Jonathan Steinberg. Bismarck: A Life. Oxford University Press. On this occasion, Bismarck, on the verge of assuming power, spelled out his plans for Prussian greatness under his leadership:. I shall soon be compelled to undertake the conduct of the Prussian government. My first care will be to reorganize the army, with or without the help of the Landtag [the legislature].
As soon as the army shall have been brought into such a condition to inspire respect, I shall seize the first best pretext to declare war against Austria, dissolve the German Diet, subdue the minor states, and give national unity to Germany under Prussian leadership.
For clarity of intent, this is hard to beat. He means what he says. Sixteen years later, Disraeli, now as British prime minister, attended a private dinner at the Bismarck residence during the Congress of Berlin and afterwards recorded his impressions in his report to Queen Victoria:.
I sat at the right hand of P. Bismarck, and never caring to eat in public, I could listen to his Rabelaisian monologues: endless revelations of things he ought not mention. He impressed me never to trust princes or courtiers; that his illness was not as people supposed brought on by the French war, but by the horrible conduct of his sovereign, etc.
His contemporaries saw something of the Evil One in him. He wore a chaotic coat without collar or buttons, and as destitute of color as of shape. Enormously wide trousers and boots with iron heels and portentous spurs. A faint attempt at moustachios, of an infinite color, completed the equipment of his face, and a huge saber strapped around his waist, that of his habiliment. No, I insulted them all publicly, and in the grossest possible manner. I intend to lead my companions here, as I intend to lead them in after-life.
