Blood and Iron (speech) iron chancellor." Blood and Iron (speech) Blood and Iron (German: "Blut und Eisen") is the name given to a speech made by Otto von Bismarck given on 30 September 1862, at the time when he was Minister President of Prussia, about the unification of the German territories. It is also a transposed phrase that Bismarck uttered near the end of the speech that has become one of his most widely known quotations. In September 1862, when the Prussian House of Representatives was refusing to approve an increase in military spending desired by King Wilhelm I, the monarch appointed Bismarck Minister
Chancellor of Germany chancellor of the Austrian Empire (1821–1848), likewise Prince Hardenberg acted as Prussian chancellor (1810–1822). The German Confederation of 1815-1866 did not have a government or parliament, only the Bundestag as representative organ of the states. In the now defunct German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany), which existed from 7 October 1949 to 3 October 1990 (when the territory of the former GDR was reunified with the Federal Republic of Germany), the position of chancellor did not exist. The equivalent position was called either Minister President "(Ministerpräsident)" or Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the GDR "(Vorsitzender des Ministerrats der