Otto von Hapsburg

Otto von Hapsburg 1912-, Austrian archduke and former pretender to the Austro-Hungarian throne, son of Emperor Charles I and Empress Zita. After World War II began, he went to the United States and made an unsuccessful attempt to form an Austrian legion to fight Germany. Returning to Europe in 1946, he remained in exile. In 1961, he relinquished his claims to the throne and subsequently was allowed to visit Austria. He was elected to the European Parliament from Bavaria (1979 and 1989). An author and lecturer, he wrote The Social Order of Tomorrow (1957, tr. 1959) and a biography of the emperor Charles V (tr. 1970).

Bismarck, Otto von (1815–98) German statesman, responsible for 19th-century German unification. He was born into a wealthy Prussian family and made an impression during the Revolutions of 1848 as a diehard reactionary. In 1862 Wilhelm I named him chancellor of Prussia. Victory in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) brought the s German states into the Prussian-led North German Confederation, and in 1871 Bismarck became the first chancellor of the empire. In 1882 he formed the Triple Alliance with Austro-Hungary and Italy. Bismarck encouraged industry and a paternalist programme of social welfare at home, and colonization overseas. He found it difficult to work with Wilhelm II, who forced the ‘Iron Chancellor’ to resign in 1890.