Otto von Bismarck is often considered to be one of the most competent politicians of the 19th century he's credited with being the architect of German unification with the sidelining of Austria-Hungary in France and with making Germany into one of the world's greatest industrial Powers but in spite of these things two years after Kaiser Wilhelm II took the throne Bismarck was out of a job however given bismarck's reputation this raises the question why did the Kaiser get rid of him so Bismarck served all three German Emperors and he held great Sway With Wilhelm the first who largely deferred to Bismarck when it came to the running of the Empire much of this was down to them largely agreeing on things like workers rights foreign relations and economic policy Bismarck also served as Chancellor for the entire reign of Frederick III now Frederick was seen as a Beacon of Hope by German liberals who had hoped that under him reforms would be undertaken to move Germany away from absolute monarchy to something closer to Britain or Sweden unfortunately Frederick died 99 days after becoming Emperor and so his Reign amounted to sweep nothing after Frederick came his son Wilhelm II now Wilhelm had inherited a Germany which was geopolitically ascendant but domestic basically there were issues social unrest especially about working conditions in mines and factories were starting to take its toll on Germany's economy Wilhelm II was somewhat sympathetic to them but wanted Parliament to improve their lot however the Chancellor's plan was to ban socialists and agitators from German life and in fact some of the law was so harsh that some of his backers and the Kaiser disagreed with them another problem was that Wilhelm and Bismarck also had conflicting personalities both men were proud and had very different ideas about how to improve Germany's Prestige and power the Kaiser saw Bismarck as being a pacifist with an outdated view of the world whereas Bismarck didn't respect the Kaiser and saw him as Russian foolhardy another reason was simply that Wilhelm II wanted to be his own Emperor whilst he did respect bismarck's achievements he didn't want to be seen like his grandfather with Bismarck as being the power behind the throne the Kaiser didn't want to take a back seat in governing Germany and one major way in which philharm could impact things is by appointing his own Chancellor and not keeping the one he inherited this wasn't the first instance in which Bismarck had been in conflict with the Kaiser but this time there was a difference in the past whenever Bismarck and Wilhelm the first had had a disagreement Bismarck were threaten to resign he knew the emperor saw him as Irreplaceable and so he would always get his way Bismarck had hoped that in spite of Wilhelm II's Bluster he would have no choice but to retain him as Chancellor as such when filham iI demanded that the government report directly to him in All matters and also that Bismarck must give the Striking miners a better deal Bismarck threatened to resign to which the emperor's response was okay nice knowing you thereby ending his 30-year stint at the heart of German politics I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for watching with a special thanks to my patrons James bisonet Kelly moneymaker call show wolf katoitska Adam's daughter Jerry lambdin Jordan Longley Alex Schwinn Marcus arsner why in hockey Spencer Lightfoot Marvin cassow Captain psydog the mcguoper Miss izet Winston k word commune boogly Wiggly Gustav Swan Aaron the white Daniel tobian Anthony Beckett Maggie Paskowski she went in spinning three plates words about books podcast Coppertone and Charles the first