Bernard Schwertfeger

The publication consists of 5 parts, four of which are offered: part 1 Zweibund Englisch-Deutscher Gegensatz 1897-1904; part 3 1908-1912 Bosnian Crisis / Agadir / Albania; part 4 1912-1914 Kriegstreibereien und Kriegsrustungen; part 5 Revanche-idee und panslawismus; Belgian diplomatic reports on the origins of the Dual Alliance; part 2 1905–1907: Moroccan Crisis; King Edward VII is missing. The accompanying text is German, the annexes often French-language. “Zur europäischen Politik 1897–1914: Unveröffentlichte Dokumente” is a significant, multi-volume historical source collection that was published in 1919 on behalf of the Foreign Office of the Weimar Republic, to illuminate the diplomatic prehistory of the First World War from a German perspective. The edition is essentially based on secret files of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which were confiscated during the German occupation of Belgium in World War I. Historical Context and Content The work was produced immediately after the end of World War I in the context of the so-called “war guilt debate.” The German Reich attempted, on the basis of these documents, to show that the Entente powers (especially France, Russia, and Great Britain) had pursued a policy of encirclement against Germany. The volumes contain confidential reports by Belgian ambassadors from the European capitals (such as Paris, London, and St. Petersburg) to the Foreign Ministry in Brussels. Since Belgium was neutral at the time, the diplomats’ reports were historically regarded as particularly revealing third-hand observations. The volumes are thematically organized, for example Volume 5, which deals specifically with French policy of the “Revanche” (revenge).

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