The German Question, Part Sixty-Four

"Bismarck" Part 5/I "Bismarck as Chancellor & A Treaty With 'Contentious Relatives' "

"Bismarck & Foreign Policy"

Bismarck's overall foreign policy is far too involved for this series. To keep things simple, Bismarck was always on guard against France, as the French clearly wanted revenge for their defeat by Prussia (Germany) in 1870/71. As part of his overall strategy to keep France isolated, Bismarck wanted Russia on his side; thus keeping them from allying with France and putting hostile powers on Germany's eastern and western borders, but his moves to cozy up with the Russians angered the Austrians, as Russia and Austria-Hungary were competitors in eastern and southeastern Europe.* So, he signed agreements with both Russia and Austria-Hungary.** This agreement was so loose, it really meant virtually nothing, but it did symbolize the protection and preservation of monarchies ( a conservative principle in those times), as it was called "The Three Emperors League" or "Dreikaiserbund," in German.

Over the years, I have read so many books and articles about Bismarck and Austria, I know I've seen comments that, ruthless pragmatist though he was, Bismarck regretted that Austria's German population had to be excluded from a united Germany. There's no question that the common German language kept the two contentious relatives close, and the two European powers were, therefore, natural allies, but Bismarck was not one to let pure sentiment get in his way; there had to be the practical side. In 1879, he signed a treaty with Austria-Hungary which said that either country would aid the other if attacked by Russia, but that if either were attacked by "another country,"*** the other partner could remain neutral. This treaty remained in effect long after Bismarck, and kept Germany and Austria-Hungary as allies during World War One. It is usually referred to as "The Dual Alliance."****

Other European countries, like England, France and Spain, had long been involved in establishing colonies. At first, Bismarck refrained from such matters, but what was becoming Germans' collective inferiority complex shifted public sentiment toward building an overseas empire to compete in status with the British and French. Added to this sentiment was the desire by German companies for overseas resources and markets, and this prompted Bismarck to act. Africa was a prime spot. Togoland^ became a German colony in 1884 and remained as such until 1914 in World War One, when the British and French sent troops into the colony, which had virtually no German troops protecting it. It fell without combat. Cameroon also became a colony in 1884 and it too was invaded by British and French troops during World War One. There were some German troops in Cameroon, however, who were supported by even more native colonial troops. There was a fair amount of fighting, and it wasn't until 1916 that the final German outpost there surrendered. What was called "German East Africa"^^ became a colony in 1885 and remained such until the end of World War One. There were some German troops in the colony and many more colonial native troops, which together put up quite a fight against numerically superior British forces. The colony was lost at the end of the war. German Southwest Africa^^^ became a German colony in 1884, remaining such until 1915, when far outnumbered German and native troops surrendered to British and South African forces. Germany also gained some Pacific island colonies, mainly in the New Guinea area, some gained during Bismarck's time, some a few years later. All were lost either during or after WWI.

Next, the final part on "Bismarck"... (A Word History is below the notes)

*With Russia being the largest of Slavic countries, it had come to be seen as the "protector of the Slavs." Austria-Hungary had various Slavic peoples within its borders, all somewhat restless for independence.

** The former Austrian Empire had been divided between the German-Austrian part and the Hungarian part, as "Austria-Hungary," but was united under rule by the Habsburg emperor, who was simultaneously "King of Hungary."

*** At that point in time, 1879, "another country" obviously meant "France," without specifying it.

**** Italy later joined the alliance, making it the "Triple Alliance," but during World War One, Italy remained neutral at first, and then shunned the alliance and joined the Allies against Austria-Hungary and Germany, in 1915.

^ Togoland is now basically the nations of Ghana and Togo.

^^ German East Africa became the modern countries of "Tanzania," "Burundi," and "Rwanda."

^^^ Now the nation of Namibia.

WORD HISTORY:
Frolic/Fröhlich/Frog-Don't laugh, believe it or not, the first two words come from the last! Here's the story: first, I've included German "fröhlich" because of the holiday season, and because of my desire to tie in the German history articles with word histories of common origin between German and English. For those of you who know German or for those who may have had German speaking relatives or neighbors, you may have heard "Fröhliche Weihnachten," which is the German equivalent of "Merry Christmas." It is obviously very close to the English word "frolic." I didn't spend a huge amount of time checking, but I did not find a similar word in English, even going way back to Anglo-Saxon times, that took on the same meaning of "happy, merry," as the German word has.

So let's get on with "frog:" this word goes back to Indo European "preu," which had the meaning of "hop, spring upward, move hastily." This gave Old Germanic "fruska(z)," which was applied to the "hopping" animal, the frog, and simply meant "hopper" or "jumper." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "frosc" (also spelled "frox"), which then had a diminutive form "frogga." This form continued side by side with "frosc," later spelled "frosk," with the latter still in use by some English dialects in the 1800s! Eventually "frog" ahh.... leaped to the forefront (I couldn't resist that!). The other Germanic languages have: German "Frosch," Dutch "kikvors," Frisian "frosk," Norwegian "frosk," Danish "frø," Swedish has "groda" (I assume this is just a variant of the same Old Germanic word), Icelandic "froskur." "Frolic" came to English in the 1500s, likely  from Dutch "vrolijk." The Dutch form and German "fröhlich" mean "happy, cheerful, joyous" both having been derived from the respective word for "frog" with the idea of "jumping for joy like a frog!" The suffix "lic," in English, "lijk" in Dutch and "lich" in German are from a common Germanic form which gave English "like" (in the sense to be "like" or the same as someone or something).