POSITION PAPER OTTO VON BISMARCK

CHARACTER: Otto von Bismarck

TOPIC: Scramble for Africa- Berlin Conference

As the organizer of this conference, I would like to begin by clarifying the respect that we must
all have towards the different nations and representatives present today, regardless of the
competition. In addition, I would like to reiterate its objective and importance; As we already
know, several of the European nations present here have been taking part in Africa to benefit
from it for its natural resources and other aspects, this has led to several disagreements between
the same nations and that is why today we are meeting, precisely to clarify issues for the benefit
of all the nations present here. From my perspective, this meeting has as an objective, that all
nations present here agree first that by taking control over the interior of Africa, European
countries have the mission to civilize its inhabitants, bring them Western culture and exploit the
raw materials of their territories in the process, also to agree on what conditions our countries
had to meet in order to claim territory in the African continent.

To clarify my position in front of this conference it is important to understand my background;

Currently, I am Minister-President, and with this position, I have taken various actions to ensure
the well-being of all, such as my proposal to adopt a social insurance program for old age, which
aims to introduce social insurance in Germany both to promote the worker welfare in order to
keep the German economy running at peak efficiency. However, my main objective was to bring
together the 39 individual states of Germany and put them under the control of Prussia, in order
to form a stronger nation that is capable of fulfilling its own interests, even so I continue to
worry about those interests that could affect Germany.

For the same reason, I have organized this conference in which we will discuss to reach an
agreement in which we all benefit from Africa, as I said before, for their natural resources for
their growing industrial sectors as well as a potential market for the goods these factories
produced. In addition to being important to the satisfy our interests, it is essential to hold the
conference due to the different nations that are battling for a piece of the African continent such
as the British and French in West Africa; Egypt, the Portuguese, and British in East Africa; and
the French and King Leopold II in central Africa.

I hope we all present here will do the best to make this work because as I have managed to unite
German states and thus live together in peace, we will be able to do an agreement so we can all
be a benefit in different aspects from Africa.