When reminded that Belgium was guaranteed by the European Powers, Bismarck replied that “a guarantee was in these days of little value.” This remark makes an excellent register of the diplomatic temperature of the hour.
Morley highlights Bismarck's cynical view on diplomatic guarantees, illustrating the precariousness of peace.
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If they, situated exactly as we are, decline to join, we are not bound single-handed to make up the deficiencies of the rest.
People still believe that Russian diplomats are particularly crafty and clever, full of artifices and stratagems, but that is not the case.
Yet he had prepared this document for the very purpose of tempting France into a declaration of war.
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