As both a statesman and a politician, Bismarck was unsurpassed in his ability to accomplish his overarching goals, no matter how long it took or what means were required to do so.
Ruthless, partisan, deceptive, yes. But his maneuverings as Prussian Prime Minister would eventually unite the disparate German lands into a mighty Empire capable of irreversibly transforming the European geo-political landscape. Bismarck was the only man capable and willing to create a new German Empire, while at the same time maintaining the balance of power on the continent and keeping domestic political unrest at bay.
When Otto von Bismarck was growing up, Germany was an idea, not a nation. German-speakers were spread throughout Central and Eastern Europe, numbering in the millions but lacking a unified, coherent national awareness. Bismarck was born to Prussian nobility in 1815, at a time when the French Empire had just finished wreaking havoc and devastation across Europe and almost ceasing Prussia to exist in the process.
The Revolutions of 1848 showed that there was a strong nationalist current running amongst the ethnic Germans of Europe - but the only way the idea of a German nation could become reality would be through the leadership of either Prussia or Austria, the two great German-speaking powers. Bismarck understood that, in order for the German people to unite and maintain stability, the predominance of Prussia would have to be assured. Austria could never hope to maintain strength of unity amongst the different German lands when their own state consisted of dozens of ethnicities and nationalities, all vying for separate interests. Prussia had the industrial strength, the prestige, the military, and the desire to use all of the aforementioned to achieve such a feat.
This was no easy thing to do; the German lands had never been more than loosely connected, and the states that had joined together in alliances had only been certain regional areas - the North German Confederation or the Hanseatic League, for example. Different Germans who lived in different areas had completely different dialects, weights, measures, and most importantly, religions. Southern Germany and Austria were Catholic and more rural while the northern parts were more urban and Protestant.
After the devastation and subjugation that had been accorded to German lands by the French tyrant Napoleon, hatred of France became an entrenched part of the German psyche. This was felt by most German-speakers, but especially so for Prussia, whose honor had been severely damaged by the embarrassments handed to them after military defeats to the French, of all people. By the early 1860s, Bismarck had become Prussia's Prime Minister and realized that the new French Emperor Napoleon III thought quite a bit more highly of himself and his skills than was warranted.
Bismarck's brilliance lay in his ability to complete overarching goals to perfection; in this case, Bismarck's desire to enhance Prussia's power at the expense of France's had the added bonuses of uniting the rest of the German lands under Prussian dominance, subjecting Austria to second fiddle, isolating and humiliating France while also creating a new Great Power in the German Empire.
The first step was to make sure Austria could not become the leader of a new Germany. This was ensured by two wars, the first against Denmark and the second against Austria herself. Denmark's southernmost two provinces of Schleswig and Holstein had been disputed for a long time, and after the Danish King died, a war broke out between Austria and Prussia on the one side and Denmark on the other. Bismarck's diplomacy was crucial to this war, as he ensured that Britain and France remained isolated, unable to commit troops to Denmark's assistance, while also handing the spoil of Holstein to Austria, thereby sandwiching the territory between two Prussian-controlled areas in a part of Europe that was far outside of Austria's sphere of influence.
The corresponding war against Austria was over quickly, thereby assuring Prussian hegemony among the Germans. The corresponding treaty again highlights Bismarck's aptitude; all of the non-aligned German regions, notably the Kingdom of Bavaria, agreed to join a united Germany under Prussian leadership should the German Confederation be aggressively attacked by France.
In another stroke of brilliance, the Iron Chancellor managed to alter an outgoing telegram to Emperor Napoleon III, triggering an idiotic overreaction by the French that led to a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Prussian military. Not only did the war last barely a few weeks, but the Emperor himself was captured, as well as Paris. To add even more insult to injury, the new German Empire was proclaimed in the Palace of Versailles, the embodiment of French royalty.
For almost 20 years after that, as the new Chancellor of the German Empire, Otto von Bismarck oversaw the emergence of a new Great Power that should have massively disrupted the delicate balance of power in Europe, but did not. This was due in no small part to Bismarck's own gravitas.
Through a series of diplomatic treaties, Bismarck managed to secure Austria-Hungary and Italy as allies, while also keeping Russia and Great Britain neutral. Such maneuvers had the desired effect of effectively isolating France; the danger of inciting a general European war was significantly reduced, and if one were to come to pass, it would have been France surrounded on both fronts rather than Germany. These policies were almost unilaterally reversed after the new Kaiser Wilhelm II dismissed Bismarck in 1890, a terribly stupid decision that quickly made Germany an enemy of Britain, France, and Russia while also unnecessarily provoking an arms race with a naval buildup and expansion into Africa.
Chancellor Bismarck was also an astute politician on the domestic front. When the Social Democratic Party threatened to overtake his preferred conservative majority in the Reichstag, Bismarck incredibly stole their platform from under them: saying that unemployed or sick workers were bad for the economy, Bismarck helped implement the beginnings of the modern German welfare system, with unemployment insurance, health care, and social security. Though he was vehemently anti-socialist, Bismarck simply re-worded the SPD's legislation into a conservative framework that engendered political victories while also helping the economy.
Though Bismarck was far from perfect - he hated Catholics, Socialists, and the Polish, attempting to enact several discriminatory laws; he restricted Germany to an anti-democratic aristocratic monarchy, with too much power vested in the Kaiser and the Junkers - his policies and achievements for Germany were phenomenal.
Without Bismarck, it is unclear exactly if Germany ever would have united, and if they did, what form it would have taken. Though his use of military means to accomplish the unification is probably not what an idealist would have liked, it worked. Only a master diplomat was able to rework the European geo-political landscape to benefit Germany to such an extent, while also isolating the other Great Powers of the day and maintain domestic stability and prosperity.
Germany truly could have used a man of his caliber, and rued the Iron Chancellor's death in 1898.
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