ABSTRACT
Patrimonial power was part of Bismarck's inheritance and helped to shape his character. Another important dimension to his personality, albeit one which he shared with vast majority of men from his social class and background, the exercise of patriarchal power. Bismarck's decision to marry, his choice of Johanna von Puttkamer and his determined court-ship leading to their marriage in July 1847 when he was 32 years old, represented a significant milestone in his personal development and rightly occupies a central place in his early biography. The conventional, undemanding and compliant woman he chose to be his lifelong partner and the kind of relationship he sought to have with her casts a rather different light on his character after the excesses of his student days and years the crazy Junker. But Bismarck's marriage also needs to be set within a wider discussion of his attitude and conduct towards women more generally and his position in private life as head of the household.
