Bismark. Though a bit of a prick, he manipulated Napoleon III and Austria in to attacking Prussia, uniting the German states.

I say Louis XIV. Made the French government the most powerful government in the world. Also, conquered all of Spain with a single marriage.

An unsung hero of history in politics is Baldwin of Boulogne (Yes from the crusades)

Read into it. It's a pretty sweet story.

Oh yea, I forgot to put on Pope Urban II and Alexius Komnenus. The two guys who organized the whole 'crusading' idea and almost integrated the Orthodox and Catholic churches.

sorry Louis XIV was instrumental in bankrupting the Frence state. And we all know how that turned out... and I thought this was for those who didn't work primarily with the sword. If the sword counted, I'd say Frederick the Great of Prussia, who not only brought Prussia into the ranks of Great Powers and set up the beginnings of Germany, but was one of the greatest generals the world has ever seen.
But, as for the silver tongue, I'd vote for William III, who married Queen Anne of England therefore reversing England's alliance with France to the Netherlands. This alliance was the only thing that stopped France from gaining a universal monarchy over Europe in the Nine Years War and the war of Spanish Sucession.

I'm going to break the stupid don't-offend-anyone rule and pick...

Ghandi.

Let the flaming begin.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I heard in a lecture that John Stuart Mill was elected to office after he wrote his books...

Was he?

If so, I vote John Stuart Mill- and if you don't know why after all my posts... read them! (If you're bored, that is.) ;)

Augustus

Bismarck sowed the seeds of the cataclysms of the 20th century. Annexing Alsace-Lorraine was, in retrospect, a mistake, though Bismarck did intend to keep France isolated diplomatically for perpetuity. He just didn't plan on losing control of the German state to Kaiser Willy.

@ obiwan, you won't be offended if I say I'd prefer to read John Stuart Mill :)

Cicero requires a mention for this.

SE Peterson, for Germany at the time, what Bismark did was magnificent. I agree that France's humiliation led to the harsh terms at Versailles and so on, but at that time, very few people thought that a conflict such as WW1 could happen.

Aslan, Louis XIV bankrupted the crown itself, not the country. Also the gains he made were huge for France, and his successors had decades to make reforms and raise money. Arguably Louis XV was worse. But as no soldiers allowed, my second choice would have to be Cardinal Richelieu, and to a much lesser extent Mazarin.

P.S. On the topic of Komnenus, does anyone know where I can find the Alexiad, hopefully on the internet?

Machiavelli

"And that's why I say the best British Prime Minister was Lord Palmerston."
"Pitt the Elder!"
"Lord Palmerston!
"Pitt the Elder!"
<punch>

Definately that greatest king of England, John. Richard III and Henry VI being runners up of course. ;)

Lord Salisbury had the greatest tongue of all Politicians ever. Look at some of his quotes- they're pure genius.

Also, Joe Chamberlain- great speaker, great man.

William of Orange (introduced freedom of the press)

Henry VII (restored the finances after years of war)

Ronaldous Maximus...and those of you who know know who I know you are thinking about....

I also think Catherine the Great should be up here, not because of what she accomplished, but because she successfully used sex as a political tool, something only a woman could really do at that time.

I agree with Figs: +1 for Machiavelli, tells it like it is

"Machiavelli, tells it like it is"
Well, only the bits he wanted them to know :P

I've always been fond of Robert the Bruce.

What did Cicero accomplish politically? He stopped Cataline, but that was with the sword.

It's definitely not Bismarck's fault for what happened leading to the World Wars. Bismarck left the Kaiser with alliances to Russia and Austria and a France without any allies in Europe. By the time WWI came around Wilhelm II managed to lose his Russian ally to France AND angered England with a fleet construction such that England allied with France and Russia, too.

Bismarck took a bunch of loosely-confederated states (united primarily by language and a customs union) and made Germany in all its might. Pretty impressive, and he did it largely through politics. The only thing that might disqualify him were that some of his efforts to unite Germany came about through warfare, not politics... but then again, whose honestly didn't?

@Stukus, the defeat of Cataline was not without political effort to defeat Cataline's strong standing in the Senate and allow him to do so.

I'm going to have to throw in my lot with the rule breaking and say Winston Churchill. His words pretty much united Britain and kept morale sky high, which was pretty damned instrumental in terms of winning the war.

I have to second Ghandi as well.

@ largeham, Loius XIV said himself that "I am the State." By bankrupting the crown, he bankrupted the state. And he actually made almost no perminant gains for France. In fact the forgetten Louis XV conquered over three times the land as Louis XIV... but no one would try to say he was great. Sure Louis faced a united Europe against him, but he only held them off, not defeated them.
@ the Ghostmaker, thanks for the vote for William III. I probably should have meantioned that he's also know as William of Orange.
@ everyone who keeps saying Bismark, I'd have to say he was the greatest of his era, and probably the best at isolating his enemies (Austria and then France), and the best at duplicity with his friends (his dual alliance with Austria and his reasurrance treaty with Russia are the sorts of treaties I try to copy in diplomacy). In fact, he'd probably be the best politian ever at this game. However, I'm still voting for William of Orange. As the Dutch Stadholder he was able to reverse the Anglo-French alliance against him (yes he outwitted Louis XIV on this one), become King of England, and then use England and the Dutch Republic to form the core of the anti-French coalitions which defeated Louis (with the help of two of the greatest generals ever, but I digress).

@eden - as mentioned several times in this thread Ghandi didn't use war. Although you could argue civil disobedience counts.
@Gooner - Britain was already united by war. Also Churchill wasn't that good as a politician, he lost the election soon after the war.

To those citing Ghandi - how about Mandela?

@figle, tbf to Churchill, he lost that election to a party that was quite hard to defeat in nature.

@figlesquidge

I think that you are right, Churchill wasn't a great politician...in peace time. He was pretty much the man for the job as a wartime politician though. He was incredibly motivational, both for the army and the people at home. When things looked at their worst, he offered hope.