Anyone using Otto von Bismarck as an example of wise statesmanship needs to take a look at how quickly the political and diplomatic system he set up fell apart under pressure

The obsession with the supposed brilliance of Bismarck is a very Anglosphere preoccupation not shared by the great bulk of analysts and scholars in Germany

The enthusiasm with which a pundit praises Bismarck who as a leader used cynical disinformation, relied heavily on warfare that poisoned relations with neighbours and embraced repression of opposition movements says more about a pundit than it says about Bismarck's skills

Anyone who takes a look at Prussia's Germany under Bismarck and its collapse under Wilhelm II would be aware of how an aggressive rising power going through a surge of socially disorienting industrialisation can implode if it's governed through an unstable political system