Otto von Bismark was the Chancellor of the German Empire. He is credited almost single-handedly in bringing about the unification of Germany.

Otto von Bismarck was born on April 1, 1815, to a noble family in the Prussian province of Saxony. He received training as a lawyer and practiced law for a period. After the death of his mother, he returned home from Berlin to run the family's estates.
In 1847 at the age of 32, he was chosen to become a representative in the newly formed Prussian legislature. During the Revolution of 1848,Bismarck was a strong supporter of the monarchy.

Bismark was at this point an opponent of German unification, and although but William IV appointed him in 1851 to be Prussia representative on the Diet of German Confederation in Frankfurt, which was a body that attempted to coordinate actions by the independent German states. SlowlyBismarck began to change his mind about unification as he began to fear the rising power of Austria and thus concluded that only a unified Germany could be a counter to Austria's influence.

Bismark was appointed Prussian Ambassador to Russia in 1857. He became Ambassador to France in 1862. Upon the death of his brother, Prince Wilhelm became King of Prussia. After several initial setbacks, he agreed to appointBismarck Minister-President and Foreign Minister.Bismarck, as a result of his dual roles, had total control of Prussia Foreign policy.
Bismarck received strong support from the King, and he worked to unify the German states while keeping Austria outside the unified state.

Bismark orchestrated a war with Austria, which Prussia won decisively. As a result of the war, he was able to consolidate the independent German states into a confederation that he was able to control.Bismarck then engineered a war with France- the Franco Prussian War of 1870. Prussia, with the help of many of the other German states, won an overwhelming victory in the war.

The victory in the war allowedBismarck to unify the German states fully.Bismarck became Reichskanzler of the German Empire, while that the same time maintaining his previous titles. Thus he had almost complete control of the German Empire.

As the leader of a unified Germany, Bismarck than embarked on a careful policy of balancing the needs of the European powers. His goal was to carefully expand the power of Germany while at the same time not provoking a war with the other European powers. In domestic affairs,Bismarck developed the world's first welfare state, ensuring that the workers received medical insurance, accident insurance, disability insurance, and a retirement pension.Bismarck's policies toward workers were successful in two ways; first, it muted the ability of the socialist to gain a large number of supporters in Germany. Second, it helped stem the tide of young German who were emigrating to the United States during this period.

Bismark was not a great fan of colonization, and he pursued the acquisition of German colonies abroad very reluctantly, and that became a source of conflict with the German German King Wilhelm II. Relations between the two became heated over this and other issues. Finally, on arch 18, 1890, Wilhelm demanded that Bismarck resign, which he did. He died on July 30, 1898, at the age of 83, after completing his memoirs.

His legacy is the unification of Germany.