What did Bismarck do to control the German empire?

Answer 1

The German empire was under the direction of Bismarck. He became known as the Iron Chancellor. Under his rule Germany pursued conservative and nationalistic policies. His impact and how he controlled Germany can be summarized with the following information. Note that this is a summary and not all aspects of Bismarck's rule are listed. Having said that, here are some important elements of Germany under Bismarck:

1. Centralization of power. To promote uniformity within Germany the national government took over the German states' control of railroads, telegraph lines, postal services, banking and currency. National laws replaced the various laws that each state once had;

2. Militarism. The empire established the Prussian system of conscription. Military values were emphasized by government officials. Nationalist writers contributed to this concept. Bismarck sought military alliances;

3. Bismarck supported an industrialized economy. Tariffs were enacted to keep out foreign products. The result at that time was prosperity. Colonialism was used to secure raw materials; and

4. Bismarck worked to eliminate the growth of any groups interested in socialism.