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a nation moving up the hierarchical ladder.  His policies had overwhelming
grassroots support.  One observer said that "Before him, the people lay in the
dust and adored."76      To  guarantee adoration, Bismarck sidelined his
opponents, made vigorous use of a secret police, and stifled complaining
voices in the press.77
Once Bismarck was confident that his military buildup was complete,
he did not flinch from confrontation.  Far from it.  He sought it out.  Bismarck
embarked on a plot to force France into war.  But he wanted Prussia to look
like the victim, and France to appear as the aggressor.  So the Prussian leader
worked out a scheme that would corner the French into making the first
openly hostile move.
Spain needed a king.  The Spaniards searched for a European prince
who could fill the throne.  Bismarck's agents labored secretly in Madrid to
make sure the prince the Spanish parliament chose would be a German.
Otto knew that the idea of a German grab at the Spanish crown would
panic France. If the Prussian move went through, the French would be
surrounded by hostile states.  Rubbing up against the northeastern Gallic
border would be Germany.  And crowding the country's southwestern flank
would be a German puppet.  The strategic vulnerability would be
intolerable.
If Prussia went ahead with the installation of its princeling on the
Spanish throne, France said, it would mean war.  Princeling on the Spanish
throne? said Bismarck, We have nothing to do with that.  The choice is a
strictly Spanish matter.78
The Prussian premier's profession of innocence was less than frank.
The only man deciding which autocrat would be shoved into Spain's regal
chambers was Bismarck himself.  The French continued to bluster their
discontents.  And Bismarck swore he was the innocent victim of French
threats.  What's more, the world believed him.
  Bismarck was not the only Prussian feeling the feistiness that comes to
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