Otto von Bismarck was considered to be the founder of the German Empire and one of the most significant political figures ever. He changed Germany from a weak, loose confederation of conflicting kingdoms and principalities to a united Empire that dominated Europe by the end of the19th century. He was known as the Iron Chancellor, and that name will continue to go down into history.
Otto Von Bismarck was born on April 1st in SchÖnhausen in Brandenburg, Prussia. Bismarck was born into an aristocratic family with an older brother and a younger sister. Otto's father Ferdinand von Bismarck was a descendant of a noble Prussian family and inherited land in Pomerania. That is where Otto von Bismarck lived during his childhood. Otto started school when he was 8. He did very poorly throughout high school and even got bad grades in history. Next he went to the University of GÖttingen in Hanover where he studied law. This school was an odd choice for Bismarck because it was a liberal school and Bismarck was aristocratic. During his time at this school his hatred for liberalism grew. Eventually Bismarck transferred to the University of Berlin where he passed his University exams in 1835 when he was 20 years old. .
Bismarck entered the political life in 1847. By this point Bismarck was an ultra-conservative so he joined the conservative Gerlach group who advocated his intrests of the nobility. Bismarck's first reaction to the liberal revolutions of 1848 was armed resistance, which appalled King Friederich Wilhelm.
