Something I learned after moving from the UK to Germany, is that my German friends think Otto von Bismarck invented modern public health in 1883 and the NHS was based on their model.

My German language and history is not good enough for a rigorous comparison.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Otto_von_Bismarck...

Bismarck did create the first public health system back then and the model is called the Bismarck Model. The NHS is nothing like that though and is based on what's called the Beveridge Model after the man who proposed it:

https://morningsignout.com/international-health-care-systems...

http://morningsignout.com/international-health-care-systems-...

Modern public health (which is sanitation essentially) was rolled out across the UK much earlier than anywhere else.

It is perhaps a mark of public health's incredible success that both replies think I was talking about the NHS.

Also, Bismarck invented the modern industrial state long before anyone else had realized this stuff was important.

That is a myth. For example, NHS New Zealand predates NHS UK by around 10 years.