Napoleon III and Bismarck

He was in the right place at the right time. German unification had little to do with Bismarck. Hell, him being in the Prussian court to begin with actually had more to do with the way the 1848 Revolutions played out in Prussia and the German states than any unique abilities or skills on the part of Bismarck himself. He largely fell into his role, and simply reacted to how events played out around him. There was no master plan, there was no skillful manipulation, there was no 'game.'

I disagree with this in one extent: forces may shape events, but the form the events take is dependent on the people guiding them. History may act by inanimate, impersonal forces, but those forces take form in the nature of human beings making decisions on human affairs.
 
I disagree with this in one extent: forces may shape events, but the form the events take is dependent on the people guiding them. History may act by inanimate, impersonal forces, but those forces take form in the nature of human beings making decisions on human affairs.

Well certainly. I didn't mean to imply a purely determinist outlook; only that Bismarck wasn't actively aiming to achieve his ends in the way that, to use an example already present in thread, Louis-Napoléon did. Bismarck certainly had an effect on history, but he was merely reacting to other people's actions and to historical trends. He certainly didn't set out to achieve German unification, he only played a key role in that development because he was "at the right place at the right time."
 
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