Bismarck: The Man and the Statesman Bismarck: The Man and the Statesman Bismarck: The Man and the Statesman is a biography of the German statesman Otto von Bismarck by the English historian A. J. P. Taylor. It was first published in the United Kingdom by Hamish Hamilton in June 1955. In a book review written in 1943, Taylor wrote that "to write a life of Bismarck within reasonable compass would be one of the greatest of historical achievements; but perhaps it is impossible. The material is overwhelming; and to make matters worse, Bismarck himself has left, in speeches, conversations or his reminiscences, versions of all the
Vice-Chancellor of Germany in any other way. It is the President who asks the Vice Chancellor to fulfill the Chancellor's duties until the Bundestag elects a new Chancellor. This has happened only once: Vice Chancellor Walter Scheel was acting Chancellor for nine days in May 1974 between Chancellor Willy Brandt’s resignation and Helmut Schmidt’s election. The office was initially established by the 1878 "Stellvertretungsgesetz" (Deputation Act), which provided for the Imperial Chancellor appointing a deputy, officially known as "Allgemeiner Stellvertreter des Reichskanzlers" (General Deputy to the Imperial Chancellor). In addition to the general deputy, who would be responsible for all the affairs of