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Political Science General

Great Britain and the Schleswig-Holstein Question 1848-64

A study in diplomacy, politics, and public opinion

by (author) Keith A.P. Sandiford

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Dec 1975
Category
General, Victorian Era (1837-1901), Historiography
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781487583453
    Publish Date
    Dec 1975
    List Price
    $35.95

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Description

This book closes an obvious gap in nineteenth-century historiography by carefully analysing British policy and public opinion with regard to the Schleswig-Holstein problem from 1848 to 1864. Solidly based on a study of private and public correspondence, memoirs, biographies, newspapers, periodicals, sessional papers, foreign office documents, and parliamentary debates, it argues that the failure of British policy was due to division and uncertainty of opinion. Britain vacillated between a pliant and a defiant course and eventually chose to worst features of both. Professor Sandiford demonstrates that the failure of Russell's Schleswig-Holstein diplomacy in 1864 was largely the result of a long sequence of British miscalculations dating back at least to 1848. He also shows that the general bewilderment, both within and outside the British Parliament, permitted the queen and a handful of her ministers to exert more influence on Britain's policy in 1863-4 than has previously been supposed.

About the author

KEITH A.P. SANDIFORD is an associate professor of history at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Keith A.P. Sandiford's profile page