'Our Fritz': Crown Prince Frederick William and the Political Culture of Bismarckian Germany

1888年3月9日，经过几十年的等待，王储弗雷德里克·威廉(1831-1888)终于继承了普鲁士和德意志帝国的王位。他死于喉癌，享年56岁。在99天的无声折磨之后，弗雷德里克三世皇帝跟随他的父亲进入了坟墓。然而，弗雷德里克的重要性主要不在于他短暂的统治，而在于1888年之前的时期和他去世后的纪念活动。在他作为候补国王和皇帝的岁月里，王储充当了画布，各种政治力量将他们对德国未来的希望和恐惧投射到画布上。1888年后，他们要么利用对他的记忆来试图推动政治变革，要么努力防止这种利用。关于德国历史进程的一些重大假设猜测都集中在这位永久王储的身上，以及他所谓的自由主义和亲英主义。许多当代和有追溯力的观察家渴望(或担心)地认为，在19世纪60年代或70年代的任何时候，他的继任都将为德国开启拥抱自由宪政的真正机会。以王朝关系和日益和谐的意识形态为支撑的持久的英德伙伴关系本可以阻止一战，随后20世纪将会完全不同。因此，弗雷德里克·威廉是一个极具潜力的历史转折点，但他悲惨一生的棱镜也提供了一个引人入胜的视角来看待19世纪普鲁士、德国和欧洲的政治文化。它概括了关键的形成力量，如代际变化、王朝、政党的作用、国家建设、宪法自由主义、资产阶级价值观的兴起、记忆、媒体驱动的大众政治的展开以及君主强大的剩余权力。由于他的父亲和财政大臣奥托·冯·俾斯麦的阴影，弗雷德里克·威廉长期以来遭受着历史学上的忽视，没有任何语言的完整的学术生活。我打算通过为王储弗雷德里克·威廉写一本传记来纠正这一点，这本书将讨论他的自由主义问题，以及他对德国根本性政治变革的承诺程度以及他实现这一目标的能力。这本书还将认真对待他的实际所作所为--尽管他的父亲和政治现状对他施加了巨大的限制。综上所述，这两条核心线索将带来对他的贡献的微妙和全面的理解，以及与他未来统治相关的希望(和恐惧)，在他有生之年和以后，对普鲁士和德国的政治文化做出了哪些贡献。对弗雷德里克三世的记忆一直是一个具有相当大的政治意义的话题，尽管这是一种猜测：他是德国的伟大自由机会吗？他是错过了历史时刻的一代人的化身，还是--正如在他儿子的庇护下为他树立的纪念碑所表明的那样--最重要的是，他是1866年和1870年光荣而无可争议的胜利者？尽管这种推测性的解释存在固有的问题，但对王储/皇帝的生平和职能的研究将极大地有助于我们理解许多人对俾斯麦德国的政治、社会和文化现状的不满。它还将突显该体系固有的抵御变化的能力。探索下一任君主的角色--即将到来的新开始的化身--也将引起人们对当代人对德国未来开放性的信念的关注，这种看法现在被埋在多层事后诸葛亮和强大的连续性之下。我的书将把这些主题与一个悲剧生活的感人故事联系在一起，其色彩和细节可以通过他的日记和信件强有力地体现出来。

On 9 March 1888, after decades spent waiting, Crown Prince Frederick William (1831-1888) finally succeeded to the thrones of Prussia and the German Reich. He was 56 years old and dying of laryngeal cancer. After 99 days of voiceless torment Emperor Frederick III followed his father into the grave. Frederick's importance, however, does not lie primarily in his brief reign, but in the period before 1888 and in the commemoration that followed his death. During his years as a king-and-emperor in waiting, the Crown Prince served as the canvas onto which varied political forces projected their hopes and fears for Germany's future. After 1888, they either used his memory in an attempt to push for political change or worked hard to prevent such a utilisation. Some of the great what-if speculations about the course of German history pivot on the person of this perpetual Crown Prince and his alleged liberalism and Anglophilia. His succession at any point during the 1860s or 1870s, numerous contemporary and retrospective observers have wistfully (or fearfully) maintained, would have opened up a real chance for Germany to embrace liberal constitutionalism. A lasting Anglo-German partnership buttressed by dynastic links and growing ideological harmony would have prevented the Great War and subsequently the twentieth century would have turned out utterly different. Frederick William thus personifies one of the great potential historical turning points, but the prism of his tragic life also offers a fascinating perspective on the political culture of nineteenth-century Prussia, Germany and Europe. It encapsulates crucial formative forces such as generational change, dynasty, the role of political parties, nation-building, constitutional liberalism, the rise of bourgeois values, memory, the unfolding of a media-driven mass politics and the strong residual powers of the monarch. Overshadowed as he was by his father and by chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Frederick William has long suffered historiographical neglect with no full scholarly life being available in any language. I intend to remedy this by writing a biographical study of Crown Prince Frederick William, which will tackle the issues of his liberalism and the extent of his commitment to fundamental political change in Germany as well as his ability to deliver it. The book will also take seriously what he actually did do - in spite of the significant restrictions placed on him by his father and the political status quo. Taken together, these two core lines of enquiry will bring about a subtle and comprehensive understanding of the contribution which he, and the hopes (and fears) associated with his future reign, made to Prussia's and Germany's political culture during and beyond his lifetime. The memory of Frederick III has remained a topic charged with considerable, if speculative, political meaning: was he Germany's great liberal opportunity? Did he personify a generation that missed its historical hour, or was he - as is suggested by the monuments erected in his honour under his son's aegis - above all the glorious and uncontroversial victor of 1866 and 1870? The inherent problems of such speculative interpretations notwithstanding, a study of the Crown Prince's/Emperor's life and function will significantly contribute to our understanding of the dissatisfaction felt by many with the political, social and cultural status quo of Bismarckian Germany. It will also highlight the inherent ability of the system to resist change. Exploring the role of the next sovereign, the personification of an impending new beginning, will also draw attention to contemporaries' belief in the openness of Germany's future / a perception now buried under many layers of hindsight and powerful continuities. My book will tie these themes to the moving story of a tragic life, whose colour and detail can berevived powerfully through his diaries and letters.