Fürst von Karl Max Lichnowsky

Born on 8 March 1860 in Upper Silesia, Karl Max, Prince Lichnowsky was a German aristocrat and career diplomat. He worked in the German Foreign Office and later served in several diplomatic posts before becoming Germany’s ambassador to Britain in 1912.

In London, he tried to improve relations between Britain and Germany during a tense and dangerous period in European politics. He was ambassador during the July Crisis of 1914, and he later became well known for arguing that German diplomacy had played a major role in the slide into World War I.

A pamphlet he wrote in 1916, later widely circulated, made him one of the most discussed German voices reflecting on the war’s origins. He died on 27 February 1928, but his name remains closely tied to the diplomatic failures that preceded the First World War.