Furst von Bernhard Heinrich Martin Bulow

Bernhard Heinrich Martin Bülow, Fürst von , 1849-1929, German chancellor. He held many diplomatic posts before he became, through the influence of Friedrich von Holstein , foreign secretary in 1897 and succeeded Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst as chancellor in 1900. He inadvertently increased German isolation by his failure to gain the friendship of England and by his aggressive foreign policy. He antagonized France by his actions in the Moroccan crisis of 1905 (see Morocco ). Bülow later alienated Russia in the Bosnian crisis of 1908 by thwarting Russian goals for the opening of the Dardanelles and supporting Austria-Hungary's annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a result he strengthened the Triple Entente between Great Britain, France, and Russia (see Triple Alliance and Triple Entente ). Bülow lost the confidence of Emperor William II in the Daily Telegraph affair (Oct., 1908) in which William indiscreetly revealed his foreign policy toward Britain in an interview with the London newspaper; the interview caused a national uproar. Bülow had approved the text of William's remarks, but had not read them. Bülow subsequently lost support in the Reichstag over a proposed tax and was forced to resign in 1909. He later (1914-15) was ambassador to Italy.

Bibliography: See his memoirs (tr. 4 vol., 1931-32).

Bülow, Bernhard Heinrich Martin Fürst von (b. 3 May 1849, d. 28 Oct. 1929). Chancellor of Germany and Minister President of Prussia 1900–9 Born near Hamburg, he entered the diplomatic service in 1874, became an ambassador in Rome in 1894, and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in 1897. As Chancellor, he conducted an expansionist foreign policy, while at home he raised tariffs in 1902 to protect domestic agriculture and industry. He fell out with the increasingly dominant Centre Party over colonial policy in 1906. In an effort to free the government from the influence of the Centre, he created the ‘Bülow Bloc’ in 1907, allying all parties together excluding the SPD and Centre. However, the Bloc's members, some of which had opposed each other since the beginning of the Empire, proved too diverse to manage crucial policy matters such as constitutional and fiscal reform. Greatly weakened by the Daily Telegraph Affair, he was deprived of parliamentary support after the Bloc's collapse in 1909, leaving Emperor Wilhelm II free to dismiss Bülow in favour of Bethmann Hollweg.