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Gedanken and Erinnerungen
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Historical SummaryNOT by parliamentary resolutions are the great questions of the day settled, but by blood-and-iron." This was the basic philosophy of Otto von Bismarck, Prime Minister of Prussia from 1862 to 1871 and then German Chancellor from 1871 to 1890. Aristocratic, conservative, militaristic, the Junker Bismarck had no use for "phrase-making and constitutions." His course was clear: it was necessary that Germany be unified under the leadership of Prussia, that Austria be excluded from German affairs, and that obstructions placed in his way by any foreign power be eliminated. With extraordinary diplomatic cunning, with cynical devotion to the sword, and with little regard for human life, Bismarck proceeded to translate his political theories into action. As a preliminary step toward unification, he utilized a quarrel with little Denmark to test the powerful Prussian army. In 1864 Denmark was defeated quickly. Then, with characteristic shrewdness, Bismarck isolated Austria from foreign help and secured the assistance of Italy by promising Venetia as a reward. In 1866 the Austro-Prussian War lasted just seven weeks. Only France now stood in the way of German unity. Anxious to preserve the Napoleonic legend of military invincibility, the French emperor tried to hinder the development of German unification. The confused diplomatic meddling of Louis Napoleon, an imperfect carbon-copy version of a more bloodthirsty uncle, gave Bismarck the chance to strike a final blow for German unity. It was an uneven match—the Prussian bulldog against the French poodle. Bismarck isolated Napoleon, making certain that Italy, Russia, Austria, and England would not come to the aid of France. With the Prussian army in a high state of efficiency under General von Moltke, Bismarck awaited his opportunity. The idea was to needle the Frenchman into declaring war on Prussia, a war which Bismarck very zealously desired. The conflict came to a head over the projected Hohenzollern candidacy for the throne of Spain. When King William of Prussia was taking the cure at Bad Eros in the middle of July 1870, he was approached by Benedetti, the French ambassador, and was requested to abandon, once and for all time, any claims to the throne of Spain. The surprised monarch telegraphed an account of the meeting to Bismarck in Berlin, who received it while at dinner with Generals von Moltke and von Roon. The hard-bitten militarists had no appetite, since it appeared that war with France was not probable. With Mephistophelean glee Bismarck edited the dispatch and released it the next day, July 14, 1870, which happened to be Bastille Day. In abbreviated form, the telegram gave the impression of an ultimatum. Both the French and German people interpreted it as an unmitigated insult. France declared war immediately and within two months received a sound beating. Bismarck was inordinately proud of his handiwork. The following description is his own version of the editing of the Ems Dispatch as given in his Reflections and Reminiscences (1889). In conversation with a noted German university professor during the time of the Weimar Republic, an American exchange student stated that, in his estimation, Bismarck’s editing of the Eros Dispatch was pretty unscrupulous. The professor countered: "You Americans are very naive. Certainly not—there was nothing unscrupulous about what Bismarck did. It was clever and very logical under the circumstances. He merely edited the telegram. He shortened it. He didn’t add or change a single word. Besides, he had to use any weapon to fight Louis Napoleon, who sought to prevent our unification."
Key QuoteMoltke: "If I may live to lead our armies in such a war, then the devil may come directly afterwards and fetch away the old carcass!"
Otto von Bismarck
3
Stuttgart
1898
Bismarck Restores Junker Appetites
[1870]
I invited Generals Moltke and Roon to have dinner with me on July 13th, and spoke to them concerning my views and intentions. During the dinner conversation it was reported to me that a code telegram had been received from Ems, and it was then in process of decoding. I then read it to my guests, who were so crushed that they refused to eat or drink.
All considerations, conscious or unconscious, strengthened my opinion that war could be avoided only at the cost of the honor of Prussia and of the national confidence in her.
Under this conviction I made use of the royal authority communicated to me through Abeken to publish the contents of the telegram. In the presence of my guests I reduced the telegram by deleting words, but without adding or altering a single word, to the following form:
"After the news of the renunciation of the hereditary prince of Hohenzollern had been officially communicated to the imperial government of France by the royal government of Spain, the French ambassador at Ems made an additional demand of his Majesty the king that he should authorize him to telegraph to Paris that his Majesty the king bound himself for all future time never again to give his consent if the Hohenzollerns renew that candidature. His Majesty the king thereupon decided not to receive the French envoy again, and informed him through the aide-de-camp on duty that his Majesty had nothing further to say to the ambassador."
The difference in the effect of the
shortened text of the Eros telegram as compared with that of the original was not the result of stronger words, but of the form, which made the announcement appear decisive.
After I had read the condensed version to my two guests, Moltke said:
"Now it has a quite different ring. In its original form it sounded like a parley. Now it is like a flourish in answer to a challenge!"
I went on to explain:
"If, in execution of his Majesty’s order, I immediately communicate this text, which contains no changes in or additions to the telegram, not only to the newspapers, but also by wire to all our embassies, it will be known in Paris before midnight. Not only on account of its contents, but also because of the manner of its distribution, it will have the effect of a red flag on the Gallic bull.
"We must fight if we do not want to act the part of the defeated without a battle. However, success depends essentially upon the impression which the beginning of the war makes upon us and others. It is most important that we should be the ones attacked. Gallic insolence and sensitivity will bring this about if we announce before all Europe, as far as we can without the speaking tube of the Reichstag, that we are courageously meeting the public threats of France."
This explanation drew from both generals a metamorphosis into a more joyous mood, whose liveliness surprised me. They had suddenly recovered their desire to eat and drink and began to speak in a more cheerful tone.
Roon said: "Our God of old still lives, and will not let us die in disgrace."
Moltke relinquished his passive equanimity so much that, glancing up joyously to the ceiling and abandoning his usual punctiliousness of speech, he pounded his chest with his hand and exclaimed:
"If I may but live to lead our armies in such a war, then right afterwards let the devil come and haul away the old carcass." He was then more frail than later and had his doubts as to whether he could live through the fatigue of a field campaign.
Contents:
Chicago: Otto von Bismarck, "Bismarck Restores Junker Appetites," Gedanken and Erinnerungen, ed. Otto Von Bismarck in History in the First Person: Eyewitnesses of Great Events: They Saw It Happen, ed. Louis Leo Snyder and Richard B. Morris (Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Co., 1951), Original Sources, accessed November 21, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=33ZWK76B3E6YIMX.
MLA: Bismarck, Otto von. "Bismarck Restores Junker Appetites." Gedanken and Erinnerungen, edited by Otto Von Bismarck, Vol. 3, in History in the First Person: Eyewitnesses of Great Events: They Saw It Happen, edited by Louis Leo Snyder and Richard B. Morris, Harrisburg, Pa., Stackpole Co., 1951, Original Sources. 21 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=33ZWK76B3E6YIMX.
Harvard: Bismarck, OV, 'Bismarck Restores Junker Appetites' in Gedanken and Erinnerungen, ed. . cited in 1951, History in the First Person: Eyewitnesses of Great Events: They Saw It Happen, ed. , Stackpole Co., Harrisburg, Pa.. Original Sources, retrieved 21 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=33ZWK76B3E6YIMX.
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