Bismarck
In Our Time22 Mar 2007

Bismarck

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the original Iron Chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck. One of Europe's leading statesmen in the 19th Century he is credited with unifying Germany under the military might of his home state of Prussia. An enthusiastic expansionist, Bismarck undertook a war against Denmark that has become a by-word for incomprehensible conflict. The British Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, said: “The Schleswig-Holstein question is so complicated, only three men in Europe have ever understood it. One was Prince Albert, who is dead. The second was a German professor who became mad. I am the third and I have forgotten all about it.”After vanquishing Austria and France, Bismark led the new industrialising Germany, managing to remain in power for a further two decades. Bismarck said: “The art of statesmanship is to steer a course on the stream of time” and he founded one of Europe's first welfare states but he was also known for his ruthless tactics, ignoring democratic institutions, dabbling in dirty politics, leaking to the press and bribing journalists. Was the unification of Germany a carefully planned campaign or a series of unpredictable events that Bismarck made the most of? Did his encouragement of militaristic nationalism bear fruit in Nazi Germany, and what is his legacy today in contemporary Germany?With Richard J Evans, Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge; Christopher Clark, Reader in Modern European History at the University of Cambridge; and Katharine Lerman, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History at London Metropolitan University

Episoder(1086)

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristotle's ideas on what happiness means and how to live a good life. Aristotle (384-322BC) explored these almost two and a half thousand years ago in what became know...

30 Nov 202352min

Germinal

Germinal

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Emile Zola's greatest literary success, his thirteenth novel in a series exploring the extended Rougon-Macquart family. The relative here is Etienne Lantier, already kn...

23 Nov 202351min

Julian of Norwich

Julian of Norwich

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the anchoress and mystic who, in the late fourteenth century, wrote about her visions of Christ suffering, in a work since known as Revelations of Divine Love. She is ...

16 Nov 202350min

The Federalist Papers

The Federalist Papers

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay's essays written in 1787/8 in support of the new US Constitution. They published these anonymously in New York as 'Publiu...

9 Nov 202350min

Plankton

Plankton

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the tiny drifting organisms in the oceans that sustain the food chain for all the lifeforms in the water and so for the billions of people who, in turn, depend on the s...

2 Nov 202348min

The Economic Consequences of the Peace

The Economic Consequences of the Peace

In an extended version of the programme that was broadcast, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential book John Maynard Keynes wrote in 1919 after he resigned in protest from his role at the Par...

26 Okt 20231h 6min

The Seventh Seal

The Seventh Seal

In the 1000th edition of In Our Time, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss arguably the most celebrated film of the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007). It begins with an image that, once seen, st...

19 Okt 202348min

Melvyn Bragg talks to Mishal Husain

Melvyn Bragg talks to Mishal Husain

To mark his 1000th episode of In Our Time, Melvyn Bragg talks to Mishal Husain for Radio 4's Today programme.

19 Okt 202311min

Populært innen Historie

med-egne-oyne
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
historier-som-endret-norge
henrettelsespodden
rss-katastrofe
historier-som-endret-verden
rss-nadelose-nordmenn-gestapo
rss-benadet
sektledere
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
aftenposten-historie
rss-frontkjemperne
rss-politisk-preik
rss-gamle-greier
rss-bisarr-historie
historiepodden-ww2
historiepodden
rss-historiske-romanser-svik-drap-og-kjarlighet
rss-historiepodden-ww2
vare-historier