Kaiserbrief
The Kaiserbrief, is the letter to the German Federal princes signed by North German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck on 27 November 1870 and Bavarian King Ludwig II on 30 November 1870. Ludwig's uncle, Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, the later Prince Regent, on 3 December 1870 personally handed over the Imperial Letter to the Prussian king.
Ludwig II gave the impetus to the emperor's proclamation of William I in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles with this letter, which the Prussian King William I proposed to the imperial dignity of the newly founded German Empire, where, during the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, representatives of the free cities congregated on 18 January 1871.
An excerpt of the Imperial Letter:
Instigation of the letter
Even though the historical circumstance which led to this letter have now largely been clarified, their interpretation is still controversial. This document, which is important for the founding of the German Empire, could well be regarded as the result of a state of doubtful behaviour, and thus perhaps even a form of corruption.William's hesitation
William I took the new office of German Emperor only hesitantly, since he saw himself as the Prussian King. On the one hand, the southern German princes were not necessarily willing to accept Wilhelm's desire to call himself "Emperor of Germany", since they did not want to recognise a new sovereign. Finally, it was both William's and Bismarck's concerns to make the act of conferring and establishing the new dignity appear as one of the German princes and not the parliaments. It was still clear that 22 years previously in 1848, William's brother and predecessor, Frederick William IV, had rejected the emperor's deputation, which he had ordered the emperor's crown for a Lesser German Empire on the order of the Frankfurt National Assembly with the "free consent of the crowned heads, the princes and the free cities of Germany", since he was not born emperor. Bismarck, therefore, could only gain William's approval if the German princes and free cities asked him to accept the imperial crown, "the old, legitimate crown of the German nation, which had been laid down since 1806", as William described it elsewhere. This could only be done by the Bavarian King, since, according to the King of Prussia, he was regarded as the highest ranking of the princes of the small German nation.Ludwig's opposition to Prussia
Ludwig II, who had been in office since 1864, was, however, a supporter of the Greater German solution, a German agreement including Austria, and thus also under the leadership of the Austrian Emperor, and above all under the full protection of Bavarian sovereignty. He had not wounded the defeat of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, in which Bavaria, together with Saxony, Baden, Württemberg, Hanover, Hesse-Darmstadt, Electoral Hesse and Nassau, had stood as an ally to Austria. Bavaria had to pay Prussia 30 million guilders as compensation and subordinate its army to Prussia's command in the event of war.Under this command, with the enthusiastic consent of the population, 55,000 Bavarian soldiers, led by Prussian Prince Frederick William, were drawn into the war against France in 1870. Ludwig had refused to take the lead. He was also absent from the victory celebrations at Versailles and had rejected the request of his own government and on the orders of Bismarck, to make the Prussian King a German Emperor. His government, however, had already announced its acceptance to the German Empire without his consent, while Ludwig still complained about France's loss in the war.
Ludwig's notorious financial problems
From the outset, Ludwig was less interested in governmental affairs than in a particular representative depiction of his kingship in culture and architecture. This had a tradition in his family, his great-grandfather Maximilian I and grandfather Ludwig I had already used large parts of the state budget to the representative development of Munich as residence, but also to the promotion of art, education and science. Ludwig's Schlösser burdened his private finances to the utmost. Prince Eulenberg-Hertefeld, secretary of the Prussian ambassador in Munich, described how the king had shattered state finances, and privately tried to get money from all sides, like a loan of twenty million florins from the prince of Thurn and Taxis. He had also begged the Austrian Emperor, the kings of Belgium and Sweden to ask the Sultan and the Shah of Persia for money.Agreements of the Imperial Letter
Telegram from Count Werthern
The tense financial situation, especially of his private fortune, was known to Bismarck and his own Bavarian ministers to induce Ludwig to make a decision, the Prussian ambassador, Count Georg von Werthern, on 19 November 1870, to Bismarck in the following words:As early as 20 November 1870, Bismarck telegraphed to the head of the Federal Chancellery in Berlin, Delbrück: "I hope to come to a conclusion with Bavaria. If it does so, it seems unquestionable that the question of the Emperor is to be brought from there".
Unity with Bavaria and King Ludwig
On 23 November 1870, Bismarck had reached an agreement with the representative of the Bavarian Government on their acceptance to the German Empire. Bismarck made major concessions to Bavaria. He returned from the negotiations that "Now the Bavarian agreement has been finished and signed. German unity has been made and the emperor also". His employees signed the agreement with two empty bottles of champagne next to it.Oberst-Stallmeister Count Holnstein, Ludwig's confidant and personal communicator, arrived in Versailles two days later on 25 November 1870, where he was immediately received by Bismarck, without first communicating with the Bavarian negotiation delegation. Nothing is known about the course of the conversation, only the result of an agreement between the parties. On 26 November 1870, Bismarck announced this, albeit in a somewhat alienated form, to his co-workers, when, in a confidential memorandum, which he had sent to the head of the Staatskanzlei Delbrück on contract negotiations with the Bavarian government representatives on 23 November 1870, notes that "Following my letter today, I still keep in confidence that I have also discussed the imperial question with the Bavarian Ministers and have stated their willingness to initiate the same by stimulating Bavaria. According to their suggestions, I suppose that a letter from His Majesty the King of Bavaria to His Majesty the King in which the motion is made and is already underway". In fact, he had only recently agreed with Ludwig's representative about his demands and on 27 November 1870, he formulate the supposedly awaited letter, the later imperial letter, with caution. He had refrained from his original demand that Ludwig should come to Versailles in person. He gave the draft of the emperor's letter, together with a personal letter to Ludwig, which he began with exuberant thanksgiving. "Most Gracious, Most Highly King! For the gracious opening which Count Holnstein had made to Your Majesty, I would like to congratulate you on the most honourable expression of my thanks." He then read the imperial letter.
Together with the Bavarian state ministers, who had represented Bavaria at the conclusion of the Bavarian acceptance treaty, Holnstein returned to Munich on the train and brought them to Bismarck's draft. On 30 November 1870, Holnstein arrived at the Hohenschwangau Castle, where Ludwig was staying and was received by the King when he was informed that he had to return to Versailles at 6 pm. He then told the King that he would go back to Versailles, either with or without result, but it was to be expected that the troops in front of Paris would exclaim William I as Emperor. With minor modifications, Ludwig wrote up Bismarck's draft and handed it to Holstein, who brought him to Munich for sealing. In an accompanying letter, Ludwig asked his secretary of the Cabinet to review the letter and, if a different letter seemed to be more appropriate to him, "the matter is being crushed, and I authorise you to tear the letter to the King of Prussia". The Secretary of the Cabinet, on the other hand, sealed the letter on 1 December, and Holnstein returned to Versailles the following day, where he received the letter from Ludwig's uncle, Prince Luitpold of Bavaria who took over the role of Prince Regent after Ludwig was incapacitated.
On 3 December 1870, Bismarck jubilated in a telegram to Count Werthern, the Prussian ambassador in Munich:
Count of Holnstein
Count Maximilian von Holnstein knew Ludwig from his childhood. He was pardoned in 1866 by Ludwig from a fortress, which he had served for the sake of a reverend, and appointed him as the Royal Bavarian Oberstallmeister. He came from the House of Wittelsbach and held the royal domination of Schwarzenfeld, Rauberweiherhaus, Thanstein and Pillmersried in the Upper Palatinate. He enjoyed Ludwig's fullest confidence, which he lost only three years before his death because of his resistance to the King wasting money. He had acted as a guardian of Ludwig's incarceration. After Ludwig died, he remained as Oberststallmeister to Prince Regent Luitpold until 1892, and then retired to his castle in Schwarzfeld, where he died in 1895.Holnstein was also economically successful and belong to the co-founders of the Bayerische Vereinsbank. He played a central role in the settlement of the agreements with Bismarck. The details of the processing of payments made were fixed with him and he received 10% of the money, which headed back to Ludwig for his services. Bismarck acknowledged his merits for German unification. "The Count of Holnstein has made a considerable contribution to the formal conclusion of our national agreement by eliminating the external obstacles of the German National Assembly by making two trips in a week without sleep and by the clever execution of his commission in Hohenschwangau." Bismarck recommended to Count Werthern, the Prussian ambassador in Munich, on 24 December 1870, in connection with the ratification of the Bavarian acceptance treaties by the Bavarian parliament, which appeared to be uncertain, to discuss the position of the King on this question "also with Count Holnstein, who is best informed of the King's intentions and views." Holnstein's influence on Ludwig must have been striking. In 1882, Prince Eulenberg-Hertefeld reported the remark that "Holnstein must know some strange thing about the King and use it as weapon – the King no longer loves him, and he obeys him."