Antedating of "Realpolitik"

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Thu, Dec 27, 2007 at 08:32:00AM -0500, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>
> realpolitik (OED 1914)
>
> 1911 _Economist_ 14 Oct. 762 (Economist Historical Archive)
> Thus the spirit of Bismarckian _realpolitik_, with its open
> distrust and contempt for moral forces and principles,
> became very quickly so dominant in the Italian mind that
> anyone who takes, or professes to take, some accoutn of
> unselfish motives and universal interests is too readily
> stamped as a hypocrite or a fool.

We now have a 1908 example in the draft version of this entry.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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