Flottenpropaganda 1848: Johann Georg Kohls "Für eine deutsche Flotte"

Abstract

The geographer, travel writer and librarian Johann Georg Kohl (1808-1878) of Bremen left behind an extensive literary and publicistic oeuvre. Although he consistently adorned himself with the claim to objectiveness, his writings were characterized by political statements, e.g. in the form of a rejection of Pan-Slavism or of frontline positions against the southern states during the American Civil War. At the same time, if we take his overall work into consideration, we find that Kohl rarely voiced his political opinions directly or in relationship to specific current events. One of the exceptions is a brochure published by the Teubner-Verlag in Dresden in 1848 under the title "Für eine deutsche Flotte" (Appeal for a German Fleet). Kohl was not the only writer to have concerned himself with this topic at the time, acting as he was against the background of the conflict with Denmark over Schleswig. His appeal, however, was not inspired by nationalist sentiment or anti-Danish polemics, but rather by rational and well-considered deliberations: The conflict with Denmark actually served as a welcome occasion for thinking about the fleet issue. In Kohl’s opinion, a German fleet was a necessity for both economic and political reasons. He envisioned a defensive fleet whose mission would be the protection of mercantile interests - a Friedensflotte (peace fleet), as he expressed it. He revised his speculations in 1849, making his argumentation less ambiguous than before: A fleet is naturgemäß (natural) for a nation; it is the expression of the nation itself (which Kohl conceives of as a kind of living organism), because it is capable of preserving and increasing the Nationalreichthum (national wealth) while at the same time serving as a symbol of external sovereignty.