Today's anniversary set in motion two world wars and destroyed the old World Order. It was not necessarily the cause, but it established the required condition precedent.
Today is January 18, 2008. 137 years ago today, in Versailles of all places, the German Empire was announced. Prussia, with its German allied states, had just defeated Imperial France, forcing the abdication of Napoleon III.
Bismarck, as Prime Minister of Prussia, had always been committed to course which expanded Prussian dominance within Central Europe. His goal was to further the power of the Prussia king whom he served. To that end, he had already guided Prussia through two wars, one with Denmark in 1863, and another with Austria in 1866. Both of these wars ended in victories, leading to the formation of a Prussian dominated confederation in the North, mainly at the expense of the Austro-Hungarian Empire which had controlled several southern German principalities. In furtherance of goal of establishing Prussian dominance over Central Europe, Bismarck orchestrated the causus belli for the Franco-Prussian War itself of 1870 - 1871 with the
Ems Dispatch (sometimes Ems Telegram).
Napoleon III's French Empire was soundly defeated in a series of battles. After the defeat of the French Army at Sedan, Napoleon III was forced to abdicate. Even though France fought on
But flush with victory, Bismarck pushed for one more: the creation of a Prussian dominated, German Empire. On January 18, 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors in the
Château de Versailles, Bismarck had the assembled German princes proclaim
King Wilhelm I of Prussia as Kaiser of the new German Empire.
This new German Empire (or as it was formally known the German Reich) would occupy an area of nearly 208,826 square miles (540,857.54 km2) and would dominate Central Europe. Unlike the decaying empires to the south (Austro-Hungary and Ottoman), this new Empire was vibrant, competing for the lead, or leading, in many economic and military categories.
But the formation of the German Reich completely altered the European political landscape, and with it, the balance of power among the World or Great Powers. In the East, Russia no longer looked west at a confederation which may or may support the Prussian monarchy for power and dominance in Eastern European matters.
Austro-Hungary could no longer count on being able to influence events in Europe and so had to look south towards Ottoman lands for its own outlets. Instead of looking to base its power in the southern German states and Eastern Europe, Austro-Hungarian policy makers began to look towards the Balkans and Ottoman lands.
France had been utterly defeated in the Franco-Prussian War, and further humiliated by Versailles use as the site of the new Kaiser's coronation while the Prussian boot was on its throat. The new French Republic committed itself to the idea of revenge (revanchism), seeking to prepare itself for the day when her armies could reclaim the lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine.
Across the North Sea, King Wilhelm son and heir's mother-in-law, Queen Victoria of Great Britain, and her ministers were forced to reevalute the balance in Europe. For centuries, British foreign policy had been based on the idea of always supporting coalitions against the dominant land power in Europe, as well as ensuring that the harbors associated with the Scheldt Estuary remained in friendly hands.
To an extent, it almost seems like Bismarck understood the dangers that the very existence of the new German Reich posed to all these. Being an astute policymaker, he recognized the inherent weaknesses which Germany's frontiers left her. To that end, he sought to always involve
Germany in alliances, ones which the German Empire could control and which would work to ensure that German borders were protected and its allies were prevented from going to war with each other. By allying with Russia and Austro-Hungarian Empire, while ensure that Britain remained neutral and focused on its overseas colonies, all of which would keep France isolated, then the German Reich could be protected.
But all of that required someone who recognized the ability of other states to combine into alliances. A person who understood that simply because one possessed a fearsome, well trained, superbly armed military, did not ensure victory. From what I have read, it seems fair to say that Bismarck realized that what he created required that this balance be maintained. Allowing France to escape her isolation would ensure that Germany would almost certainly face enemies on two fronts. That to allow Britain to lose focus on its colonial possession and its trade, would force her to get back to the policy of creating a new balance of power in Europe, instead of a dominant power which Germany occupied.
Unfortunately, those who followed in Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm's footsteps failed to see the reason why the German Reich acted as it had. Instead, Kaiser Wilhem II took the throne and
dismissed Bismarck, seeing him as an impediment to Germany obtaining its
place in the sun. Suddenly, gone was the "honest broker" image which Bismarck sought to maintain, replaced with Wilhelm II's more
aggressive foreign policy.
Now, it could be argued that Wilhelm's folly, World War I, was not inevitable. However, the necessary precursor for a war involving the world's Great Powers of the time required that there be a dominant, or at least one which could claim dominance, land power in Europe. So long as the balance within Europe was assured, France, Austro-Hungary, Prussia, and Russia were seemingly content to remain at peace. Great Britain, the fifth Great Power, was not interested in European affairs unless they directly threatened the British Home Islands. Once the buffers of the independent German states were gone, coupled with power of the new German Reich, it was almost a certainty that there would be struggle in Europe since the center of Europe was now controlled by a single entity. Even if Wilhelm II had possessed tempermant of his father,
Frederick III, whose reign was shortened by cancer, the potential of a German threat would simply have gone on like a ticking time bomb till a future German Kaiser would arise that would embark on an aggressive foreign policy.
As it was, the creation of the German Reich resulted in the Wilhelm II being placed as master over a massive German Army, a threat to other land-based powers in Europe. It gave him the resources needed to create a Navy which was designed, almost exclusively, to seek a massive battle in North Sea. He neglected the alliances which had secured Germany's borders. and let his allies dictate policy instead of vice versa. In the end it, his policies enrupted into the First World War. Even though millions died as a result of the war, it was largely inconclusive because of how it ended. And the effect of the war resulted in an upheaval, destroying 3 empires, leading to the creation of the Soviet state, and formenting Germany's version of revanchism to rectify the "
stabbed in the back"
myth created to explain Germany's defeat. Eventually, it would lead to Hitler's desire to reassert German' dominance in world affairs, sparking a second world war.
