Behncke’s Memorandum (13 February, 1905) – Chile’s Place in the Latin America Policy of Imperial Germany

Abstract

Behncke’s Memorandum (13 February, 1905) – Chile’s Place in the Latin America Policy of Imperial Germany To Chile – as a country among other Latin American countries to which Imperial Germany must pay special attention – Capt. Paul Behncke, the commander of the cruiser "SMS Falke", drew Berlin's attention after he sailed the ports of this long country for several months, and thoroughly studied the Andean country's domestic, foreign and trade relations and its special military-political potential. As part of the „Kaiserliche Marine Cabinet” (Imperial Naval Cabinet) files marked as "Geheim" (Secret), a 23 page typed document called "Militärpolitischer Bericht" (military-political report) written in the Peruvian port of Callao on the 13th of February 1905 can be considered the „Behncke-memorandum” or even a doctrine due to its importance - as later also confirmed. Especially, because some of the ideas and suggestions contained in these 11 paragraphs proved to be strategically valuable: the pillars of the German pre-World War I Chile-policy were based on the thorough analysis and proposals of Capt. Behncke, who later became the Commander-in-Chief of the Reichsmarine as an admiral during the first half of the 1920’s.