Did Bismarck say: “I know hundreds of ways to get a Russian bear out of the den, but not one to drive him back”?

Users of social networks often attribute to the Iron Chancellor an figurative phrase about the danger of Russia. We checked the correctness of such an attribution.

By quote Otto von Bismarck, users are actively divided into "VKontakte", Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. Especially often they began to publish it from the end of February 2022 in publics dedicated to the support of the Russian army and the country's political leadership. However, this phrase was attributed to Bismarck before - for example, in 2016 it Placed In his blog, singer Oleg Gazmanov.

We could not find the mention of this phrase in authoritative collections of quotes like Oxford Essential Quotationsnor on thematic resources dedicated to the Iron Chancellor. For example, the quote about the Russian bear does not know anything to the Otto von Bismarck Foundation, although on the website of this organization, which studies the heritage of politics, Collected A collection of his statements. Judging by the search results of Google, the phrase interested in us is practically not used in English and German, it can only be found in single records and comments on blogs.

Bismarck found real popularity in the Russian -language segment of social networks eight years ago. The earliest mention on Facebook, which we managed to find, dates from March 12, 2014 - a phrase with a portrait of the chancellor Placed Group "Russian Army - Russian Army". On Twitter, a similar post for the first time appeared A little earlier, March 10. The day before the record with the quote Shared On VKontakte. Note that in this social network it once Published And earlier - July 28, 2013, but the post did not become popular.

Phrases similar to those interested in us, apparently, appeared on the Russian-speaking Internet in the second half of the 2000s. So, in 2009, a user with the nickname PAKETBOT Published Bismarck's tweet can be forced to get out of the den. But how to drive back - I don’t know! ” It is noteworthy that the word "Russian" is not mentioned in this version. Given that the German Chancellor is serious He was fond of Hunting, in theory he could literally talk about the bear, but find confirmation - at least in three -volume memoirs Politics - failed.

In Livejournal, a quote from Bismarck in different formulations can be traced even further. The earliest publication where this phrase is contained, dates March 9, 2006, the author of that post is the blogger of Semivaloff. However, even then a number of users Put doubt The connection between the words about the "Russian bear" and Bismarck.

It can also be assumed that the phrase that has become popular in 2014 is a kind of creative processing of the words "Germany is invincible only until it touches the Russian bear in its den." She really belongs to Bismarck, but not real, but literary - such words I put it In the mouth of his hero, the Soviet writer Valentin Pikul, the author of the historical novel “The Battle of Iron Chancellors”. As a real quote from Bismarck, Internet users are often represent And another excerpt from this text dedicated to "officials-labor officials."

Thus, we were not able to find confirmation in authoritative sources that the author of the phrase about the “Russian bear” is a German politician Otto von Bismarck. The quote is almost unknown outside the Russian -language segment of the Internet and is mentioned mainly in blogs and social networks, and not in academic texts. Most likely, a statement appeared in Livejournal in the mid-2000s, and in 2014 it became popular in other social networks.

Incorrect attribution of quote

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Did Bismarck say: “They never lie as much as during the war, after hunting and before the elections”?
2. Did Bismarck say that the wars were not won by generals, but by school teachers?
3. Did Bismarck say: “If you want to fool the world, tell him the truth”?