ABSTRACT
Otto von Bismarck had occupied himself with politics early on, but neither his civil service career nor his activity in different parliaments appealed to him, and he turned to the management of his estates. His speeches in the Prussian Assembly and the Erfurt Parliament showed him to be a pronounced Junker a monarchist but no supporter of absolutism, and a man who placed being a Prussian above being a German. In the Crimean War, Prussia and Austria were courted by both Russia and the western powers. At first the Prussian Government sought to mediate and was even prepared to support concessions to the Italian freedom movement. The official Prussian policy of making the granting of military aid contingent on a significant growth of her power in the Bund was also widely supported in liberal circles, who expected this to lead to substantial progress towards national unity.
