Reichshund ("dog of the Empire")Damon, "Kennel", Outing, Volume 28, August 1896, p. 110.Henry Vizetelly, Berlin under the New Empire: Its Institutions, Inhabitants, Industry, Monuments, Museums, Social Life, Manners, and Amusements, Volume 1 London: Tinsley, 1879, , p. 420.Bryce, p. 126. was an informal term used in Germany for Reichskanzler Otto von Bismarck's dogs and more generally for similar dogs, particularly Great Danes.
Bismarck's dogs Keeping dogs in Germany became increasingly fashionable as the 19th century continued, and people in public life often did so as part of their image.Wolfgang Wippermann, "Biche und Blondi, Tyras und Timmy. Repräsentation durch Hunde", in: Lutz Huth and Michael Krzeminski, eds., Repräsentation in Politik, Medien und Gesellschaft, Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2007, , pp. 185–202, p. 192 Bismarck reportedly took a blonde Great Dane called Ariel with him when he entered the University of Göttingen in 1832.Arnold Oskar Meyer, Bismarck, der Mensch und der Staatsmann, Stuttgart: Koehler, 1949, , p. 16, cited in Ulrich Kühn, Der Grundgedanke der Politik Bismarcks, Dettelbach: Röll, 2001, , p. 161 He continued to keep Great Danes throughout the rest of his life.Occasionally the dogs are described as bulldogs, for example: Christopher McIntosh, The Swan King: Ludwig II of Bavaria, rev. ed. London: Tauris, 2012, , p. 172, Klaus Schlichtmann, Japan in the World: Shidehara Kijūrō, Pacifism, and the Abolition of War, AsiaWorld, Lanham, Maryland: Lexington, 2009, , n. 222, p. 88, quoting a speech by Kijūrō Shidehara, or mastiffs, for example: Frank Preston Stearns, The Life of Prince Otto Von Bismarck, Philadelphia/London: Lippincott, 1899, , p. 423, David Clay Large, Berlin, New York: Basic, 2000, , quoting Baroness von Spitzenberg, James Bryce, Viscount Bryce, "Lecture V. Diplomacy and International Law", in: International relations: Eight Lectures Delivered in the United States in August, 1921, The Institute of politics publications, Williams College, New York: Macmillan, 1922, , pp. 148–75, p. 152: "a wolfhound, or something between a wolfhound and a mastiff". His favourite was Sultan (shortened to 'Sultl' to avoid diplomatic repercussions with TurkeyA[nna] Ebers, Bismarck-Buch, Hannover-List/Berlin: Meyer, 1909, , p. 172 ; P. Hahn, Varzin: Persönliche Erinnerungen an den Fürsten Otto von Bismarck, Berlin: Verlag des Vereins der Bücherfreunde, , , p. 40 ); on his deathbed he berated himself for not treating the dog better. Sultan was a gift from the Bavarian Count Holnstein.Werner Richter, Ludwig II., König von Bayern, 13th ed. Munich: Bruckmann, 1996, , p. 207 McIntosh, p. 172. After Sultan's death on 26 October 1877, Bismarck could only be consoled by the gift of another Great Dane from Count Holnstein, Tyras.Wolfgang Wippermann and Detlef Berentzen, Die Deutschen und ihre Hunde: ein Sonderweg der Mentalitätsgeschichte?, Munich: Siedler, 1999, , p. 49 Tyras died on 18 January 1889; Emperor Wilhelm II gave Bismarck Tyras II for his birthday the following April 1.Heinrich Ritter von Poschinger, tr. and ed. Sidney Whitman, Conversations with Prince Bismarck, New York/London: Harper, 1900, , p. 127. The dog died on 11 May 1896.Konrad Breitenborn, Bismarck: Kult und Kitsch um den Reichsgründer, Frankfurt: Keip, 1990, , p. 111
Bismarck also owned female Great Danes named Flora (nicknamed 'Flörchen'), who was Sultan's mate, and finally Rebecca (nicknamed Beckchen),Breitenborn, p. 110. who died in 1897. After receiving Tyras II from the emperor, Bismarck regretfully gave Tyras I's offspring, Cyrus, whom he had hand-reared, to his head forester. Bismarck's dogs were buried at his estate in Varzin, in Pomerania (now Warcino, Poland); the gravestones were rediscovered by students at the forestry institute that now occupies the manor.Gerhard Gnauck, "Der Kanzler in Pommern", Die Welt, 18 October 2003
Accounts of the dogs' temperament vary. Some historians have regarded Bismarck's choice of the largest available breed and his habit of having a dog with him, which would disconcert foreign diplomats, as calculated demonstrations of power. Former diplomat James Bryce, Viscount Bryce referred to the dog as "now and then growl[ing] and show[ing] its teeth in a threatening way", and diplomat and President of Japan Kijūrō Shidehara said in a speech that "the dog threatened to bite anyone who would provoke his master's displeasure."Quoted in Schlichtmann, p. 88. Robert K. Massie describes Tyras as "terrori[sing] the Chancellory staff" and writes that those who spoke with Bismarck were "advised to make no unusual gestures which Tyras might interpret as threatening."Robert K. Massie, Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War, 1991, New York: Random House-Ballantine, 1992, , n.p. On the other hand Tyras was said by one contemporary to have "never been guilty of any such ill-mannered act before" his celebrated misbehaviour, and the English periodical The Spectator described him at the time as "a very quiet creature, with a most pacific reputation.""News of the Week", The Spectator, volume 51, no. 2608, 22 June 1878.
Public attention Bismarck's dogs came to the public's attention and began to be called 'Reichshund' after Tyras attacked the Russian chancellor, Alexander Gorchakov, at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. In some accounts, he knocked him to the ground,William Beatty-Kingston, Men, Cities, and Events, 2nd ed. London: Bliss, Sands, and Foster, 189?, , p. 258. according to Massie after he raised his arm to make a point, but according to The Spectator after he had stumbled and Bismarck had rushed to aid him. However, Kladderadatsch published a front-page poem describing him as having torn the envoy's trousers. Its title was "An den Reichshund" - "To the Dog of the Empire"."Man weiß, ... wie dir Rußlands Galahose ... zum Opfer fiel." - "It is known, ... how Russia's ceremonial trousers ... fell victim to you." Kladderadatsch 39, 25 August 1878.Wippermann, p. 193, accepts this version of events and adds that Bismarck laughed and did not apologise. The poem misidentifies the offending dog as Sultan, who had already died.
The term Reichshund came to be used for Great Danes or similar dogs in general.For example: Carl G. Schillings, Mit Blitzlicht und Büchse: neue Beobachtungen und Erlebnisse in der Wildnis inmitten der Tierwelt von Äquatorial-Ostafrika, Leipzig: Voigtländer, 1910, , p. 55 . In Nancy Mitford's Wigs on the Green Eugenia's "enormous mastiff" is called the Reichshund "after Bismarck's dog".Nancy Mitford, Wigs on the Green, 1935, Repr. New York: Vintage, 2010, , p. 13; Lisa Hilton, The Horror of Love: Nancy Mitford and Gaston Palewski in Paris and London, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2011, , n.p.
Some of the statues of Bismarck in Germany depict him with a dog, for example Max Klein's statue of him in Grunewald, Berlin (1897; melted down during World War II and recreated by Harald Haacke in 1996), Adolf Lehnert's statue of him in the Johannapark in Leipzig with a dog for whom Tyras II served as model (1895; destroyed) and the statue of a young Bismarck by Norbert Pfretzschner erected by members of the student 'corps' on the Rudelsburg at Bad Kösen in 1896 (destroyed; recasting erected in 2006) depicts him with attributes of a corps member including a dog for whom Tyras I served as model. Late-19th century student corps members included keeping large dogs among their traditions.Barbara Krug-Richter, "Hund und Student – eine akademische Mentalitätsgeschichte (18.–20. Jh.)", Jahrbuch für Universitätsgeschichte 10 (2007) 77–104, pdf, p. 4
See also List of individual dogs
Notes
References
External links
de.wikisource: "An den Reichshund"