Question #f07e3
1 Answer
During May of 1866, tensions between Austria and Prussia were really starting to heat up, and Otto von Bismarck had a plan.
Long story short, as this will help get you to the answer sooner, Bismarck's had a long-term plan to unite the German Confederation under Prussian leadership and he believed he could succeed in this by craftily going to war with the Austrians, which he eventually would do successfully. During the time leading up to the war, people were starting to notice the obvious power struggle that was occurring. One man by the name of Ferdinand Cohen-Blind, a German, believed that Bismarck was leading Germany to the brink of civil war and decided to take action. It should be stated that Ferdinand was in fact correct in his assumption, but that's not what we are here to discuss.
On May 7th in Berlin, Bismarck was walking by the Russian embassy when a man shot him twice from behind. Bismarck turned around and attacked his assailant. During the struggle, Bismarck was shot another three times before soldiers rushed up and took Ferdinand into custody. One of the soldiers examined Bismarck and noticed he had been shot five times, but every single shot either grazed him or bounced off of his rib cage. Bismarck then nodded to the solider and said, "Iron Chancellor". He then proceeded on his marry way as if nothing had happened. Pretty cool eh?
Later that night, Bismarck was examined by the King's physician and Ferdinand would take his own life in custody with the use of a knife where he would die the following morning.
As a side note, the Austrians with their southern German allies would go to war with Prussia with its northern German allies on the 14th of June that same year. This war would be known as the Austro-Prussian War (Seven Weeks' War). Prussia and its northern German allies won decisively. Turns out Ferdinand had it right in the end
Hope my answer helped :)
