en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronstadt%E2%80%93Toulon_naval_visits
1 correction found
Bismarck had banned German nationals from lending to Russia in 1887
This overstates Bismarck’s 1887 financial measure. It did not ban all German nationals from lending to Russia; it barred German banks from using Russian state securities as collateral, which effectively restricted Russian borrowing on the German market.
Full reasoning
The 1887 Lombardverbot was narrower than the article says. Contemporary historical summaries describe it as a restriction on German banks and Russian securities, not a blanket prohibition on all German nationals lending to Russia.
- The German Historical Museum explains that under the 1887 Lombardverbot, German banks were forbidden to lend against Russian state securities ("russische Staatspapiere zu beleihen").
- Jennifer Siegel’s For Peace and Money states that the Reichsbank forbade all German banks to accept Russian securities as loan collateral, which "essentially" closed the German market to Russia.
So the policy helped push Russia toward French finance, but it was not a general ban on all German nationals lending to Russia.
2 sources
- Raum 9 - Das Reich in Europa
Da es den deutschen Banken mit dem Lombardverbot von 1887 untersagt wurde, russische Staatspapiere zu beleihen, wandte Rußland sich auch finanzpolitisch Frankreich zu.
- For Peace and Money: French and British Finance in the Service of Tsars and Commissars
the Reichsbank forbade all German banks to accept Russian securities as loan collateral, essentially closing off the German market for Russia.