The voice of Bismarck!

[Biggles]

And no, I am not talking about the ship

Apparently, some "audio archaeologists" have managed to dig up the only known recording of Otto Von Bismarck. Needless to say, it's very old, and hard to hear, but it's there!

For more info (including the audio clip itself), see here:

http://io9.com/5881146/the-only-know...een-discovered

Thought any history buffs would be interested!

[Jimbuna]

Quite unique seeing as how it is the only known example...thanks for sharing.

Good catch, listening to it right now. Dont understand anything, but it is amazing non the less...

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

Amazing!

If someone would edit that mechanical noise (from recorder/player I assume? ) out of the recording it could be easier to understand.

[Schroeder]

^This

I don't understands a thing and my dilettantish attempts to remove the static didn't really work....
But amazing none the less.

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

Btw I checked Wiki article on Otto von Bismarck and noticed this (pics removed):

Last warning and prediction

In December 1897, Wilhelm II visited Bismarck for the last time. Bismarck again warned the Kaiser about the dangers of improvising government policy based on the intrigues of courtiers and militarists. Bismarck's last warning was:

Your Majesty, so long as you have this present officer corps, you can do as you please. But when this is no longer the case, it will be very different for you.[56]

Subsequently, Bismarck made these accurate predictions:

"Jena came twenty years after the death of Frederick the Great; the crash will come twenty years after my departure if things go on like this" - a prophecy fulfilled almost to the month.[57]

"One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans".[58]

Bismarck had warned in February 1888 of a Balkan crisis turning into a world war (although when that war did come in 1914, the Balkan country was Serbia, not Bulgaria).[59]

I didn't know this before. That accurate prediction of what will happen in next 20 years is quite impressive.

[Takeda Shingen]

Great find. I always wondered what many figures of history would have sounded like. What if Edward the Confessor used crutch words? What if Abraham Lincoln had a squeaky voice? We always tend to put these people on pedestals and assign them deep, sonorous voices. It would, at least for me, shatter some of the mystique.

[August]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

Great find. I always wondered what many figures of history would have sounded like. What if Edward the Confessor used crutch words? What if Abraham Lincoln had a squeaky voice? We always tend to put these people on pedestals and assign them deep, sonorous voices. It would, at least for me, shatter some of the mystique.

Now there is something to think about. A squeaky voice and many other similar minor physical traits are pretty much a disqualifiers for a presidential run these days. What if Abraham Lincoln had lost or not even run for such an irrelevancy?

[Torplexed]

According to many accounts Lincoln did have a high-pitched squeaky voice. Shelby Foote mentions it in his trilogy, The Civil War. We have a letter from William Herndon (Lincoln's law partner) written in 1887, saying

Lincoln's voice was, when he first began speaking, shrill, squeaking, piping, unpleasant; his general look, his form, his pose, the color of his flesh, wrinkled and dry, his sensitiveness, and his momentary diffidence, everything seemed to be against him, but he soon recovered.

Abram Bergen, who knew Lincoln when they were lawyers together, wrote in his "Intimate Memories of Lincoln"

But whenever he began to talk his eyes flashed and every facial movement helped express his idea and feeling. Then involuntarily vanished all thought or consciousness of his uncouth appearance, or awkward manner, or even his high keyed, unpleasant voice.

Both these quotes, although written by people who knew Lincoln, were still written after his death.

Of course, in Disney's Hall of Presidents his voice always sounds deeply erudite and commanding. Oddly enough it's the same voice actor as Henry the Bear in the nearby Country Bear Jamboree.

[Sailor Steve]

This is wonderful! I have a recording of Theodore Roosevelt, and hearing Bismarck and Moltke speak is a remarkable thing.

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

Of course, in Disney's Hall of Presidents his voice always sounds deeply erudite and commanding. Oddly enough it's the same voice actor as Henry the Bear in the nearby Country Bear Jamboree.

That's awesome. I had never noticed.