Hermann von Thile

Karl Hermann von Thile ( born December 19, 1812 in Berlin, † December 26, 1889 in Berlin) was a German diplomat and the first Secretary of State in the Foreign Office of the German Empire.

Diplomatic career

His father was the general of the infantry Adolf Eduard von Thile, last commanding general of the Eighth Army Corps in Berlin. Thile, a nephew of the Prussian General and Chief of the Military Cabinet Ludwig Gustav von Thile, occurred in 1837 in the diplomatic service of Prussia. 1838 was his first foreign assignment in Rome. In the following years, uses followed in Bern, 1842 in Vienna and London. From 1854 to 1859 he was the successor of Christian Karl Josias Bunsen ambassador in Rome.

In 1862 he was Under Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Prussia. In the same year he joined as many nobles of his time in the lawless society in Berlin.

Foreign Secretary

On March 21, 1871, he became the first Foreign Secretary of the newly founded German Empire. This office he held until September 30, 1872, when he resigned in the wake of a scandal over the award of the Black Eagle to the Russian Ambassador Paul of Oubril as well as the Austrian ambassador Alajos Károlyi and was replaced by Hermann Ludwig von Balan. The actual design of foreign policy was responsible during this time, however, largely the Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

Thile left an extensive literary estate, which is located in the Dessau Anhalt Regional Library. Among them is the correspondence with the historian Alfred von Reumont.