Question

Read the excerpt from a speech given by Otto von Bismarck in 1862.

Germany is not looking to Prussia’s liberalism, but to its power. . . . [I]t is not by speeches and majority resolutions that the great questions of the time are decided—that was the big mistake of 1848 and 1849—but by iron and blood.

–Otto von Bismarck, Blood and Iron, 1862

What does this excerpt reinforce about Bismarck’s political views?

Answer 1

This excerpt reinforces that Bismarck’s political views were that Germany looking to Prussia’s power was not about using words and resolutions, but to use violence, which was a big mistake is Bismarck’s point of view politically.