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29 - Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire by James Headlam-Morley · Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty nine of Pismack and the Foundation of the
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  Speaker 1: German Empire by James Hettlerm. This libertvox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Recording by Esses Kim Seoul, South Korea,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty seven Retirement and Death, eighteen eighty seven to
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  Speaker 1: eighteen ninety eight, Part one. Well was it for Germany
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  Speaker 1: that Pismarck had not allowed to fall into the weak
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  Speaker 1: and vacillating hands of parliamentary government. Peace has its dangers
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  Speaker 1: as well as war, and the rivalry of nations lays
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  Speaker 1: upon them aburden beneath which all but the strongest most succumb.
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  Speaker 1: The future was dark. Threatening clouds were gathering in the
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  Speaker 1: East and west, though hostility of Russia increased, and in
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  Speaker 1: France the Republic was wavering. A military adventurer head of
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  Speaker 1: period who threatened to use the desire for revenge as
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  Speaker 1: a means for his personal advancement. Germany could no longer
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  Speaker 1: disregard French threats. Year by year, the French army had
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  Speaker 1: been increased, and in eighteen eighty six General Boulanger introduced
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  Speaker 1: a new law by which in time of peace, over
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  Speaker 1: five hundred thousand men would be under arms. Russia had
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  Speaker 1: nearly five hundred fifty thousand soldiers on the peace establishment,
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  Speaker 1: and against this Germany only four hundred thirty thousand. They
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  Speaker 1: were no longer safe. The duty of the government was clear.
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  Speaker 1: In December eighteen eighty six, they brought forward a law
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  Speaker 1: to raise the army to four hundred seventy thousand men
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  Speaker 1: and keep it at that figure for seven years. We
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  Speaker 1: have no desire for war, said Pismarck in defending the proposal.
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  Speaker 1: We belonged to use an expression of Prince metternichs to
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  Speaker 1: the states, whose appetite is satisfied, under no circumstances shall
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  Speaker 1: you attack France. The stronger the air, the more improbable
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  Speaker 1: is war. But if Franz has any reason to believe
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  Speaker 1: that she is more powerful than me, then war is certain.
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  Speaker 1: It was, he said. No good was the House to
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  Speaker 1: show the government of the patriotism, and their readiness was
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  Speaker 1: sacrificed when the hour of danger arrived. They must be
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  Speaker 1: prepared beforehand. Words are not soldiers, and speeches not battalions.
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  Speaker 1: The house there was a majority of Catholics, Socialists and
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  Speaker 1: progressives throughout the bill. The government dissolved and the country
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  Speaker 1: showed its confidence in Pismack and Mortke, Conservatives and national
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  Speaker 1: liberals made a coalition. The Pope himself ordered the Catholics
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  Speaker 1: not to oppose the government. His support had been per
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  Speaker 1: just by the partial repeal of the law expelling religious
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  Speaker 1: orders from Prussia, and the Emperor could celebrate his nineteenth birthday,
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  Speaker 1: which fell in March eighteen eighty seven, hopeful that the
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  Speaker 1: beneficent work of peace reform would continue. And yet never
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  Speaker 1: was Bismarck's resource so needed as during the last year
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  Speaker 1: in it. He was to serve his old master. First,
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  Speaker 1: a French spy was arrested on German soil. The French
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  Speaker 1: that demanded his release, maintaining that German officers had violated
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  Speaker 1: the frontier. Unless one side gave way, war was inevitable.
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  Speaker 1: The French government, insecure as it was, could not venture
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  Speaker 1: to do so. Bismarck was throw enough to be lenient.
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  Speaker 1: The spy was released and peace was preserved. Then on
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  Speaker 1: the other side, the passionate enmity of Russia burst out
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  Speaker 1: in language occurs violence. The national press demanded the dismissal
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  Speaker 1: of Bismack or war. The Czar passed through Germany on
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  Speaker 1: its way to Copenhagen, but ostatiously avoid meeting the Emperor.
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  Speaker 1: The slight was so open that the worst predictions were justified.
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  Speaker 1: In November, on his return, he spent few hours in Berlin.
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  Speaker 1: Bismarck asked for an audience, and then he found that
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  Speaker 1: dispatches had been laid before the Czar, which seemed to
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  Speaker 1: show that he, while avowedly supporting Russia and Brigadian affairs,
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  Speaker 1: had really been undermining her influence. Though dispatches were forged,
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  Speaker 1: we did not yet know who it was that hope
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  Speaker 1: to profit by stirring of war between the two great nations.
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  Speaker 1: We can well believe that Bismarck, in the excitement of
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  Speaker 1: the moment, spoke with an openness to which the Tzar
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  Speaker 1: was not accustomed. He succeed, however, in bringing about a
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  Speaker 1: tolerable understanding. The Czar assured him that he had no
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  Speaker 1: intention of going to war. He only desired peace. Bismarck
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  Speaker 1: did all that human ingenuity could preserve it. By the
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  Speaker 1: Triple Alliance he had secured Germany against the attack of Russia.
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  Speaker 1: He now entered into a fresh and secret agreement with Russia,
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  Speaker 1: by which Germany agreed to protect against an attack from Austria.
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  Speaker 1: He thereby hoped to be able to prevent the Czar
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  Speaker 1: from looking to France for support against the Triple Alliance.
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  Speaker 1: It was policy of Singular Daring to enter into a
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  Speaker 1: defensive alliance with Russia against Austria at the same time
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  Speaker 1: that he had another defensive alliance with Austria against Russia.
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  Speaker 1: To show that he had no intention of deserting his
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  Speaker 1: old ally, he caused the text of the Treaty with
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  Speaker 1: Austria to be published. This need no longer be interpreted
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  Speaker 1: as a threat to Russia. Then that Germany, if all
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  Speaker 1: heirs failed, might be able to stand on our own resources.
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  Speaker 1: Another increase of the army was asked for. By the
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  Speaker 1: reorganization of the reserve, five hundred thousand men could be
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  Speaker 1: added to the army in time of war. This proposal
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  Speaker 1: was brought before the Reiki Staff, together with one four
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  Speaker 1: a loan of twenty eight million miles to purchase diminitions
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  Speaker 1: of war which would be required, and in defense of
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  Speaker 1: this Pismack made the last of his great speeches. It
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  Speaker 1: was not necessary to plead for the bill. He was
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  Speaker 1: confident of the patriotism of the House. His duty was
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  Speaker 1: to curve the nervous anxiety which recent events had produced.
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  Speaker 1: These proposals were not for war, but for peace. But
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  Speaker 1: then indeed be prepared for war, for that was a
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  Speaker 1: danger that was never absent. And by a review of
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  Speaker 1: the last forty years he showed that scarcely a single
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  Speaker 1: year had gone by in each there had not been
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  Speaker 1: the probability of a great European conflict, a war of coalitions,
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  Speaker 1: in each all the great states of Europe would be
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  Speaker 1: ranged on one side or the other. This danger was
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  Speaker 1: still present, It would never cease. Germany, now, as before,
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  Speaker 1: must always be prepared for the strength of Germany was
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  Speaker 1: the security of Europe. We must make greater socials than
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  Speaker 1: other powers. On account of our geographical position. We lie
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  Speaker 1: in the middle of Europe. We can be attacked on
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  Speaker 1: all sides. God has put us in a situation in
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  Speaker 1: which our neighbors will not allow us to fall into
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  Speaker 1: indolence or apathy in the European fish pond, prevent us
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  Speaker 1: from becoming cap It was not their fault if the
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  Speaker 1: old alliance with Russia had broken down. The alliance with
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  Speaker 1: Austria still continued. But above all Germany must depend on
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  Speaker 1: an army, and then they could look boldly into the future.
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  Speaker 1: It will come our citizens if they think that if
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  Speaker 1: we are attacked on two sides, we can put a
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  Speaker 1: million good soldiers on the frontier and in a few
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  Speaker 1: weeks support them by another million. But let them not
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  Speaker 1: think that this terrible engine of war was a danger
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  Speaker 1: to the peace of Europe. In worlds which represents a
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  Speaker 1: profound truth, he said, it is just the strength at
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  Speaker 1: which we aim that makes us peaceful. That sounds paradoxical,
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  Speaker 1: but it is so with the powerful engine into which
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  Speaker 1: we are forming. The German army undertakes no offensive war.
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  Speaker 1: In truth, when the army was the nation, what statesman
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  Speaker 1: was there who would venture on one onness? He will attack.
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  Speaker 1: If I were to say to you, we are threaten
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  Speaker 1: by France and Russia, it is better for us to
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  Speaker 1: fight at once. On offensive war is more advantageous for us,
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  Speaker 1: And ask for a creat of one hundred millions. I
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  Speaker 1: do not know whether you would grant it. I hope not.
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  Speaker 1: And he concluded, it is not fear which makes us
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  Speaker 1: lovers of peace, but the consciousness of our own strength.
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  Speaker 1: We can be won by love and good will, but
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  Speaker 1: by them alone. With Germans fear God and nothing else
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  Speaker 1: in the world and it is the fear of God
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  Speaker 1: which makes us seek peace and ensure it. These are
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  Speaker 1: worlds which will not be forgotten so long as the
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  Speaker 1: German tongue is spoken. Well will it be if they
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  Speaker 1: remembered in their entirety. They were the last message of
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  Speaker 1: the older generation to the new Germany, which had arisen
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  Speaker 1: since the war. For already the shadow of death lay
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  Speaker 1: over the city. In the far south, the crown Prince
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  Speaker 1: was sinking to his grave, and but a few weeks
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  Speaker 1: were to pass before Bismuck stood at the bed side
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  Speaker 1: of the dying emperor. He died on March ninth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty eight, a few days before his ninety first birthday,
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  Speaker 1: and with him passed the support on which Bismuck's power arrested.
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  Speaker 1: He was not a great man, but he was an honorable, loyal,
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  Speaker 1: and courtious gentleman. He had not always understood the course
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  Speaker 1: of Bismuck's policy or approved the views which his minister adopted.
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  Speaker 1: The restraint he had in port had often been inconvenient,
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  Speaker 1: and Bismuck had found much difficulty in overcoming the prejudices
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  Speaker 1: of his master. But it had nonetheless been again for
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  Speaker 1: Pismack that he was compelled to explain and justify his
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  Speaker 1: action to men whom he never ceased to love and respect.
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  Speaker 1: How beneficial had been the controlling influence of his presence,
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  Speaker 1: The world was to learn by the events which followed
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  Speaker 1: his death that had happened to each for five and
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  Speaker 1: twenty years. All Pismock's enemies had looked forward. The foundation
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  Speaker 1: on which his power rested was taken away. Men at
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  Speaker 1: once began to speculate on his fall, the noble presence
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  Speaker 1: of the crown Prince, his cheerful and kindly manness, his
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  Speaker 1: non attachment to liberal ideas, his strong national feeling, the
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  Speaker 1: success with which he had borne himself on the unconngenual
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  Speaker 1: field or battle, or had made him the hope of
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  Speaker 1: the generation to which he belonged, who was so well
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  Speaker 1: suited to solve the difficulties of internal policy with which
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  Speaker 1: Pismarck had struggled so long, hopes never to be fulfilled.
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  Speaker 1: Absent from his father's death bed, he returned to Berlin
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  Speaker 1: a crippled and dying man, and when a few weeks
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  Speaker 1: later his body was lowered into the grave, they were
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  Speaker 1: buried with him. The hopes and aspirations of a whole generation.
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  Speaker 1: His early death was indeed a great misfortune for his country,
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  Speaker 1: not that he would have fulfilled all the hopes of
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  Speaker 1: the party that would made him their leader. It is
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  Speaker 1: never wise to depend on the liberalism of a crown
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  Speaker 1: prince when young and inexperienced. He had been in opposition
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  Speaker 1: to his father's government, But his father before him, had,
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  Speaker 1: while held to the throne, also held a similar position
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  Speaker 1: to his own brother. As crown prince, he had desired
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  Speaker 1: and had one popularity. He had, even too sensitive to
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  Speaker 1: public opinion. However, was a character that required only responsibility.
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  Speaker 1: To strengthen it with the button of sovereignty. He would,
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  Speaker 1: we may suppose, have shown a fixity of purpose which
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  Speaker 1: many of his admirers would hardly have expected of him.
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  Speaker 1: Nor would he have been division in those qualities of
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  Speaker 1: a ruler which are the traditions of his family. He
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  Speaker 1: was not a man to surrender any of the prerogatives
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  Speaker 1: or authority of the crown. He had a stronger will
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  Speaker 1: than his father, and he would have made his will.
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  Speaker 1: Felt his old enmity to Bismarck had almost ceased. It
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  Speaker 1: is not probable that with the new emperor, the Chancellor
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  Speaker 1: would long have held his position, but he would have
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  Speaker 1: been able to transfer the crown to a man who
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  Speaker 1: had learned wisdom by prolonged disappointment. How he would have
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  Speaker 1: governed is shown by the only actual authority which he
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  Speaker 1: had time to carry out. He would have done what
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  Speaker 1: was more important than giving a little more power to
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  Speaker 1: the parliament. He would at once have stopped that old
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  Speaker 1: and bad system which the Prussian government has always attempted
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  Speaker 1: to schoolmaster the people. During his short reign, he dismissed
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  Speaker 1: health from Putkamo, the Minister of the Interior, relative of
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  Speaker 1: Bismarck's wife, for interfering with the freedom of election. We
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  Speaker 1: may be sure that he would have allowed full freedom
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  Speaker 1: of speech, and that he would not have consented to
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  Speaker 1: govern by aid of police. Under him, there would not
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  Speaker 1: have been constant trials for by stead belighting or Bismarck
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  Speaker 1: beliding this he could have done without in the power
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  Speaker 1: of crown or the authority of the government. Those who
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  Speaker 1: know Germany will believe that it was the one reform
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  Speaker 1: which was still required. The illness of the Emperor made
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  Speaker 1: it desirable to avoid points of conflict. Both he and
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  Speaker 1: Bismarck knew that it was impossible During the few weeks
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  Speaker 1: that his life would be spared to execute so important
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  Speaker 1: a change as the resignation of the Chancellor would have been.
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  Speaker 1: On many points there was a difference of opinion, but
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  Speaker 1: Bismarck did not unduly express his view, nor did he
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  Speaker 1: threaten to resign if his advice were not adopted. When,
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  Speaker 1: for instance, the Emperor hesitated to give his assent to
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  Speaker 1: a law prolonging the period of Parliament, Pismack did not
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  Speaker 1: tempt to control his decision. When he Putkamo was dismissed,
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  Speaker 1: Pismack did not remonstrat against an net which was almost
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  Speaker 1: of the nature of a personal reprimand to himself. It was, however,
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  Speaker 1: different when the foreign policy of the Empire was affected.
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  Speaker 1: For here Bismarck, as before, considered himself the trustee and
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  Speaker 1: guarantee of the security of Germany. An old project was
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  Speaker 1: now revived for bringing about the marriage between the Princess
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  Speaker 1: Victoria of Prussia and Prince Alexander of Battenberg. This had
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  Speaker 1: been suggested some years before, while the prince was still
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  Speaker 1: rural of Bulgaria. At Bismarck's advice, the Emperor William had
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  Speaker 1: refused his consent to the marriage, partly for the reason that,
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  Speaker 1: according to the family law of the Juan Tolerance, a
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  Speaker 1: marriage between the Battenberger family would be a mesalliance. He was, however,
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  Speaker 1: even more strongly influenced by the effect this would have
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  Speaker 1: on the political situation of Europe. The foundation of Bismarck's
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: policy was the maintenance of friendship with Russia. This old
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  Speaker 1: established alliance depended, however, on the personal goodwill of the Czar,
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  Speaker 1: and not on the wishes of the Russian nation or
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  Speaker 1: any identity of interest between the two empires. A marriage
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  Speaker 1: between the Prussian princess and a man who was so
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  Speaker 1: bitterly hated by the Czar as was Prince Alexander must
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  Speaker 1: have sidiously injured the friendly relations which had existed between
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  Speaker 1: the two families since the year eighteen fourteen. Bismarck believed
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  Speaker 1: that the happiness of the princess must be sacrificed to
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  Speaker 1: the interest of Germany and the Emperor William, who, when
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  Speaker 1: a young man, had for similar reasons been required by
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  Speaker 1: his father to renounce the hand of the lady to
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: whom he had been devotedly attached, agreed with him. Now
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  Speaker 1: after the Empres's death, the project was revived the Emperor
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  Speaker 1: Frederick wavered between his feelings as a father and his
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  Speaker 1: duty as a king. Bismarck suspected that the strong interest
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  Speaker 1: which the Empress displayed in the project was due not
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: only to maternal affection, but also to the desire which
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  Speaker 1: in all would be natural enough to bring over the
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: German Empire to the side of England in the Eastern Question,
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  Speaker 1: so that England might have a stronger support in a
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: perennial conflict with Russia. The matter therefore appeared to him
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  Speaker 1: as a conflict between the true interests of Germany and
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: those old court influences which he often had had to oppose,
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  Speaker 1: by which the family relationship of the reigning sovereign were
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  Speaker 1: made to devote his attention from the single interests of
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  Speaker 1: his own country. He made the question of confidence. He
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  Speaker 1: threatened to resign, as he so often did under similar circumstances.
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  Speaker 1: He let it be known through the press what was
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  Speaker 1: the cause and, in his opinion, the true interpretation of
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: the conflict which influenced the court. In order to support
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: his view, he called in the help of the Grand
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Duke of Baden, who, as the Emperor's brother in law
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  Speaker 1: and one of the most experiences of the reigning princes
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  Speaker 1: was the proper person to interfere in a matter which
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: concerned both the private and the public life of the sovereign.
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  Speaker 1: The struggle, which threatened to become serious, was however, allayed
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  Speaker 1: by the visit of the Queen of England to Germany. She,
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  Speaker 1: acting in German affairs with death, strict regard to constitutional
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  Speaker 1: principle and that dislike of court intrigue that she always
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: had observed in dealings with her own ministers, gave her
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  Speaker 1: support to Bismarck. The marriage did not take place. Frederick's
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: reign lasted but ninety days, and his son ruled in
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  Speaker 1: his place. The new emperor belonged to the generation which
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: had grown up since the war. He could not remember
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: the old days of conflict. Like all of his generation.
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  Speaker 1: From his earliest years, he had been accustomed to look
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: on Pismock with gratitude and admiration in him. One personal
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: friendship was added to the general feeling of public regard.
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  Speaker 1: He had himself learned from Bismuck's own lips the principles
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: of policy and the lessons of history. It might well
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: seem that he would continue to lean for support on
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: the old statement, so he himself believed. But careful observers
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: who saw his power fiel and his restless activity, foretold
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  Speaker 1: that he would not allow to Pismock that complete freedom
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  Speaker 1: of action and almost absolute power which he had obtained
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  Speaker 1: during the later years of the old Emperor. They foretold
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  Speaker 1: also that Bismarck would not be content with the position
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  Speaker 1: of less power. And there are many wather to watch
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  Speaker 1: for and foment the differences which must arise. End of
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  Speaker 1: Section twenty nine