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IV. Baron von Holstein, The “Mystery Man” of the German Foreign Office 1890–1906
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 December 2011
Extract
Though historians are still waiting for Holstein's papers, enough material has accumulated since his death in 1909 to attempt a sketch of the man who had the largest share in the control of German foreign policy from the fall of Bismarck in 1890 till his own retirement in 1906. During his lifetime his name was scarcely known even to his countrymen; but the Memoirs of his colleagues Otto Hammann and Baron von Eckardstein, to mention only the two principal witnesses, have thrown a flood of light on the Éminence Grise of modern Germany, who, like Père Joseph, loved to work in the dark and preferred the reality to the pomp of power.
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References
page 61 note 1 The chief authorities are Biographisches Jahrbuch, xiv. 304–313; Hammann, Der neue Kurs, Zur Vorgeschichte des Weltkrieges, Um den Kaiser, Der Missverstandene Bismarck, and Bilder aus der letzten Kaiserzeit; Eckardstein, Erinnerungen; Prince Alexander Hohenlohe, “Eine Grau Eminenz,” Deutsche Revue, Jan. 1919; H. von Rath, “Erinnerungen an Holstein,” Deutsche Revue, Oct. 1909; Harden, Köpfe, I. 91–145; Busch, Secret Passages of Bismarck's Life; Hohenlohe, Memoirs; The Times, May 10, 1909. I have deliberately made no use of the sensational material in Princess Radziwill's Germany under Three Emperors. Waldersee's Denkwürdigkeiten, which came into my hands too late to be utilised, afford fresh evidence of Holstein's occult power and mischievous influence.
page 62 note 1 See Busch, Diary, ii. 59–61, and Die Grosse Politik der Europäischen Kabinette, 1–34.
page 63 note 1 The documents are printed in Der Arnim'sche Process.
page 64 note 1 Le Procès d'Arnim.
page 64 note 2 Erinnerungen, 1. 22–23.
page 65 note 1 Crispi's Memoirs, II. 41–6.
page 65 note 2 Hohenlohe, Denkwürdigkeiten, 11. 274.
page 67 note 1 Ereigrrisse und Gestalten, vi. The reference to the hyaena eyes is not so bad as it sounds, for Holstein had almost completely lost the use of one eye in a shooting accident. He was sometimes called Polyphemus.
page 67 note 2 Pribram, The Secret Treaties of Austria-Hungary, ii. 70–75.
page 68 note 1 March 27, 1889. Die Grosse Politik der Europäischen Kabinette, IV. 406.
page 68 note 2 Printed in Epstein, Bismarck's Entlassung, pp. 35–36. This letter outweighs the suspicious fact that in the winter of 1887–88 he asked a friend of the old Emperor to lunch and told him that Bismarck was losing his memory and getting too old for work. Sidney Whitman, German Memories, pp. 230–31.
page 69 note 1 H. von Rath, “Erinnerungen an Holstein,” Deutsche Revue, Oct. 1909. Aus den Tagen Bismarck's Kampf gegen Caprivi, pp. 1–9.
page 70 note 1 Eckardstein, iii. 18–19.
page 70 note 2 Aus den Tagen Bismarck's Kampf gegen Caprivi, pp. 1–9
page 71 note 1 Der neue Kurs, pp. 57–58.
page 71 note 2 “Der Staatsdienst hat mich als Mensch verdorben.” Rennell Rodd, Social and Diplomatic Memories, p. 135.
page 71 note 3 Der neue Kurs, pp. 58–66. (The Oyster-lover, the Sparrow, and Count Troubadour.)
page 73 note 1 Oncken, Bennigsen, II. 591–92.
page 74 note 1 See Thimme, “Bismarck und Kardorff(Aus Kardorff's Nachlass),” Deutsche Revue, May, 1917.
page 74 note 2 Ib. June, 1917.
page 75 note 1 Tirpitz, Memoirs, I. 76.
page 79 note 1 Ereignisse und Gestalten, pp. 83–86.
page 79 note 2 Holstein admitted to friends that the Kaiser made “no bad impression” on him.
page 80 note 1 1. 166–69.
page 81 note 1 Johannes Haller, Die Aera Bülow, p. 35.
page 82 note 1 The German White-book appeared with many omissions and excisions of Holstein's despatches, since it was desired both to spare French susceptibilities and to veil German inconsistencies.
page 83 note 1 The latest and most authoritative account of Holstein's fall is in Hammann, Bilder aus der letzten Kaiserzeit, pp. 29–40.
page 83 note 2 Die Zukunft, Oct. 19, 1907. Holstein's life and opinions after his fall are described in Harden, Köpfe, 1. 91–145, and H. von Rath, “Erinnerungen an Holstein,” Deutsche Revue, October, 1909.