About the book: 2014 / The results of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 were triumphant for Germany and a diplomatic victory for Otto von Bismarck. But how did he manage to achieve this? Moritz Busch - the author of these diaries - was constantly under Bismarck for seven months of the war as a personal secretary and doctor and daily, methodically, scrupulously recorded on paper everything he saw and heard, described in detail the battles - and private conversations, statements Bismarck himself and his colleagues, friends and enemies. In the diaries, priceless due to the many biographical details and small political and everyday realities, Bismarck comes to life before the reader not only as a statesman and politician, but also as a bright, interesting personality.