Ring of Steel

by Alexander Watson

  125.U. Trumpener, ‘War Premeditated? German Intelligence Operations in July 1914’, Central European History 9(1) (March 1976), p. 64.

  126.Afflerbach, Falkenhayn, pp. 151–3, and Mombauer, Helmuth von Moltke, pp. 190–96.

  127.Trumpener, ‘War Premeditated?’, pp. 65–71. By questioning passengers arriving on trains from Russia, the Habsburg army was also learning about the extensive preparations. Large quantities of field artillery passing through Warsaw, strict censorship and rumours of the drafting of the youngest three year groups of reservists in Russian Poland were among the pieces of information gathered. See AN Cracow: DPkr 96: fos. 1577–8.

  128.See esp. Mombauer, Helmuth von Moltke, p. 202.

  129.Moltke to Bethmann Hollweg, 29 July 1914 (composed on the previous day), in Geiss (ed.), July 1914, pp. 282–4.

  130.Ibid., p. 284.

  131.McMeekin, Russian Origins, p. 73.

  132.Lieven, Russia, p. 146.

  133.Trumpener, ‘War Premeditated?’, p. 80.

  134.Afflerbach, Falkenhayn, pp. 155–7 and 159, fn 54. See also Mombauer, Helmuth von Moltke, pp. 202–4. While the Bavarian and Saxon military representatives in Berlin found Moltke publicly belligerent on 29 July, his private memorandum and advice to the Chancellor and Kaiser are far more significant and contradict Mombauer’s claim that on this day he was ‘adamant that Germany needed to announce general mobilization’.

  135.Clark, Sleepwalkers, pp. 528–9.

  136.See Goschen to Grey, 29 July 1914, in Geiss (ed.), July 1914, pp. 300–301.

  137.Fischer, Germany’s Aims, pp. 76–9.

  138.Cabinet Council for Common Affairs, 31 July 1914, in Geiss (ed.), July 1914, pp. 318–22, and Conrad, Aus meiner Dienstzeit, iv, pp. 148–51.

  139.Trumpener, ‘War Premeditated?’, pp. 79–80.

  140.Afflerbach, Falkenhayn, pp. 158–9, and Fischer, Germany’s Aims, pp. 80–81.

  141.Moltke to Bethmann Hollweg, 29 July 1914, in Geiss (ed.), July 1914, p. 283.

  142.Conrad, Aus meiner Dienstzeit, iv, p. 152.

  143.Moltke’s adjutant Major Hans von Haeften, quoted in A. Mombauer, ‘A Reluctant Military Leader? Helmuth von Moltke and the July Crisis of 1914’, War in History 6(4) (October 1999), p. 437. The view was reiterated by Moltke in his admittedly self-exculpatory ‘Considerations and Reminiscences’ of November 1914. See E. von Moltke (ed.), Generaloberst Helmuth von Moltke. Erinnerungen – Briefe – Dokumente, 1877–1916. Ein Bild vom Kriegsausbruch, erster Kriegsführung und Persönlichkeit des ersten militärischen Führers des Krieges (Stuttgart, 1922), p. 16.

  144.Trumpener, ‘War Premeditated?’, pp. 80–82.

  145.Hamilton and Herwig (eds.), Origins of World War I, pp. 516–18.

  146.H. H. Herwig, The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary, 1914–1918 (London, New York, Sydney and Auckland, 1997), pp. 31–2.

  147.G. A. von Müller, The Kaiser and his Court: The Diaries, Note Books and Letters of Admiral Georg Alexander von Müller, Chief of the Naval Cabinet, 1914–1918, ed. W. Görlitz and trans. M. Savill (London, 1961), p. 11.

  148.Moltke (ed.), Generaloberst Helmuth von Moltke, p. 20.

  149.Mombauer, Helmuth von Moltke, p. 222.

  150.Kennedy, Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, pp. 461–2, and Clark, Sleepwalkers, pp. 529–47.

  151.Redlich, Schicksalsjahre Österreichs, i, p. 237 (entry for 15 July 1914).

  152.Afflerbach, Falkenhayn, p. 161.

  153.Bethmann, quoted in Jarausch, ‘Illusion of Limited War’, 59.

  2. MOBILIZING THE PEOPLE

  1.‘Die Ermordung des Thronfolgers und seiner Gemahlin’, Reichspost. XXI. Jahrgang. Nr. 298 (29 June 1914), p. 1.

  2.‘Die Ermordung des Thronfolgerpaares’, Illustrirtes Wiener Extrablatt. 43. Jahrgang. Nr. 178 (29 June 1914), p. 1, and ‘Der Thronfolger und seine Gemalin ermordet’, Christlich-soziale Arbeiter-Zeitung. XIX. Jahrgang. Nr. 27 (4 July 1914), p. 1.

  3.‘Feuilleton’, Neue Freie Presse. Nr. 17904 (30 June 1914), p. 1.

  4.A. J. May, The Passing of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914–1918 (2 vols., Philadelphia, PA, 1966), i, pp. 23–9.

  5.Reichspost. XXI. Jahrgang. Nr. 308 (4 July 1914), pp. 2–3.

  6.M. M. Reiter, Balkan Assault: The Diary of an Officer, 1914–1918, trans. S. Granovetter (London, 1994), pp. 3–4 (entry for 3 July 1914).

  7.Ibid., p. 2 (entry for June 1914).

  8.Wiener Bilder. Illustriertes Familienblatt. XIX. Jahrgang. Nr. 27 (5 July 1914), pp. 1 and 4–5.

  9.‘Sarajevská tragedie’, Národní Listy (30 June 1914).

  10.Wiener Bilder. Illustriertes Familienblatt. XIX. Jahrgang. Nr. 27 (12 July 1914), pp. 1 and 4–5. Also, for example, Die Neue Zeitung. Illustrirtes unabhängiges Blatt. 7. Jahrgang. Nr. 180 (3 July 1914), p. 1, and Sport & Salon. Illustrierte Zeitschrift für die vornehme Welt. 17. Jahrgang. Nr. 28 (11 July 1914), p. 1.

  11.‘Ein offizieller Bericht über das Attentat in Sarajevo’ and ‘Volkskundgebungen in Wien’, Reichspost. XXI. Jahrgang. Nr. 300 (30 June 1914), p. 2, and Nr. 302 (1 July 1914), p. 3.

  12.See Neue Freie Presse. Nr. 17906 (2 July 1914), p. 6, Nr. 17907 (3 July 1914), pp. 4–5, and Nr. 17908 (4 July 1914), pp. 9–10. Also, Reichspost. XXI. Jahrgang. Nr. 306 (3 July 1914), p. 8, Nowa Reforma. Wydanie Popołudniowe. Rok XXXIII. Nr. 260 (3 July 1914), p. 1, and Kurjer Lwowski. Rok XXXII. Nr. 279 (4 July 1914), p. 1, and Nr. 281 (5 July 1914), p. 3.

  13.Die Neue Zeitung. Illustrirtes unabhängiges Blatt. 7. Jahrgang. Nr. 181 (4 July 1914), p. 5.

  14.For these numbers, see Reichspost. XXI. Jahrgang. Nr. 308 (4 July 1914), p. 9, and Neue Freie Presse. Nr. 17908 (4 July 1914), p. 9.

  15.T. Raithel, Das ‘Wunder’ der inneren Einheit. Studien zur deutschen und französischen Öffentlichkeit bei Beginn des Ersten Weltkrieges (Bonn, 1996), pp. 157 and 161, fn 122.

  16.L. L. Farrar, Jr, ‘Reluctant Warriors: Public Opinion on War during the July Crisis 1914’, East European Quarterly 16(4) (Winter 1982), pp. 419–20.

  17.I. Daszyński, Pamiętniki (2 vols., Warsaw, 1957), ii, p. 145.

  18.‘Zgon następcy tronu Arcyks. Franciszka Ferdynanda i Jego Małżonki’, Czas. Rocznik LXVII. Nr. 251 (29 June 1914).

  19.Kurjer Lwowski. Rok XXXII. Nr. 271 (29 June 1914), pp. 2–3. For Vienna’s Prater park, see Redlich, Schicksalsjahre Österreichs, i, p. 235 (entry for 29 June 1914).

  20.P. Bobič, War and Faith: The Catholic Church in Slovenia, 1914–1918 (Leiden and Boston, MA, 2012), pp. 7 and 15–17.

  21.J. Vit, Wspomnienia z mojego pobytu w Przemyślu podczas rosyjskiego oblężenia 1914–1915, trans. L. Hofbauer and J. Husar (Przemyśl, 1995), p. 31.

  22.A. Czechówna, diary, 2 July 1914. AN Cracow: IT 428/38.

  23.M. Schwestek, diary/memoir, 28 June 1914. KA Vienna: NL Schwestek, B/89.

  24.Neue Freie Presse. Nr. 17904 (30 June 1914), pp. 2–3, and Nr. 17906 (2 July 1914), pp. 3 and 5.

  25.Ibid., Nr. 17909 (5 July 1914), p. 7, Nr. 17910 (6 July 1914), pp. 3–4, and Nr. 17913 (9 July 1914), p. 5. Also Kurjer Lwowski. Rok XXXII. Nr. 275 (2 July 1914), p. 1.

  26.Neue Freie Presse. Nr. 17907 (3 July 1914), p. 3, and Nr. 17912 (8 July 1914), p. 4.

  27.M. Moll, ‘ “Verräter und Spione überall”. Vorkriegs- und Kriegshysterie in Graz im Sommer 1914’, Historisches Jahrbuch der Stadt Graz 31 (2001), pp. 309–15.

  28.K.u.k. Festungskommando in Trient to k.u.k. Korpskommando in Innsbruck, 8 August 1914. KA Vienna: Zentralstellen – KÜA 1914 (Aktenkartons): Karton 3: Nr. 1646.

  29.O. C. Tăslăuanu, With the Austrian Army in Galicia (London, n.d.), p. 5.

  30.M. Healy, Vienna and the Fall of the Habsburg Empire: Total War and Everyday Life in World War I (Cambridge, 2004, 2007), p. 238.

  31.Nowa Reforma. Wydanie Popołudniowe. Rok XXXIII. Nr. 296 (24 July 1914), p. 2. Also Neue Freie Presse. Abendblatt. Nr. 17927 (23 July 1914), p. 4.

  32.Kurjer Lwowski. Rok XXXII. Nr. 272 (30 June 1914), p. 4, and Nr. 282 (6 July 1914), p. 4, and Nr. 297 (15 Ju
ly 1914), p. 1; Nowa Reforma. Wydanie Popołudniowe. Rok XXXIII. Nr. 276 (13 July 1914), p. 2.

  33.Raithel, Das ‘Wunder’, pp. 147–54 and 171–7.

  34.A. Orzoff, ‘The Empire Without Qualities: Austro-Hungarian Newspapers and the Outbreak of War in 1914’, in T. R. E. Paddock (ed.), A Call to Arms: Propaganda, Public Opinion and Newspapers in the Great War (Westport, CT, 2004), p. 166.

  35.‘Die Sitzung des Abgeordnetenhauses’, Pester Lloyd. Abendblatt. 61. Jahrgang. Nr. 167 (24 July 1914), p. 1; ‘Wiener Stimmungsbild vom heutigen Abend’, Neue Freie Presse. Abendblatt. Nr. 17928 (24 July 1914), p. 6.

  36.Neue Freie Presse. Nr. 17930 (26 July 1914), p. 4, and Die Neue Zeitung. Illustrirtes unabhängiges Blatt. 7. Jahrgang. Nr. 203 (26 July 1914), p. 4. Also B. de Quidt, journal, p. 2. IWM: 96/32/1.

  37.J. Verhey, The Spirit of 1914: Militarism, Myth, and Mobilization in Germany (Cambridge, 2000), pp. 26–31, and Raithel, Das ‘Wunder’, pp. 228–33.

  38.Verhey, Spirit, pp. 35 and 65; Raithel, Das ‘Wunder’, pp. 242–77.

  39.See Neue Freie Presse. Nr. 17931 (27 July 1914), p. 2, and Nr. 17934 (30 July 1914), pp. 7–8.

  40.‘Wenn sich der Doppeladler erhebt . . .’, Reichspost. Extraausgabe. XXI. Jahrgang. Nr. 347 (26 July 1914), p. 1.

  41.Neue Freie Presse. Nr. 17930 (26 July 1914), p. 4. Also, for larger figures, Oesterreichische Volks-Zeitung. 60. Jahrgang. Nr. 204 (26 July 1914), pp. 4 and 21.

  42.Baernreither, diary, 28 July 1914, quoted in Fellner, ‘Krieg in Tagebüchern’, p. 209. For Germany, see Verhey, Spirit, pp. 40–43.

  43.A. Eisenmenger, Blockade: The Diary of an Austrian Middle-Class Woman, 1914–1924 (London, 1932), p. 10.

  44.T. Rohkrämer, ‘August 1914 – Kriegsmentalität und ihre Voraussetzungen’, in W. Michalka (ed.), Der Erste Weltkrieg. Wirkung, Wahrnehmung, Analyse (Munich and Zurich, 1992), pp. 767–73. Also Raithel, Das ‘Wunder’, pp. 235–7.

  45.S. Levsen, Elite, Männlichkeit und Krieg. Tübinger und Cambridger Studenten, 1900–1929 (Göttingen, 2006), pp. 125, 137–9, 171–4 and 177.

  46.S. Kawczak, Milknące Echa. Wspomnienia z wojny 1914–1920 (Warsaw, 1991), p. 6.

  47.C. E. Wirth, diary, 11 August 1914. DTA, Emmendingen: 1798,6.

  48.Raithel, Das ‘Wunder’, pp. 178 and 242.

  49.See decrees by the k.k. Statthaltereipräsidium in Böhmen, 30 July 1914. KA Vienna: Zentralstellen – KÜA 1914 (Aktenkartons): Karton 2: Nr. 624. For Germany, see Verhey, Spirit, pp. 47–8.

  50.Conrad, Aus meiner Dienstzeit, iv, p. 34.

  51.Statthalter Prag to Minister des Innern, 26 July 1914. KA Vienna: KÜA 1914 (Aktenkartons): Karton 1: Nr. 43.

  52.Führ, K.u.k. Armeeoberkommando, pp. 17–19.

  53.Quoted in S. Miller, Burgfrieden und Klassenkampf. Die deutsche Sozialdemokratie im Ersten Weltkrieg (Düsseldorf, 1974), p. 44.

  54.Nipperdey, Deutsche Geschichte, ii, pp. 232 and 561. For Austrian figures, see Macartney, Habsburg Empire, p. 673.

  55.W. Kruse, Krieg und nationale Integration. Eine Neuinterpretation des sozialdemokratischen Burgfriedensschlusses, 1914/15 (Essen, 1993), pp. 18–29 and 40.

  56.Hamburger Echo, 25 July 1914, quoted in Raithel, Das ‘Wunder’, p. 175.

  57.Quoted in Miller, Burgfrieden, p. 39.

  58.Kruse, Krieg und nationale Integration, pp. 30–42. Also, Raithel, Das ‘Wunder’, p. 185, and Verhey, Spirit, pp. 52–7.

  59.See Nipperdey, Deutsche Geschichte, i, p. 269, and Okey, Habsburg Monarchy, p. 239.

  60.H. Heiss, ‘Andere Fronten. Volksstimmung und Volkserfahrung in Tirol während des Ersten Weltkrieges’, in K. Eisterer and R. Steininger (eds.), Tirol und der Erste Weltkrieg (Innsbruck, 1995), p. 142.

  61.M. Sperber, God’s Water Carriers, trans. J. Neugroschel (New York and London, 1987), pp. 69–70.

  62.D. Ściskała, Z dziennika kapelana wojskowego, 1914–1918 (Cieszyn, 1926), p. 7.

  63.R. Höfner, diary, 27 December 1914 (referring to war’s outbreak). DTA, Emmendingen: 1280, 1.

  64.K. Małłek, Z Mazur do Verdun. Wspomnienia, 1890–1919 (n.p., 1967), p. 176.

  65.B. Ziemann, Front und Heimat. Ländliche Kriegserfahrung im südlichen Bayern, 1914–1923 (Essen, 1997), pp. 40–43.

  66.‘An meine Völker’, printed in Reichspost. Morgenblatt. XXI. Jahrgang. Nr. 352 (Vienna, 29 July 1914), p. 1.

  67.See Neue Freie Presse. Nr. 17932 (28 July 1914), pp. 2–4, and Pester Lloyd. Morgenblatt. 61. Jahrgang. Nr. 177 (28 July 1914), pp. 3–4. Cf. Raithel, Das ‘Wunder’, pp. 179–80.

  68.‘Ministerpräsident Graf Stephen Tisza über den Zwischenfall bei Temeskubin’, Pester Lloyd. Morgenblatt. 61. Jahrgang. Nr. 177 (28 July 1914), p. 5.

  69.N. Stone, ‘Die Mobilmachung der österreichisch-ungarischen Armee 1914’, Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen 16(2) (1974), pp. 70–71.

  70.‘Weltkrieg oder Lokalerkrieg’, Neue Freie Presse. Abendblatt. Nr. 17933 (29 July 1914), p. 1.

  71.G. Gruber to Cousine E. Hoch, 9 January 1915. DTA, Emmendingen: 138a.

  72.W. Wagner, diary, 30 July 1914 (accessed at www.europeana1914–1918.eu on 19 September 2012).

  73.Frankfurter Zeitung und Handelsblatt. Abendblatt. 58. Jahrgang. Nr. 209 (30 July 1914). Also Raithel, Das ‘Wunder’, pp. 188–90 and 253–5.

  74.Kaiser Wilhelm II’s speech of 31 July 1914, reproduced in R. H. Lutz (ed.), Fall of the German Empire, 1914–18 (2 vols., Stanford, CA, London and Oxford, 1932), i, p. 4.

  75.Kölnische Zeitung, quoted in Raithel, Das ‘Wunder’, pp. 188–9 and 256–60.

  76.G. Gruber to Cousine E. Hoch, 9 January 1915. DTA, Emmendingen: 138a. Cf. W. Wagner, diary, 31 July 1914 [sic?] (accessed at www.europeana1914–1918.eu on 19 September 2012), and Raithel, Das ‘Wunder’, p. 265.

  77.E. Stempfle, diary, 1 August 1914. DTA, Emmendingen: 1654.

  78.Kaiser Wilhelm, 1 August 1914, quoted in Verhey, Spirit, pp. 65–6. My description of the reaction to mobilization in Germany owes much to Raithel, Das ‘Wunder’, pp. 263–8 and 276–7.

  79.Volksblatt, quoted in L. James, ‘War and Industry: A Study of the Industrial Relations in the Mining Regions of South Wales and the Ruhr During the Great War, 1914–1918’, Labour History Review 68(2) (August 2003), p. 202.

  80.See Heeres-Sanitätsinspektion des Reichskriegsministeriums (ed.), Sanitätsbericht über das Deutsche Heer (Deutsches Feld- und Besatzungsheer) im Weltkriege 1914/1918 (Deutscher Kriegssanitätsbericht 1914/18). Die Krankenbewegung bei dem deutschen Feld- und Besatzungsheer im Weltkriege 1914/1918 (3 vols., Berlin, 1934), iii, p. 12; G. Gratz and R. Schüller, Der wirtschaftliche Zusammenbruch Österreich-Ungarns. Die Tragödie der Erschopfung (Vienna and New Haven, CT, 1930), p. 151; and Reichsarchiv, Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918. Die Grenzschlachten im Westen (14 vols., Berlin, 1925), i, p. 38.

  81.A. Hausner, diary, 27 July 1914. KA Vienna: NL Hausner, B/217.

  82.Ściskała, Z dziennika kapelana, p. 8. Cf. Bobič, War and Faith, pp. 28–34, and Ziemann, Front, pp. 50–52.

  83.Wilhelm Eildermann, quoted in Kruse, Krieg und nationale Integration, p. 59.

  84.Tăslăuanu, With the Austrian Army, p. 9, and Kawczak, Milknące Echa, p. 9.

  85.H. Götting, diary, 11 August 1914. DTA, Emmendingen: 700/I.

  86.Verhey, Spirit, p. 93, and Rauchensteiner, Tod des Doppeladlers, p. 140.

  87.See J. Kocka, Facing Total War: German Society, 1914–1918 (Leamington Spa, 1984), p. 23.

  88.J. Lawrence, ‘The Transition to War in 1914’, in J. Winter and J.-L. Robert (eds.), Capital Cities at War: Paris, London, Berlin, 1914–1919 (Cambridge, New York and Melbourne, 1997), p. 143. Also G. Mai, Kriegswirtschaft und Arbeiterbewegung in Württemberg, 1914–1918 (Stuttgart, 1983), pp. 65–7.

  89.U. Daniel, The War from Within: German Working-Class Women in the First World War (Oxford and New York, 1997), p. 26.

  90.Reports of Polizeipräsident in Berlin, 25 and 26 August 1914. BA Berlin Lichterfelde: R43/ 2398: fo. 109 and reverse of fos. 113–14.

  91.‘Sku
tki okonomiczne wojny’, 3 September 1914. AN Cracow: DPKr 97: fo. 1063.

  92.K.u.k. Kriegsüberwachungsamt, order, 8 August 1914. KA Vienna: Zentralstellen – KÜA 1914 (Aktenkartons): Karton 2: Nr. 743.

  93.Raithel, Das ‘Wunder’, p. 449, also, more generally, pp. 447–54.

  94.H. P. Hanssen, Diary of a Dying Empire, trans. O. Osburn, ed. R. H. Lutz, M. Schofield and O. O. Winther (Port Washington, NY, and London, 1955, 1973), pp. 22–3.

  95.Kommandantur Posen, poster, 1 August 1914. AP Poznań: Polizei-Präsidium Posen: 8975.

  96.2. Polizei Revier, Telephonische Mitteilung, 3 August 1914. AP Poznań: Polizei-Präsidium Posen: 8976.

  97.Letter from anonymous Unteroffizier der Reserve, 8 August 1914. AP Poznań: Polizei-Präsidium Posen: 8976.

  98.Landrat at Montabaur to Regierungspräsident in Wiesbaden, 6 August 1914. HHStA Wiesbaden: Preußisches Regierungspräsidium Wiesbaden (405): Nr. 2739: fo. 53.

  99.S. O. Müller, Die Nation als Waffe und Vorstellung. Nationalismus in Deutschland und Groβbritannien im Ersten Weltkrieg (Göttingen, 2002), pp. 67–9. Also Verhey, Spirit, pp. 84–6.

  100.For Germany, see Verhey, Spirit, pp. 85–6. For Austria, see the documentation of the Kriegsüberwachungsamt from August 1914 in KA Vienna: KÜA 1914 (Aktenkartons): Karton 1: Nr. 538; Karton 3, Nr. 1507; and Karton 4: Nrs. 2278 and 2581. Also telegrams in AN Cracow: DPKr 96: fos. 1087, 1099, 1105, 1113 and 1115.

  101.Miller, Burgfrieden, p. 51.

  102.SPD statement, 4 August 1914, reproduced in Lutz (ed.), Fall, i, p. 16.

  103.Miller, Burgfrieden, pp. 41–3 and 50–51.

  104.See doc. 77, preußischer Kriegsminister to preußische Generalkommandos, 25 July 1914, in W. Deist (ed.), Militär und Innenpolitik im Weltkrieg 1914–1918 (2 vols., Düsseldorf, 1970), i, pp. 188–92. Also pp. XLI–XLIV.

  105.See the documentation in AP Gdańsk: Regierung Marienwerder (Regencja w Kwidzynie) (10): 10230: fos. 27–43, and Oberpräsident der Provinz Westpreußen to the Minister des Innern, GStA PK, Berlin: I. HA Rep 77, Tit. 863a, 17: fo. 2.

  106.A. Majkowski, Pamiętnik z wojny europejskiej roku 1914, ed. T. Linkner (Pelplin and Wejherowo, 2000), p. 75 (entry for 7 August 1914). For the public mood and the military’s measures in Germany’s eastern borderlands, see the Landräte reports in AP Gdańsk: Rejencja w Kwidzenie (10): 10229: fos. 94–179, and AP Opole: Rejencja Opolska–Biuro Prezydialne: 141: 193–237, and Oberpräsident der Provinz Posen, report, 6 January 1915. GStA PK, Berlin: I. HA Rep 90A, 3748: fo. 100, reverse of fo. 103.