The Kruger Telegram
Poets involved
What happened
Kaiser Wilhelm II sent a telegram to President Paul Kruger in Pretoria congratulating him for defeating the Jameson Raid without foreign assistance. British readers interpreted the message as German interference in southern Africa and an implicit challenge to British power. The diplomatic blunder sharply worsened Anglo-German relations.
Literary impact
The telegram intensified the imperial climate surrounding Rudyard Kipling's political verse and later Boer War poetry. Thomas Hardy and other poets questioned the patriotic simplifications encouraged by newspapers, telegrams and imperial propaganda.
Source: Wikipedia
