What was realpolitik?

Answer 1

Realpolitik was a concept first established by August Ludwig von Rochau in 1853 with a book titled The Principles of Realpolitik Applied to the Conditions of Germany. Rochau argued that practical politics was simply based off of the fact that only power can rule. Power came indirectly through things such as the expansion of the economy and social institutions.

Realpolitik became a central idea in the 1850s and 1860s. It was most closely with German statesman Otto Von Bismarck, whose skillful diplomacy and power politics helped a great deal in German unification. For example, Bismarck sometimes defied parliamentary opposition. When the liberal majority opposed levying taxes, he dissolved Parliament and went on with the plan. Bismarck was firm in the idea that practical politics rooted from power, and he was steadfast in maintaining a cohesive, strong power.