Bismarck to Putin
March 31, 2025
From the essay
Otto von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor of a newly unified Germany in the late 19th century, was a man whose life was defined by power—but also by restraint. Known as the master of realpolitik, he understood the delicate balance between military might and diplomatic strategy. One of his most famous warnings still echoes with grim relevance today: “Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death.” This statement, made more than a century ago, speaks with uncanny precision to the behavior of Russia under President Vladimir Putin.
Adapted from PDF pages 1.