When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

Want to skip the queue and access all episodes of BismarckRise right NOW? OF COURSE YOU DO! Click here for moreThe Bismarck Party rolls on...As he soon discovered upon returning to Berlin in early 1859, he was not bound for a ministerial post, but a new role as the Prussian ambassador to Russia. It was still a great promotion for a man who had only a slim record of diplomatic training – now he was to be head of the Prussian embassy! But Bismarck was less than thrilled. He was not only disappointed in not grabbing the brass ring of a ministerial post, he was also irritated that he would have to leave Frankfurt in less capable hands. This surely made no sense, and what was he to do in St Petersburg that someone else could not do instead? Was this simply an effort by the new King Wilhelm to be rid of him? It was hard to argue against that theory, but in the spring of 1859, Bismarck simply had to accept his new post and move on, into the next eventful chapter of his life. Leaving Frankfurt behind him forever, Bis