    33

    a nation moving up the hierarchical ladder.  His policies had overwhelming

    grassroots support.  One observer said that "Before him, the people lay in the

    dust and adored."76      To  guarantee adoration, Bismarck sidelined his

    opponents, made vigorous use of a secret police, and stifled complaining

    voices in the press.77

    Once Bismarck was confident that his military buildup was complete,

    he did not flinch from confrontation.  Far from it.  He sought it out.  Bismarck

    embarked on a plot to force France into war.  But he wanted Prussia to look

    like the victim, and France to appear as the aggressor.  So the Prussian leader

    worked out a scheme that would corner the French into making the first

    openly hostile move.

    Spain needed a king.  The Spaniards searched for a European prince

    who could fill the throne.  Bismarck's agents labored secretly in Madrid to

    make sure the prince the Spanish parliament chose would be a German.

    Otto knew that the idea of a German grab at the Spanish crown would

    panic France. If the Prussian move went through, the French would be

    surrounded by hostile states.  Rubbing up against the northeastern Gallic

    border would be Germany.  And crowding the country's southwestern flank

    would be a German puppet.  The strategic vulnerability would be

    intolerable.

    If Prussia went ahead with the installation of its princeling on the

    Spanish throne, France said, it would mean war.  Princeling on the Spanish

    throne? said Bismarck, We have nothing to do with that.  The choice is a

    strictly Spanish matter.78

    The Prussian premier's profession of innocence was less than frank.

    The only man deciding which autocrat would be shoved into Spain's regal

    chambers was Bismarck himself.  The French continued to bluster their

    discontents.  And Bismarck swore he was the innocent victim of French

    threats.  What's more, the world believed him.

      Bismarck was not the only Prussian feeling the feistiness that comes to

    <<  <  GO  >  >>