Sternburg, Hermann Speckvon b.August 21, 1852; Leeds, England d.August 23, 1908; Heidelberg, Baden
German ambassador to the United States from 1903 to 1908, he was an important channel of German American diplomatic relations in the crucial decades prior to World War I. Considered a close friend of President Theodore Roosevelt, his personal style left an ambivalent imprint on the relationship between Germany and the United States.
Sternburg belonged to the second generation of nobility in the Speck family. In June 1870 he joined a Saxon Hussar regiment and fought in the Franco- Prussian War. Twelve years later, he was appointed to the staff at the German legation in Washington as a military attache. In 1888 Sternburg was reassigned to the post. In 1893 he entered the diplomatic service and five years later managed to be ordered to his favorite post, Washington, once again. While Sternburg possessed some of the necessary qualifications for a successful career in the diplomatic service, such as wealth and a military background, a significant impediment was his rather “young” aristocratic title. Thus, he suffered from rejection and derision within the diplomatic ranks. The extraordinary prestige that a member of the diplomatic elite enjoyed, however, helped to compensate for these troubles.Already in the late 1880s, Sternburg had made friends with Roosevelt, at that time a civil service commissioner in Washington. The diplomat was Roosevelt’s only close friend from Germany. Both Sternburg and the six-years-younger Roosevelt shared beliefs based on what the American had termed “the strenuous life.” As men of action, they were attracted by war, hunting, and sport. Sternburg’s Anglophilia and his admiration for Roosevelt were prerequisites for the friendship. Yet, Sternburg’s well-known pro-American attitude proved to be counterproductive when German American relations reached a low point between 1898 and 1903. De-
spite his success in negotiating a peaceful solution to the Samoa problem in 1899, his superiors criticized Sternburg.
When in 1900 he married the American Lillian May Langham, he was transferred as consul to Calcutta.The transfer to India was a step backward in Sternburg’s career. When Roosevelt surprisingly became president in 1901, the Germans used his influence to arrange for Sternburg’s return to Washington. In 1902 changes in the international system helped him. German foreign policy now sought the support of the United States. Yet, by the end of the year the Venezuelan crisis shattered the bilateral relationship. The German government reacted to the rapidly worsening situation by replacing Ambassador Theodor von Holleben with Sternburg in 1903. Sternburg’s appointment was a personal decision of Wilhelm II and caused much criticism in the diplomatic service and the German public. In his five years as ambassador, Sternburg had an impact upon the Moroccan Crisis of 1905 and 1906, German policy in Latin America, and the abortive German American plans for an entente in the Far East. In general, Sternburg faced an almost impossible task: On the one hand, officials in Berlin expected him to improve the German American relationship; on the other hand, right-wing organizations demanded a more aggressive German foreign policy and the German Empire continued to pursue its Weltpolitik (world politics), posing a potential threat to American interests.
Sternburg was the representative of a new generation in German diplomacy. He developed his own style and was instrumental in the relative improvement of German American relations in the years from 1903 to 1908. Nevertheless, he overestimated the political influence of his friendship with Roosevelt. Sternburg contributed decisively to the wishful thinking that guided German foreign policy in this period. In sum, he was unable to understand that close German American cooperation was not possible because of a number of factors beyond his control.
Stefan Rinke
See also Bernstorff, Johann Heinrich Andreas Hermann Albrecht Count von; Far East, U.S.-German Entente in the; First Morrocon Crisis (1905-1906); Venezuelan Crisis (1902-1903)
References and Further Reading
Rinke, Stefan. “The German Ambassador Hermann Speck von Sternburg and Theodore Roosevelt, 1889-1908.” Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal 27, no. 1 (1991): 2-12.
------. Zwischen Weltpolitik und Monroe Doktrin: Botschafter Speck von Sternburg und die deutsch-amerikanischen Beziehungen, 1898-1908. Stuttgart: Heinz, 1992.
Vagts, Alfred. Deutschland und die Vereinigten Staaten in der Weltpolitik. New York: Macmillan, 1935.