Le comte Benedetti - Ma mission en Prusse - 1871

1 volume in-8 demi basane, 408 pages - External wear, (hinge split in three places on the exterior, not serious) - Nice copy.
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My mission in Prussia is a major diplomatic work of Count Vincent Benedetti (1817-1900), Ambassador of France to the Kingdom of Prussia from 1864 to 1870.

The book appeared in Paris, at Henri Plon, in 1871, shortly after the Franco-Prussian War. It has about 446 pages and would go through several editions in the same year.

Benedetti describes his diplomatic mission to:

Otto von Bismarck;
William I;
Napoleon III.

The book covers in particular:

Franco-Prussian relations from 1864 to 1870;
the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and its consequences;
the candidacy of a Prince Hohenzollern for the Spanish throne;
diplomatic negotiations leading up to the War of 1870;
the famous episode of the Ems dispatch, in which Benedetti plays a central role.

The historical interest of the book is considerable, because Benedetti reproduces many dispatches, ministerial instructions and diplomatic correspondence. His aim is also to defend his own conduct in the face of criticism voiced after the French defeat of 1870. Historians consider it a first-rate source, to be confronted with Otto von Bismarck's memoirs and with the French and German diplomatic archives.