
Otto von Bismarck: life of the week
HistoryExtra podcast
05/19/25
•41m
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Few 19th-century leaders have a CV quite like Otto von Bismarck's. This formidable statesman's cunning, charisma and eye for an opportunity helped him drive the unification of Germany and engineer a stunning defeat of France in 1871. Here, in conversation with Spencer Mizen, Katja Hoyer introduces a man whose rise would change the face of European geopolitics forever.
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The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.
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