Early Career
Son of Graf Hermann zu Rantzau and Juliane nee von Brockdorff, Brockdorff-Rantzau completed study of jurisprudence in Neuchâtel and Freiburg im Breisgau and became a Dr. jur in 1891. Between 1891 and 1893 he served with the Prussian army; he was dismissed as a second lieutenant after suffering an injury. He then entered the Foreign Office as a diplomat. From 1897 to 1901 he was secretary to the embassy in St Petersburg. In 1901 he moved on to Vienna. From 1909 to 1912 he was attached to the Consul-General in Budapest. Finally, in 1912, he was made ambassador to Denmark. In this position he was able to ensure the exchange of German coal for Danish food supplies. He came in close contact with Danish and German trade unions and got to know the future German president Friedrich Ebert. He was also instrumental in facilitating the passage of the Bolsheviks Vladimir Lenin and Karl Radek across Germany in a sealed train in 1917.
Read more about this topic: Ulrich Von Brockdorff-Rantzau
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or career:
“Even today . . . experts, usually male, tell women how to be mothers and warn them that they should not have children if they have any intention of leaving their side in their early years. . . . Children don’t need parents’ full-time attendance or attention at any stage of their development. Many people will help take care of their needs, depending on who their parents are and how they chose to fulfill their roles.”
—Stella Chess (20th century)
“He was at a starting point which makes many a man’s career a fine subject for betting, if there were any gentlemen given to that amusement who could appreciate the complicated probabilities of an arduous purpose, with all the possible thwartings and furtherings of circumstance, all the niceties of inward balance, by which a man swings and makes his point or else is carried headlong.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)