“Three and a Half Men”: The Bülow-Hammann System of Public Relations before the First World War by Nathan N. Orgill Department of History Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Alex Roland, Supervisor ___________________________ Dirk Bonker ___________________________ Malachi H. Hacohen ___________________________ Seymour Mauskopf ___________________________ Martin A. Miller Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History in the Graduate School of Duke University 2009 ABSTRACT “Three and a Half Men”: The Bülow-Hammann System of Public Relations before the First World War by Nathan N. Orgill Department of History Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Alex Roland, Supervisor ___________________________ Dirk Bonker ___________________________ Malachi H. Hacohen ___________________________ Seymour Mauskopf ___________________________ Martin A. Miller An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History in the Graduate School of Duke University 2009 Copyright by Nathan N. Orgill 2009 Abstract This dissertation analyzes the history of the press bureau of the German Foreign Office before the First World War. Methodologically, the work tries to locate European international history in a larger political, intellectual, and cultural context by examining German statesmen and their attempts to cultivate a consensus for their policies in the Reichstag and the press from 1890 to 1914. Relying upon official documents, memoirs, personal letters, and published newspaper articles, it argues that the death of the “Old Diplomacy,” usually associated with the years after the Versailles Peace Treaty, actually began as early as 1890. This development caused German statesmen after Bismarck’s dismissal to invent new ways of building public support for their policies through the creation of what is labeled here the “Bülow-Hammann System” of public relations. Eschewing Bismarckian methods of compulsion, this new system cultivated personal connections with journalists from trusted newspapers who would toe a government line for inside information. The system initially worked well to meet the new openness of the international milieu after 1890. But eventually these methods failed to stem criticism on the nationalist right and socialist left after 1909, when Germany’s position vis-à-vis France, Britain, and Russia greatly deteriorated. As a result, more modern methods of dealing with public opinion had to be developed in Germany after 1914—the dissemination of outright propaganda and the use of modern press conferences—to cultivate support for governmental policies. iv filiolis meis et puellae meae v Der Handelnde ist immer gewissenlos; es hat niemand Gewissen als der Betrachtende. Goethe, Maximen und Reflexionen (1824) vi Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv List of Tables ........................................................................................................................x List of Abbreviations .......................................................................................................... xi Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... xii Introduction: From the Old to the New Diplomacy ............................................................ 1 The Death of an Old Man ............................................................................................... 1 Bismarck and the Old Diplomacy ................................................................................. 9 Methodology and Historiography ............................................................................... 23 Chapter 1: The Rise of the Public-Opinion Problem, 1890-1897 ..................................... 33 Bismarck’s Last Withdrawal ....................................................................................... 33 Bismarck’s Dismissal .................................................................................................. 36 The New Course .......................................................................................................... 42 The Public-Opinion Problem and the New Course .................................................... 50 The Transformation of European Politics .................................................................. 60 The Army Bill and the Coming of Hammann ............................................................. 66 Marschall’s “Flücht nach Öffentlichkeit” .................................................................... 79 The Development of the Press Bureau ....................................................................... 94 Chapter 2: Germany’s Place in the Sun, 1895-1902 ........................................................ 105 A Telegram from the Kaiser .......................................................................................105 The Inauguration of Weltpolitik ............................................................................... 109 Bülow, Weltpolitik, and the Public-Opinion Problem ............................................... 127 Old Diplomacy against the New ................................................................................ 145 vii The New Diplomacy Triumphant .............................................................................. 158 Chapter 3: The Isolation of Germany, 1900-1906 ........................................................... 178 The Journalists at Algeciras ....................................................................................... 178 The Rise of the Bülow-Hammann System ................................................................ 180 The End of Anglo-German Collaboration, 1902-1903 ............................................... 192 The End of Britain’s Splendid Isolation.................................................................... 200 The Reaction to the Entente and the Russo-Japanese War ...................................... 211 German Diplomacy Triumphant: The Tangier Landing .......................................... 225 German Diplomacy Defeated: The Algeciras Conference ........................................ 238 Chapter 4: The End of the Bülow-Hammann System, 1906-1914 .................................. 262 Bülow’s Fainting Fit in the Reichstag ....................................................................... 262 Hammann’s Power at its Zenith ............................................................................... 266 Germany’s Encirclement and the Daily Telegraph Affair .......................................... 281 The Bosnian Crisis .................................................................................................... 305 The End of the Bülow-Hammann System ................................................................ 320 Conclusion: “Three and a Half Men” .............................................................................. 347 Bethmann and the Enabling Act ............................................................................... 347 “Three and a Half Men” ............................................................................................ 350 Appendix 1: Tables .......................................................................................................... 359 Appendix 2: Translations of German Epigraphs ............................................................ 368 Works Cited .................................................................................................................... 370 Archival Sources ....................................................................................................... 370 Published Document Collections and Government Publications .............................. 371 Memoirs, Published Diaries, and Contemporary Writings ...................................... 372 viii Newspapers and Contemporary Periodicals ............................................................. 378 Secondary Sources .....................................................................................................381 Biography ........................................................................................................................ 396 ix List of Tables Table 1: The German National Press (1914) ................................................................... 360 Table 2: Reichstag Election Results for the Major Parties (1890-1912) ......................... 366 Table 3: Reichstag Election Results for the Major Parties ............................................. 367 x List of Abbreviations BArchL Bundesarchiv, Berlin-Lichterfelde BD British Documents on the Origins of the War BHdAD Biographisches Handbuch des deutschen Auswärtigen Dienstes 1871- 1945 BS Biographisches Staatshandbuch DD Die deutschen Dokumente zum Kriegsausbruch DDF Documents diplomatiques français EK Philipp Eulenburgs politische Korrespondenz GP Die große Politik der europäischen Kabinette 1871-1914 Hatz. Botschafter Paul Graf von Hatzfeldt. Nachgelassene Papiere 1838-1901 MdR MdR. Biographisches Handbuch der Reichstage Nl.H Nachlaß Hammann (Papers of Otto Hammann) NdB Neue deutsche Biographie Ö-UA Österreichisch-Ungarns Aussenpolitik