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.