Monsieur Cliquot thinks it safer to take shelter till the Shower passes over
Wood engraving
Punch 27 (1854): 182
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Commentary
The King of Prussia, Frederick William III (1795-1861), who was hardly a young man in 1854, had a reputation as a drunkard — and, more to the point, a vacillator who sought to maintain Prussian neutrality, even though the Austro-Hungarian Empire had come down on the side of the Anglo-French alliance. The review of Prussia in the Bundestag run in the Nation for 10 August 1882 describes the King of Prussia as a besotted wine-bibber devoted to an expensive champagne, Veuve Cliquot:
The irresolute king wavered from one side to the other: to-day opened negotiations with the Czar of Russia, who considered him as a mere tool, whose opinion it was not worthwhile asking for, and, alluding to his love of champagne and his old-womanhood, contemptuously nicknamed him "Veuve Cliquot"; to morrow trying to come to terms with England, who did not trust him. [111]
Although Prussia maintained neutrality in the Crimean War, in June 1854 it supported Austria's demand that Russia withdraw from the Ottoman lands it had recently occupied. However, by then Punch had taken to deriding the Prussian King as "Clicquot" in its political cartoons. Of course, as Marjorie Bloy explains, Britain gained nothing from an expensive war, and whereas neutrality in the end harmed Austria, Prussia came out quite well eventually becoming the leader a unified Germany: “Austria-Hungary emerged from the war diplomatically isolated. This was of vital importance over the next 50 years or so because it determined the course of European history and was partly responsible for the First World War. Austrian neutrality upset Russia, Britain and France because they all anticipated Austrian help. Her isolation subsequently led to Italian and German Unification because no-one would aid Austria-Hungary in her time of need. These two new nations upset the balance of power in Europe.”
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Last modified 17 May 2014