Qorrum

Recently I asked ChatGPT a question I’m sure most of you have asked it as well: “If great diplomats from world history were thrown into various different time periods, geographies, and general circumstances, which would have generally done the best averaged out across these various scenarios?” Very classic standard question I know.

The response listed Otto Von Bismarck, a person I admittedly knew next to nothing about, as perhaps number one. So I decided to read this book, but almost stopped several times both because it was not the most fun read and because I was disappointed to find Bismarck was not a person I admired. But I wanted to grasp why he was one of history’s most capable diplomats, so I read on.

For my takeaways from the book and the story of Otto Von Bismarck, while I did have multiple, I will focus this post on the most overarching lesson I am taking away from it - be flexible. If there was one recurring and enduring theme to Bismarck’s approach to uniting Germany and navigating 1800s Europe, it was staying responsive to circumstances, continuous recalibration, and a repeated display of adapting to the people, movements, and opportunities around him. Top few quotes from the book below:

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A few passages from the author

Bismarck repeatedly maintained multiple possible paths and chose among them as circumstances changed.
Events are stronger than the plans of men. He discovered that events would not conform to his plans, and he began to live with reality, instead of trying to force his will upon it. The future is a land in which there are no maps
Within a few months, even a few weeks, he changed course. He went with the current of the times, Steering with events instead of against them.
As usual he acted on his beliefs at the exact moment when they served a practical need
In other countries, a change of policy needed a change of government. Bismarck made his own changes, ruthlessly attacking his own arguments of yesterday.
His greatest gift was in packing the cards, not in playing the hand

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A few quotes from Bismarck himself:

“I wanted it like this, and everything happened quite differently. I’m content when i see where the Lord wishes to go and I can stumble after him.”
“Politics are not a science based on logic. They are the capacity of always choosing at each instant, in constantly changing situations, the least harmful and the most useful.”
“I have never been a doctrinaire. Liberal, reactionary, conservative. Those I confess, seem to me luxuries. I’ve no fixed opinions. Make proposals, and you won’t meet any objections of principle from me. Many roads lead to Rome. There are no eternal rules.”

October 2026 Magazine: Bismarck - The Value of Flexibility in Diplomacy