The great German statesman and diplomat Otto von Bismarck

Otto von Bismarck

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...

 received several noble titles during the course of his career.

Born into a Junker

Junker

A Junker was a member of the landed nobility of Prussia and eastern Germany. These families were mostly part of the German Uradel and carried on the colonization and Christianization of the northeastern European territories during the medieval Ostsiedlung. The abbreviation of Junker is Jkr...

 family as simply Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, he was created Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen ("Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen") in 1865, following the Prussian victory over Denmark in the Second War of Schleswig

Second War of Schleswig

The Second Schleswig War was the second military conflict as a result of the Schleswig-Holstein Question. It began on 1 February 1864, when Prussian forces crossed the border into Schleswig.Denmark fought Prussia and Austria...

. (Schönhausen

Schönhausen

Schönhausen is a municipality in the district of Stendal in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany, located 70 km north of the state capital of Magdeburg. It is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde Elbe-Havel-Land.- History :...

 was Bismarck's family estate, in Saxony

Province of Saxony

The Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:...

.) This comital title

Graf

Graf is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count or a British earl...

 is borne by all his descendants in the male line.

After Prussia and its allies defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

, and the consequent establishment of the German Empire

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

 in 1871, Bismarck was further created Fürst von Bismarck ("Prince of Bismarck"). This princely title

Fürst

Fürst is a German title of nobility, usually translated into English as Prince.The term refers to the head of a principality and is distinguished from the son of a monarch, who is referred to as Prinz...

 descended only to his eldest male heirs.

Finally, as a consolation for his dismissal by Emperor Wilhelm II in 1890, Bismarck was created Herzog von Lauenburg ("Duke of Lauenburg") and accorded the address of Durchlaucht (equivalent to "Serene Highness") for his own lifetime only. (The Duchy of Lauenburg was one of the territories which Prussia seized from the Danish king in 1864.) On Bismarck's death in 1898, his dukedom was extinguished and the princely title passed to his eldest son, Herbert

Herbert von Bismarck

Herbert, Prince of Bismarck was a German politician, who served as Foreign Secretary from 1886 to 1890. His political career was closely tied to that of his father, Otto von Bismarck, and he left office a few days after his father's dismissal...

. The present Fürst is the Iron Chancellor's great-grandson.

Fürsten von Bismarck

1. Otto Eduard Leopold, Fürst von Bismarck (1815-1898)
2. (Nikolaus Heinrich Ferdinand) Herbert, Fürst von Bismarck (1849-1904)
3. Otto Christian Archibald, Fürst von Bismarck
   Otto Christian Archibald, Fürst von Bismarck
   Otto Christian Archibald, Prince von Bismarck was a German politician and diplomat, and the Prince of Bismarck from 1904 to his death....
   
    (1897-1975)
4. (Herbord Ivar) Ferdinand, Fürst von Bismarck
   Ferdinand von Bismarck
   Ferdinand, Prince von Bismarck is a German politician and the Prince of Bismarck since 1975.The son of politician and diplomat Otto Christian Archibald von Bismarck and great-grandson of statesman Otto von Bismarck, the founder of modern Germany, he grew up in London, Rome and Sweden, and went to...
   
    (born 1930)

The heir apparent is Fürst von Bismarck's eldest son, Carl-Eduard von Bismarck

Carl-Eduard von Bismarck

Count Carl-Eduard Otto Wolfgang Jayme Anders von Bismarck-Schönhausen is a German politician .-Background and education:...

(born 1961).