Hermann von Thile

Karl Hermann von Thile (born December 19, 1812 in Berlin, died December 26, 1889 in Berlin) was a German diplomat, and the first Foreign Secretary of Germany and head of the Foreign Office (21 March 1871 – 30 September 1872).

He became a diplomat in the Kingdom of Prussia in 1837, and was sent to Rome, Berne, Vienna and London, before he was appointed as the Envoy to Rome in 1854, succeeding Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen. In 1862 he became Under-Secretary of State in the Prussian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As Secretary of State, he wielded less power over the direction of the foreign policy than Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

Literature

• Gregorovius, Ferdinand: "Briefe von Ferdinand Gregorovius an den Staatssekretär Hermann von Thile", (Herausgeber Herman von Petersdorff), Berlin 1894
• Sass, J.: "Hermann von Thile u. Bismarck. Mit unveröffentlichten Briefen Thiles". Preußisches Jbb., 217, 257–279

Foreign Ministers of Germany
German Empire (1871–1918)	Thile Balan B. E. von Bülow Radowitz Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst Limburg-Stirum Busch Hatzfeld zu Trachenberg von Bismarck Bieberstein B. von Bülow von Richthofen von Tschirschky-Bögendorff von Schoen von Kiderlen-Waechter von Jagow Zimmermann von Kühlmann von Hintze Solf von Brockdorff-Rantzau
Weimar Republic (1918–33)	von Brockdorff-Rantzau Müller Köster Simons Rosen Wirth Rathenau von Rosenberg Stresemann Curtius Brüning von Neurath
Nazi Germany (1933–45)	von Neurath von Ribbentrop Seyss-Inquart Schwerin von Krosigk
German Democratic Republic1 (1949–90)	Dertinger Ackermann Bolz Winzer O. Fischer Meckel de Maizière
Federal Republic of Germany (1949–present)	Adenauer von Brentano Schröder Brandt Scheel Genscher Kinkel J. Fischer Steinmeier Westerwelle Steinmeier
1 East Germany