Author Description

This is both a biography of Holstein and a detailed study of German foreign and domestic policy his career. Professor Rich uses him as a focusing point, his activity being a constant and vital element in the conduct of German affairs from the time of Bismarck to 1909. The biography should clear up the mystery about Holstein. Using both the Holstein Papers and other archives, it gives a clear and level-headed account of his life. Holstein emerges as powerful, but less villainous, and indeed less successful than he has been painted, and is seen rather as an intelligent, devoted and able man with certain decided limitations. The activity at the centre of which he worked is recreated in full detail. This is in effect a new account of the whole of German foreign policy, and a large-scale treatment of domestic policy as well, emphasizing the play of personalities in the German ruling class and the succession of constitutional crises provoked by the astonishing Wilhelm II. Much of the detail here is new. There is a long and important analysis of Bismarck's foreign policy, which Holstein failed to understand. There is a detailed account of the Anglo-German alliance negotiations: new light is shed here by the files of the German Embassy in London. There is also an analysis of the Moroccan crisis which nearly led to war in 1905. Finally Holstein's part in the Eulenburg scandal is disentangled. Professor Rich concludes with a shrewd assessment of Holstein's personality, showing the characteristics which made him powerful and the limitations which removed ultimate success from his grasp.