Bismarck and the containment of France: 1873-1877

Between 1873 and 1877 Germany repeatedly intervened in the internal affairs of France's neighbours. In Belgium, Spain and Italy Bismarck exerted strong and sustained political pressure to support the election or appointment of liberal, anticlerical governments. These German initiatives have been viewd primarily as by-products of the Kulturkampt as diplomatic sideshows. However a detailed study of the origins and interrelationships of these episodes reveals that Bismarck's alliance with western European liberalism was part of an integrated strategy to promote republicanism in France by strategically and ideologically isolating the clerical-monarchist regime of President MacMahon. He hoped that by creating a cordon sanitaire of liberal states around France he could help French republicans defeat MacMahon and his reactionary supporters. The modern concept of containment provides a useful model for understanding the dynamics of Bismarck's proliberal political system in western Europe. It also helps explain Germany's brief entanglement in the eastern question in 1874 when she opposed French inititives in the Ottoman Empire as part of a more 'global' bid to erode MacMahon's popularity at home. But the Bismarckian version of containment was highly pragmatic. The German chancellor exploited the Kulturkampf to ally himself with liberal parties in western Europe, but did not hesitate to use conservative governments whenever they could help. Bismarck's policy of containing the anti-republic forces led by MacMahon had a major impact on the states bordering France and contributed to the final victory of French republicanism in 1877. However these gains were purchased at great cost. The other European powers were alienated by Bismarck's interventionist and confrontational tactics which fuelled fears of German hegemonial aspirations.
Entre 1873 el 1877 l'Allemagne s'immisca a plusieurs replises dans ks affaires internes des voisin de la France Bismarck employa une pression forte et continue pour donner son appui a [...]