The Crown Prince, Clemenceau and the Congo

• Authors: Lothar Höbelt , Jean Garrigues
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Crown Prince Rudolph’s contacts with Georges Clemenceau, the French Radical Party politician (and much later wartime Prime Minister), have often been interpreted as a sign of acute dissatisfaction with Austria-Hungary's German alliance. However, a closer look at Rudolph’s correspondence with the man who established these contacts, Vienna journalist Moritz Szeps, clearly shows that Rudolph was primarily concerned to further the plans of his father-inlaw, King Leopold II of Belgium. Leopold desperately needed the French government’s permission to launch a lottery loan for his Congo Free State on the Paris stock exchange. In 1886–7, Clemenceau seemed a good choice to bring that result about. Moreover, contrary to his later reputation, Clemenceau and the Radicals were at that time opposed to a Russian alliance. Thus, they were not regarded as a force that was particularly dangerous for the Austro-German alliance.

Keywords

EN

Crown Prince Rudolph; Clemenceau; Leopold of Belgium; Congo Free State; lottery loan; stock exchange; Boulanger

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Masaryk's Institute and Archives, ASCR
• Journal: Střed. Časopis pro mezioborová studia Střední Evropy 19. a 20. století. / Centre. Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies of Central Europe in the 19th and 20th Centuries.
• Year: 2023
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 7-23
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Lothar Höbelt

• Masarykův ústav a archiv AV ČR, v.v.i., Gabčíkova 2362/10, 182 00 Praha 8, Czech Republic

author

Jean Garrigues

• Masarykův ústav a archiv AV ČR, v.v.i., Gabčíkova 2362/10, 182 00 Praha 8, Czech Republic