Routledge Historical Biographies provide engaging, readable and academically credible biographies written from an explicitly historical perspective. These concise and accessible accounts will bring important historical figures to life for students and general readers alike. Bismarck was arguably the most important figure in nineteenth-century European history after 1815. In this new biography, Edgar Feuchtwanger reassesses Bismarck's significance as a historical figure. He traces his development from a typical junker, a reactionary and conservative, into the so-called white revolutionary who recast European affairs more drastically than anyone since Napoleon. Feuchtwanger's lucid account de-mythologizes the German leader without demonising him. This book leaves the reader with a strongly etched portrait of one of the decisive makers of the modern world.