Otto von Bismarck (1815 - 1898), German political leader. After a war with France had brought many small German states together as allies against France, Bismarck persuaded them to unite in a single German empire under a kaiser, with Bismarck as first chancellor (chief of government) from 1871 - 1890. In 1862 Bismarck remarked that "the great questions of the day will not b e decided by speeches and resolutions of majorities_._._._but by blood and iron." —PDC 2 Approved Glossary