A New Era

Rochau’s concept caught on early, and his book was favourably received by both the public and reviewers. Less than a year after the publication of the anonymous first volume, his new term was already being deployed elsewhere, in the Liberal periodical Die Grenzboten. It was no coincidence that the Grenzboten were co-edited by the novelist Gustav Freytag, who within another year would come out with his Realist classic, Soll und Haben. Commenting on the Prussian position of neutrality in the Crimean War, the editors advised that, ‘if one renounced bias and focused instead on interests, striding onto the ground of Realpolitik,’ it immediately became clear that Prussia’s position was reprehensible.