Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 9,001
The "peace offer" that wasn't one...!
On December 12, 1916, the German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg...
...transmits the following note to the wartime opponents of the German Empire...:
"The most terrible war that history has ever seen has been raging for almost two and a half years in a large part of the world. This catastrophe, which the bond of a common thousand-year civilization has not been able to stop, hits mankind in its most valuable achievements. It threatens to wreck the spiritual and material progress that was the pride of Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Germany and her allies, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, have shown their invincible strength in this struggle. They have achieved tremendous successes against their opponents, who were superior in number and in war material. Their lines steadfastly withstand the repeated assaults of their enemy's armies. The recent onslaught in the Balkans has been quickly and victoriously put down. Recent events show that even if the war continues, it will not be able to break its resistance, that the overall situation justifies the expectation of further successes. In defense of their existence and national freedom of development, the four allied powers were forced to take up arms. Even the glorious deeds of their armies have changed nothing. They have always maintained the conviction that their own rights and reasonable claims are not in conflict with the rights of other nations. They don't aim to crush or destroy their opponents. Bolstered by the consciousness of their military and economic strength, and ready to continue to the utmost the struggle forced upon them if necessary, but animated at the same time by a desire to prevent further bloodshed and to put an end to the horrors of war, the four allied powers propose to enter into peace negotiations as soon as possible. They are convinced that the proposals they will bring to these negotiations, which are aimed at securing the existence, honor and freedom of development of their peoples, form a suitable basis for the establishment of a lasting peace.
If, in spite of this offer of peace and reconciliation, the struggle should continue, the four allied powers are determined to wage it to a victorious end. But they solemnly deny any responsibility for it before humanity and history."
On the same day, the chancellor (in the next picture standing on the government bench in uniform) reads out the offer in the Reichstag as well...
...while the text at the same time - but in a much shorter form! - as a daily order of the "Supreme Warlord" Wilhelm II.
...is read out in front of all German troops...:
Did the Germans (and their allies Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria) actually make the Allies a peace offer?
One might think so - but the matter has far more depth:
Bethmann-Hollweg and the German imperial government - and also Kaiser Wilhelm II - have three things in mind, as can be clearly proven from today's sources:
First, the "peace offer" was intended to act as a dynamite within the war-weary Entente countries,
Secondly, it should strengthen the German position towards the neutral states (i.e. above all the United States)...
Third, it should bring about a substantial change in the depressed mood of its own people. In the German opinion, if the offer were rejected, the odium for the continuation of the war would fall on the enemy.
It is more of a propaganda coup than an honest offer of peace!
The German press reports - which they are rarely allowed to do! - free and detailed...:
In the failure of the peace campaign, which represented one of the last chances for the Danube monarchy to save its existence, Germany also saw the best justification for intensifying warfare - unrestricted submarine warfare was already being planned...:
To the Allies, this "peace offer," to which German historians still make much fanfare to this day, was not worth the paper it was written on:
The unbinding tone of the "peace note" and "its content lacking anything concrete", but especially the fact that Germany showed no inclination to evacuate the occupied territories, made the note unacceptable to the Entente.
The Allies' response of December 30, 1916 therefore also spoke of an "unconditional suggestion" that was not a peace offer.
The "proposal appears less as an offer of peace than as a war maneuver", which revealed the actual meaning of the German note!
A peace - according to the entente states in conclusion - is also impossible "as long as there is no guarantee for the restoration of the violated rights and freedoms, for the recognition of the nationality principle and the free existence of the small states".
The Germans reacted defiantly...:
A commemorative medal was even made especially for December 2, 1916, which shows on the obverse how German hands offer the opponents a dove of peace - which the English, Russians and French immediately put back into a cage on the reverse...:
In addition, the Germans publicly flaunt further "territory gains" and other successes...:
Internally, however, there were certainly no illusions: Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg and the military leadership agreed that Germany now had to win the war at almost any price because it was now a matter of "to be or not to be", as the Chancellor confided in his diary.
On December 12, 1916, the German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg...
...transmits the following note to the wartime opponents of the German Empire...:
"The most terrible war that history has ever seen has been raging for almost two and a half years in a large part of the world. This catastrophe, which the bond of a common thousand-year civilization has not been able to stop, hits mankind in its most valuable achievements. It threatens to wreck the spiritual and material progress that was the pride of Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Germany and her allies, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, have shown their invincible strength in this struggle. They have achieved tremendous successes against their opponents, who were superior in number and in war material. Their lines steadfastly withstand the repeated assaults of their enemy's armies. The recent onslaught in the Balkans has been quickly and victoriously put down. Recent events show that even if the war continues, it will not be able to break its resistance, that the overall situation justifies the expectation of further successes. In defense of their existence and national freedom of development, the four allied powers were forced to take up arms. Even the glorious deeds of their armies have changed nothing. They have always maintained the conviction that their own rights and reasonable claims are not in conflict with the rights of other nations. They don't aim to crush or destroy their opponents. Bolstered by the consciousness of their military and economic strength, and ready to continue to the utmost the struggle forced upon them if necessary, but animated at the same time by a desire to prevent further bloodshed and to put an end to the horrors of war, the four allied powers propose to enter into peace negotiations as soon as possible. They are convinced that the proposals they will bring to these negotiations, which are aimed at securing the existence, honor and freedom of development of their peoples, form a suitable basis for the establishment of a lasting peace.
If, in spite of this offer of peace and reconciliation, the struggle should continue, the four allied powers are determined to wage it to a victorious end. But they solemnly deny any responsibility for it before humanity and history."
On the same day, the chancellor (in the next picture standing on the government bench in uniform) reads out the offer in the Reichstag as well...
...while the text at the same time - but in a much shorter form! - as a daily order of the "Supreme Warlord" Wilhelm II.
...is read out in front of all German troops...:
Did the Germans (and their allies Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria) actually make the Allies a peace offer?
One might think so - but the matter has far more depth:
Bethmann-Hollweg and the German imperial government - and also Kaiser Wilhelm II - have three things in mind, as can be clearly proven from today's sources:
First, the "peace offer" was intended to act as a dynamite within the war-weary Entente countries,
Secondly, it should strengthen the German position towards the neutral states (i.e. above all the United States)...
Third, it should bring about a substantial change in the depressed mood of its own people. In the German opinion, if the offer were rejected, the odium for the continuation of the war would fall on the enemy.
It is more of a propaganda coup than an honest offer of peace!
The German press reports - which they are rarely allowed to do! - free and detailed...:
In the failure of the peace campaign, which represented one of the last chances for the Danube monarchy to save its existence, Germany also saw the best justification for intensifying warfare - unrestricted submarine warfare was already being planned...:
To the Allies, this "peace offer," to which German historians still make much fanfare to this day, was not worth the paper it was written on:
The unbinding tone of the "peace note" and "its content lacking anything concrete", but especially the fact that Germany showed no inclination to evacuate the occupied territories, made the note unacceptable to the Entente.
The Allies' response of December 30, 1916 therefore also spoke of an "unconditional suggestion" that was not a peace offer.
The "proposal appears less as an offer of peace than as a war maneuver", which revealed the actual meaning of the German note!
A peace - according to the entente states in conclusion - is also impossible "as long as there is no guarantee for the restoration of the violated rights and freedoms, for the recognition of the nationality principle and the free existence of the small states".
The Germans reacted defiantly...:
A commemorative medal was even made especially for December 2, 1916, which shows on the obverse how German hands offer the opponents a dove of peace - which the English, Russians and French immediately put back into a cage on the reverse...:
In addition, the Germans publicly flaunt further "territory gains" and other successes...:
Internally, however, there were certainly no illusions: Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg and the military leadership agreed that Germany now had to win the war at almost any price because it was now a matter of "to be or not to be", as the Chancellor confided in his diary.
