Imperial Challenge: Ambassador Count Bernstorff and German-American Relations 1908-1917 Supplementary Volumes to The Papers of Woodrow Wilson
1989réf. 12827Oversized cloth hardcover xix 442 pages NOT ex-library. Shipping weight over 1kg. Pencil underlining and/or annotations / marginalia on 175 pages. Else light wear only book is clean untanned free of any foxing and age-spotting. Untorn dust jacket shows minor edgewear straightened creases on the flaps a touch of sunning on the spine. -- A scholarly study of the deteriorating diplomatic relationship between Germany and the United States in the decade leading up to America's entry into World War I. The book focuses on the tragic role of Count Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff the Imperial German Ambassador to Washington from 1908 to 1917. It portrays Bernstorff as a seasoned liberal diplomat who found himself caught between his personal desire for peace and the aggressive directives of his government in Berlin. Bernstorff is depicted as one of the few high-ranking German officials who understood American power. He repeatedly warned Berlin that unrestricted submarine warfare would inevitably force the U.S. into the war. In his desperation to prevent conflict Bernstorff frequently overstepped his instructions or ignored them entirely to appease the American administration and President Woodrow Wilson. Ultimately his conciliatory advice was ignored by the German military command and the Kaiser who overestimated German power and underestimated the United States. A significant portion of the English edition expanded from the original 1975 German version focuses on the "shadow war" conducted on American soil. The book details German activities in the U.S. between 1914 and 1917 including espionage propaganda and physical sabotage aimed at preventing American munitions from reaching the Allies. Doerries examines the extent to which Bernstorff was aware of these clandestine operations noting the "tricky position" he occupied as both an ambassador and a nominal supervisor of secret service agents like Franz von Papen. Critics and historians consider this work the most comprehensive treatment of German-American diplomatic relations during this critical era. The book utilizes documentary evidence that became available only after World War II providing fresh insight into the internal conflicts within the German Imperial government. University of North Carolina Press hardcover
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