Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 9,001
Loud-mouthed politics: The "Krüger Telegram"...
In December 1895 the so-called "Jameson Raid" failed in South Africa.
In secret collusion with British politician and entrepreneur Cecil Rhodes...
...who dreamed of an all-British Africa (English caricature)...
... the South African politician and dentist Dr. Leander Starr Jameson...
... secretly set up a gang of irregulars and desparados...
...and had invaded the semi-independent Boer republic of Transvaal with the aim of incorporating it into British South Africa.
The enterprise failed miserably, after only a few days Boer fighters had caught, overwhelmed or wiped out Jamesson's gang - and captured the would-be imperialist who led them...:
The British government emphatically distanced itself from the action (which they probably had nothing to do with!), Jameson was extradited to London and later sentenced to 15 years in prison (of which he only had to serve five).
That could have been the end of the story - if someone hadn't been able to keep his big mouth shut again!
On January 3, 1896, the German Emperor Wilhelm II.
... invites the Reichs chancellor Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst...
... the State Secretary in the Foreign Office (Foreign Minister) Adolf Marschall von Bieberstein...
... the State Secretary of the Reich Navy Office, Admiral Friedrich von Hollmann...
... the chief of the naval cabinet, Admiral Gustav von Senden-Bibran...
... as well as the commanding admiral of the Imperial Navy, Eduard von Knorr...
...into the Berlin Palace.
William the Great was almost glowing with belligerence and was convinced that the British government was behind the "Jameson Raid", although his London ambassador had repeatedly assured him that this was not the case.
The Kaiser rants at the top of his lungs about sending German troops and warships to the Transvaal - and the rest of those present have a hard time preventing him from immediately going to war for the Boers against Britain.
At the end of the turbulent meeting there is - as a compromise - the following telegram from the German Emperor to the Boer President Stephanus Johannes Paulus "Ohm" Krüger...:
I offer you my sincere congratulations that, without appealing for help to friendly powers, you and your people have succeeded in restoring peace with your own energy against the armed hordes that broke into your country as disturbers of the peace and to preserve the country's independence against external attacks."
Here is the original - with the initials of the meeting participants...:
Also on the basis of the result of the meeting, the telegram will be published simultaneously in all the important German newspapers.
Experienced diplomats put their heads together!
One of them even had the courage to ask Foreign Minister Adolf Marschall von Bieberstein whether he still had all the slats on the fence to give his blessing to this telegram.
But Marschall can only answer: "Oh, you have no idea what else was suggested in there...!"
The telegram brings nothing to the Boers - the "Jameson Raid" was long history - but Britain and Germany are now indeed on the brink of war.
Because the outraged British read only one thing from the text - as do the Germans, by the way: If the Boers had only asked for it, Germany would have come to their aid with the military...
In addition, the British find it unpleasant that the telegram passage "to preserve the independence of the country against attacks from outside" assumes that the Transvaal state had an independence that it did not legally have due to its restrictions in foreign policy matters.
These foreign policy affairs were incumbent on the British - as was contractually agreed with the Boers - the Boer republics were, as we would say today, "semi-autonomous" but by no means independent!
And so the telegram also represented a German attack on British rights.
Well - as we know today, there was no war between Germany and Great Britain, but it was the first hard break in the friendly and good-neighborly relationship between the two countries since the Napoleonic Wars.
The British, without speaking out loud, proceeded to look for other friends on the European continent, a development that led to the Franco-British Entente and the First World War many years later (and more of William II's boastfulness). ..
In December 1895 the so-called "Jameson Raid" failed in South Africa.
In secret collusion with British politician and entrepreneur Cecil Rhodes...
...who dreamed of an all-British Africa (English caricature)...
... the South African politician and dentist Dr. Leander Starr Jameson...
... secretly set up a gang of irregulars and desparados...
...and had invaded the semi-independent Boer republic of Transvaal with the aim of incorporating it into British South Africa.
The enterprise failed miserably, after only a few days Boer fighters had caught, overwhelmed or wiped out Jamesson's gang - and captured the would-be imperialist who led them...:
The British government emphatically distanced itself from the action (which they probably had nothing to do with!), Jameson was extradited to London and later sentenced to 15 years in prison (of which he only had to serve five).
That could have been the end of the story - if someone hadn't been able to keep his big mouth shut again!
On January 3, 1896, the German Emperor Wilhelm II.
... invites the Reichs chancellor Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst...
... the State Secretary in the Foreign Office (Foreign Minister) Adolf Marschall von Bieberstein...
... the State Secretary of the Reich Navy Office, Admiral Friedrich von Hollmann...
... the chief of the naval cabinet, Admiral Gustav von Senden-Bibran...
... as well as the commanding admiral of the Imperial Navy, Eduard von Knorr...
...into the Berlin Palace.
William the Great was almost glowing with belligerence and was convinced that the British government was behind the "Jameson Raid", although his London ambassador had repeatedly assured him that this was not the case.
The Kaiser rants at the top of his lungs about sending German troops and warships to the Transvaal - and the rest of those present have a hard time preventing him from immediately going to war for the Boers against Britain.
At the end of the turbulent meeting there is - as a compromise - the following telegram from the German Emperor to the Boer President Stephanus Johannes Paulus "Ohm" Krüger...:
I offer you my sincere congratulations that, without appealing for help to friendly powers, you and your people have succeeded in restoring peace with your own energy against the armed hordes that broke into your country as disturbers of the peace and to preserve the country's independence against external attacks."
Here is the original - with the initials of the meeting participants...:
Also on the basis of the result of the meeting, the telegram will be published simultaneously in all the important German newspapers.
Experienced diplomats put their heads together!
One of them even had the courage to ask Foreign Minister Adolf Marschall von Bieberstein whether he still had all the slats on the fence to give his blessing to this telegram.
But Marschall can only answer: "Oh, you have no idea what else was suggested in there...!"
The telegram brings nothing to the Boers - the "Jameson Raid" was long history - but Britain and Germany are now indeed on the brink of war.
Because the outraged British read only one thing from the text - as do the Germans, by the way: If the Boers had only asked for it, Germany would have come to their aid with the military...
In addition, the British find it unpleasant that the telegram passage "to preserve the independence of the country against attacks from outside" assumes that the Transvaal state had an independence that it did not legally have due to its restrictions in foreign policy matters.
These foreign policy affairs were incumbent on the British - as was contractually agreed with the Boers - the Boer republics were, as we would say today, "semi-autonomous" but by no means independent!
And so the telegram also represented a German attack on British rights.
Well - as we know today, there was no war between Germany and Great Britain, but it was the first hard break in the friendly and good-neighborly relationship between the two countries since the Napoleonic Wars.
The British, without speaking out loud, proceeded to look for other friends on the European continent, a development that led to the Franco-British Entente and the First World War many years later (and more of William II's boastfulness). ..
