empire, if it survived, would probably change to a Slavic/Magyar confederated empire, maybe calling itself the "Danubian Empire" or something like that.
~ Same problem with Social Security: Bismarck invented it , which was in general A Good Thing.
~ The Autro-Prussian war of June of that year would almost certainly not take place. as he was in favour but the crown prine and others were not and the king would unlikely to be convinced for war.
So a new mechanism of German unity takes place, probably around Prussia-Bavaria-Austria.
The Franco-Prussian War will not take place since Napoleon III cannot intrigue with A-H but be at war with them instead.
There will be no Ausgleich with Hungary as there was no 1866 defeate but instead a Germany-Hungary.
There will be no Bismark to preside over a 1878 Congress of Berlin but a more vigorous G-A in that area of Europe.
So less preservationation of the Ottoman Empire and more territory to G-H.
A Zweikaiserbund which survives.
No Balkan Wars 1912-13.
No World War 1.
~ And no WWI means no WWII or Russian Revolution! Sounds good to me!
~ Without the wars and Space Race, though, this TL wouldn't have nearly the technology ours does. What of colonialism? We might still have political Empires.
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
