Wilhelm von Stumm

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Wilhelm von Stumm (born January 25, 1869 in Frankfurt am Main , † March 30, 1935 in Berlin-Dahlem ) was a German diplomat. He was a civil servant in the Foreign Office , most recently with the rank of Undersecretary of State. Von Stumm played an influential role during the July crisis of 1914 , among other things .

Life

Wilhelm von Stumm was the son of Friedrich Adolf von Stumm (1838–1914) and Mathilde Marie Josefine, nee. de Backer (1847-1878). He himself married Marie Aurelie Wilhelmine Sophie Anna Sidonie von Platen Hallermund in 1916. Wilhelm came from the mining industrial family Stumm . His grandfather was the coal and steel entrepreneur Carl Friedrich Stumm .

He studied law and passed the first state examination in 1893. A year later he joined the Foreign Office and from 1897 initially worked as legation secretary in Brussels , St. Petersburg and finally in London . Most recently he was chargé d' affaires . At times he was also in conversation for the post of ambassador. Wilhelm II decided, however, for Karl Max von Lichnowsky . This later led to tension between him and the ambassador. It also narrowed Lichnowsky's influence. In 1908, Stumm moved to the head office in Berlin. From 1909 he was lecturing councilor and legation councilor. A year later he was appointed secret legation councilor. From 1911 he was the conductor of the department IA (politics). He played an influential role in the Foreign Office. The apparently overwhelmed State Secretary Gottlieb von Jagow is said to have been completely dependent on Stumm. Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg , who was inexperienced in foreign policy , also relied in particular on Stumm. Its influence seems to have been comparable to that of Friedrich August von Holstein in the past.

At the beginning of the July crisis, Stumm was on vacation. So he was not involved when Alexander Hoyos was in Berlin ( Mission Hoyos ), and obtained the complete support of the German Empire for Austria-Hungary. On July 11th, Stumm was back in office. He subsequently exerted a strong influence on the politics that ultimately led to the war. According to recent research, mute is said to have strongly influenced Germany's policy in favor of a war between Austria and Serbia. Along with Jagow, Wilhelm II and the German ambassador to Austria Heinrich von Tschirschky, he is said to have been the most influential person in the July crisis. When asked later if they were just bluffing during the crisis, he replied: “We didn't bluff. We were prepared for the war with Russia. "

Between 1916 and 1917 he was Undersecretary of State in the Foreign Office and Head of Department IA (News). In 1917, with the aim of promoting the collapse of Russia, he urged Lenin to travel through Germany to Russia as quickly as possible . Towards the end of the war, he and other members of the Foreign Office, independently of Erich Ludendorff , came to the realization that military defeat was imminent and that the domestic political situation would worsen. Therefore it is necessary to end the war. Stumm and others presented a concept on September 28, 1918 that provided for the formation of a new, broad-based government. The majority parties in the Reichstag should also be involved. This was intended to shift responsibility for ending the war to a government formed by the parties. Although he was not actually responsible, he had a decisive influence on the wording of the parliamentary decree as the basis for the October reform.

In 1918 he was appointed a real secret councilor. In connection with the November Revolution, he was given temporary retirement at the end of 1918. From 1919 he was finally retired.

In addition to his official work, he was a member of numerous supervisory boards and was a partner at Gebrüder Stumm GmbH. In addition, he was also active as an art collector.

His daughter Elisabeth (1918–1996) married SS officer Karl Freiherr Michel von Tüßling in 1938 . This marriage ended in divorce in 1948.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rolf Peter Tschapek: Building blocks of a future German Central Africa. Stuttgart, 2000 p. 282
  2. ↑ Lüder Meyer-Arndt: The July Crisis 1914. How Germany stumbled into the First World War . Cologne, 2006 p. 51
  3. ↑ Lüder Meyer-Arndt: The July Crisis 1914. How Germany stumbled into the First World War. Cologne, 2006 p. 61
  4. ↑ Lüder Meyer-Arndt: The July Crisis 1914. How Germany stumbled into the First World War. Cologne, 2006 p. 10
  5. ↑ Lars-Broder Keil: German Legends. On the “stab in the back and other myths of history.” Berlin, 2003 p. 26
  6. ↑ Werner Hohlweg: Lenin's journey through Germany. VfZ issue 5/1957 p. 319
  7. ↑ Heinrich Potthoff: The Parliamentarization Decree of September 30, 1918 In: VfZ Jg. 20/1972 p. 326
  8. ↑ Heinrich Potthoff: The Parliamentarization Decree of September 30, 1918 In: VfZ Jg. 20/1972 p. 328
  9. ↑ Sven Kuhrau: The art collector in the empire. Kiel, 2005 p. 287
personal data
SURNAME Mute, Wilhelm von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH January 25, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH March 30, 1935
Place of death Berlin-Dahlem