WI: Bismarck shot dead in 1866

On May 7, 1866, a young man by the name of Frederick Cohen-Blind managed to ambush Otto von Bismarck on a Berlin street, firing five shots before being detained. Upon examination, it was discovered that all five shots had either been glancing hits or had ricocheted off of Bismarck's ribcage.

So, what if one or more of the shots had been more lethal, and Bismarck had fallen unconscious and died soon afterwards? Was the unification of Germany inevitable at this point, or does the Unification fall apart without Bismarck? How does a disunited Germany impact the politics of Europe for the next half century?

Given that Cohen-Blind was Jewish, do we see the black beast of anti-Semitism rear its ugly head in an earlier parallel of the Dreyfus Affair? If so, do we see Zionism develop faster, and what other impacts will there be?
 
Last edited:

Yah, thanks for the press! I really do need to finish the next update...

On May 7, 1866, a young man by the name of Frederick Cohen-Blind managed to ambush Otto von Bismarck on a Berlin street, firing five shots before being detained. Upon examination, it was discovered that all five shots had either been glancing hits or had ricocheted off of Bismarck's ribcage.

So, what if one or more of the shots had been more lethal, and Bismarck had fallen unconscious and died soon afterwards? Was the unification of Germany inevitable at this point, or does the Unification fall apart without Bismarck? How does a disunited Germany impact the politics of Europe for the next half century?

Given that Cohen-Blind was Jewish, do we see the black beast of anti-Semitism rear its ugly head in an earlier parallel of the Dreyfus Affair? If so, do we see Zionism develop faster, and what other impacts will there be?

There's a fair amount of Pan-Germanism among the Liberal intelligencia, that Bismark was exploiting to split the Left opposition to the forces of the Crown within Prussia and break their ability to unify and force change as a result. While German Unification as a concept would have easily survived, especially as an opposition ideology to the provencial Absolutists who were trying to pretend the cultural changes that were boiling over in 48' didn't exist, those same forces had tight grips on the reigns of instiutional power and force and would be able to leverage that into a far better deal (More Decenteralization and Noble power) in the event they did come to terms if the romantic nationalists don't have the muscle of the Prussian army behind them. And Prussia will slip into internal disputes if Bismark goes down: he was wearing so many Ministerial hats that he was the key lychpin of the government and keeping the lid on the demand for greater legislative power by the Landtag. Whilhelm dosent have anybody he can put in the various now vacent posts that won't produce controversy and a power play from the Liberals that will give him the kind of government he wants, and will be stuck either with plots from the right or left that will oblige them to look inward.
 
Last edited:
Top