Reichskanzler Fürst von Bismarck und eine Matrosenschlägerei in Smyrna im Januar 1877: die erfolgreiche Entschärfung eines drohenden deutsch-französischen Konflikts

Abstract

Some six years after the end of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, on the evening of 14 January 1877, a scuffle between sailors of the German gunboat METEOR and the French aviso CHÂTEAU-RENAUD came about in the Turkish harbour of Smyrna (Izmir), resulting in the death of a German seaman. Due to a number of minor oversights on the part of the French consulate general in Smyrna, the explosive political situation in the Middle East at the time, and above all the chauvinist press in Germany and France alike, a simple sailors’ brawl nearly evolved into a serious incident in the political relations between Germany and France on the eve of the imminent Russo-Turkish War of 1877/78. It was only thanks to the skilful diplomatic intervention of German imperial chancellor Otto von Bismarck and the willingness of French foreign minister Decazes to agree to a compromise that an escalation in the mutual relationship could be prevented. The Smyrna incident was officially resolved in early April 1877 with the conviction of four French seamen for bodily injury.