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INTRODUCTION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2010

Markus Mösslang  and
Torsten Riotte
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Extract

This fourth volume of the editorial series British Envoys to Germany comprises the last sixteen years of the German Confederation, between the Dresden Conferences of 1851 and the war between Prussia and the majority of the other member states in 1866. Many historical accounts of German politics of the years 1851 to 1866 are influenced on the one hand by the legacy of the revolutionary events of 1848–1849 and on the other hand by the dissolution of the Confederation and Bismarck's unification of a German nation-state dominated by Prussian policies and politics. While the early 1850s can be seen as a period of ‘reaction’ and a negative response to popular social and political demands, the remainder of the period is generally discussed in terms of the struggle for mastery in Germany, particularly the political and ultimately military conflict between Prussia and the Austrian Empire. However, the envoys’ correspondence questions teleological accounts of the time between Dresden and Königgrätz. Throughout the 1850s and 1860s, British diplomatic representatives reported on all matters regarding the German states and the German Confederation. In addition to international affairs and bilateral relations, the dispatches also cover German politics, its federal dimensions, and the policies and societies of the federal states. Like other contemporary sources, the envoys’ reports provide strong evidence that the period 1851–1866 should be seen as more than just a time of transition between revolution and unification. In fact, the multifaceted views of British diplomatic representatives to Germany provide a much broader picture and substantiate the demand for understanding the time between 1851 and 1866 in its own right.

Type
Introduction
Information
Royal Historical Society Camden Fifth Series , Volume 37: BRITISH ENVOYS TO GERMANY 1816–1866 , December 2010 , pp. 1 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 2010

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References

1 The main aspects of the period covered by this edition are discussed by Müller, Frank Lorenz, Britain and the German Question: perceptions of nationalism and political reform, 1830–63 (Basingstoke, 2002)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Manteuffel, Anselm Doering, Vom Wiener Kongress zur Pariser Konferenz: England, die deutsche Frage und das Mächtesystem 1815–1856 (Göttingen, 1991)Google Scholar; Davis, John R., Britain and the German Zollverein, 1848–66 (Basingstoke and London, 1997)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Metzler, Gabriele, Großbritannien – Weltmacht in Europa: Handelspolitik im Wandel des europäischen Staatensystems 1856 bis 1871 (Berlin, 1997)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 FO 30/150: Baron Cowley to Viscount Palmerston, No 176, Frankfurt, 9 June 1851.

3 For information on British missions and diplomats, see The Foreign Office List and Diplomatic and Consular Yearbook (London, 1852 onwards).

4 On the committee and the development of the diplomacy in general, see Jones, Raymond A., The British Diplomatic Service, 1815–1914 (Gerrards Cross, Bucks, 1983)Google Scholar.

5 Report from the Select Committee on Official Salaries, 1850 (611), p. ix.

6 Report from the Select Committee on the Constitution and Efficiency of the Diplomatic Service, together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, Appendix, and Index, 1861 (459), p. xv.

7 Select Committee on Official Salaries, p. 68.

8 Ibid., p. 150.

9 Select Committee on the Diplomatic Service, p. 108.

10 Jones, Diplomatic Service, p. 46.

11 Select Committee on Diplomatic Service, p. 200.

12 Ibid., p. 292.

13 Ibid., p. 154.

14 Ibid., p. xv.

15 Ibid., pp. 108–109.

16 FO 68/142: Charles Augustus Murray to Earl of Clarendon, No 36, Dresden, 28 June 1866.

17 FO 68/95: Francis Reginald Forbes to Earl of Clarendon, No 40, Dresden, 14 October 1855.

18 FO 68/87: Francis Reginald Forbes to Earl of Clarendon, No 25, Dresden, 4 May 1853.

19 FO 9/144: John Ralph Milbanke to Lord John Russell, No 38, Munich, 25 April 1860.

20 FO 30/171: Alexander Malet to Earl of Clarendon, No 23, Frankfurt, 14 February 1855.

21 Select Committee on the Diplomatic Service, p. xv.

22 Ibid., p. 180.

23 See the lists in Temperley, H.W.V., A Century of Diplomatic Blue Books, 1814–1914 (Cambridge, 1938)Google Scholar.

24 See FO 34/143: Henry Francis Howard to Earl Russell, No 158, Hanover, 23 April 1864.

25 FO 68/95: Francis Reginald Forbes to Earl of Clarendon, No 6, Dresden, 4 February 1855.

26 Müller, Britain and the German Question, p. 157.

27 FO 30/229: Alexander Malet to Lord Stanley, No 44, Frankfurt, 27 August 1866.

28 FO 30/191: Alexander Malet to Lord John Russell, No 22, Frankfurt, 2 March 1860.

29 FO 34/64: John Duncan Bligh to Viscount Palmerston, No 70, Hanover, 13 June 1851.

30 Ibid.

31 FO 30/167: Alexander Malet to Earl of Clarendon, No 22, Frankfurt, 25 April 1854.

32 FO 34/64: John Duncan Bligh to Viscount Palmerston, No 70, Hanover, 13 June 1851.

33 FO 64/334: Henry Francis Howard to Viscount Palmerston, Confidential, No 145, Berlin, 11 December 1851.

34 FO 7/510: George Hamilton Seymour to Earl of Clarendon, No 72, Confidential, Vienna, 28 January 1857.

35 FO 30/187: Alexander Malet to Lord John Russell, No 35, Frankfurt, 28 July 1859.

36 FO 30/207: Alexander Malet to Earl Russell, No 96, Frankfurt, 14 August 1863.

37 FO 64/354: Lord John Arthur Douglas Bloomfield to Earl of Clarendon, No 163, Berlin, 22 April 1853.

38 FO 7/569: Lord Augustus Loftus to Earl of Malmesbury, No 409, Vienna, 12 May 1859.

39 FO 30/191: Alexander Malet to Lord John Russell, No 22, Frankfurt, 2 March 1860.

40 FO 9/149: John Ralph Milbanke to Lord John Russell, No 63, Munich, 28 May 1861.

41 FO 30/195: Alexander Malet to Lord John Russell, No 36, Frankfurt, 1 March 1861.

42 FO 7/637: Julian Fane to Earl Russell, No 163, Vienna, 11 September 1862.

43 FO 30/191: Alexander Malet to Lord John Russell, No 51, Frankfurt, 4 May 1860.

44 FO 34/137: Henry Francis Howard to Earl Russell, No 140, Hanover, 22 August 1863.

45 Cf. Flöter, Jonas, Beust und die Reform des Deutschen Bundes 1850–1866 (Cologne, 2001)Google Scholar; Müller, Jürgen, Deutscher Bund und deutsche Nation 1848–1866 (Göttingen, 2005)Google Scholar.

46 FO 9/121: John Ralph Milbanke to Earl of Clarendon, No 40, Munich, 24 June 1854.

47 Quotes from: FO 68/81: Francis Reginald Forbes to Viscount Palmerston, No 87, Dresden, 27 October 1851; FO 82/83: George Sulyarde Stafford Jerningham to Earl of Clarendon, Confidential, No 24, Stuttgart, 25 October 1856; FO 30/188: Alexander Malet to Lord John Russell, No 72, Frankfurt, 2 November 1859.

48 FO 82/88: George Sulyarde Stafford Jerningham to Earl of Malmesbury, No 24, Stuttgart, 28 July 1858.

49 FO 68/95: Francis Reginald Forbes to Earl of Clarendon, No 40, Dresden, 14 October 1855.

50 FO 7/569: Lord Augustus Loftus to Earl of Malmesbury, No 409, Vienna, 12 May 1859.

51 FO 9/140: John Ralph Milbanke to Earl of Malmesbury, No 34, Munich, 26 April 1859.

52 FO 33/162: George Lloyd Hodges to Lord John Russell, No 47, Hamburg, 22 October 1859.

53 FO 82/95: George John Robert Gordon to Lord John Russell, Confidential, No 127, Stuttgart, 30 August 1860.

54 FO 34/64: John Duncan Bligh to Viscount Palmerston, No 79, Hanover, 11 July 1851.

55 FO 34/64: John Duncan Bligh to Viscount Palmerston, No 70, Hanover, 13 June 1851.

56 FO 34/64: John Duncan Bligh to Viscount Palmerston, No 79, Hanover, 11 July 1851.

57 FO 9/129: John Ralph Milbanke to Earl of Clarendon, No 45, Munich, 10 July 1856.

58 FO 82/88: George Sulyarde Stafford Jerningham to Earl of Malmesbury, No 24, Stuttgart, 28 July 1858.

59 Ibid.

60 FO 9/129: John Ralph Milbanke to Earl of Clarendon, No 45, Munich, 10 July 1856.

61 FO 30/183: Alexander Malet to Earl of Malmesbury, Confidential, No 134, Frankfurt, 28 November 1858.

62 FO 64/490: Lord John Arthur Douglas Bloomfield to Lord John Russell, Confidential, No 108, Berlin, 17 March 1860.

63 FO 64/512: Lord Augustus Loftus to Lord John Russell, No 322, Berlin, 6 July 1861.

64 FO 64/575: Lord Francis Napier to Earl Russell, Confidential, No 133, Berlin, 9 May 1865.

65 FO 64/566: Lord Francis Napier to Earl Russell, Most Confidential, No 2, Berlin, 18 November 1864.

66 FO 30/183: Alexander Malet to Earl of Malmesbury, Confidential, No 134, Frankfurt, 28 November 1858.

67 FO 33/166: John Ward to Lord John Russell, No 7, Hamburg, 14 July 1860.

68 FO 68/81: Francis Reginald Forbes to Viscount Palmerston, No 87, Dresden, 27 October 1851.

69 FO 7/486: George Hamilton Seymour to Earl of Clarendon, No 391, Vienna, 5 June 1856.

70 FO 68/84: Francis Reginald Forbes to Earl of Malmesbury, No 36, Dresden, 23 September 1852.

71 FO 64/342: Lord John Arthur Douglas Bloomfield to Earl of Malmesbury, Confidential, No 148, Berlin, 18 June 1852.

72 FO 68/84: Francis Reginald Forbes to Earl of Malmesbury, No 36, Dresden, 23 September 1852.

73 FO 82/88: George Sulyarde Stafford Jerningham to Earl of Malmesbury, No 38, Stuttgart, 23 September 1858.

74 FO 7/637: Julian Fane to Earl Russell, No 163, Vienna, 11 September 1862.

75 FO 34/144: Henry Francis Howard to Earl Russell, No 176, Hanover, 13 May 1864.

76 FO 64/566: Lord Francis Napier to Earl Russell, Most Confidential, No 2, Berlin, 18 November 1864.

77 FO 9/176: Henry Francis Howard to Lord Stanley, No 69, Munich, 21 August 1866.

78 FO 64/599: Lord Augustus Loftus to Lord Stanley, No 110, Berlin, 4 August 1866.

79 Select Committee on Official Salaries, p. ix.