BRITISH IDENTITY AND THE GERMAN OTHER A Dissertation ...

“shadowy Imperial power” prior to German unification. New Germany dominated by Prussia
and “hypnotized by the generations of Hohenzollern influence,” had still not made significant
strides politically since the events of 1848 and 1870. 46
46 “German Characteristics,” The Spectator, reprinted in Living Age 228 (January-March
1901): 129-30.
Bismarckian Germany
The unpolitical German stereotype persisted through the Bismarckian era despite
acknowledgment of Bismarck’s own canny diplomacy and political savvy. Bismarck himself,
though an archconservative and fierce monarchist, represented a departure from the stiff
reactionism that preceded his appointment as Prussian Minister-President and Foreign Minister
in 1862. The Fortnightly Review offered a political assessment of then Count Bismarck at the
time of Prussia’s crushing defeat of Austria at Sadowa in July of 1866. Bismarck appeared a
reckless opportunist and hypocrite, a “true fanatic” for Prussia masquerading as a German
nationalist who had reversed his long-standing opposition to “universal suffrage” only for
reasons of political expediency. 47 The author documented Bismarck’s aversion to
constitutionalism, his arrogance toward liberals, his harassment of independent journalists and
his part in the Prussian politics of might over right that had dissolved a recalcitrant parliament
over the contentious issue of the king’s military budget. 48 Bismarck’s obstruction of German
liberalization, and his targeting of the French and such “enemies” of the empire as Poles,
47 Universal suffrage meant the vote for male taxpayers only. Under the Prussian threeclass
electoral system, established in 1849 for the Chamber of Deputies or lower house of
parliament, the wealthiest 20-25% controlled two-thirds of the vote.
48 Max Schlesinger, “Count Bismarck,” Pts. 1 and 2, Fortnightly Review 5, no. 28 (1 July
1866): 385-86, 394-95; 5, no. 29 (15 July 1866): 603-4.
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