He had a need to dominate and take control. Bismarck was a manipulative leader and cleverly achieved his aims of expanding the power of Prussia through a united Germany.
Once Otto Von Bismarck was appointed Prime-minister of Prussia in 1862 by William I, king of Prussia, he created a revolutionary event that changed Germany forever. He was a very conservative aristocrat who wanted to expand the power of his Prussia. He aimed at making Prussia the leader of Germany, and Germany the leading nation of Europe. By doing so, he vowed to use the methods of "blood and iron" (Lawrence, 1986, p110) to bring all the German people together under the Prussian monarchy.
Bismarck knew that by uniting Germany, he would upset two great powers; Austria and France. Austria, situated at the bottom of the German states, regarded herself as the leader of the southern states and would oppose her exclusion from a new Germany. France always considered a disunited Germany as an important ingredient to her own security and had no intention of having a powerful neighbour. Both powers would oppose the possibility of the German states being swallowed up in a powerful Prussia.
At the time Bismarck became Prime-minister of Prussia, he dissolved the assembly and claimed that the laws of the country allowed him to run the army without asking the assembly's opinion at all. One of his aims was to build an efficient army that would be ready for war. "Prussia must build and preserve her strength" (Kisch, 1970, p35). Bismarck knew that by uniting Germany, war would break out, and he would be ready for it. From then on he was determined to let nothing stand in the way of his King and a new Germany.
Otto Von Bismarck used political strategies, bloodshed and persuasion to bring the German states into one strong nation and gain power for Prussia. He was an intelligent and shrewd manipulator that would let nothing stand in the way of his King, William I.