[16]The heavy losses among army aviators had brought about a similar state of affairs at this time in the army. Volunteers for the fighting planes ceased offering themselves, and a resort to forced service became necessary.
[16]The heavy losses among army aviators had brought about a similar state of affairs at this time in the army. Volunteers for the fighting planes ceased offering themselves, and a resort to forced service became necessary.
[16]The heavy losses among army aviators had brought about a similar state of affairs at this time in the army. Volunteers for the fighting planes ceased offering themselves, and a resort to forced service became necessary.
Von Capelle's disclosures came as answer to an interpellation by the Independent Socialist deputies regarding pan-German propaganda at the front and the prohibition of the circulation of twenty-three Socialist newspapers among the men of the ships. The Independent Wilhelm Dittmann made a long speech supporting the interpellation, and voiced a bitter complaint over the fact that pan-German agitation was permitted at the front and among the fleet, while the Independent Socialist propaganda was forbidden. Dr. Michaelis, the Imperial Chancellor, made a brief response, in which he announced that Admiral von Capelle would answer the Independents. "I will merely say one thing," he said, "and that is that Deputy Dittmann is the last man in the world who has a right to talk about agitation in the army and navy."
Michaelis referred then to a complaint by Dittmann that he (Michaelis) had not been true to his promise, made upon assuming office, to treat all parties alike. "Dittmann has forgotten to add the qualification which I made at thattime," said the Chancellor. "I said all parties that do not threaten the existence of the empire or follow aims dangerous to the state. The party of the Independent Social-Democrats stands on the other side of that line so far as I am concerned."
This was the first open declaration by the government of war on the party of Haase, Dittmann, et al. The Majority Socialists—as the members of the old or parent organization were now termed—joined in the tumult raised by their seceding brethren. When the storm had laid itself, Admiral von Capelle made his sensational disclosures. He said:
"It is unfortunately a fact that the Russian revolution has turned the heads of a few persons on board our fleet and caused them to entertain matured revolutionary ideas. The mad plan of these few men was to secure accomplices on all ships and to subvert the whole fleet, all members of the crews, to open mutiny, in order, by force if necessary, to paralyze the fleet and compel peace."It is a fact that these men have entered into relations with the Independent Socialist Party. It has been formally established by the evidence that the ringleader presented his plans to Deputies Dittmann, Haase and Vogtherr in the caucus-room of the Independent Socialists here in the Reichstag building, and that it received the approval of these men."It is true that these deputies pointed out the extreme danger of the proposed action and warned the conspirators to observe the greatest caution, but they promised their whole-hearted support through the furnishing of agitation material designed to incite the fleet to mutiny."
"It is unfortunately a fact that the Russian revolution has turned the heads of a few persons on board our fleet and caused them to entertain matured revolutionary ideas. The mad plan of these few men was to secure accomplices on all ships and to subvert the whole fleet, all members of the crews, to open mutiny, in order, by force if necessary, to paralyze the fleet and compel peace.
"It is a fact that these men have entered into relations with the Independent Socialist Party. It has been formally established by the evidence that the ringleader presented his plans to Deputies Dittmann, Haase and Vogtherr in the caucus-room of the Independent Socialists here in the Reichstag building, and that it received the approval of these men.
"It is true that these deputies pointed out the extreme danger of the proposed action and warned the conspirators to observe the greatest caution, but they promised their whole-hearted support through the furnishing of agitation material designed to incite the fleet to mutiny."
Von Capelle's speech was interrupted at this point by cries of indignation from the parties of the right and center, and by abusive remarks directed against the speaker from the Socialists of both factions. When the presiding-officer had succeeded in restoring a semblance of order, the Admiral continued:
"In view of this situation it was my first duty to prevent with all possible means at my disposal the circulation of the incitatory literature among the fleet."I do not care at this time to go into details concerningthe further happenings in the fleet. Some few men who had forgotten honor and duty committed grave crimes and have undergone the punishment which they deserved. I will only add here that the rumors in circulation, which have naturally come also to my ears, are exaggerated beyond all measure. The preparedness of the fleet for battle has not been brought in question for a single moment, and it shall and will not be."
"In view of this situation it was my first duty to prevent with all possible means at my disposal the circulation of the incitatory literature among the fleet.
"I do not care at this time to go into details concerningthe further happenings in the fleet. Some few men who had forgotten honor and duty committed grave crimes and have undergone the punishment which they deserved. I will only add here that the rumors in circulation, which have naturally come also to my ears, are exaggerated beyond all measure. The preparedness of the fleet for battle has not been brought in question for a single moment, and it shall and will not be."
The three deputies named by von Capelle defended themselves in speeches which, judged even on their merits and without reference to the personalities and records of the men making them, did not ring quite true or carry complete conviction. In the light of the previous and subsequent conduct of the trio and of the occurrences of November, 1918, their shifty and evasive character is apparent. We have already learned something of Haase's activities, and the other two were among his ablest and most energetic lieutenants. Dittmann, virtually a Communist and pronounced internationalist, was later arrested for pro-revolutionary activities. Erwin Vogtherr, the third member of the group, had from the very beginning been one of the most perniciously active of all revolutionary propagandists and agitators. He had been for some time the editor ofDer Atheist(The Atheist), and was of that uncompromising type of atheists who consider it necessary to keep their hats on in church to show their disbelief in a Creator.
Haase, in his reply to the charges against him, admitted that the mutineers' ringleader had had a conference with him, Dittmann and Vogtherr. But this, he declared, was nothing out of the ordinary, since it was both his custom and his duty to receive the men who came to him from both army and navy to complain of conditions. The sailor referred to by Admiral von Capelle had visited him during the summer and complained bitterly about the conditions which he and his colleagues were compelled to endure. Haase continued:
"He declared further that the sailors, and especially those of lengthy service, felt keenly the lack of mental stimulus, that great numbers of them had subscribed to IndependentSocialist publications, were reading them zealously and receiving stimulus from them. It was their intention to educate themselves further and to devote themselves to political discussions in meetings on land. To this end they desired to have literature. Although, as has been shown in the last days, political discussions have been carried on under full steam, even officially, I called this sailor's attention to the fact that what was in itself permissible, might, under the peculiar conditions under which we lived, become dangerous, and I warned him to be cautious. This much is correct."
"He declared further that the sailors, and especially those of lengthy service, felt keenly the lack of mental stimulus, that great numbers of them had subscribed to IndependentSocialist publications, were reading them zealously and receiving stimulus from them. It was their intention to educate themselves further and to devote themselves to political discussions in meetings on land. To this end they desired to have literature. Although, as has been shown in the last days, political discussions have been carried on under full steam, even officially, I called this sailor's attention to the fact that what was in itself permissible, might, under the peculiar conditions under which we lived, become dangerous, and I warned him to be cautious. This much is correct."
Haase denied that the sailor had submitted any revolutionary plan to him or his colleagues, and challenged Admiral von Capelle to produce his evidence.
It is difficult for one who, like the writer, has a thorough acquaintance with the Independent Socialist publications, to take seriously the statement that they were desired merely for "mental stimulus" by sailors who wished to "educate themselves further." The plain tendency of all these publications, disguised as cleverly as it might be in an attempt to escape confiscation of the issue or prosecution for treason, was revolutionary. A certain degree of venomousness, scurrility and abuse ofbourgeoisopponents has always characterized all but a few Socialist publications in all lands, and the Independent Socialist press far outdid the organs of the old party in this respect. It preached internationalism and flouted patriotism; it ridiculed all existing authority; it glorified the Russian revolution in a manner calculated to induce imitation by its readers, and, following the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in November, 1917, it published regularly the reports of theIsvestiaand other Bolshevik organs, with laudatory editorial comment. The man who "educated himself further" by a reading of the Independent Socialist publications was educating himself for revolution and for nothing else.
Vogtherr set up a straw man in his reply and demolished it to the complete satisfaction of himself and his brother Socialists, including, strangely enough, also the Majority Socialists, who, despite the fact that the Independent Socialistpress had classified them withbourgeoisieand attacked them even more bitterly, on this occasion exhibited solidarity of feeling with their more radical colleagues. Vogtherr declared that von Capelle had charged the Independents with having worked out a plan for revolution in the fleet. This alleged charge he denied. He spoke with a certain pathos of the oppressed sailors who recognized in the Independents their real friends and naturally came to them instead of going to deputies in whom they had no confidence. He, too, demanded that the Minister of Marine produce his proof. Vogtherr, like Haase before him, devoted a part of his speech to a general attack on von Capelle and Michaelis, plainly the attempt of a practical politician to confuse the issue.
Dittmann spoke briefly along the lines followed by Haase and Vogtherr. He had, he said, carefully warned his sailor-visitors to keep within safe bounds. He refused to permit either Admiral von Capelle or Chancellor Michaelis to restrict his rights as Reichstag deputy to receive visitors and hear their complaints. Dittmann cleverly enlisted further the sympathy of the Majority Socialists by pointing out that several of their publications had also come under the ban of the Admiralty.
Von Capelle responded to the challenge of the trio to produce his evidence. He read the following testimony, given at the court-martial by one of the lieutenants of the mutineers' ringleader, a man named Sachse. This witness testified:
"I, too, made a personal visit to Deputy Dittmann in the Reichstag after Reichpietsch (the ringleader) had visited him. I introduced myself by saying that I came from Reichpietsch and that I came in the same matter. Dittmann indicated that he knew what I meant. He was glad to see me and said: 'We must go ahead in the same way, but we must use great caution.'"Regarding his conference with the members of the party Reichpietsch told me the following: He had not been with Dittmann alone, but there had been a kind of a party conference, participated in by Dittmann, Vogtherr and Haase. Reichpietsch communicated to them the plan and the resultsthus far attained by the organization, which, according to his declaration, was very enthusiastic about the matter."After discussion of the details of the organization, the deputies told Reichpietsch that this was a prohibited and punishable undertaking and a very daring one, and he must be very careful. So far as they were concerned, they would support his agitation in every manner, and especially through pamphlets and other literature."
"I, too, made a personal visit to Deputy Dittmann in the Reichstag after Reichpietsch (the ringleader) had visited him. I introduced myself by saying that I came from Reichpietsch and that I came in the same matter. Dittmann indicated that he knew what I meant. He was glad to see me and said: 'We must go ahead in the same way, but we must use great caution.'
"Regarding his conference with the members of the party Reichpietsch told me the following: He had not been with Dittmann alone, but there had been a kind of a party conference, participated in by Dittmann, Vogtherr and Haase. Reichpietsch communicated to them the plan and the resultsthus far attained by the organization, which, according to his declaration, was very enthusiastic about the matter.
"After discussion of the details of the organization, the deputies told Reichpietsch that this was a prohibited and punishable undertaking and a very daring one, and he must be very careful. So far as they were concerned, they would support his agitation in every manner, and especially through pamphlets and other literature."
Admiral von Capelle further read from the testimony of the ringleader, Reichpietsch, who, after reading Sachse's testimony, had said under oath:
"Insofar as this testimony concerns me it is correct. That is to say, what I told Sachse was a true report of what had happened in Berlin."
"Insofar as this testimony concerns me it is correct. That is to say, what I told Sachse was a true report of what had happened in Berlin."
Friedrich (Fritz) Ebert, the Majority Socialist leader who later became the first president of the German Republic, defended the Independent Socialists and declared that the government had offered no evidence to substantiate its accusations against Haase, Dittmann and Vogtherr. Deputy Naumann of the Progressive party also defended them indirectly, and both he and Deputy Trimborn of the Center (Clerical party) protested against any effort to place a Reichstag party outside the pale.
In view of the revolutionary activities of the Independent Socialists even before that date and of the occurrences of the succeeding year, which culminated in the overthrow of the government, this attitude of supposedly loyal and patriotic parties of the Reichstag appears at first sight astonishing and almost inexplicable. There were, however, two reasons (in the case of the Majority Socialists three reasons) for it. Neither thebourgeoisparties nor the Majority Socialists had any conception of the extent of the revolutionary propaganda being carried on by the Independents and their more radical accomplices. As we shall see later, even the old party Socialists were completely taken by surprise when the actual revolution came, and revolution was almost an accomplished fact in Berlin, six days after it had begun in Kiel, before they awakened to what was happening. Hence the accusations against their colleagues of another party appeared tothe three parties of the anti-annexationist wing of the Reichstag as a blow directed against all opponents of the pan-German program of the parties of the Right.
The second reason was psychological and to be found in the atmosphere of the day's session. It had started, as already reported, with the discussion of an interpellation regarding pan-German propaganda at the front and in the fleet. The anti-Chauvinist majority of the Reichstag had earlier found its way together in abloccomposed of the Progressives, Clericals and Majority Socialists, and had adopted, on July 19, 1917, a resolution, in the main the work of Mathias Erzberger of the Clericals, calling for a peace without annexations or indemnities, and reserving the right of self-determination to all nations. Equally with the Independent Socialists, thisblochad been stirred to indignation by the shameless manner in which the high civil and military authorities not only permitted the advocates of an imperialistic and annexationist peace to carry on their propaganda among the soldiers and sailors, but even encouraged and actively assisted in that work. Not only all Socialist publications, but even manybourgeoispapers of the stamp of the BerlinTageblattwere absolutely forbidden by the commanders of many troop units, and the soldiers were compelled to listen to speeches by members of the pan-GermanVaterlandspartei(Fatherland Party) and similar organizations. Ignorant of the extent and nature of the Independent Socialists' efforts to undermine authority, theblocparties saw in Admiral von Capelle's charges only another manifestation of the spirit against which their own fight was directed. That, in these circumstances, they should defend the Independents was but natural.
The third reason affecting the course of the Majority Socialists has already been referred to in passing. This was the feeling of party solidarity, which still existed despite the fact that the Independents had had their own party organization for some six months. Most of the prominent men in both Socialist parties had worked together in a common cause for many years, and while, in the heat of purely partisan conflicts this was sometimes forgotten for the moment,it nevertheless united the two factions when, as now, the attack came from the extreme Right.
Complete details of the mutiny of this summer have never been given out. According to the best reports available, it started on the battleshipWestfalenat Wilhelmshaven and included altogether four vessels, one of which was theNürnberg. The captain of theNürnbergis said to have been thrown overboard. Rumor and enemy report made the most of the affair and undoubtedly exaggerated it greatly, but there can be no doubt that it was serious and that the morale of the fleet was greatly affected by it. Some of the ring-leaders—how many it is not known—were executed, and a considerable number were imprisoned for long terms. The extent and severity of the sentences added fuel to the discontent already prevailing throughout the fleet. The men's fighting spirit sank as their revolutionary spirit rose. Von Capelle's boast that the fleet's preparedness for battle "shall and will not be brought in question for a moment" was a vain boast. The fleet was already rotten at the core.
Ironic fate had led the men who directed the affairs of the German Empire to forge one of the weapons with which it was later to be destroyed. On April 9, 1917, Nicholas Lenine, with thirty-two fanatical followers, had been brought from Switzerland through Germany in a sealed car and sent into Russia to sow the seeds of Bolshevism. How the plan succeeded is only too well known. November brought the overthrow of the Kerensky government. Released from the necessity of the intensive pre-revolutionary propaganda at home, the Bolsheviki turned their attention to imperialistic Germany. Their missionaries, liberally equipped with corruption funds, entered Germany by secret routes and worked with Germans in sympathy with their cause, notably Liebknecht. Foremost among their propagandists was a man who called himself Radek. His real name was Sobelsohn, a Jew from Austrian Galicia. Expelled from his labor union before the war for robbing aGenosse, he had settled in Bremen and was even then the guiding spirit in the most radical and rabid circles. After the Russian Bolshevik revolution he quickly took up the severed threads of his formerconnections. He was intimate with all the Independent Socialist leaders already named, and with many others. A man of acknowledged organizing and propagandizing ability, he contributed markedly to making Germany ripe for revolution.
All the gates were thrown down to Bolshevism following the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, when Joffe, the Bolshevik Ambassador, was permitted to come to Berlin and establish himself in the palace of the former Imperial Russian Embassy inUnter den Linden. He brought a staff of men and women whose sole duty it was to carry on Bolshevist propaganda against the government to which he was accredited. Leading Independent Socialists were frequent visitors at the embassy, and Haase, at an elaborate banquet held there in May, 1918, responded to the toast, "The Red International."
Closest to Joffe of all Germans was Dr. Oskar Cohn, one of the founders of the Independent Socialist Party. Cohn, who is a Berlin lawyer, possesses that curious combination of characteristics so often encountered in extreme Socialism. In his private life of undoubted probity, he rejoiced at an opportunity to accept and distribute money given by a foreign government to overthrow the government of his own Fatherland. Mild-mannered and an opponent of force, he made the cause of Liebknecht's murderous Spartacans his own. Scholarly and of deep learning, he associated freely with the dregs of the population, with thieves and murderers, in furtherance of the cause of the international proletariat. He became the legal adviser of Joffe and one of the main distributors of the Bolsheviki's corruption fund.
The political police were at all times cognizant of the revolutionary propaganda that was being carried on, but they were greatly hampered in their work by a limitation which had been imposed in 1917 upon the so-calledSchutzhaft, literally "protective arrest." This had been freely used against suspected persons from the beginning of the war, and hundreds had sat in jail for weeks in what was equivalent to a sentence of imprisonment, without having had an opportunity to hear what the charge against themwas. The abuse of this right became so glaring that it was provided in 1917 that arrested persons could not be detained without a definite crime being charged against them. The police made a long report on Joffe's activities in June, 1918, and the authorities, with some hesitation, placed the matter before the "Ambassador." He lied bravely, declaring that he cherished no plans against the integrity of the German Empire and that his large staff existed solely to carry on the legitimate business of the embassy.
The authorities, unconvinced, maintained a watch on the activities of the Russians. They were particularly suspicious of the unusual number of diplomatic couriers passing between Berlin and Petrograd. Their number was said to reach nearly four hundred. The press began to voice these suspicions. Joffe, with a fine show of indignation, declared that it "was beneath his dignity" to take any notice of them. The tenuity of Herr Joffe's dignity and the value of his word became apparent on November 5, 1918, in the revolution week, when a box in the luggage of a courier arriving from Russia was—"accidentally," as the official report put it—broken open at the railway station. Its contents proved to be Bolshevik propaganda literature inciting the Germans to institute a reign of terror against thebourgeoisie, to murder the oppressors of the proletariat and to overthrow the government. One of these appeals came from the SpartacanInternationaleand contained a carefully worked-out program for instituting a reign of terror.
Even theVorwärts, which had been reluctant to credit the charges againstGenosseJoffe, was now compelled to admit that he had lied and misused his diplomatic privileges. Joffe, still denying his guilt, was escorted from the embassy in the middle of the following night by an armed guard and placed aboard a special train for Moscow, with the whole staff of the embassy and of the Rosta Telegraph Agency, ostensibly a news agency, but really an institution for carrying on Bolshevik propaganda. Once safe in Russia, Joffe admitted his activities in Germany and gloried in them. In a wireless message sent on December 8, 1918, he said the Bolshevik literature had been circulated "through the good offices ofthe Independent Socialists." He declared further that a much greater number of weapons than had been alleged had been handed over to the Independent Barth, together with "several hundred thousand roubles." He added:
"I claim for myself the honor of having devoted all my powers to the success of the German revolution through my activities, which were carried on in agreement with the Independent Socialist ministers Haase and Barth and with others."
"I claim for myself the honor of having devoted all my powers to the success of the German revolution through my activities, which were carried on in agreement with the Independent Socialist ministers Haase and Barth and with others."
Following the publication of this wireless message, Cohn also issued an explanation of his activities in connection with Joffe. He said:
"Is any particular explanation or justification needed to make it clear that I gladly accepted the funds which the Russian comrades sent me by the hand of Comrade Joffe for the purposes of the German revolution? Comrade Joffe gave me the money in the night of November 5th. This had nothing to do with the money which he had previously given me for the purchase of weapons. I used the money for the purpose intended, namely, the spreading of the revolutionary idea, and regret only that circumstances made it impossible for me to use all of it in this manner."
"Is any particular explanation or justification needed to make it clear that I gladly accepted the funds which the Russian comrades sent me by the hand of Comrade Joffe for the purposes of the German revolution? Comrade Joffe gave me the money in the night of November 5th. This had nothing to do with the money which he had previously given me for the purchase of weapons. I used the money for the purpose intended, namely, the spreading of the revolutionary idea, and regret only that circumstances made it impossible for me to use all of it in this manner."
Bolshevik centers had been organized all over Germany when the revolution came. On the same day Joffe was expelled, the police in Düsseldorf closed a Bolshevik nest which was ostensibly conducted as a news agency. It was but one of scores of similar centers of revolution.
The revolutionary propaganda being carried on inside the empire was powerfully aided and supplemented by the activities of Germany's enemies along the same lines. No detailed report of the extent of this branch of warfare is yet available, but it was, in the words of one of Germany's leading generals in a talk with the writer, "devilishly clever and effective." From the air, through secret channels, through traitors at home, the German soldier or sailor was worked upon. He was told truths about the forces against him that had been suppressed by the German censors. The folly of longer trying to oppose the whole world was pointed out, and every possible weakness in the German character was cunninglyexploited. The good effect of this propaganda cannot be doubted.
Testimony regarding the part played by enemy propaganda in bringing about the final collapse of Germany has been given by one of the men best qualified to know the facts. In an article inEverybody's Magazinefor February, 1919, George Creel, chairman of the American Committee on Public Information, gives full credit to the work of the American soldiers, but declares that, in the last analysis, Germany was defeated by publicity. The military collapse of Germany was due to "a disintegration of morale both on the firing line and among the civilian population." It was the telling of the truth to the Germans by their enemies that finally caused thedébâcleat a time when the German Army "was well equipped with supplies and ammunitions, and behind it still stretched line after line almost impregnable by reason of natural strength and military science."[17]
[17]German assertions that their armies were never defeated in a military sense regularly arouse and will long continue to arouse anger and scornful indignation among their enemies, yet here we have official testimony to support their contentions. It is no detraction from the valor and military successes of the Allies to assert again that if the German troops had not been weakened physically by starvation and morally by enemy propaganda, they could have carried on the war for many months more.
[17]German assertions that their armies were never defeated in a military sense regularly arouse and will long continue to arouse anger and scornful indignation among their enemies, yet here we have official testimony to support their contentions. It is no detraction from the valor and military successes of the Allies to assert again that if the German troops had not been weakened physically by starvation and morally by enemy propaganda, they could have carried on the war for many months more.
[17]German assertions that their armies were never defeated in a military sense regularly arouse and will long continue to arouse anger and scornful indignation among their enemies, yet here we have official testimony to support their contentions. It is no detraction from the valor and military successes of the Allies to assert again that if the German troops had not been weakened physically by starvation and morally by enemy propaganda, they could have carried on the war for many months more.
The propaganda literature was prepared by historians, journalists and advertising specialists, and even some psychologists were enlisted to help in its writing. Germany's borders, however, were so carefully guarded that it was difficult to get the matter into the country. Mr. Creel relates interestingly how this was done. Aëroplanes were employed to some extent, but these were so badly needed for fighting purposes that not enough could be obtained for distribution of propaganda literature.
"The French introduced a rifle-grenade that carried pamphlets about six hundred feet in a favoring wind, and a seventy-five millimeter shell that carried four or five miles. The British developed a six-inch gun that carried ten or twelve miles and scattered several thousand leaflets from each shell. The Italians used rockets for close work on the front, each rocket carrying forty or fifty leaflets.The obvious smash at German morale was through America's aim and swift war-progress, and for this reason the Allies used the President's speeches and our military facts freely and sometimes exclusively.
"To reach further behind the lines, all fronts used paper balloons filled with coal-gas. They would remain in the air a minimum of twenty hours, so as to make a trip of six hundred miles in a thirty-mile wind. On a Belgian fête-day such balloons carried four hundred thousand greetings into Belgium, and some flew clear across Belgium. Fabric balloons, carrying seventeen or eighteen pounds of leaflets, were also employed, but with all the balloons the uncertainty of the wind made the work haphazard.
"The attempt was made to fly kites over the trenches and drop leaflets from traveling containers that were run up the kite-wire, but this method could be used only on fronts where aëroplanes were not active, because the wires were a menace to the planes. The paper used in the leaflets was chemically treated so that they would not spoil if they lay out in the rain.
"An American invention that gave promise of supplanting all others was a balloon that carried a tin container holding about ten thousand pamphlets. A clock attachment governed the climb of the balloon, it had a sailing range of from six to eight hundred miles, and the mechanism could be set in such a manner as to have the pamphlets dropped in a bunch or one at a time at regular intervals, the whole business blowing up conclusively with the descent of the last printed 'bullet'."
Similar methods were used against Austria-Hungary, writes Mr. Creel, and did much to shatter their feelings of allegiance to Germany. A proof of the effectiveness of the propaganda came when an order from the German General Staff was found, "establishing death as a penalty for all those seen picking up our matter or found with it in their possession. Austria-Hungary had earlier given orders to shoot or imprison all soldiers or citizens guilty of the abominable crime of reading 'printed lies' against the government."
Indirectly, too, the Germans were subjected to Allied propaganda throughout the war. In one matter the German Government's attitude was more democratic and ethically defensible than the attitude of its enemies. It is discouraging to the abstract moralist to find that this worked out to the detriment of those adopting the more admirable course. Of all belligerent countries, Germany was the only one that permitted the free circulation and sale within its borders of the enemy press. Leading French and English editors were able with much difficulty to secure copies of some German papers, and occasionally the large press associations and some of the leading newspapers in America were permitted to see a few ancient copies, but nowhere could they be had by the private citizen, nor even read with safety in public places by those entitled to have them. There was never a time in Berlin, from the first declaration of war to the armistice, when the leading American, French, English, Italian and Russian papers could not be bought openly at a dozen newsstands or hotels, and the same was true generally throughout Germany.
The well-disciplined Germans at first rejected as lies all reports in these papers differing from the official German versions of the same happenings. Many kept this attitude to the last, but even these began after a while, in common with the less sturdy believers, to be morally shaken by the cumulative evidence of the worldwide unpopularity of the Germans and to be dismayed by the tone of the enemy toward everything that they had heretofore held holy. The average German stoically endured for a long time to be called "Hun," but, in homely phrase, it got on his nerves after a while. The wild atrocity stories also played their part. All intelligent readers of history know that tremendous exaggerations of such reports have always accompanied all wars. Before the present war the Associated Press, the world's greatest newsgathering agency, barred war-atrocity stories from its reports because experience had demonstrated that these were often—perhaps generally—untrue and almost always exaggerated. When the enemy press converted the German army'sKadaververwertungs-Anstalt(Carcass UtilizationFactory) into a Corpse Utilization Factory (Leichenverwertungs-Anstalt) and declared that bodies of fallen German soldiers were being rendered out for the fat, the Germans were at first indignant and angry. This feeling changed to one of consternation and eventual depression when they learned from the enemy newspapers that the story was universally believed. In the course of the long war, the constant repetition of atrocity reports, both true and false, had a cumulative depressive effect which seriously shook the morale of all but the sturdiest of the people and was one of the factors inducing the general feeling of hopelessness that made the finaldébâcleso complete. That everybody knew some of the reports to be true was an aggravation of their effect. A great part, perhaps, indeed, the greater part of all Germans condemned bitterly the Belgian deportations, just as the best minds of the nation condemned the newSchrecklichkeitof the U-boat warfare, but they were helpless so long as their government was under the iron thumb of the military caste, and their helplessness increased their despair when they saw the opinion of the world embittered against their nation.
There is plenty of German testimony to show how effective this enemy propaganda was. Siegfried Heckscher, Reichstag member and chief of the publicity department of the Hamburg-America Line, writing at the end of September, pointed out the need of a German propaganda ministry to counteract the attacks being made on Germany by the propaganda work under the direction of Lord Northcliffe.
"The German practice of silence in the face of all the pronouncements of enemy statesmen cannot be borne any longer," said Herr Heckscher. "Anybody who watches the effect of the Northcliffe propaganda in foreign countries and in Germany can have only one opinion—that this silence is equivalent to a failure of German statesmanship.
"With masterly skill every single speech of the English leaders is adapted not only to its effect in England, but also to its influence on public opinion among the neutrals and also, and especially, in Germany. * * * * Hundreds of thousands of Germans, reading a pronouncement by the Presidentof the United States, ask themselves bitterly what the German Government will say. Thus there is formed a cloud of discontent and dark doubt, which, thanks to this Northcliffe propaganda, spreads itself more and more over the German people. * * * *
"We try to protect our country from enemy espionage and from the work of agents and scoundrels, but with open eyes we leave it defenseless while a stream of poisonous speeches is poured over its people.
"It will not, of course, do for enemy pronouncements of importance to be withheld from our people, but it is as necessary for our people as their daily bread that the Anglo-Franco-American influence should be met by the German view, and that the justice and greatness of the German cause and of the German idea should be brought into the clear, full light of day. Nor is defense sufficient. We must also aggressively champion our cause in the forum of the civilized world.
"I repeat what I have said for years, that Reuter and the English news propaganda are mightier than the English fleet and more dangerous than the English army."
TheKölnische Volkszeitungechoed the demand for a propaganda ministry. It wrote:
"As our good name has been stolen from us and made despicable throughout the world, one of our peace demands must be that our enemies publicly and officially confess that they have circulated nothing but lies and slanders. * * * The greatest need of the moment is a campaign of enlightenment, organized by all the competent authorities, to hammer into German heads that, if further sacrifices and efforts are required of us, it is not the caprice of a few dozen people in Germany nor German obstinacy, but the enemy's impulse to destroy, that imposes them on people at home and at the front."
"As our good name has been stolen from us and made despicable throughout the world, one of our peace demands must be that our enemies publicly and officially confess that they have circulated nothing but lies and slanders. * * * The greatest need of the moment is a campaign of enlightenment, organized by all the competent authorities, to hammer into German heads that, if further sacrifices and efforts are required of us, it is not the caprice of a few dozen people in Germany nor German obstinacy, but the enemy's impulse to destroy, that imposes them on people at home and at the front."
Dr. Michaelis, unequal to his task, laid down the Imperial Chancellorship. His successor was Count Hertling, Minister-President of Bavaria. The decision to appoint this man Imperial Chancellor may have been influenced largely by a desire to strengthen the bonds between Prussia and the next largest German state. It is possible also that Hertling's intimate relations with the Papal Court were taken into consideration, but the choice was a striking commentary on the dearth of good chancellorship material in Germany. Count Hertling's age alone unfitted him to bear the terrible burdens of this post, for he was well along in the seventies, and not strong physically. He had distinguished himself as an educator and as a writer on certain topics, especially Roman Catholic Church history, and had a record of honorable and faithful service as a member of the Bavarian Government. In his rôle as statesman he had exhibited perhaps a little more than average ability, but never those qualities which the responsible head of a great state should possess.
A monarchist by birth and conviction, Count Hertling was particularly unfitted for the chancellorship at a time when the nation-wide demand for democratic reforms of government was increasing in strength every moment. In assuming his post he declared that he was fully cognizant of the strength and justice of the demand for an increased share of participation by the people in the government, and he pledged himself to use his best efforts to see that this demand was met. There is no reason to doubt the honesty of his intentions, but it was too much to expect that an aged Conservative of the old school should so easily shake off oldnotions or even realize adequately what the great mass of the people meant when they cried out for a change of system. Probably no man could have carried out the task confronting the Chancellor; that Count Hertling would fail was inevitable.
The empire was honeycombed with sedition when the military reverses of the summer began. These reverses, disastrous enough in themselves, were greatly magnified by faint-hearted or malicious rumor. The military commander in the Marches (Brandenburg) issued a decree on September 9th providing for a year's imprisonment or a fine of 1,500 marks for persons spreading false rumors. The decree applied not only to rumors of defeats, but also to reports exaggerating the enemy's strength, casting doubts on the ability of the German armies to withstand the attack or bringing in question the soundness of the empire's economic situation.
Reports of serious dissensions in Austria-Hungary came at the same time to add to the general depression. The ViennaArbeiterzeitungsaid:
"In questions regarding food we are compelled to negotiate with Hungary as if we were negotiating with a foreign power. The harvest is the best since the war began, but the Hungarians are ruthlessly starving the Austrians, although there is plenty for us all."
"In questions regarding food we are compelled to negotiate with Hungary as if we were negotiating with a foreign power. The harvest is the best since the war began, but the Hungarians are ruthlessly starving the Austrians, although there is plenty for us all."
The Austro-Hungarian Government saw the trend of events. Premier Baron Burian told Berlin that the Dual Monarchy could not keep up the struggle much longer. The people, he said, were starving, and disloyalty and treachery on the part of subject non-German races in Hungary, Bohemia and the Slav population had attained alarming proportions.
"If the rulers do not make peace the people will make it over their heads," said the Premier, "and that will be the end of rulers."
He appealed to Germany to join with Austria-Hungary in making an offer of peace. Berlin counseled against such a step. The German Government had long lost any illusions it might have cherished in respect to Austria-Hungary's value as an ally, and it was fully informed of the desperatenessof the situation there. Despite this it realized that such a step as Vienna proposed would be taken by the enemy as a confession of weakness, and it clung desperately to the hope that the situation on the west front might still be saved.
Burian, however, cherished no illusions. Austria asked for peace, but made it clear that she did not mean a separate peace. The German people saw in Vienna's action the shadow of coming events, and their despondency was increased.
Prince Lichnowsky, Germany's Ambassador at the Court of St. James at the out-break of the war, had earlier confided to a few personal friends copies of his memoirs regarding the events leading up to the war. Captain von Beerfelde of the German General Staff, into whose hands a copy came, had a number of copies made and circulated them generally. The memoirs were a frank disclosure of Germany's great share of the guilt for the war. The authorities tried to stop their circulation, but they were read by hundreds of thousands, and did much to destroy general confidence in the justice of Germany's cause.
Count Hertling, trying blunderingly to redeem his democratic promises, made a tactlessly naïve speech in the Prussian House of Lords in favor of the government's franchise-reform measures. These bills, although representing a decided improvement of the existing system, had been bitterly criticized by all liberal elements because they did not go far enough, but had finally been reluctantly accepted as the best that could be hoped for in the circumstances. A majority existed for them in the Prussian Diet, but the Junkers and noble industrialists of the House of Lords would hear of no surrender of their ancient rights and privileges. The Chancellor in his speech warned the Lords that they could avoid the necessity of making still more far-reaching concessions later by adopting the government's measures as they stood. To reject them, he declared, would be seriously to imperil the crown and dynasty. He closed with an appeal to his hearers to remember the services rendered to the Fatherland by men of all political creeds, including the Socialists.
Count Hertling's speech displeased everybody. The Conservativepress assailed him bitterly. TheDeutsche Tageszeitung, chief organ of the Junkers, called him "the gravedigger of the Prussian monarchy." TheKreuzzeitungcharged him with minimizing the crown's deserts and exaggerating the services of the Socialists. The liberalbourgeoisand the Socialist press said in effect: "And so this is our new democratic Chancellor who advises the House of Lords to block an honest democratic reform of Prussia's iniquitous franchise system." TheGermania, chief organ of the Clericals, Hertling's own party, damned the speech with faint praise.
Talk of a "chancellor crisis" was soon heard, and by the middle of September there was little doubt that Hertling's days were numbered. Nothing else can so adequately indicate the reversal of conditions in Germany as the fact that one of the men named oftenest even inbourgeoiscircles as a likely successor to Count Hertling was Philip Scheidemann, a leader of the Majority Socialists. Thevaterlandslose Gesellenwere coming into their own.
The crisis became acute on September 20th. The government unofficially sounded the Majority Socialists as to their willingness to participate in a coalition government. The question was discussed on September 22d, at a joint conference of the Socialist Reichstag deputies and the members of the party's executive committee. Although one of the cardinal tenets of Socialism had always forbidden participation in any but a purely Socialist government, the final vote was nearly four to one in favor of abandoning this tenet in view of the extraordinary situation confronting the empire. With eighty votes against twenty-two the conference decided to send representatives into a coalition government under the following conditions:
1. The government shall unqualifiedly accept the declaration of the Reichstag of July 19, 1917,[18]and declare its willingness to enter a League of Nations whose fundamental principles shall be the peaceful adjustment of all conflicts and universal disarmament.
1. The government shall unqualifiedly accept the declaration of the Reichstag of July 19, 1917,[18]and declare its willingness to enter a League of Nations whose fundamental principles shall be the peaceful adjustment of all conflicts and universal disarmament.
[18]Videchapter vi.
[18]Videchapter vi.
[18]Videchapter vi.
2. The government shall make an absolutely unambiguousdeclaration of its willingness to rehabilitate (wiederherstellen) Belgium and reach an understanding regarding compensation to that land, and also to rehabilitate Serbia and Montenegro.3. The peace treaties of Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest shall not be permitted to stand in the way of a general treaty of peace; civil government shall be immediately established in all occupied territories; occupied territories shall be evacuated when peace is concluded; democratic representative assemblies shall be established at once.4. Autonomy shall be granted to Alsace-Lorraine; general, equal, secret and direct right of franchise shall be granted in all German federal states; the Prussian Diet shall be dissolved if the deliberations of the House of Lords do not immediately result in the adoption of the franchise-reform bills.5. There shall be uniformity in the imperial government, and irresponsible unofficial auxiliary governments (Nebenregierungen) are to be eliminated; representatives of the government shall be chosen from the majority of the Reichstag or shall be persons who adhere to the policies of this majority; political announcements by the crown or by military authorities shall be communicated to the Imperial Chancellor before they are promulgated.6. Immediate rescission of all decrees limiting the right of assembly or the freedom of the press; the censorship shall be employed only in purely military matters (questions of tactics and strategy, movements of troops, fabrication of munitions of war, etc.); a political control shall be instituted for all measures resorted to under the authority of the state of siege; all military institutions that serve to exert political influence shall be abolished.
2. The government shall make an absolutely unambiguousdeclaration of its willingness to rehabilitate (wiederherstellen) Belgium and reach an understanding regarding compensation to that land, and also to rehabilitate Serbia and Montenegro.
3. The peace treaties of Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest shall not be permitted to stand in the way of a general treaty of peace; civil government shall be immediately established in all occupied territories; occupied territories shall be evacuated when peace is concluded; democratic representative assemblies shall be established at once.
4. Autonomy shall be granted to Alsace-Lorraine; general, equal, secret and direct right of franchise shall be granted in all German federal states; the Prussian Diet shall be dissolved if the deliberations of the House of Lords do not immediately result in the adoption of the franchise-reform bills.
5. There shall be uniformity in the imperial government, and irresponsible unofficial auxiliary governments (Nebenregierungen) are to be eliminated; representatives of the government shall be chosen from the majority of the Reichstag or shall be persons who adhere to the policies of this majority; political announcements by the crown or by military authorities shall be communicated to the Imperial Chancellor before they are promulgated.
6. Immediate rescission of all decrees limiting the right of assembly or the freedom of the press; the censorship shall be employed only in purely military matters (questions of tactics and strategy, movements of troops, fabrication of munitions of war, etc.); a political control shall be instituted for all measures resorted to under the authority of the state of siege; all military institutions that serve to exert political influence shall be abolished.
On the whole this was a program which appealed to the vast majority of the German people. The Conservatives and one wing of the National Liberals would have none of it, but the conviction that nothing but a change of system would save Germany had been making rapid headway in the last few weeks. Even many of those opposed in principle to democratic government began to recognize that nothingelse could unite the people. An article in theVorwärtsby Scheidemann and another in the International Correspondence, an ably conducted news agency, pointing out the vital necessity of making any sacrifices that would save the country, were widely reprinted and made a strong appeal.
Chancellor Count Hertling, addressing the Reichstag on September 24th, made a speech which, read between the lines, was a veiled admission of the desperateness of the situation and the increasingly discouraged condition of the people. He admitted frankly that the German armies had met serious reverses on the west front. But Germany, he declared, had met and triumphed over more serious situations. Russia and Roumania had been eliminated from the list of enemies, and he was confident that the people would not lose heart because of temporary setbacks and that the soldiers would continue to show their old spirit. Austria's peacedemarchehad been taken in the face of serious doubts on the part of the German Government regarding its advisability, but Germany, now as always, was ready to conclude a just peace.
General von Wrisberg, said the Chancellor, reported that the English successes against the Marne position and between the Ancre and the Aisne had been due to fog and the extensive employment of tanks. Counter-measures had been taken and there was no reason for uneasiness. The Germans had lost many prisoners and guns, but the enemy's losses had been frightful.
"The American armies need not frighten us," said Count Hertling. "We shall take care of them."[19]