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The Cult of the Offensive

It’s a very special day for all of us here at The Ems Dispatch…

Exactly 135 years ago today, an item appeared in newspapers around the world that would forever change the political landscape of Europe. The article detailed a meeting involving French ambassador Count Vincent Benedetti and King Wilhelm of Prussia. The previous day, these two men had met in a beautiful resort town on the River Lahn in western Prussia to negotiate a peaceful solution to a potentially volatile international situation. The issue at hand was an offer made by the provisional Spanish government to Leopold Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a German prince. This offer gave Leopold the right to assume the vacant Spanish throne - a state of affairs the French deemed absolutely unacceptable.

Historically, the primary objective of the French, when dealing with the Germanies, was a politically decentralized and geographically fragmented German realm, incapable of westward expansion. Even at the height of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, France maintained its officious policy of political manipulation, often at the expense of the German peasantry, and watched with glee as the individual states and principalities within the Empire suffered for centuries in their role as Europe’s stomping ground. The bad blood between the two bitter rivals hit its zenith in the early 1800’s, when the legendary Napoleon I decisively crushed the thousand-year reign of the old Reich. Desperate to maintain some degree of imperial power, the House of Habsburg permanently relinquished its authority over the northern states and declared the formation of the Austrian Empire, while the humiliated Germans could only watch helplessly as their loose confederation of territories once again unraveled into oblivion.

The emergence of Otto von Bismarck and the Prussian state in the late 1800’s signaled the birth of a new era for the Germans. Bismarck was a master political strategist who knew how to exploit an opportunity when he saw one. One such event was the aforementioned Spanish offer of their vacant throne to German prince Leopold - King Wilhelm’s cousin, no less - in the summer of 1870. France immediately objected upon hearing the news. A German monarch on two borders was a terrifying prospect for the French, who indignantly demanded an audience with the Prussian king. Wilhelm agreed to the meeting, but was shocked when the exact demands of the French were outlined by their ambassador, Count Benedetti. Not only did the French insist on Leopold’s immediate refusal of the Spanish crown, they also demanded an apology and a promise from King Wilhelm that a German would never again accept such an offer. Incensed, Wilhelm cut the meeting short and recorded his account of the proceedings in a telegram to Bismarck.

Ever the opportunist, Bismarck seized his chance to provoke the French into making a fatal decision. After carefully editing Wilhelm’s telegram to make the disappointing meeting between Wilhelm and Benedetti sound much more confrontational than it actually was, Bismarck released his more provocative version to the press. It hit newsstands on July 14, 1870 - Bastille Day. Believing the release would have the “effect of waving a red cape in front of the face of the Gallic Bull”, Bismarck patiently awaited the French response.

He didn’t have to wait long.

The desired effect was instantaneous. Furious at the audacity of the arrogant Prussians, the outraged Napoleon III hastily declared war just five days later. Anticipating a sure victory over what he considered a vastly inferior foe, Napoleon confidently deployed his armies eastward, and the Franco-Prussian War was officially underway.

Unbeknownst to the French, Bismarck had preemptively formed a secret network of alliances between the German states south of his own Prussia, among which the seeds of nationalism had slowly begun to take root. The image of a French aggressor had resurrected bitter memories of the Napoleonic Wars, and one by one the German states fell into step behind Bismarck’s leadership. Careful to exclude the Habsburg state of Austria, Otto von Bismarck meticulously set a deadly trap for the invading French, and in doing so built the core of what we now recognize as Germany.

It wasn’t even close. The French were obliterated in six months. Napoleon III was captured during the Battle of Sedan, and died in exile less than three years later. France ultimately became a republic, and, excluding Nazi occupation, has remained so ever since. The German Empire was founded in Versailles on January 18, 1871, with Wilhelm declaring himself Kaiser Wilhelm I. Bismarck, of course, became known as the Iron Chancellor, and the rest is history.

All of this from a simple little telegram. The long-term effects of Bismarck’s propaganda masterpiece can still be felt to this very day. The military innovations of the Franco-Prussian War marked the early stages of the nightmare that would become modern warfare. Tragically, the unrepentant and heavy-handed German victory resulted in a French desire for vengeance and continental tensions that would explode into two devastating world wars within the next 75 years. However, the industrial proficiency that began during Bismarck’s German Empire has maintained itself even now, with Germany holding steady as the 4th largest economy on the planet. France never reinstated a monarchy, and has been a model of free republican government for over a century. After successfully navigating the turbulent waters of the 20th century, France and Germany have ultimately positioned themselves at the head of the burgeoning European Union - the largest economic community in history.

To paraphrase a tired cliche, while sticks and stones may, indeed, break a few bones, words can change the world. At least, a certain telegram about a diplomatic meeting in the little resort town of Bad Ems could - a telegram known for all of time as The Ems Dispatch.