---
title: Bernhard von Bülow
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/bernhard-von-buelow/
description: 8 verified quotes from Bernhard von Bülow, Reich Chancellor (1900-1909), with sources.
section: FRAME
---

![Illustration: a pre-1914 imperial intelligence-dossier collage of colonial telegraph logs, sepia field photography and empire maps.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-pre1914.jpg)

[Quotes](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/) · Germany

# Bernhard von Bülow

![Bernhard von Bülow, full-length studio portrait of about 1895](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/german-empire/bernhard-von-buelow.jpg)

[Photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-2004-0098A,_Bernhard_von_B%C3%BClow.jpg): Unknown (Bundesarchiv), CC BY-SA 3.0 de

Reich Chancellor (1900-1909) · Germany

On the regime page: [German Empire under Wilhelm II](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/german-empire/#bernhard-von-buelow)

8 quotes, oldest first. [Filter with other speakers](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/#speaker=bernhard-von-buelow).

1. > “In short, we do not want to put anyone in our shadow, but we also demand our place in the sun.” — Original (German) — Mit einem Worte: wir wollen niemand in den Schatten stellen, aber wir verlangen auch unseren Platz an der Sonne. — English: Adam Blauhut, in German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) — December 6, 1897 · Speech · Berlin, Reichstag — Bülow, then State Secretary of the Foreign Office, defended the German occupation of Kiaochow Bay in China, which followed the killing of German missionaries. The sentence is from the close of the passage on East Asia. — Speech of State Secretary Bernhard von Bülow in the Reichstag, December 1897, in Stenographische Berichte über die Verhandlungen des Reichstags, IX. Legislaturperiode, 5. Session, vol. 1 (Berlin, 1898), p. 60, reprinted in Rüdiger vom Bruch and Björn Hofmeister, eds., Kaiserreich und Erster Weltkrieg 1871-1918 (Stuttgart: Reclam, 2000), pp. 268-70 [Source](https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/wilhelmine-germany-and-the-first-world-war-1890-1918/bernhard-von-buelow-on-germanys-place-in-the-sun-1897)
2. > “But we will only be able to maintain a leading position if we recognize that there is no welfare for us without power, without a strong army, without a strong fleet ( “That’s right!” from right; protest from the left ). Gentlemen, for a nation that will soon number sixty million, a nation that inhabits the center of Europe and is sending its economic feelers out in all directions, the means have not yet been devised to win the struggle for survival in this world without a strong navy and army ( “Very true!” from the right ). In the coming century the German people will be either a hammer or an anvil.” — Original (German) — Wir werden uns aber nur dann auf der Höhe erhalten, wenn wir einsehen, daß es für uns ohne Macht, ohne ein starkes Heer und eine starke Flotte keine Wohlfahrt gibt. ( Sehr richtig! rechts. Widerspruch links. ) Das Mittel, meine Herren, in dieser Welt den Kampf ums Dasein durchzufechten ohne starke Rüstung zu Lande und zu Wasser, ist für ein Volk von bald 60 Millionen, das die Mitte von Europa bewohnt und gleichzeitig seine wirtschaftlichen Fühlhörner ausstreckt nach allen Seiten, noch nicht gefunden worden. ( Sehr wahr! rechts. ) In dem kommenden Jahrhundert wird das deutsche Volk Hammer oder Amboß sein. — English: Adam Blauhut, in German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) — December 11, 1899 · Speech · Berlin, Reichstag — Bülow, then Foreign Secretary, introduced the second naval bill in the Reichstag. The sentences about power and the hammer and anvil come at the end of the speech. — Speech of Bernhard von Bülow in the Reichstag, 11 December 1899 (second naval bill), in Buchners Kolleg Geschichte: Das Kaiserreich 1871 bis 1918 (Bamberg: C. C. Buchners Verlag, 1987), pp. 137ff [Source](https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/wilhelmine-germany-and-the-first-world-war-1890-1918/bernhard-von-buelows-dynamic-foreign-policy-1899)
3. **Content note:** Defends a colonial war later classed as genocide. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “Gentlemen, think of the colonial wars other nations have fought without batting an eyelash, the English, the French, the Dutch. Should the German people not stand as tall as the others? Should they be more humble? It is this question to which the allied governments demand an answer, a clear and unequivocal answer (“So true!” from the right). We may feel regret, Gentlemen, that a revolt has broken out that has cost us so many lives and such large amounts of money. We may feel regret about this, but we cannot go back. We must see this matter through!” — Original (German) — Meine Herren, was haben andere Völker für Kolonialkriege geführt, Engländer, Franzosen, Holländer, und haben nicht mit der Wimper gezuckt! Soll sich das deutsche Volk kleiner zeigen, soll das deutsche Volk kleiner dastehen als andere Völker? Das ist die Frage, auf welche die verbündeten Regierungen eine Antwort wünschen, eine Antwort fordern klipp und klar! (Sehr wahr! rechts.) Wir können bedauern, meine Herren, daß der Aufstand ausgebrochen ist, daß er uns so viel Menschenleben, daß er uns so große Summen gekostet hat. Wir können das bedauern, aber zurück können wir nicht. Wir müssen durchhalten! — English: Adam Blauhut, in German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) — December 13, 1906 · Speech · Berlin, Reichstag — Bülow spoke in the debate on funding for the war in German South West Africa; the Reichstag majority rejected the supplementary estimate and he dissolved it the same day, which led to the "Hottentot elections" of January 1907. — Speech of Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow in the Reichstag, 13 December 1906, in Stenographische Berichte über die Verhandlungen des Reichstages, 12. Legislaturperiode, 1. Session, vol. 218, p. 4379, reprinted in Hans Fenske, ed., Quellen zur deutschen Innenpolitik 1890-1914 (Darmstadt, 1991), pp. 203-04 [Source](https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/wilhelmine-germany-and-the-first-world-war-1890-1918/bernhard-von-buelow-dissolves-the-reichstag-over-the-colonial-issue-december-13-1906)
4. **Content note:** Names the Social Democrats, Poles and the Centre as the national enemy. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “No matter how different the situations in the various electoral districts may be, the parties that stood by the side of the government on December 13 kept in mind from the outset what united them back then: the battle for the honor and good of the nation against Social Democrats, Poles, Guelphs, and the Center Party.” — Original (German) — Mögen die Verhältnisse in den einzelnen Wahlkreisen noch so große Verschiedenheiten aufweisen, die Parteien, die am 13. Dezember an der Seite der Regierung standen, werden von vornherein im Auge behalten haben, was sie damals einigte: Der Kampf für Ehr und Gut der Nation gegen Sozialdemokraten, Polen, Welfen und Zentrum. — English: Thomas Dunlap, in German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) — December 31, 1906 · Letter · Berlin — Written two weeks after the dissolution of the Reichstag over colonial funding and before the January 1907 elections, the letter set out Bülow's plan for a bloc of conservatives and liberals against the Social Democrats, the Polish party, the Guelphs (Hanoverian particularists) and the Centre. — Letter of Chancellor Bülow to General Eduard von Liebert, 31 December 1906, in Eduard von Liebert, Aus einem bewegten Leben: Erinnerungen (Munich, 1925), pp. 180-81, reprinted in Ernst Rudolf Huber, Dokumente zur deutschen Verfassungsgeschichte, vol. 2 (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1961), pp. 436-38 [Source](https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/wilhelmine-germany-and-the-first-world-war-1890-1918/reich-chancellor-bernhard-von-buelows-new-year-s-eve-letter-december-31-1906)
5. > “As I stood in Prince Bismarck's death chamber, that simple and unadorned room in the Sachsenwald, my gaze fell on a picture hanging on the wall. It was a woodcut, a picture of Ludwig Uhland. The singer of the good old law, the man who had said in Frankfurt's Paulskirche: ‘No head shall shine over Germany that has not been anointed with a generous drop of democratic oil’ – looked over to the bed where the great man of action had passed away, the man who had fulfilled the dream of centuries for the German people. The whole of German history spoke from this juxtaposition, for only the combination of old Prussian conservative energy and discipline with the German spirit of broad-mindedness and liberalism can shape a happy future for the nation.” — Original (German) — Als ich im Sterbezimmer des Fürsten Bismarck stand, diesem einfachen und schmucklosen Zimmer im Sachsenwald, fiel mein Blick auf ein Bild, das an der Wand hing. Es war ein Holzschnitt, es war das Bild von Ludwig Uhland. Der Sänger des guten alten Rechts, der Mann, der in der Frankfurter Paulskirche gesagt hatte: es wird kein Haupt über Deutschland leuchten, das nicht mit einem reichlichen Tropfen demokratischen Öls gesalbt ist, - schaute hinüber nach dem Lager, wo der große Mann der Tat verschieden war, der dem deutschen Volke den Traum der Jahrhunderte erfüllt hatte. Die ganze deutsche Geschichte sprach aus diesem Gegenüber, denn nur die Verbindung von altpreußisch-konservativer Tatkraft und Zucht mit deutschem, weitherzigen und liberalen Geiste kann die Zukunft der Nation zu einer glücklichen gestalten. — English: English text on German History in Documents and Images (GHDI); translator not named on the page — November 30, 1907 · Speech · Berlin, Reichstag — The passage closes a speech on domestic politics given while Bülow's conservative-liberal bloc held the Reichstag majority. The text on GHDI is the extract that Bülow read onto a recording in 1918. — Speech of Chancellor Bülow in the Reichstag, 30 November 1907, as read by Bülow for a sound recording of 4 February 1918, Stiftung Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv (DRA); full speech in the Reichstag stenographic report [Source](https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/wilhelmine-germany-and-the-first-world-war-1890-1918/bernhard-von-buelow-on-conservatism-and-liberalism-in-german-politics-november-30-1907)
6. **Content note:** Denies Poles capacity for self-government; defends Germanisation policy. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “When the Poles proved themselves unfit to maintain government, and the strong Prussian State with its law and order assumed control of parts which had formerly belonged to the domain of Poland, the work of German civilisation had been going on in these parts for centuries already.” — English: Marie A. Lewenz (Cassell and Company, London, 1914). Original-language text not found. — 1913 · Book — In his book on German foreign and domestic policy, written after he left office, Bülow defended Prussian settlement and Germanisation policy in the provinces of Posen and West Prussia, where Poles formed a large part of the population. — Bernhard von Bülow, Imperial Germany, translated by Marie A. Lewenz (London: Cassell, 1914; seventh impression), chapter "The Eastern Marches", pp. 242-243 (German edition: Deutsche Politik, Berlin, 1913) [Source](https://archive.org/details/imperialgermany00blrich)
7. > “The worst speech of this period, and perhaps the most harmful that William II ever made, was the speech in Bremerhaven on 27th June 1900.” — English: F. A. Voigt (Putnam, London, 1931). Original-language text not found. — 1930 · Book — Bülow, who accompanied Chancellor Hohenlohe to Bremerhaven on the day of the speech, describes the Emperor's speech to troops leaving for China and his own attempt to hold back the strongest passages. — Bernhard von Bülow, Memoirs of Prince von Bülow, vol. 1: From Secretary of State to Imperial Chancellor, 1897-1903, translated by F. A. Voigt (London and New York: Putnam, 1931), p. 356 (German edition: Denkwürdigkeiten, vol. 1, Berlin: Ullstein, 1930) [Source](https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.524537)
8. > “Bad was made worse than ever by Bethmann-Hollweg’s speech in the Reichstag (4th August 1914). Never, perhaps, has any other statesman at the head of a great and civilized people for whose safety and future he had to answer, pronounced, in an hour of mortal crisis, a clumsier, a more terrible speech.” — English: Geoffrey Dunlop (Putnam, London, 1932). Original-language text not found. — 1931 · Book — Bülow, who had resigned as Chancellor in 1909, wrote of his reading of Bethmann Hollweg's Reichstag speech of 4 August 1914 and of the "scrap of paper" remark attributed to the Chancellor. — Bernhard von Bülow, Memoirs of Prince von Bülow, vol. 3: The World War and the Collapse of Germany, 1909-1919, translated by Geoffrey Dunlop (London and New York: Putnam, 1932), chapter XIII, pp. 170-171 (German edition: Denkwürdigkeiten, vol. 3, Berlin: Ullstein, 1931) [Source](https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.505363)