Ring of Steel

by Alexander Watson

  106.‘Denkschrift der Vorstände der Sozialdemokratischen Partei Deutschlands und der Sozialdemokratischen Reichstagsfraktion’, 28 June 1917, in Michaelis, Schraepler and Scheel (eds.), Ursachen und Folgen, i, pp. 211–16 (doc. 129).

  107.‘Rede des Abgeordneten Erzberger im Hauptausschuβ des Reichstags. 6. Juli 1917’, in H. Michaelis, E. Schraepler and G. Scheel (eds.), Ursachen und Folgen. Vom deutschen Zusammenbruch 1918 und 1945 bis zur staatlichen Neuordnung Deutschlands in der Gegenwart. Eine Urkunden- und Dokumentensammlung zur Zeitgeschichte. Der militärische Zusammenbruch und das Ende des Kaiserreichs (29 vols., Berlin, n.d.), ii, pp. 3–7 (doc. 233). Cf. Erzberger’s own account: M. Erzberger, Erlebnisse im Weltkrieg (Stuttgart and Berlin, 1920), pp. 251–69.

  108.‘Die Friedensresolution des deutschen Reichstags vom 19. Juli 1917’, in Michaelis, Schraepler and Scheel (eds.), Ursachen und Folgen, ii, pp. 37–8 (doc. 241).

  109.Memorandum for Staatssekretär [des Reichsmarineamts], 8 October 1917. BA-MA Freiburg: RM 5/3818: fos. 2–3.

  110.Koszyk, Deutsche Pressepolitik, p. 205.

  111.Halpern, Naval History, pp. 356–7, and Herwig and Trask, ‘Failure of Imperial Germany’s Undersea Offensive’, pp. 613, 618, 627 and 629.

  112.Documentation from the Presseabteilung in the Admiralstab, late 1917. BA-MA Freiburg: RM 5/3818: fos. 101 and 103–4. For the destruction of troop transports, see Schröder, U-Boote des Kaisers, p. 383. Another four troop transports were sunk when sailing back empty across the Atlantic.

  113.‘German Submarine Propaganda’, p. 4, 23 April 1918. TNA London: ADM 137/3872.

  114.Herwig, ‘Luxury’ Fleet, p. 223, and Hardach, First World War, p. 48.

  115.See Stevenson, With Our Backs to the Wall, pp. 247, 338–9, 345 and 351.

  11. Dangerous Ideas

  1.E. Manela, The Wilsonian Moment: Self-Determination and the International Origins of Anticolonial Nationalism (Oxford and New York, 2007), p. 36.

  2.Quoted in R. A. Wade, The Russian Search for Peace, February–October 1917 (Stanford, CA, 1969), pp. 16 and 29.

  3.‘President Wilson’s Address of January 22, 1917’, The American Journal of International Law 11(4) (October 1917), p. 323.

  4.O. Figes, A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891–1924 (London, 1996, 1997), p. 381.

  5.Vorwärts, 6 November 1917, quoted in BA-MA Freiburg: RM3/11682b: fo. 49.

  6.Quoted in M. Cornwall, ‘Disintegration and Defeat: The Austro-Hungarian Revolution’, in M. Cornwall (ed.), The Last Years of Austria-Hungary: A Multi-National Experiment in Early Twentieth-Century Europe, revised and expanded edn (Exeter, 2002), p. 169.

  7.C. Brennan, ‘Reforming Austria-Hungary: Beyond his Control or Beyond his Capacity? The Domestic Policies of Emperor Karl I, November 1916–May 1917’, unpublished PhD thesis, London School of Economics (2012), pp. 16–19, 97–8 and 106–7.

  8.Personnel changes are detailed in E. von Glaise-Horstenau, The Collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (London and Toronto, 1930), pp. 14–17. Also Brennan, ‘Reforming Austria-Hungary’, pp. 143–4.

  9.Brennan, ‘Reforming Austria-Hungary’, pp. 107–9.

  10.Křen, Konfliktgemeinschaft, pp. 335–6, and H. L. Rees, The Czechs during World War I: The Path to Independence (Boulder, CO, 1992), pp. 27–9.

  11.Kaiser Karl I to Kaiser Wilhelm II, 14 April 1917, in Michaelis, Schraepler and Scheel (eds.), Ursachen und Folgen, i, pp. 378–9 (doc. 201).

  12.Galántai, Hungary, pp. 224–6 and 240–45, and G. Vermes, ‘Leap into the Dark: The Issue of Suffrage in Hungary during World War I’, in Robert A. Kann, Béla K. Király and Paula S. Fichtner (eds.), The Habsburg Empire in World War I: Essays on the Intellectual, Military, Political and Economic Aspects of the Habsburg War Effort (Boulder, CO, and New York, 1977), pp. 35–7.

  13.Brennan, ‘Reforming Austria-Hungary’, pp. 153–229.

  14.Jarausch, Enigmatic Chancellor, p. 310.

  15.Wolff, Tagebücher, p. 495 (diary entry, 22 March 1917).

  16.Müller, Kaiser and his Court, p. 249 (diary entry for 22 March 1917).

  17.Scheidemann, Zusammenbruch, pp. 40–22. For the meeting, see Fischer, Germany’s Aims, p. 328.

  18.Miller, Burgfrieden, pp. 285–6. For the background to the party schism, see ibid., pp. 113–65.

  19.Wilhelm II’s ‘Easter Message’, trans. J. Verhey and R. Chickering at: http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/pdf/eng/922_Wilhelm_Easter_Message_186.pdf. Accessed on 31 May 2013. For a description of the debates leading to the ‘Easter Message’, see Jarausch, Enigmatic Chancellor, pp. 327–35.

  20.Miller, Burgfrieden, p. 286, and Fischer, Germany’s Aims, pp. 397–9.

  21.Pyta, Hindenburg, pp. 161–2 and 256–8.

  22.Roesler, Finanzpolitik, p. 208.

  23.A. J. Ryder, The German Revolution of 1918: A Study of German Socialism in War and Revolt (Cambridge, 1967), pp. 49–58 and 72–3.

  24.Jarausch, Enigmatic Chancellor, p. 327.

  25.Erzberger in the Reichstag Steering Committee, 6 July 1917, in Michaelis, Schraepler and Scheel (eds.), Ursachen und Folgen, ii, p. 6 (doc. 233).

  26.Miller, Burgfrieden, p. 304.

  27.Scheidemann, Zusammenbruch, pp. 80–81.

  28.Haase on Chancellor Hertling, 29 November 1917, quoted in Miller, Burgfrieden, p. 331. For the crisis, see W. J. Mommsen, ‘Die deutsche öffentliche Meinung und der Zusammenbruch des Regierungssystems Bethmann Hollweg im Juli 1917’, Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht 19(11) (November 1968), esp. pp. 665–71.

  29.Reichstag Peace Resolution, 19 July 1917, trans. J. Verhey and R. Chickering at: http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/pdf/eng/1007_Reichstag%27s%20Peace%20Resolution_194.pdf. Accessed on 5 June 2013.

  30.Fischer, Germany’s Aims, pp. 401–4, Erzberger, Erlebnisse, pp. 266–8, and D. Stevenson, ‘The Failure of Peace by Negotiations in 1917’, The Historical Journal 34(1) (March 1991), p. 72. For Haase’s criticism and the SPD, see Miller, Burgfrieden, pp. 288 and 311.

  31.Ludendorff at the Crown Council of 14 September 1917, reproduced in Ludendorff (ed.), General Staff and its Problems, ii, p. 494.

  32.Fischer, Germany’s Aims, pp. 316–17 and 347.

  33.Ibid., pp. 342–6.

  34.Ibid., p. 347.

  35.See the report of Legationssekretärs Freiherr von Lersner to the Foreign Secretary of 5 May 1917, reproduced in Deist (ed.), Militär und Innenpolitik, ii, pp. 744–6 (doc. 293).

  36.Record of the Kreuznach Discussions, 23 April 1917, in Feldman (ed.), German Imperialism, pp. 32–3 (doc. 9). Also Fischer, Germany’s Aims, pp. 346–51.

  37.Fischer, Germany’s Aims, pp. 365–9.

  38.M. Cornwall, The Undermining of Austria-Hungary: The Battle for Hearts and Minds (Basingstoke and New York, 2000), pp. 40–59.

  39.Kriegstagebuch, 12. Inf. Div., ‘Übersicht über die Zeit vom 1. bis 11.4.17’ and entries for 12–15 and 23–30 April 1917. BA-MA Freiburg: PH8I/11.

  40.Cornwall, Undermining, pp. 58–62.

  41.D. Stevenson, 1914–1918: The History of the First World War (London, 2004), p. 297.

  42.Ludendorff (ed.), General Staff and its Problems, ii, pp. 712–21.

  43.See D. A. Harvey, ‘Lost Children or Enemy Aliens? Classifying the Population of Alsace after the First World War’, Journal of Contemporary History 34(4) (October 1999), pp. 537–54, and L. Boswell, ‘From Liberation to Purge Trials in the “Mythic Provinces”: Recasting French Identities in Alsace and Lorraine, 1918–1920’, French Historical Studies 23(1) (Winter 2000), pp. 129–62.

  44.Stevenson, ‘French War Aims’, pp. 879–80 and 883, and D. Stevenson, ‘French War Aims and Peace Planning’, in M. F. Boemeke, G. D. Feldman and E. Glaser, The Treaty of Versailles: A Reassessment after 75 Years (Washington, DC, and Cambridge, 1998), pp. 93–101.

  45.See ‘Entente Reply to President Wilson’s Peace Note, January 10, 1917’, in Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (ed.), Official Communications and Speeches Relating to Peace Proposals, 1916
–1917 (Washington, DC, 1917), pp. 49–50.

  46.For an analysis of the problems of making peace in 1917 stressing the existence of entrenched territorial disputes and alliance solidarity, see Stevenson, ‘Failure of Peace by Negotiations’, pp. 65–86.

  47.For France at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, see M. MacMillan, Peacemakers: Six Months that Changed the World (London, 2001), esp. pp. 176–86.

  48.Ludendorff, War Memories, ii, p. 517.

  49.Ludendorff (ed.), General Staff and its Problems, ii, pp. 494–7, Feldman (ed), German Imperialism, pp. 32–3 (doc. 9), and Ludendorff, War Memories, ii, pp. 517–20.

  50.H. H. Herwig, ‘Admirals versus Generals: The War Aims of the Imperial German Navy, 1914–1918’, Central European History 5(3) (September 1972), pp. 214–20.

  51.Ludendorff (ed.), General Staff and its Problems, ii, p. 494.

  52.Adolf Hitler, 17 September 1941, quoted in J. Zimmerer, ‘Holocaust und Kolonialismus. Beitrag zu einer Archäologie des genozidalen Gedankens’, Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft 51(12) (2003), p. 1098.

  53.Ludendorff, War Memories, ii, p. 520.

  54.For the quotation, see Ludendorff, letter to Professor Hans Delbrück, 29 December 1915, reproduced in Zechlin, ‘Ludendorff im Jahre 1915’, p. 352. For other details, see Liulevičius, War Land, pp. 94–6, and Sammartino, Impossible Border, pp. 31–7.

  55.Stevenson, ‘Failure of Peace by Negotiations’, pp. 67–9, Galántai, Hungary, pp. 234–5, and Rauchensteiner, Tod des Doppeladlers, pp. 419 and 553–4.

  56.Galántai, Hungary, p. 234.

  57.Rauchensteiner, Tod des Doppeladlers, p. 487, and Fischer, Germany’s Aims, p. 344.

  58.Stevenson, ‘Failure of Peace by Negotiations’, pp. 67–9, and May, Passing of the Habsburg Monarchy, i, pp. 486–91.

  59.Bethmann Hollweg, 4 August 1914, reproduced in Lutz (ed.), Fall, i, p. 13.

  60.Fischer, Germany’s Aims, pp. 360, 374, and Chancellor Michaelis, 21 August 1917. Lutz (ed.), Fall, i, p. 367.

  61.Czernin, quoted in Fischer, Germany’s Aims, p. 351.

  62.Aleksandra Czechówna, diary (p. 69), 8 March 1917. AN Cracow: IT 428/41.

  63.Rees, Czechs during World War I, p. 37, and Davis, Home Fires Burning, p. 196. For strikes, see Schlegelmilch, ‘Massenprotest’, p. 293.

  64.‘Juni-Bericht des Gemeinsamen Zentralnachweisebureaus, Auskunftsstelle für Kriegsgefangene, Zensurabteilung über die Stimmung der österreichischen Bevölkerung im Hinterlande’, p. 1. AVA Vienna: MdI, Präsidium (1917). 22/gen. Nr. 14234.

  65.For Germany, see the ‘Zusammenstellung der Monatsberichte der stellv. Generalkommandos an das preuβische Kriegsministerium betr. die allgemeine Stimmung im Volke’, in GStA PK, Berlin: I. HA Rep 90A, Nr. 2685. For Austria, see ‘Juni-Bericht des Gemeinsamen Zentralnachweisebureaus, Auskunftsstelle für Kriegsgefangene, Zensurabteilung über die Stimmung der österreichischen Bevölkerung im Hinterlande’. AVA Vienna: MdI, Präsidium (1917). 22/gen. Nr. 14234.

  66.Quoted in Redlich, Austrian War Government, pp. 150–51, fn. 2.

  67.Glaise-Horstenau, Collapse, p. 31.

  68.Brennan, ‘Reforming Austria-Hungary’, esp. pp. 273–4 and 279.

  69.V. S. Mamatey, ‘The Union of Czech Political Parties in the Reichsrat, 1916–1918’, in R. A. Kann, B. K. Király and P. S. Fichtner (eds.), The Habsburg Empire in World War I: Essays on the Intellectual, Military, Political and Economic Aspects of the Habsburg War Effort (Boulder, CO, and New York, 1977), p. 16.

  70.Brennan provides the most detailed discussion of the debates surrounding the drawing up of the Czech Union’s statement. See his ‘Reforming Austria-Hungary’, pp. 264–8, 276–9 and 289–93.

  71.Zeman, Break-Up, pp. 127–9.

  72.Glaise-Horstenau, Collapse, p. 37.

  73.Zahra, Kidnapped Souls, pp. 81–2 and 94–5.

  74.Redlich, Austrian War Government, pp. 150 and 156–7, and Cornwall, Undermining, p. 284.

  75.Rauchensteiner, Tod des Doppeladlers, pp. 477–8, and Rees, Czechs during World War I, pp. 49–50. Also ‘Stimmung in Prager Polizeirayon’, 25 July 1917, in Prague (No. 163). AVA Vienna: MdI, Präsidium. Varia Erster Weltkrieg: Karton 33.

  76.Brennan, ‘Reforming Austria-Hungary’, pp. 268–9, and Zeman, Break-Up, pp. 122–3.

  77.P. Hanák, ‘Die Volksmeinung während des letzten Kriegsjahres in Österreich-Ungarn’, in R. G. Plaschka and K. Mack (eds.), Die Auflösung des Habsburgerreiches. Zusammenbruch und Neuorientierung im Donauraum (Vienna, 1970), pp. 60–61. There are a number of ways of interpreting Hanák’s evidence, but the combination that he gives of over 75 per cent of all correspondents wishing for ‘Selbstständigkeit’ and (from another sample) 13.5 per cent for ‘Unabhängigkeit’ favours the above interpretation.

  78.Rees, Czechs during World War I, pp. 33–8.

  79.K.u.k. Militärkommando in Prag, ‘Stimmungsbericht’, 15 February 1917, p. 3. KA Vienna: MKSM 1917 (Karton 1305), 28–2/10.

  80.Poster in Aurinowes (Uhříněves), pol. Bezirk Zizkow, March 1917. AVA Vienna: MdI, Präsidium. Varia Erster Weltkrieg: Karton 33.

  81.Mamatey, ‘The Union of Czech Political Parties’, p. 18, and k.u.k. Militärkommando in Prag, ‘Demonstration in Prag’, 31 May 1917, pp. 1–2. KA Vienna: MKSM 1917 (Karton 1305), 28–2/10–17. For the Czech vote (of 1911), see Höbelt, ‘ “Well-Tempered Discontent” ’, p. 58.

  82.Hupka, Z czasów wielkiej wojny, p. 335 (entry for 18 December 1917).

  83.K.u.k. Militärkommando in Prag, ‘Stimmungsbericht’, 15 May 1917, pp. 1–3. KA Vienna: MKSM 1917 (Karton 1305), 28–2/10–3.

  84.‘Juni-Bericht des Gemeinsamen Zentralnachweisebureaus, Auskunftsstelle für Kriegsgefangene, Zensurabteilung über die Stimmung der österreichischen Bevölkerung im Hinterlande’, pp. 2 and 5; ‘Stimmung und wirtschaftliche Lage des österreichischen Bevölkerung im Hinterland (Septemberbericht), p. 2. AVA Vienna: MdI, Präsidium (1917). 22/gen. Nr. 14234 and 21657. For the rumours about Kaiser Wilhelm, see k.u.k. Militärkommando in Prag, ‘Stimmungsbericht’, 15 May 1917, pp. 1–3. KA Vienna: MKSM 1917 (Karton 1305), 28–2/10–3.

  85.J. R. Wegs, ‘Transportation: The Achilles Heel of the Habsburg War Effort’, in R. A. Kann, B. K. Király and P. S. Fichtner (eds.), The Habsburg Empire in World War I: Essays on the Intellectual, Military, Political and Economic Aspects of the Habsburg War Effort (Boulder, CO, and New York, 1977), p. 128.

  86.Quoted in Křen, Konfliktgemeinschaft, p. 354.

  87.K.u.k. Militärkommando in Prag, ‘Stimmungsbericht’, 15 December 1917, p. 2. KA Vienna: MKSM 1917 (Karton 1305), 28–2/10–17.

  88.Hanák, ‘Volksmeinung’, pp. 63–5.

  89.For the background, see Mamatey, ‘The Union of Czech Political Parties’, pp. 16–23. The text is cited in Rees, Czechs during World War I, pp. 80–81.

  90.‘Denkschrift der Obersten Heeresleitung über die deutsche Volks- und Wehrkraft’, pp. 17–18. BA-MA Freiburg: PH 3/446.

  91.For food, see Offer, First World War, p. 29. For requisitions, see the posters in AP Toruń: Starostwo Powiatowe w Toruniu (Landratsamt Thorn) 1818–1920: Nr. 1023: Bl. 91, 180, 293, 295, 432, 450, 478, 479, and for the resistance to the removal of church bells, see the circular from Edmund, Archbishop of Gnesen und Posen, 6 August 1917. AA Poznań: OA X 76.

  92.‘Zusammenstellung der Monatsberichte der stellv. Generalkommandos an das preußische Kriegsministerium betr. die allgemeine Stimmung im Volke’ for June 1917 (3 July 1917), p. 1. GStA PK, Berlin: I. HA Rep 90A, Nr. 2685.

  93.‘Zusammenstellung der Monatsberichte der stellv. Generalkommandos an das preußische Kriegsministerium betr. die allgemeine Stimmung im Volke’ for May 1917 (3 June 1917), p. 22. GStA PK, Berlin: I. HA Rep 90A, Nr. 2685.

  94.Miller, Burgfrieden, pp. 143–77, Ryder, German Revolution, pp. 76–83, and Tampke, Ruhr and Revolution, pp. 53–6.

  95.Ryder, German Revolution, p. 99. For Müller and the revolutionary shop stewards, see R. Hoffrogge, ‘Räteaktivisten in der USPD: Richard Müller und die Revolutio
nären Obleute in Berliner Betrieben’, in U. Plener (ed.), Die Novemberrevolution 1918/1919 in Deutschland. Für bürgerliche und sozialistische Demokratie. Allgemeine, regionale und biographische Aspekte. Beiträge zum 90. Jahrestag der Revolution (Berlin, 2009), pp. 189–94.

  96.Copy of revolutionary leaflet from the April strikes passed to Kommandantur Coblenz-Ehrenbreitstein by Kriegsministerium, 3 May 1917. HHStA Wiesbaden: Preußisches Regierungspräsidium Wiesbaden (405): Nr. 2777: fo. 152.

  97.Feldman, Army, Industry and Labor, pp. 337–9, and Ryder, German Revolution, pp. 100–101.

  98.In the context of the April strikes, see especially Magistrat in Frankfurt a.M., report to Reg. Präs. in Wiesbaden, 17 April 1917. HHStA Wiesbaden: Preußisches Regierungspräsidium Wiesbaden (405): Nr. 2777: fo. 349.

  99.Feldman, Army, Industry and Labor, pp. 340–48. Hindenburg’s appeal is reproduced in Michaelis, Schraepler and Scheel (eds.), Ursachen und Folgen, i, p. 202 (doc. 126).

  100.Feldman, Army, Industry and Labor, pp. 362–404.

  101.Minister des Innern, circular to all Regierungspräsidenten and the Polizeipräsident in Berlin, 12 July 1917. GStA PK, Berlin: XIV. HA Rep 181,31389.

  102.Chef des Generalstabes des Feldheeres, memorandum, 15 November 1917. HHStA Wiesbaden: Preußisches Regierungspräsidium Wiesbaden (405): Nr. 2739: fos. 230–32.

  103.Poster signed by Gouverneur der Festung Mainz, 2 May 1917. For the Mormons and Adventists, see Minister des Innern in Berlin to Regierungspräsidenten – mit Ausnahme von Koeslin – und Herrn Polizeipräsidenten [in Berlin], 4 October 1917, and Kriegsministerium, order, 19 March 1918. HHStA Wiesbaden: Preußisches Regierungspräsidium Wiesbaden (405): Nr. 2777: fo. 338, and AP Toruń: Star. Pow. Toruniu: Nr. 1009: fo. 921.

  104.See Generalquartiermeister at Gr. HQ, order, 25 July 1917, and Chef des Stabes des Feldheeres, ‘Einführung von Hetzschriften in das Heer’, 24 May 1917. For the order against enemy pilots, see Chef des Feldheeres, telegram, 24 April 1917. GLA Karlsruhe: 456 F 109, Nr. 1, and 456 F 7, Nr. 91.

  105.Jahr, Gewöhnliche Soldaten, p. 155, and Watson, Enduring the Great War, pp. 168–72.

  106.German Fifth Army censorship report, 12 July 1917, p. 15. BA-MA Freiburg: W-10/50794.