bismark part 2

[@WordBearer86]

It's amazing how similar in appearance many of these actors are to the historical figures they're portraying. Even more impressive is how well they nailed their personalities down. Also the scene of the dying Kaiser, Wilhelm I, is one of the many scenes I recall the most from that particular episode.

[@fratersol]

When Wilhelm the second fired Bismark due to the new Kaiser wanting to get closer to Britain and refusing to uphold the reinsurance treaty with Russia was the biggest mistake. On the deathbed of Bismark he made a dire prophecy...... Bismarck warns Wilhelm not to trust court advisors:"Your Majesty, so long as you have this present officer corps, you can do as you please. But when this is no longer the case, it will be very different for you." Subsequently, Bismarck makes these accurate predictions:"... the crash will come twenty years after my departure if things go on like this." ....."One day, the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans." Almost to the year was he correct.

[@SergioKoolhaas]

Frater Sol he was off by 4 months

[@LoganSewell83]

Kaiser Billy was too stupid to fall for Bismarck's tricks.

[@hamzaferoz6162]

Wilhelm 2 was an idiot

[@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723]

@@LoganSewell83 Bismarck was senile and a loose canon that was too gun-ho when dealing with domestic affairs like protests and strikes and Wilhelm wanted to avoid bloodshed in his own country, how would feel if the presses started to report that the Army was called to crush a strike on the capitol and unloaded a 50cal into a bunch of 40-year-old dock workers, As for stupid blame the Tirpitz & Winston Churchill for unrestricted submarine warfare usage, Moltke the Younger for scorched earth tactics & using Lenin,

[@Eazy-ERyder]

He was absolutely RIGHT

[@puppetMattster]

That's one tremendous actor.

[@LoganSewell83]

This retirement was humiliating. Bismarck should have been retired with honors.

[@mat7083]

A damned humiliation, and I’m not even German.

[@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723]

@@mat7083 Bismarck was already senile,

[@lufsolitaire5351]

@@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723Hardly, even in his twilight years he could read the atmosphere in Europe and knew war was soon to come within 18 years of his passing. He died in 1898 and war broke out in 1914, he was only off by 2 years.

[@garyvahl7658]

Prince Otto von Bismarck one of the greatest Germans

[@hamzaferoz6162]

The BEST GERMAN. This is coming from a non German

[@garyvahl7658]

My family are Prussian. Such a shame Prussia is no more.

[@hamzaferoz6162]

@@garyvahl7658 It really is sad. A state that was so enigmatic and so great and then it vanishes completely

[@garyvahl7658]

Agree totally. You ever hear the march Prussia Gloria?

[@hamzaferoz6162]

@@garyvahl7658 It's my Ringtone

[@dkupke]

Can't help but wonder how things might have turned out if Germany had stuck to Bismarck's policies

[@TravisLoneWolfWalsh]

Daniel Ryan or if Fritz never got sick

[@alexG106]

@@fent577 That's the good timeline, no world wars, no Cold War, at least another half century of human progress unweighted by a sea of European blood. Progress and societal Conservatism linked together in cause and goal and walking together towards an optimistic future. Man lands on the moon in 1955?

[@jolorulz]

Bismarck.. Holy shit!.. what a guy!

[@derrickstorm6976]

People say "oh they used to make so historically important shows and movies back then why aren't people as enlightened and interested anymore" and yet are entirely ignorant to how unpopular such productions were even at their time 😂

[@kiran1863]

I AM BISMARCK

[@MikeAnderson-mh2og]

The Esq No you're not Bismarck my boy , you are not.

[@McIntyreBible]

2:32, “will you be a liberal?...all these names seem to me useless luxuries”

[@davidberger2069]

The actor playing Wilehlm II and the director sometimes seem to forget the late Kaiser's left arm was paralyzed-he couldn't take his gloves with it!

[@michaelburn1260]

David Berger There are photos of Wilhelm 2nd holding his gloves in his weak hand 1.s9.photobucket.com/user/FilipeKaiser/media/Rev25.jpg.html 2.www.phoenix.de/fm/8/2Wilhelm_II_Herrliche_Zeit_.jpg His condition was Erb's palsy which according to Wikipedia "The appearance of the affected arm (or arms) depends on the individual case. In some cases the arm may lack the ability to straighten or rotate but otherwise function normally giving the overall appearance of the arm to be stiff and crooked. Whereas in other circumstances the arm has little to no control and has a "loose" appearance" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erb%27s_palsy

[@davidberger2069]

Hip hip hooray

[@bosskanova685]

Is it that Bismarck had no idea how to play Wilhelm 2 as well as he did Wihelm 1? Wilhelm 2 was more dramatic but Wilhelm 1 was more logical. It seems like he couldn’t control him.

[@Muhammed552]

and this is why Prussia (Germany) went downhill cuz of him as Bismark predicted

[@waltertaljaard1488]

No he couldn't. He was to old. He thought he could handle him like a puppy, but Wilhelm II was a man of his own. Very vain and headstrong. But also far from stupid. Being vain and headstrong was his downfall. But him being also intelligent was Bismarck's downfall.

[@lufsolitaire5351]

Though they were on friendly terms until he became Kaiser, Wilhelm was aware of how Bismarck had manipulated his father and grandfather. Granted what Bismarck did he did for Germany but Wilhelm would not stand for another era of Bismarck the shadow Kaiser. As you can see both had massive tempers and ego’s; at least for Bismarck it was deserved. Notice how being emotional and putting on a pageant worked on Wilhelm I who was equally as emotional but in a stressed way, insulting Wily however did not end well. Bismarck thought of Wily as a petulant, arrogant boy who pissed all the other nobles off with his legendary lack of social grace; albeit he had a sad childhood due to his crippled arm and felt he needed to project hard.

[@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723]

@@Muhammed552 Not really Wilhelm II did listen to Bismarck and was encouraged by the Iron Chancellor to pursue diplomacy with other countries but the problem was the Kaiser's inner staff who actively refused to work with him, the other was the fact that his hands were tied before and during the war, he was vehemently against unrestricted submarine warfare but because of Churchill & Tirpitz that changed and soon enough the US was brought in, then his cabinet got Lenin to start his coup which resulted in his cousins Tzar Nicholas death, something he really did not agree, Bismarck should have taken more time to groom Wilhelm II as his pupil and worked to create a cabinet that would continue his work,

[@calj6148]

Not necessarily Bismarck wasn't concerned that the young Prince was virally militaristic and 'warmongering', this was a good trait in any monarch, but that he directed this aggression needlessly against Britain in the expensive dreadnought race which proved pointless in the end as the Royal Navy still outnumbered the high seas fleet and blockaded Germany anyway but if he had channeled this aggression towards France alone the eternal enemy and appeased Russia there wouldn't be an unnecessary and, in the end, disastrous two-front situation. Britain and Russia weren't Germany's natural enemies, Russia was Austria's rival in the Balkans and the uncommenting overlord of fellow Slavic peoples, and Wilhelm allowed this to drag Germany into a war against Russia which meant the Schlieffen plan through Belgium pulling in England. As Bismarck said: "some damn thing in the Balkans." Now if all that cordite, steel, and manpower provided to the German navy was instead invested into land artillery and the later on the early Panzers Germany most certainly would have broken through any defensive line with brute force. Probably equip all assault troops with machine pistols, 1000 more howitzers/field guns and like 20 more railway cannons to shell Paris and break through the proto-Maginot line. It would be like the Spring Offensive of 1918 with the whole army in the west but from the start.

[@pyromania1018]

Imperial Germany was going to collapse at some point, and it's largely Bismarck's fault because the ruling system he created was specifically designed for HIM to operate. At no point did he consider cultivating someone else to take the reins in the event that he got sick, died, or, as it happened, got fired; so when he departed, there was no one capable of managing the system because he WANTED it to be that way. Why did he never consider this? Was he too vain? Did he think he was immortal? As Simon Whistler noted, "Bismarck ranted rather than taught."

[@kynismos]

Exactly. A good political system must be built to survive incompetent and stupid rulers.

[@kaiserreichempireofohio834]

6:30 jumpscare

[@andrewdoolittle5336]

can't tell if Bismark is talking to the people in charge or himself.... or even OF himself...

[@lufsolitaire5351]

Bismarck knew to humble himself in front of Wilhelm I though as shown he was the master of stealth insults, but never mistake it Bismarck was the strong cunning personality as shown when meeting with Czar Alexander III. and was actually on friendly terms with Wily until he fired him; though he thought of him as somewhat of an arrogant pissant boy due to his Kaiser Wilhelm II’s many social faux pas towards the nobles of other countries(Calling King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy a dwarf, slapping the Tsar of Bulgaria in his butt and calling him fat, insulting the Habsburgs as feeble and wanting to annex Austria once the empire fell, One-upping his uncle British eventual king Edward VII in a boat race, etc). Kaiser Friedrich I however was very much an enlightened despot who wanted to liberalize(in the 19th century classical sense) Germany and turn towards a constitutional monarchy and Bismarck and him as shown clashed hard. It is historically accurate that Friedrich and princess Victoria were looked on with suspicion as being British sympathizers and its this that pushed Wilhelm II towards German militarism.

[@bfdidc6604]

Famous English political cartoon of the day shows Bismarck being put off the ship of state by the Kaiser. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropping_the_Pilot

[@pyromania1018]

"It is indeed a fine one." ~Otto von Bismarck, reportedly after receiving a copy of the picture