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Documents - Military and International Relations
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1.   Preliminary Peace of Nikolsburg (July 26, 1866)
The preliminary peace agreement – more than an armistice, less than a treaty – reached in the Bohemian town of Nikolsburg on July 26, 1866, reflected the initial outcome of the Austro-Prussian War....
2.   Benjamin Disraeli on the "German Revolution" (February 9, 1871)
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) was Britain’s first and only Jewish prime minister. Defeated in a general election in 1868 by William Gladstone (1809-1898), Disraeli faced another six years on the....
3.   Bismarck Tells the British Ambassador that Germany has Achieved its Legitimate Objectives (February 11, 1873)
The text below is an excerpt from a letter by Lord Odo Russell (1829-1884), Britain’s ambassador to Germany from 1872 to 1884, to the British Foreign Secretary Lord Granville. Russell was allegedly....
4.   "The Nightmare of Coalitions": Bismarck on the Other Great Powers (1879/1898)
After German unification in 1871, Bismarck believed that the greatest threat to Germany and international peace was likely to come from France. Therefore, he did his utmost to ensure that France....
5.   Dual Alliance with Austria (October 7, 1879)
Russia emerged from the Congress of Berlin (1878) resenting Germany’s role in blocking its advance in the Balkans. Confronted with the possibility of choosing between Russia and Austria-Hungary,....
6.   Three Emperors’ Treaty with Austria and Russia (June 18, 1881)
In 1873 Bismarck had negotiated the Three Emperors’ League, which included Franz Joseph I of Austria, Alexander II of Russia, and Wilhelm I of Germany. These monarchs guaranteed their countries’....
7.   Triple Alliance with Austria and Italy (May 20, 1882)
The Dual Alliance of 1879 between Germany and Austria-Hungary was expanded in 1882 with the....
8.   Secret Reinsurance Treaty with Russia (June 18, 1887)
Bismarck’s system of alliances had bound Austria close to Germany, principally through the Dual....
9.   Bismarck’s Speech on the Prussian Indemnity Bill (September 1, 1866); Text of the Prussian Indemnity Law (September 14, 1866)
Since his appointment as Prussia’s Minister President in 1862, Bismarck had been at loggerheads with liberals in the Prussian state parliament [Landtag] over the military budget and the reform....
10.   Memories of Sedan Day Festivities in the 1870s (Retrospective Account, 1930)
German unification in 1871 produced a wide variety of commemorations, many of which reflected the....
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