Harden-Eulenburg Affair

The Harden-Eulenburg affair, often simply Eulenburg affair, was the controversy surrounding a series of courts-martial and five regular trials regarding accusations of homosexual conduct, and accompanying libel trials, among prominent members of Kaiser Wilhelm II's cabinet and entourage and the chancellor von Bismarck during 1907-1909. It is often considered the biggest domestic scandal of the German Second Reich. While the controversy centred on Philipp Prince zu Eulenburg-Hertefeld and his accuser, journalist Maximilian Harden, accusations and counter-accusations quickly multiplied with the phrase "Liebenberg Round Table" being used to describe the gay male circle around the Kaiser.

Causes

However, opponents of Germany's foreign relations found the potential scandal too useful to ignore. Wilhelm II had dismissed "Iron" Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and his Realpolitik system of treaties and agreements in 1890, replacing Bismarck's clear rule with muddle and his foreign policies with a confrontational, expansionist Weltpolitik. The anti-imperialist Eulenburg became the most prominent member of Wilhelm II's entourage being promoted from being a member of the diplomatic corps to an ambassador. Like many, Bismarck noticed that the nature of the relationship Wilhelm II and Eulenburg could, "not be confided to paper," but he, like many, felt that even these activities in the private sphere were not to be brought to the public sphere.

Related Topics:
Germany - Otto von Bismarck - Realpolitik - Expansionist - Imperialist

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Harden, imperialist head of the periodical Die Zukunft, felt the same, waiting till 1902 only to personally threaten to out Eulenburg unless he retired from his ambassadorship in Vienna, which Eulenburg did, dropping from public life until 1906. Harden reaffirmed his threat after Germany gave Morocco to France at the Algeciras Conference (1906) in a major foreign policy fiasco, and Eulenburg responded by moving to Switzerland.

Related Topics:
1902 - Vienna - 1906 - Morocco - France - Switzerland

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Between 1906-1907 six military officers committed suicide after blackmail, while in the preceding three years around twenty officers were convicted by courts-martial, all for their sexuality. A Garde du Corps officer was charged with homosexuality, embarrassing because the elite Corps was commanded by Lieutenant General Wilhelm Count von Hohenau, blood relative to the kaiser. Worse than these sexual scandals, in Harden's eyes, was Eulenburg's decision to return to Germany and be initiated into the High Order of the Black Eagle, and did not change his mind when Friedrich Heinrich, Prince of Prussia, decline to be initiated into the Order of the Knights of St. John because of his same-sex sexual proclivities.

Related Topics:
Garde du Corps - Lieutenant General - Wilhelm Count von Hohenau - High Order of the Black Eagle - Prussia - Order of the Knights of St. John

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