Bismarck, Europa und die ‘Krieg-in-Sicht’-Krise von 1875, by Johannes Janorschke

Abstract

In this hefty volume Johannes Janorschke presents the most thoroughly researched and comprehensive study to date of the War-in-Sight crisis of 1875. Historical investigation and discussion of the origins, meaning and results of the crisis have taken place in many countries since the events themselves. The crisis was ostensibly caused by German newspaper articles in April 1875 which suggested that Germany, for the sake of its own security, should carry out a preventive attack on France. These articles, widely interpreted as originating from Bismarck himself, prompted French protests, German denials and, eventually, an Anglo-Russian diplomatic intervention to avert conflict and calm things down—a step on Britain’s part which also represented a first move by Disraeli away from unalloyed non-interventionism. As Janorschke shows, historians have sought to understand what Bismarck might have been trying to achieve. They have wondered at what was contemporaneously viewed as a defeat for Bismarck, and sought to connect it to both his internal policy (in particular the Kulturkampf) and his diplomatic strategy. Interpreting the crisis has remained a central concern for biographers of the Iron Chancellor. Diplomatic historians, meanwhile, have investigated the roles of individuals concerned, and pointed to the wider context of German foreign policy, including the German balancing act between France, on the one side, and Russia on the other. The link of the crisis to a previous mission to St Petersburg by the German envoy, von Radowitz, has been identified. Yet, as Janorschke convincingly argues, historians have not pursued the matter or the circumstances of Bismarck’s authorship of the newspaper articles in depth. More importantly, an account was needed that would provide an overarching, synthesised history, binding together both the Bismarckian and the diplomatic approaches, and drawing together the findings of researchers from across the full range of relevant areas.